The Role of Groundwater in Effective Water Management

1. The Role of Groundwater in Effective Water Management Sonoma Valley Basin Advisory Panel May 31, 2007 John Woodling CA Department of Water Resources

2. Overview • What is Conjunctive Use? • The State’s Role in Groundwater Management • Data Programs • Partnerships • Grants • Examples • American River • Kern County • Orange County • Climate Change

3. Groundwater is Part of the Hydrologic Cycle

4. California Water Plan Additional Water from Management Strategies

5. Conjunctive Water Management • Coordinated use of surface and groundwater to increase water supply and improve reliability. GW SW CM

6. Elements of Conjunctive Use • Surface Water Source • Imported water • Local runoff • Treated wastewater • Conveyance • Recovery and Use • Extraction and direct use • Pump back to conveyance • Surface water exchange • Treatment • Conveyance • Recharge Method • Direct spreading • Injection • In-lieu recharge • Induced natural recharge • Institutions • Laws, Regulations, Ordinances • Contracts and Agreements • Political Support • Financing/Economics

7. The State’s Role GW Management Project Construction Capacity Building DATA PROGRAMS

8. DWR Bulletin 118 • Defined 520 basins in California • Hydrologic, physical, and political boundaries • GW also occurs in non-alluvial settings • Water Data Library • Map based interface for groundwater level data http://www.groundwater.water.ca.gov/bulletin118/index.cfm

9. Local Partnerships • Technical assistance • Facilitation • Stakeholder driven planning • Local development of projects

10. Local Groundwater Assistance Grants • $27 million in grants over five fiscal years • 128 studies and projects • Monitoring wells, sampling and analysis • Groundwater modeling • Aquifer testing and pilot studies • Well destruction • Groundwater storage feasibility studies • Management plan development

11. Construction Grants • Proposition 13 provided over $250 million for construction of conjunctive use facilities • Funded 63 projects • Yield of over 300,000 acre-feet of water annually • Total project costs over $1 billion through local cost share • Proposition 50 provides $500 million for multiple project categories

12. Proposition 84 $37 “…assist local public agencies to meet long term water needs of the state including the delivery of safe drinking water and the protection of water quality and the environment.” • $1 Billion for IRWM grants • $3-4 billion local cost share expected • Regional allocations • Projected 1.2 million acre-feet of water supply $73 $57 $138 $27 $60 $52 $215 $36 $114 $ in millions $91

13. Case Studies • American River Basin • Orange County • Kern County

14. American River Basin • Regional Conjunctive Use Program Folsom Reservoir American River Groundwater Basin Sacramento River

15. Water Purveyors in the American River Basin

16. Conjunctive Use Program Concepts • In-lieu recharge alternatives centered around American and Sacramento River treatment plants, limited ASR • Conveyance to move surface water to traditional groundwater users in wet years • Extraction capability for traditional surface water users shift to groundwater in dry years • Integrated operation of Folsom Lake and the groundwater basin.

17. Institutional Controls • Sacramento Water Forum Agreement • Sacramento Groundwater Authority (SGA) • JPA of Cities of Sacramento, Citrus Heights and Folsom, and County of Sacramento. Representation delegated to water purveyor boards • Ensure equitable disbursement of costs and benefits • Responsible for monitoring and reporting in basin

18. Orange County Water District

19. Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System • Major Partners • OCWD • OC Sanitation District • Project Benefits • Provides 72 TAF supply • Reduces dependence on imported water • Utilizes investments in existing recharge, pumping and distribution facilities • Postpones need for new ocean outfall for wastewater • Enhances GW basin protection from seawater intrusion • Reduces effluent loading to ocean

20. Kern County Groundwater Banking

22. Kern County Conjunctive Use Major Partners Kern County WA, Arvin-Edison WSD, Buena Vista WSD, Cawelo WD, Semitropic WSD, North Kern WSD & Kern Water Bank Authority Current projects • Increased recharge and extraction capacity • CVC enlargement • CVC – Friant Kern Intertie • Pumping plants for two-way Friant Kern Canal • $46 million in Prop 13 funding • Integrates all surface supplies • Improves dry-year yield

23. Increasing air temperature How will climate change affect you? Changes in precipitation Changes in runoff Sea level rise

24. Increasing Temperatures Projections From: Dettinger, 2005

25. Water Resource Impacts from Increased Temperatures • Less precipitation falling in the form of snow • Earlier snowmelt • Changes in water demand • Increased evapotranspiration losses • Changes in watershed vegetation and related changes in runoff • Increased water temperatures and increased demand for temperature control releases from reservoirs • Increased water temperatures and increased water column productivity (increased algae production, etc.)

26. Responses to Climate Change • Mitigation • AB 32 – reduced GHG emissions • Adaptation • Conservation • Surface Storage • Conjunctive Use • Land Use

27. Needs and Issues • Technical • Stream/Aquifer Interaction • Climate change • Environmental Benefits/Consequences • Water Quality Implications of Recharge • Subsidence Measurement and Monitoring • Improved Models • Energy relationships • Site Specific Factors • Science-based Policy

28. Needs and Issues • Political/Institutional • Land use • Water agency vs. County control • Public trust vs. private use • Water Quality • Legal • Water rights • Storage rights • Economic • Third party impacts • Benefit/Cost • Public funding

29. The End