Clean Reliable Water for the Region

The Region

The Santa Ana River is the largest coastal river system in Southern California. The river begins high in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows over 100 miles southwesterly where it discharges to the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach. The Santa Ana River watershed, which receives an average annual rainfall of about 13 inches, covers over 2650 square miles of widely-varying terrain. This area, which includes parts of San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange Counties, is home to more than 4.5 million people.

Under natural conditions the river would be an intermittent stream with high run-off in the winter and spring seasons, and with little or no flow in the summer months. In more recent years the natural river supply has been, and still is, supplemented by highly-treated effluent flows from wastewater treatment plants resulting in a perpetual stream of water that courses from the City of San Bernardino to the coastal plain of Orange County. As the river and its tributaries flow toward the sea, the water percolates into the sands and gravels of the stream system, recharging the 35 groundwater basins that comprise the watershed. Water is pumped by farmers and cities from the groundwater source and utilized for agricultural, municipal and industrial supply. Following municipal and industrial use, the water is returned to the river as effluent. The river has a large volume of highly treated effluent and is perhaps the most tightly regulated in the world. However, each use of the supply results in added salinity to the water for the next user. The quality of the effluent returned to the River is closely controlled by the California Water Resources Control Board and the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board to assure that the water supply is protected for downstream beneficial uses.

Over the last thirty years, the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) and its member agencies Eastern Municipal Water District, Inland Empire Utility Agency, Orange County Water District, San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, and Western Municipal Water District have been leaders in planning and dealing with the complex problems involved in watershed management. Their efforts have led to significant projects involving water conservation and clean up of contamination. In order to continue that tradition of leadership, SAWPA is proposing a regional program to assure a sustainable water supply for the future, while at the same time enhancing the environment. The goal of the program is to make the region entirely self sufficient during drought cycles, thereby firming up the regions ability to assure a stable economy, while improving water quality, and also allowing more of the State’s scarce water resources to be allocated to wildlife and agriculture during those times.

Statewide Benefits

California is in the process of dealing with two major water supply issues. CAL FED is a process designed to help the state balance environmental, municipal supply and agricultural water needs in the Bay Delta. SAWPA expects this program to support the CAL FED process by reducing the needs of urban southern California especially during dry years, and thereby enhances the ability of the CAL FED parties to reach agreement. The second major issue is the requirement of the Department of Interior that California develop a plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water from 5.2 million acre feet per year (AFY) to 4.4 million AFY. Implementation of the SAWPA plan will reduce drought year demand in Southern California by 400,000 AFY. This dry-year savings will help to achieve the 4.4 million AFY objective.

Major Components

This program has four major elements: 1) Enhancement of the native habitat along the river and its tributaries 2) Desalting and treatment of contaminated brackish water to allow poor quality water to be reclaimed and used 3) Storage of water from wet years in groundwater storage basins to be used in drought and 4) Conservation, including water use efficiency and reclamation Each element is described below:

Steel and concrete are not the only important aspects of the water business. In the Santa Ana River a non-native species Arundo donax (giant cane) has come to dominate some 10,000 acres of riparian habitat. Some native species do not prosper in the environment created by this Arundo. The giant cane is also a significant fire hazard, and has cost millions of dollars and ravaged the environment each time it burns. The native flora typically take much longer to grow, are much less dense and after each fire the Arundo expands its grip on the environment. From the perspective of water supply, most observers estimate that if the Arundo were removed and replaced with native species, some 10,000 Acre Feet (AF) of water per year could be saved. One respected University of California scientist estimates that 37,000 AF of water per year could be saved. Protecting habitat enhances water supply in other ways. Examples include the use of open space to percolate water into the ground, or creating wetlands that clean water while preserving habitat. Projects restoring native habitat and creating wetlands or open space, which can be used for many purposes, have been developed by many agencies in this region. SAWPA envisions expanding these activities with a long-term program designed to specifically manage, expand and improve the habitat in the region, while at the same time obtaining a benefit for wildlife, water quality and self-sufficiency.

	Salt is not normally thought of as a contaminant, but in the Santa Ana region salt is a major factor limiting the use and reuse of water. Virtually all-human activity adds salt in small amounts. Water as it percolates through the ground may also pick up salt. As water is lost through evaporation or transpiration, the salt concentrates. As the salt accumulates, it increases in the water to the point where the water is too salty to drink or grow crops. The Santa Ana region has been a prime agricultural area for over one hundred years. The citrus industry flourished for most of that time. The dairy industry currently flourishes in two parts of the watershed. It adds a significant amount of salt and nitrate to the water. Over the history of citrus production, large amounts of fertilizer were applied to the land particularly in the early part of the 20th century. Agricultural use of fertilizer is currently regulated, but the legacy of salt and nitrate contamination, and to a lesser extent herbicide and pesticide contamination, will be here for a long time.
The Santa Ana region, over the years has also had major industrial development. This has brought with it major contamination. In the past SAWPA and its member agencies have taken the lead in removing contamination and solving problems. As in the past SAWPA is committed to helping to resolve the water quality problems and holding the parties accountable who misuse this public resource. To effectively use the water resources in the region, SAWPA proposes a major program to remove salts. Desalting the groundwater is a key component in any long-range plan to insure clean and reliable water.

The Santa Ana Region is blessed with many groundwater basins. These range in size from the large basins such as the Chino Basin, Bunker Hill Basin, Orange County Basin and San Timoteo Basin to small basins such as the Claremont Heights Basin. Each of these basins has some capacity to store water. The region currently takes delivery of about 350,000 AF of imported water per year that is treated and directly delivered. To have a truly sustainable water supply, the region needs to be able to store about three years worth of all imported water supplies. This is currently possible for replenished water, but not possible for the directly delivered water. The safest way to adequately protect the region’s water supply from, drought shortages, an earthquake or any other major emergency is to store it underground. SAWPA will support the proposal to make the Chino Basin a demonstration project area for the CAL FED process with storage of 500,000 AF.

The Santa Ana region has long been a leader in water conservation. SAWPA’s member agencies have spent millions of dollars promoting and implementing best management practices. More water is recycled in this region of California than in any other comparable area in the United States. There remains more to be done. It is imperative that any plan include a commitment to implement fully the best management practices of the industry and further to remain a leader in seeing that all forms of water conservation are practiced. This includes the implementation of programs to insure that proper landscaping practices are used, public education and storm water management and capture.

The estimated cost of this program over the next twenty years is $2 billion dollars over and above the cost of normal pipeline replacement and water treatment. Initial funding of the program will come from local, regional, State, and Federal funds. The funding of the program is designed to be an ongoing process. Each phase of the program will be supplemented by the preceding phase. SAWPA has obtained loans of the funds necessary to get started. Agencies in the local communities will repay the loans by purchasing the water. Any return on investment will be returned to SAWPA where that money will be used to build the next project. This process will continue until the region reaches a point where all the groundwater basins are appropriately managed and enough water is stored so that during drought, no imported water is required (often called conjunctive use).

The region has taken major steps toward the goal of sustainability. A $100 million brine disposal system has been built to take salts to the ocean. Four desalters will be operational within the next two years. Major clean-up efforts have been started in virtually every part of the region. Funding has come in from many sources and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) is committed to funding up to $5 million per year for regional projects for the next 20 years. Local agencies from all corners of the watershed have invested hundreds of millions of dollars and are poised to make even greater investments.

The key issue is financing and policy resolution. The benefits of these projects must be clearly defined through a consensus building process among stakeholders to create policy support parallel to financial support. The projects make financial sense and local agencies must pay the lions share of the cost, but the projects can only be financed when partially subsidized by parties looking at region-wide and statewide benefits. The partial subsidy needed indicates that the agencies in this region will not need to seek additional imported water in a drought. A more detailed list of funding needs is attached, and the funding sources are generally outlined below.

The proposed program will cost $2.0 billion above the normally expected pipeline and treatment costs. The proposed local share of the program will be about $1.3 billion or 65%. The way the process is intended to operate, the water agencies will be required to pay for the cost of water developed at a rate higher than the cost any given agency would normally pay, but in return would be supporting the regional program to clean up the water and develop a sustainable system. This could increase the average water bill less than 1% per year ( or by a total of 15 to 20%) phased in over the 20 year life of this plan.

The parallel step to the above funding mechanism is to obtain additional funding from the MWD to subsidize these and other related projects in the future. MWD has agreements in place that support the Arlington Desalter, Chino Basin Desalter, Menifee Desalter and numerous water reclamation projects. This amounts to a commitment of about $5 million per year. SAWPA has had preliminary discussions with MWD and the objective is to obtain an additional $6 million per year in funding over the next twenty years to allow additional projects to move ahead. Several other projects have been proposed for the watershed and MWD is evaluating their value at the present time.

The next step in the process is to develop additional desalting, groundwater storage (sometimes referred to as conjunctive use), a program to manage the habitat and further conservation measures. SAWPA is proposing that $350 million in a proposed California state bond be allocated to the Santa Ana Region to develop the several basin clean up, groundwater storage and habitat mitigation projects. Some of these projects may develop some additional revenue, which can return to SAWPA for future project subsidies.

There are several instances where federal help could be vital. Staff is working with the Bureau of Reclamation to get the exact details of a proposed Southern California water reclamation plan. The proposed plan will be included in the Bureau’s report to Congress on water reclamation in Southern California. This is the primary funding source needed to complete the puzzle of funding for recycling wastewater. Initial contacts with the Corp of Engineers have been made and show promise towards allowing their part of the plan to move ahead.