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. Similarly, during the low-flow season, the District desires to recover some or all of the water that was previously injected into the Seaside Groundwater Basin, as well as a seasonally balanced amount of California American Water’s (CAW) full allocation of Seaside native groundwater. By meeting customer demand with as much as feasible of these two groundwater sources, CAW will be able to maximally reduce its diversion from its Carmel River sources during the low-flow season. To accomplish these goals, a water supply strategy and budget for production within the CAW Main and Laguna Seca Subarea water distribution systems is reviewed quarterly to determine the optimal strategy for operations, given the current hydrologic and system conditions.

2. Quarterly Water Supply Strategy: October - December 2010

On September 8, 2010, staff from the District, CAW, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) met and discussed the proposed water supply strategy and related topics for the remainder of September 2010 and the October through December 2010 period. Currently, flow in the Carmel River is regulated by releases from storage at Los Padres Reservoir that are supplementing natural base flow. The intent under the CDFG/CAW/MPWMD Low Flow MOA is to sustain 12 cubic feet per second (cfs) of flow to the Sleepy Hollow Weir at River Mile (RM) 17.64 through December 2010. Flow in the Carmel River is continuous from the headwaters almost to Highway 1, with approximately 2.3 cfs at the USGS Near Carmel Gage (RM 3.24) and 0.18 cfs at the MPWMD Highway 1 Gage (RM 1.00) on September 8, 2010. Rainfall during WY 2010 to date through the end of August at San Clemente Dam in the upper watershed has totaled 27.45 inches or 129% of the long-term average at this site. Further, unimpaired runoff at San Clemente Dam for Water Year 2010 to date through the end of August has totaled approximately 97,802 AF or about 143% of the long-term average for this site.

Carmel River Basin Given these conditions, it was agreed that it would be appropriate to use a range of “extremely wet" to “normal” inflow conditions to assess CAW’s operations during the October through December 2010 period, with flows ramping down one level of water year type during each month from September through December 2010. Thereafter, “normal” year inflows would be used to conservatively assess CAW’s operations and set monthly production targets for CAW’s systems from January through September 2011.

To meet customer demand, CAW 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 CAW would produce approximately 0 AF of groundwater each month from its wells in the Upper Carmel Valley during October, November, and December 2010. These amounts are consistent with the interagency Low Flow Season MOA and CAW management’s intent to minimize production in the Upper Carmel Valley at all times.

In addition, it was agreed that CAW would produce approximately 687, 447, and 446 AF of groundwater from its wells in the Lower Carmel Valley during October, November, and December 2010, respectively. Table 1 shows actual and projected monthly releases and diversions from Los Padres and San Clemente Reservoirs for the October 2009 through December 2010 period.

Lastly, it was assumed that no water would be diverted from the Carmel River Basin and injected into the Seaside Groundwater Basin during this period, since the diversion season for ASR ended May 31, and does not resume until December 1, 2010, if flows are sufficient to allow diversions. The long-term average of 920 AF per Water Year of ASR diversions to storage are planned for the next quarter of January to March, 2011. If the minimum bypass flows defined in the joint MPWMD/CAW Water Right for ASR Phase 1 are sufficient for any significant length of time after December 1, diversion to storage may begin that month.

Seaside Groundwater Basin It was also agreed that in October and November 2010 the production goal is to maximize the recovery of water stored in WY 2010 by ASR, with 496 AF then 480 AF to be recovered, respectively. December’s production from the Coastal Subareas of the Seaside Groundwater Basin would be comprised of 270 AF of native groundwater, combined with 135 AF of storage recovered from ASR. There is also a goal of producing an additional 25 AF of treated brackish groundwater from the Sand City Desalination Plant in each of these three months. The Sand City Desalination Plant is still in the early phases of full production testing, therefore its monthly yield may vary for the near term, and has averaged approximately 8 AF per month since it went on line in April 2010. If it cannot make its monthly production targets, the needed water will be produced from a combination of ASR wells in Seaside and CAW wells in the Lower Subunits of the Carmel Valley Aquifer.

It was also agreed that CAW should produce only 24, 16, and 13 AF per month of groundwater from its wells in the Laguna Seca Subarea of the Seaside Basin for customers in the Ryan Ranch, Bishop, and Hidden Hills systems during October, November, and December 2010, respectively. It is recognized that, based on recent historical use, CAW’s actual production from the Laguna Seca Subarea during this period will likely exceed the proposed monthly targets, which are based on CAW’s allocation specified in the Seaside Basin Adjudication Decision. For example, in the October, November, and December 2009 period, CAW produced 39, 36, and 26 AF from the Laguna Seca Subarea to meet customer demand in the Ryan Ranch, Bishop, and Hidden Hills systems. In this context, the production targets represent the maximum monthly production that should occur so that CAW remains within its adjudicated allocation for the Laguna Seca Subarea. Under the amended Seaside Basin Decision, CAW is allowed to use production savings in the Coastal Subareas to offset over-production in the Laguna Seca Subarea, if any remains after maximizing production in order to minimize pumping of the Carmel Valley Aquifer, in compliance with SWRCB Order WR 95-10, and 2009-0060.

3. Corrections to the Quarterly Water Supply Strategy for July - September 2010

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) sent a letter to CAW on August 5, 2010 (referenced as JWC:A011674A) instructing CAW to maximize its use of Seaside Basin Native Groundwater each Water Year and avoid carrying over any of that type of water into the next Water Year, or be considered in violation of Condition 9 of Order WR 2009-0060 which refers specifically to Condition 4 of Order WR 95-10. Based on that letter, MPWMD staff took the following actions to correct the accounting in the last four months of the Water Year 2010 Budget for June – September to make it as compliant with the SWRCB’s instructions as possible. Instead of accounting for part of the water produced from the Seaside Basin out of CAW’s coastal wells during these four months as being recovered for ASR, all of the water produced from the Seaside Coastal Basin Groundwater sources was accounted for as native groundwater, and recovery of the 1,111 AF of WY 2010 ASR Phase 1 storage was reassigned to the first three months of WY 2011. This action maximizes the use of Seaside Basin Native Groundwater in WY 2010, thereby minimizing the amount of that water source that is being carried over into WY 2011 to 83 AF. Without such an adjustment, the amount of Seaside Native Groundwater that would be allocated to carry over supplies would be 459 AF higher, or a total of 542 AF. These corrections to the Quarterly Water Budgets for the months of June – September in WY 2010 were concurred with by CDFG and the NMFS, and will be reported to the SWRCB by CAW.

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