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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-02-13; Municipal Water District; 306; Water Transfer - Water Auth./Imperial IrrigationCARLSLAD MUNICIPAL WATER DISl :kT - AGENDA BILL 4~ 30 TITLE: WTG. 02/l 3196 WATER TRANSFER BETWEEN THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY AND THE IMPERIAL DEPT. IRRIGATION DISTRICT D RECOMMENDED ACTION: This is an information item only. No action is requested. ITEM EXPLANATION: In November 1995, staff presented an update to the Board on the potential plans for water transfer between the San Diego County Water Authority (CWA) and the Imperial Irrigation District (IID). Subsequently, the CWA and IID did enter into a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to provide for up to six months of continued negotiations to develop a water transfer agreement for up to 500,000 acre feet of water from the Imperial Valley. This MOU should detail the amount of water to be transferred, the terms of the agreement, the price of the water to be transferred and an enforcement mechanism. To again put this quantity of water in perspective, the CWA last year imported 393,000 acre feet. New Aaueduct Alternative The CWA is investigating the feasibility of transferring this water from the Imperial Valley to the San Diego area. There are two potential alternatives. If the amount of water transferred is about 500,000 acre feet per year, it may be feasible to construct a new aqueduct from Imperial valley to the San Diego area. CWA staff believes that the cost per acre foot for this amount of water could be competitive with the present cost of imported water. If a new aqueduct is constructed, the water would probably be delivered to the South County portion of the San Diego area. If this is the case, then it would be logical to bring the water into the San Vicente Reservoir which would act as a terminus reservoir. In order to get water to North County, the water would have to be pumped through very large pumps. This water would not be treated water. Since the CWA is not planning to treat this water, the “treated water agencies” (such as Carlsbad) would continue to receive treated water from the Metropolitan Water District (Met). “Wheelina” Alternative Usina the Colorado River Aaueduct (CRA) If the amount of water to be transferred is significantly less than 500,000 acre feet per year, it would not be feasible to transport this water through a new aqueduct because the cost per acre foot would be prohibitive. A better solution, in CWA’s view, would be the “wheeling” of this water through the existing Colorado Aqueduct. When approached with the question of what this wheeling charge would be, Met answered that the cost would have to be enough to cover the cost of energy, operation and maintenance of the pipeline. The wheeling charge would amount to $285 per acre foot. This charge would be added to the negotiated price of the transferred water. According to the CWA, this charge is more than the actual costs to transport water to San Diego and would probably make the water transfer from the Imperial Valley infeasible. CWA has proposed to pay $58 per acre foot for the wheeling charge. This payment would not include any payment for capital or other fixed costs that Met says would be necessary. Met contends that the CWA proposal would not result in any new water in the Met service area. Because Met intends to operate the Colorado River Aqueduct at capacity, the wheeling proposal displaces water available for regional use at a cost of as little as $0.25 per acre foot with water costing several dollars per acre foot for use by a single member agency. Page 2 of Agenda Birr #Jo. 306 In addition, Metropolitan, in an effort to secure more water from the Colorado River, has proposed to enter into an agreement with the Southern Nevada Water Authority to jointly pay for the lining of the All-American Canal which delivers Colorado River water to farms in the Imperial Valley. This joint venture would conserve about 70,000 acre feet of water a year and would be split with Nevada getting about 30,000 acre feet a year. This arrangement was attractive to Met because the Las Vegas water district indicated it would support the Met effort to acquire water- storage space in Lake Mead. This proposal has upset many people and agencies including the San Diego County Water Authority. The Imperial Irrigation District, the Palo Verde Irrigation District near Blythe and the Coachella Valley Water District all claim that this proposal is a momentous step and should be widely discussed before any agreement is signed. Because the Nevada deal would involve changes in the federal management of the lower Colorado River, Arizona Governor Fife Symington has threatened to sue California. As a result, the Imperial Irrigation District voted unanimously to void the agreement under which Met would do the work and get the saved water. Resolution of Issues These and other issues have caused differences of opinion between CWA and Met, and must be addressed in order for the proposed water transfer to be successful. In addition, there are concerns that member agencies of the CWA have that must also be addressed so that an informed decision concerning the proposed water transfer can be made. CMWD staff has some concerns and questions that must be addressed as well. Some of these are as follows: Should the IID water transfer prove to be viable, facilities probably would be constructed to bring water in to South County. As a result, this water would have to be pumped to North County member agencies. However, the water would not be treated and therefore Carlsbad, as would other agencies presently receiving treated water, would continue to receive treated water from Met. It would appear that Carlsbad would have to pay for the capital program for Met and for the CWA which would include the IID water transfer project, although Carlsbad would receive no direct benefit from the water transfer. If Carlsbad has an opportunity to purchase water directly from a source other than CWA, would the wheeling charge to Carlsbad be similar to the one proposed by CWA to Met? Should the IID water transfer prove viable, the amount of water purchased from IID plus the supplemental water needed from Met would provide 100% reliability. Will CWA continue to provide incentives (e.g., rebates, etc.) to member agencies for the continued development of local supplies such as reclaimed water? Since Carlsbad Is ready to embark on a $20 million Phase 2 of its reclaimed water master plan, the present program of rebates from CWA and Met are needed to make the project feasible. It is doubtful that with the loss of one of its largest water customers Met will be generating the revenue to continue the rebate program to the CWA. Page 3 of Agenda Bir, ,40. 306 For the upcoming Board meeting of February 20, 1996, staff has arranged for Christine Frahm, a CWA and Met Director, to be present to make a presentation to the Board on this subject. The information in this agenda bill is to inform the Board in advance of some of these issues and to provide a basis for discussion of the concerns and questions to be addressed at the February 20 meeting. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact. EXHIBITS: None.