ITEM:		INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/STAFF REPORTS
29.	QUARTERLY CARMEL RIVER EROSION PROTECTION AND RESTORATION PROJECTS REPORT
Meeting Date:			October 20, 2008	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			Darby Fuerst	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Larry Hampson	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

Carmel River Advisory Committee Meeting: On September 11, 2008, the Carmel River Advisory Committee held a Regular Meeting at which Jim Heitzman, General Manager at the Marina Coast Water District, gave a presentation on the planning process for the regional water supply project known as the “Water for Monterey County” project. Final minutes of this meeting will be provided to the MPWMD Board of Directors under Committee Reports in a future Board packet (see Informational Items in monthly Board packets).

State Proposition 50/84/1E Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Grant Program: District staff are continuing to work with representatives of the six IRWM planning regions along the Central Coast and with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to identify water resource strategies and projects that would benefit the entire Central Coast hydrologic unit (coastal watersheds and inland areas from Santa Cruz County to the Santa Barbara County line). Recently, the group revised its presentation of key issues and objectives for the Central Coast region. A final document should be available in the near future for stakeholders throughout the Central Coast to review.

District staff also provided letters to the Regional Water Quality Control Board in support of six local projects proposed to improve water quality in local Areas of Special Biological significance (ASBS), which are areas adjacent to the coast that drain to sensitive ocean areas. The six projects include four designed to augment the volume of the Carmel River lagoon by diverting dry-weather storm drain flows and some first-flush runoff to the Carmel Bay ASBS into a terminal wetland near the lagoon. The RWQCB received a total of $37,769,405 in requests for funds from the Prop. 84 ASBS grant program. Collectively, Monterey Peninsula agencies applied for $15,480,000 to carry out the six projects. The State will award approximately $30 million under the grant program.

Carmel River Lagoon and State Beach Management: The Lagoon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) held a meeting on October 1, 2008 to discuss the condition of the lagoon and Carmel River State Beach. The lagoon reached a low point in the second week of August, after which the California Department of Parks and Recreation (State Parks) and the Carmel River Steelhead Association cooperated on a project to provide water from a well on State Parks property that had been used for agricultural purposes when the Odello family raised artichokes on the land. A little more than two acre-feet (AF) per day was provided to the lagoon starting August 28, 2008. In addition, the Carmel Area Wastewater District augmented the lagoon volume during September with an addition of a little more than five AF of recycled water.

Basin Complex Fire: The fire that burned in June and July 2008 through much of the watershed above Los Padres Reservoir and a portion of the Finch Creek watershed (tributary to Cachagua Creek) is likely to cause a significant increase in suspended sediment and debris flow in the Carmel River this winter. Staff proposes to coordinate work to obtain current reservoir storage capacity at Los Padres Reservoir (see Consent Calendar Item 4 in this packet) and is also working with the California Office of Emergency Services to obtain funds to monitor increases in sediment and to cope with potential impacts to the Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility from early season flows and sediment.

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