WATER DEMAND COMMITTEE

ITEM:		ACTION ITEMS
2.	CONSIDER TAC RECOMMENDATION ON CALCULATION OF LONG-TERM WATER NEEDS AND MAKE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Meeting Date:			August 10, 2004		Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David A. Berger,		Program/	N/A
			General Manager		Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Stephanie Pintar		Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval:				N/A
Committee Recommendation:				N/A
CEQA Compliance:				N/A

SUMMARY: On March 15, 2004, the Board of Directors discussed near-term water supply projects. The Board has also indicated its strong desire to achieve a long-term water supply project. Both projects require input from the jurisdictions regarding water needs and a formula for allocating new water. In its action on March 15, the Board requested the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) make recommendations to the Board on what formula should be used to determine each jurisdiction’s share of any new allocation. The Board also asked if there should be an MPWMD Community Reserve, and if the Federal Government should be added as new jurisdiction.

The Technical Advisory Committee has completed its recommendation on the methodology to determine long-term water needs. The TAC recommends using the jurisdiction’s current General Plan build-out numbers and applying the District’s factors to the build-out numbers to determine the maximum future water needs. There was discussion by the TAC about including a trend analysis in the calculation to more accurately account for permit activity, but the TAC, with direction from the PAC, did not choose to include that methodology. A joint TAC/PAC meeting was held on June 1, 2004 to share the proposed recommendation with the PAC, and the governing bodies of the jurisdictions then reviewed the issue. On August 3, 2004, the TAC met for a final time, after having received feedback from their governing body. The final recommendation is the result of that meeting.

RECOMMENDATION: The Water Demand Committee should consider the TAC recommendation. The Committee may provide feedback for inclusion in the staff report. The TAC recommendation will be presented to the Board as a Consent Calendar item at the August 16, 2004 meeting. The proposed TAC recommendation requires that District staff apply its factors to the build-out calculations prepared by each jurisdiction. This action will require substantial staff time and may result in delay in presenting the numbers, but having District staff complete the calculations will likely provide the most accurate water needs estimates.

BACKGROUND: Different methodologies have been used by the eight jurisdictions in the District to estimate future water needs. Development of an allocation system for the Paralta allocation in 1992 took months to reach completion. After the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) formulated a recommendation for the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) to consider, the PAC, after several meetings, failed to reach consensus on an allocation formula. A copy of the TAC’s Executive Summary and Final Report titled “Allocation Formula for Distribution of New Water Sources” is available at the District.

On February 24, 1992, the District’s Board of Directors considered a recommendation from its Board Allocation Committee, Chaired by Director Long and including Directors Hekhuis and Heuer. This committee developed recommendations for the allocation of water from the Paralta Well, including the amount of water to be provided to each of the eight jurisdictions and the program elements for administration of the allocation program. The Board adopted the Allocation Committee’s recommendation.

In 1993, the TAC submitted a report to the Board on its recommendations for allocation of water from the proposed Seawater Desalination Project. The recommendation of the TAC was also used to consider allocation of capacity from the New Los Padres Project that was rejected by the voters in 1995.

In 1999, the District requested water needs estimates from the jurisdictions. The results of this request were provided to the Board at the March 15, 2004 meeting. As recently as February 2004, there have been revisions to the numbers provided in 1999. Development of a standard methodology to fairly estimate water needs is critical to avoid disagreement amongst the jurisdictions.

More recently, the District concluded two studies to identify water needs for vacant legal buildable lots of record, and vacant buildable lots of record on improved parcels. The legal lot studies used standard factors to estimate water needs for each of the jurisdictions based on vacant lots identified using aerial photos. The jurisdictions participated in both studies, although the second study was not finalized due to lack of adequate orthophotography for the unincorporated areas of Monterey County. Copies of the original study are available from the District.

On March 15, 2004, the Board asked the TAC to work toward developing a common methodology for estimating future water demand and return with a recommendation in 90 days. A presentation to the Board on the TAC’s proposal was originally scheduled for the May 27, 2004 special meeting. The item was continued to allow the TAC the opportunity to meet jointly with the PAC.

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