1. Management Objectives

The District desires to maximize the long-term production potential and protect the environmental quality of the Carmel River and Seaside Groundwater Basins. In addition, the District desires to maximize the amount of water that can be diverted from the Carmel River Basin and injected into the Seaside Groundwater Basin while complying with the instream flow requirements recommended by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to protect the Carmel River steelhead population. To accomplish these goals, a water supply strategy and budget for production within the California American Water (CAW) main water distribution system is reviewed quarterly to determine the optimal strategy for operations, given the current hydrologic and system conditions.

2. Quarterly Water Supply Strategy: October - December 2007

On September 7, 2007, staff from the District, CAW, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), and NMFS met and discussed the proposed water supply strategy and related topics for the remainder of September 2007 and the October-December 2007 period. Currently, flow in the Carmel River is fully regulated, with San Clemente Reservoir drawn down to minimum pool, as required by the Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD), and Los Padres Reservoir at 55% of capacity, i.e., 863 AF. Flow in the Carmel River is discontinuous below river mile 8.3, with a one-mile dry reach near river mile 13.2. For the first 11 months of Water Year 2007 (October 2006 through August 2007), rainfall at San Clemente Dam in the upper watershed has totaled 11.4 inches or 53% of the long-term average at this site. Further, runoff at San Clemente Dam in the upper watershed has totaled 12,420 AF or only 18% of the long-term average at this site.

Carmel River Basin Given these conditions and the assumption that “critically-dry” inflows (similar to flows that occurred in Water Year 1990) may occur during the October- December 2007 period, it was agreed that CAW would divert no surface water from its San Clemente Reservoir and would divert no more than approximately 30 AF of groundwater each month from its wells in the Upper Carmel Valley. To meet customer demand, Cal-Am would operate its wells in the Lower Carmel Valley in a downstream-to-upstream sequence, as needed. For the quarterly budget, it was agreed that Cal-Am would produce approximately 840, 640, and 580 AF of groundwater from its wells in the Lower Carmel Valley during October, November, and December 2007, respectively. Table 1 shows projected monthly releases and diversions from Los Padres and San Clemente Reservoirs for the September through December 2007 period. As shown, water stored in Los Padres Reservoir will be released throughout these four months to maintain downstream streamflow.

Seaside Groundwater Basin It was also agreed that CAW would maximize production from the Seaside Basin in October (450 AF), at the start of WY 2008, and gradually decrease production in November (400 AF) and December (350 AF) as air temperatures cool and rainfall resumes. Production for this quarter (1,200 AF) is consistent with the annual production limit specified in the 2006 Seaside Basin adjudication decision for the coastal subareas (3,504 AF).

Lastly, it was assumed that no water would be diverted from the Carmel River Basin and injected into the Seaside Groundwater Basin during the October – December 2007 period.

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