WATER SUPPLY PLANNING COMMITTEE
DISCUSSION ITEM
2.	UPDATE ON STATUS OF RYAN RANCH UNIT OF CALIFORNIA AMERICAN WATER AND USE OF EMERGENCY INTERTIE BETWEEN THE BISHOP AND RYAN RANCH UNITS
Meeting Date:		July 9, 2019	Budgeted:	N/A
From:		David J. Stoldt	Program/
		General Manager	Line Item No.:	N/A
Prepared By:		David J. Stoldt	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: Action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378.

SUMMARY:  California American Water (“Cal-Am”) has been relying on the emergency intertie to the Bishop Unit (also a Cal-Am system) to supply water to Ryan Ranch since February 2018. MPWMD has encouraged Cal-Am to amend its Water Distribution System (“WDS”) permits to add Bishop as a Source of Supply for Ryan Ranch. However, before Cal-Am amends its permits, it sought to undertake a rehabilitation of its Ryan Ranch Well to try to bring production back to capacity. In April, Cal-Am indicated the well was able to run at 90 gpm (gallons per minute) and that on a regular basis they would seek to run it in the 60-70 gpm range, which equates to 45-55 AF/year. This causes the District concern because (a) this is below the System Capacity limit of 72 AF/year set by the District in its moratorium order in 2009, which was based on a firm capacity of 101 gpm; (b) actual Ryan Ranch production for customer service has averaged 57 AF/year the past five years, so additional well capacity is limited; and (c) State Title 22 standards for public water systems with fewer than 1,000 service connections require an additional source of supply or an emergency connection that can meet maximum day demand.

As of now, our view is this:

• The intertie was opened on an “emergency” basis for an extended period, without proper notification;

• A long-term solution should have been proposed during that time;

• We commend the company for finally addressing the problem with the rehab of the Ryan Ranch well;

• The newly revised capacity of the Ryan Ranch well is below the WDS System Capacity Limit the District established in conjunction with its Ryan Ranch moratorium in 2009.  This worries the District that there could be inadequate supply if all vacancies are filled and/or business increases at existing service connections, or if the well productivity declines;

• There is no redundancy, so the only source of back-up supply is either the Bishop interconnection or the Main System interconnection.  These will likely need to be used multiple times and for multiple durations going forward, hence the Bishop and the Ryan Ranch systems should be combined unless the company has an alternative viable source.   If the company does not want to amend their WDS for either system, the District would do it unilaterally unless there is an alternate solution; and

• Combining the Bishop and Ryan Ranch systems would result in the District’s Ryan Ranch moratorium being lifted, which is counter to the company’s stated desire for a moratorium in all three satellites Bishop, Ryan Ranch, and Hidden Hills.

Thus, if the company does not want the District to proceed with amending the company’s Ryan Ranch and Bishop WDS’s, Cal-Am must provide a clearly articulated plan to serve the Ryan Ranch satellite – design, permitting, construction, operation with a detailed schedule – as well as a description of how CEQA will be satisfied and how the requirements of the CDO will be satisfied in the process.

It is expected that Cal-Am will have a plan that will be made available to the District before the Water Supply Planning Committee meeting and presented to the Committee at its July 9^th meeting.

RECOMMENDATION: Receive the Cal-Am information, discuss, and provide general direction to staff on next steps.

BACKGROUND: In November 1989, the District approved the annexation of the Ryan Ranch WDS into the Cal-Am Service Area, to be operated as a separate unit of the Cal-Am system. The Production Limit was set at 175 Acre-Feet Annually (“AFA”) based on production from five operating Wells. The permit also allowed an emergency intertie between the California American Water Main System and the Ryan Ranch Unit.

By Fall 2008, there had been repeated use of the emergency intertie and only two Wells were in service with a combined capacity of 101 gallons per minute (“gpm”), equivalent to 72 AFA. In September 2008, the District’s General Manager formally advised Cal-Am that the Ryan Ranch water supplies were insufficient, which triggered a series of MPWMD public hearings. These efforts culminated in June 15, 2009, Board action that adopted Findings, Conclusions and Decision of the Board, Hearing on Insufficient Physical Supplies in Accord with District Rule 40-B and reduced the production limit to 72 AFA. Because the 2007 production was 82 AFA, a moratorium on new Connections was imposed. The MPWMD Board directed that no Water Permit applications for Intensifications in Use be received until CAW “develops additional Well capacity to sustain a higher System Capacity and has its System Capacity modified” in a future public hearing. A June 12, 2009, pre-application for the proposed merger of the Ryan Ranch and Bishop Units was later withdrawn after the District provided guidance on required information and action.

CAW has funded hydrogeologic studies and test Well explorations in Ryan Ranch, but no new supplies have been developed to date. The moratorium persists with the exception that certain facilities have been built using water right transfers from private parties in the Seaside Basin, as approved by the Seaside Basin Watermaster and MPWMD (e.g., Montage’s recently built Ryan Ranch building). For reference, total Ryan Ranch water production (Ryan Ranch Wells plus emergency intertie) for the five-year period WY 2014-2018 averaged 57.034 AF.

In June 2015, the District approved WDS Permit #M15-03-L3 for an emergency intertie pipeline from the Bishop Unit to serve the Ryan Ranch Unit due to a decade of use of the emergency intertie from the Main Cal-Am System. Water from the Bishop Unit for emergency supply to Ryan Ranch was viewed as preferable to the Main Cal-Am System given the SWRCB Cease and Desist Order (“CDO”). The Permit #M15-03-L3 Conditions of Approval prohibited use of the main CAW system for emergency use unless written permission was obtained from MPWMD.

Since 2015, the Ryan Ranch Unit has not been able to sustainably supply its service area, and the emergency supply from Bishop was used each year. Since March 2018 through earlier this year, the Bishop Wells have been the sole source of supply for the Ryan Ranch area, reflecting a failure of the Ryan Ranch Unit WDS. Condition #13 of Permit #M15-03-L3, requires Board review if the intertie is used more than 60 days, however the General Manager directed that Board review be postponed to allow the refurbished Well(s) to be tested for capacity. That testing is now complete.

EXHIBIT
2-A Background on Ryan Ranch and Bishop Systems

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