WATER SUPPLY PLANNING COMMITTEE

ITEM:		ACTION ITEM
5.	Discuss Preparation of IFIM Study
Meeting Date:			October 16, 2012
From:			Dave Stoldt,
			General Manager
Prepared By:			Larry Hampson

SUMMARY: California-American Water has expressed an interest in working with MPWMD to develop an instream incremental flow methodology (IFIM) study for the Carmel River to be used primarily in association with water rights applications and future water rights permits from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). IFIM is an accepted scientific approach to quantifying the effects to aquatic habitat from various levels of instream flows. This type of study can provide the basis for establishing instream flow requirements necessary to maintain steelhead habitat in the Carmel River. However, the cost for such a study could be up to $300,000 and take 18 months to complete. Cal-Am has proposed jointly funding a study with MPWMD and the California Department of Fish and Game could also be a partner in such a study. Potential benefits to MPWMD from a study include an increased yield for the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) program as well as a better understanding of aquatic habitat requirements.

Recently, SWRCB has been processing water rights applications filed in the early and mid-1990s that resulted in the “Table 13” reservations SWRCB made when it issued Decision 1632 in 1995 and granted a right to MPWMD to divert 24,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) for the New Los Padres Dam (see Exhibit 5-A – Genealogy of Water Rights Permit 20808). On September 6, 2012, SWRCB issued a draft permit that would allow Cal-Am, which applied for the largest amount on Table 13, to divert up to 2,964 AFY during the December 1 to May 31 diversion period. Protests to the proposed permit are due to SWRCB no later than November 6, 2012. In addition to Table 13 rights, SWRCB has issued jointly held diversion rights (Permits 20808A and 20808C) to MPWMD and Cal-Am for up to a total of 5,326 AFY for ASR. However, these jointly held rights and rights in the remainder Permit 20808B are junior to all other recognized diversion rights along the river, including pre-1914, riparian, appropriative rights, and Table 13 rights.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: In order to participate in meaningful discussions with the SWRCB, Cal-Am, and any protestants about evaluating the instream flow requirements for proposed Table 13 water rights permits and future water rights petitions under Permit 20808B, the Water Supply Planning Committee should discuss two separate actions: 1) sending a protest outlining issues for the SWRCB to consider in issuing Table 13 permits; and 2) cooperating with Cal-Am to fund and develop an IFIM study to be used in evaluating instream flow requirements and for making recommendations about those requirements.

BACKGROUND:

For various reasons, staff at MPWMD, Cal-Am, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have all expressed a desire to evaluate instream flow requirements for the Carmel River. The concerns and apparent interests of each group are described below:

Cal-Am concerns: Due to present instream flow requirements, Cal-Am officials have estimated that the annual yield from a Table 13 right would be about 600 AFY (out of a face amount of 2,964 AFY). There are three reasons for the relatively low yield compared to the face amount of the water right. One is the limit on the maximum instantaneous rate of diversion proposed to be set by the SWRCB (4.1 cubic feet per second [cfs]). Another reason is that the current instream flow requirements reduce the time during which diversions can occur, and the final reason is that the proposed season of diversion is limited to December 1 to the following May 31. Cal-Am has indicated that when diversions under a Table 13 right are available, it may be possible to reduce production from a proposed desalination plant. Thus, lower instream flow requirements in winter and spring could allow a greater yield from the Carmel Basin, which is likely to be less expensive to produce water from than a proposed desalination plant.

NMFS concerns: NMFS expressed a concern about the potential adverse effect to juvenile rearing habitat in the lower river and at the lagoon from SWRCB Table 13 diversions during the dry season (June 1 to November 30). SWRCB has about 1,800 AFY (face amount) in pending Table 13 applications to process. Although the final value of all pending Table 13 rights may approach 4,500 AFY (face amounts can be reduced by SWRCB), it is highly unlikely that this amount of water could actually be produced by Table 13 pumpers, given the current instream flow requirements and limits to season and rate of diversion.

It is estimated that summer/fall demand for water for riparian and potential Table 13 diverters could average about 4 cfs (the current instream flow requirement for the June 1 to November 30 period is 5 cfs at the Highway 1 streamflow monitoring station). However, it is clear that a flow higher than 5 cfs would be required to maintain optimum habitat at the lagoon. In addition, there have been no studies carried out for the lower 9.6 miles of the river to evaluate the availability of juvenile or adult habitat during any of the diversions seasons.

CDFG: In 2008, in consultation with SWRCB, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and NMFS, DFG developed a statewide list of 22 priority streams, including the Carmel River, to carry out instream flow assessments. Public Resources Code (PRC) 10004 requires DFG to initiate studies to develop proposed streamflow requirements. The intent of PRC 10004 is to initiate and fund studies on at least 10 streams or watercourses in each fiscal year; however, the legislature must appropriate such funding.

MPWMD concerns: MPWMD is concerned that over the long-term, additional issuance of Table 13 permits could reduce the availability of flows during the diversion season (Dec. 1 – May 31) for ASR. The future maximum instantaneous rate of diversion under existing legal water rights and potential future rights during the winter period is estimated to be about 37 cfs, but could be somewhat higher if use by riparian water rights holders increases. This includes an estimated 14 cfs in rights senior to the ASR Phase 1 and 2 rights and 23 cfs for ASR Phases 1, 2, and (future) Phase 3.

Thus, during periods when flows are anticipated to approach the current instream requirement (generally 120 cfs in the winter/early spring period and 80 cfs in the spring, as measured at Highway 1), Cal-Am and MPWMD could be required to cut back or cease ASR diversions in order to allow more senior diversions. It should be noted that while one of Cal-Am’s rights is for diversion to storage (at Los Padres Dam), in practice, Cal-Am proposes to use this right to divert flow in wells downstream of Robles del Rio to serve daily municipal demand.

Carmel River channel changes since instream flow studies have been conducted

Many previous instream flow studies, which were based on field data gathered mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, concentrated on portions of the river upstream of the Narrows (at River Mile [RM] 9.6) and did not analyze habitat conditions downstream of the Narrows, where the channel was undergoing annual dewatering and both episodic and chronic erosion. Since the mid-1980s, there have been significant incremental improvements in surface flow management in the dry season that have encouraged a recovery of the streamside vegetation along the riparian corridor between the Narrows at RM 9.6 and RM 15.5 (just upstream of the Robles del Rio gage). In addition, intensive streambank restoration downstream of the Narrows has incorporated structural and vegetative elements, but requires ongoing maintenance of the vegetation along the corridor downstream of the Narrows. The net result of these efforts has nearly eliminated chronic streambank erosion in the lower 15.5 miles of the river.

Habitat values downstream of the Narrows appear to have improved significantly since the early 1990s. Because the river normally dries up between the lagoon and about RM 7 in late spring or early summer, no long-term juvenile population survey sites have been established. The best long-term indicator of whether areas downstream of the Narrows can support fry and juvenile rearing comes from fish rescue data during the spring and summer and anecdotal evidence of fish observations in those years when flow has run nearly continuously to the lagoon during the dry season.

The District has conducted fall population surveys for over two decades since 1990 in the main stem Carmel River for juvenile steelhead. This monitoring suggests that up to 37 % of the juvenile fish produced in the main-stem Carmel River below San Clemente Dam in 2010, could have been from the area below the “Narrows” [See 2010-2011 Annual Mitigation Program Report, Chapter XVI, Figure XVI-11]. This occurs in years when significant fractions of that area remain wet year round, which is likely to occur more often from 2017 onward, after the District and Cal-Am bring replacement water projects on line, which greatly diminish low flow season diversions.

It is clear that the lower river can support a large population of fish in the spring and early summer. In one recent spring/summer fish rescue operation, more than 100,000 young-of-the-year and juveniles were rescued out of the reach downstream of the Narrows prior to the river drying up in this reach. During the 2011 and 2012 water years, when the river flowed from November 2010 through August 2012, steelhead were observed in the lower river in several pools during the summer and fall season.

Although there is not yet enough data to determine if the lower river should be considered as an important spawning area, redd surveys between 2007 and 2012 indicate that spawning is occurring downstream of the Narrows; however, the number of redds/mile appears to be much lower in this reach than in a similarly long reach between the Narrows and San Clemente Dam (at RM 18.6). The surveys show that from the Narrows downstream, redd density appears to be about one-quarter to one-third of the density observed in the reach between the Narrows and San Clemente Dam – a reach that is perennial, but is impacted in many areas by the armoring effect due to San Clemente Dam.

Future releases from storage and Carmel River diversions during the June 1 – November 30 period

For the dry season (June 1 – Nov 30), it should be noted that in most years, Los Padres Reservoir is likely to be full on June 1 (with approximately 1,650 AF of usable storage).  When Cal-Am secures a replacement supply for Carmel River diversions, the proposed operational plan is to reduce summer diversions to approximately 2.2 AF/day or about 400 AF (1.1 cfs) during the June 1 to November 30 period (see Cal-Am presentation to the Carmel River Advisory Committee on October 27, 2011).  This level of diversion is necessary in order to maintain treatment plant capacity at the Begonia Iron Treatment Plant at mid-Carmel Valley (RM 8).  The storage available for release from Los Padres Reservoir to augment natural river flows during the June 1 to November 30 period could be as much as 4-5 cfs (Cal-Am would divert 1.1 cfs of this release from the lower river) and should be considered in an IFIM study and in setting limits to Table 13 rights to divert this stored/released water during the June 1 to November 30 period.

EXHIBIT

5-A Genealogy of Water Rights Permit 20808

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