1. Management Objectives
The
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (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: April - June 2008
On
March 5, 2008, 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 March 2008 and the April-June 2008
period. Currently, flow in the Carmel River
is unregulated, with CAW’s San
Clemente and Los Padres Reservoir full and
spilling. Rainfall during Water Year
2008 to date at San Clemente Dam in the upper watershed has totaled 19.1 inches
or 122% of the long-term average at this site.
At this time, inflow conditions in the Carmel River Basin
are projected to be near normal for the water year.
Carmel River Basin Given these conditions, it was agreed that CAW would:
1.
divert no surface water from its San Clemente Reservoir
during the April through June,
2.
divert approximately 60 AF of groundwater from its wells in
the Upper Carmel
Valley in April and May and 30 AF of
groundwater from its wells in the Upper
Carmel Valley
in June, when low-flow conditions are projected,
3.
divert in a downstream-to-upstream sequence, as needed,
approximately 1,180, 930, and 1,020 AF of groundwater from its wells in the Lower Carmel
Valley during April, May,
and June 2008, respectively.
Seaside Groundwater
Basin It was also agreed that CAW would:
- pump no naturally-occurring
water from the Coastal Subareas of the Seaside Basin
in April, and
- pump 445 AF of naturally-occurring
water from the Coastal Subareas of the Seaside Basin
in May and June.
Phase 1 Aquifer
Storage and recovery (ASR) Project Lastly, it was agreed that:
1.
CAW would divert 100 AF from the Carmel River Basin in April
and 50 AF from the Carmel River Basin in May for injection and storage in the
Seaside Groundwater Basin, and
2.
No
artificially-recharged water would be recovered from the Seaside Basin
for CAW customer use during the April through June period.
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