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ITEM: |
REPORTS/PRESENTATIONS |
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17. |
UPDATE ON AQUIFER STORAGE
AND RECOVERY INJECTION OPERATIONS - - WATER YEAR 2013 TO DATE |
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Meeting
Date: |
January 30, 2013 |
Budgeted: |
NA |
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From: |
David J.
Stoldt |
Program/ |
NA |
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General
Manager |
Line Item No.: NA |
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Prepared
By: |
Joe
Oliver/Jon Lear |
Cost Estimate: |
NA |
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General Counsel Approval: N/A |
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Committee Recommendation: N/A |
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CEQA Compliance: N/A |
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SUMMARY: The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (MPWMD) and California American Water (Cal-Am) are working cooperatively to implement the Water Year (WY) 2013 operation of the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) projects in the Seaside Groundwater Basin (i.e., Water Projects 1 and 2 at the Santa Margarita and Seaside Middle School sites, respectively). The WY 2013 injection operations began on December 3, 2012. Since then through January 16, 2013 when injection operations were temporarily curtailed pending resumption of adequate Carmel River Basin (CRB) flows above minimum bypass flow requirements, a total of 294.5 acre-feet (AF) has been injected into the SGB for storage and subsequent recovery later this year during the dry season. This amount exceeds the 131.3 AF that were injected during the entire previous injection season (WY 2012, which was a dry year). A breakdown of the actual injection amounts and potential volumes that could have been injected with the available online ASR well capacity, additional ASR well capacity not currently online, and maximum diversion under the water rights permits for the projects, is provided in the Background section below.
RECOMMENDATION: This is a status update item for information purposes only.
BACKGROUND: During WYs 1998 through 2007, MPWMD had been injecting CRB source water into the Seaside Basin as part of an ASR feasibility testing program in the SGB. Subsequently, MPWMD and Cal-Am have been cooperatively implementing permanent ASR operations at the Santa Margarita (Water Project 1) facility under a jointly held water right issued by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in WY 2008. More recently, beginning in WY 2012, permanent ASR operations were initiated at a second ASR facility being developed by Cal-Am with assistance from MPWMD at the nearby Seaside Middle School (Water Project 2) facility. There are two ASR wells at each facility, for a total of four ASR wells thus far in the SGB. From the beginning of the MPWMD’s ASR feasibility testing program in WY 1998 through the end of the previous WY 2012 season, a total of 4,477 AF has been injected and temporarily stored in the SGB for use in offsetting impacts associated with Cal-Am’s CRB production during low-flow, high-demand periods.
The breakdown of actual and potential injection volumes so far in WY 2013 is summarized as shown below.
Actual injection to date 294 AF
Potential injection with two ASR wells maximized 449 AF
Potential injection with three ASR wells maximized 660 AF
Potential injection with full water rights maximized 958 AF
During this early part of WY 2013, two ASR wells have been available for injection operations – ASR-1 at the Santa Margarita site, and ASR-3 at the Seaside Middle School site. There is an additional ASR well at each site that is not currently available. As shown above, the actual injection of 294 AF is 65% of the potential injection volume of 449 AF with the two available online ASR wells operating at capacity (3,000 gallons per minute [gpm] combined). Several factors attributable to a combination of Cal-Am production system issues contributed to the actual injection volume falling below the available ASR well capacity. These factors included: a major CRB source well (Canada well) being offline due to an equipment failure that could not be accessed for repair due to wet conditions, temporary “spikes” in Cal-Am system demand that at times reduced the amounts that could be diverted to the ASR wells for injection, and the unanticipated loss of production from several of Cal-Am’s upper CRB source wells due to the failure of the wells’ operating equipment from sub-freezing temperatures during the cold weather earlier in January 2013.
The third ASR well (ASR-1) is equipped for injection, but is currently not in service pending completion of repairs to its shaft bearings that failed during WY 2012 extraction operations. This repair work is being conducted by Cal-Am and is scheduled to be underway within the next few weeks, and it is anticipated this well will be back in service later this injection season. Had the ASR-1 well also been available for injection during the initial part of the WY 2013 season, up to 660 AF could have been diverted for injection with all three wells operating at capacity (4,500 gpm combined).
The fourth ASR well (ASR-4) was recently constructed in 2012 and has not yet been equipped with its permanent pump & motor, and has not been connected to permanent water and electrical lines. This work is scheduled for completion later in 2013. Had the ASR-4 well also been available for service during the early part of the WY 2013 season, up to 958 AF could have been diverted for injection with all four wells operating at the maximum amounts allowed under the two SWRCB ASR water rights permits (6,590 gpm combined).
None
U:\staff\Boardpacket\2013\20130130\ReportsPres\17\item17.docx