(left) Peter Kampa, General Manager Lake Don Pedro Community Services DistrictThe first Resolution passed on a 4-0 vote with one excused was Declaring a Stage Three Drought Emergency-Water Warning. This Resolution extends the ban on outside landscape watering and a increase to 50% in Mandatory water use restrictions.
The second Resolution passed on a 4-0 vote with one excused allows the Board to Proceed with Emergency Water Supply Construction Projects Without Public Bidding.
Before Mr. Kampa began his presentation Dr. Robert Ryder, Mariposa County Health Officer said he is looking at the health needs of the community if the effects of the drought get worse. The Health Officer is especially concerned about the health needs of the elderly, residents without transportation, the effect of non functioning water coolers (because of no water) on babies, children and the elderly. He said without water there is a risk of serious complications leading to hospitalization for things like renal failure and heart failure.
To find the number of residents in the community who are at risk the Health Officer proposes a survey along with Tuolumne County going door to door in mid-April and mid-May with county workers asking each resident about their health risks. The community mentioned mailings, notices in the water bills and articles in the papers to get the word out about the survey. Volunteers could possibly be used in going door to door while individual privacy issues have to be respected.
Dr. Ryder said he would like a participation rate of 80%-90%.
Peter Kampa said they have to plan for the absolute worse in case they run out of water and the water district has to comply with California State Water Board Permits.
The Water Code prioritizes the water uses as (1) human consumption (2) sanitation and (3) fire protection.
Secondary uses are (1) Outside irrigation. (2) Pets, horses. livestock, (3) Fountains and decorative (4) Construction and (5) Pools. The board has discretion on instituting these secondary uses.
The Water District Board may declare a water shortage emergency when it determines that normal consumption, sanitation and fire protection cannot be met without depleting supplies.
Once the Water District Board declares the emergency they must adopt regulations to conserve water supply for the greatest public benefit but they may prioritize allowable water for other purposes.
One of the steps in declaring a Water Shortage Emergency is the board must hold a pubic hearing.
Mr. Kampa said they expect their normal water supply is going to be stripped due to the lack of water supply out of Lake McClure.
Since October 2013 they have been on an emergency pumping system as their domestic pumps have been out of the water. The emergency pumps have been pumping water 300-500 feet vertically and this is straining the system. Pumping this water is costing $20,000 a month compared to $1,000 a month when using their normal pumps. The water is now dirtier causing the usage of more chemicals to clean it so those costs are also up. With sunlight penetration into the lower lake levels the water warms and then algae begins growing in the lake which could plug up the pumps.
The steps the board has taken so far include on February 18, 2014 they declared a Drought Emergency as the water supply was diminishing. A Voluntary 20% water conservation measure was put in place. Mr. Kampa said the community met this 20% voluntary reduction.
On December 3, 2014 a Water Supply Warning and Stage Two Conservation was put in place noting the water supply was in jeopardy of depletion. The board put in place a Mandatory 30% water conservation.
In December of 2014 they had about a 60 day supply of water in Lake McClure and it has not improved since. With a 13% snow pack Mr. Kampa said when it warms up this snow melt will just go into the ground or be evaporated before it gets to the lake.
For every 10 feet of lake elevation with new water into the lake the district gains a month of water supply.
Merced Irrigation District has to discharge a certain amount of outflow every day for the downstream salmon spawning grounds. A one day discharge out of the dam equals the communities needs for one year (500 acre feet of water). With this discharge the reservoir drops a half a foot to a third of a foot a day. Their is currently an approval to reduce the outflow of the dam by 40% until April 1. That equals a 160 acre feet of less water leaving the reservoir each day. 1 acre foot equals 326,000 gallons. This has allowed the reservoir to rise about 20,000 acre feet (About 20 feet of elevation) with the February rains. This allowed for about a 60 day water supply.
Mr. Kampa said they have had limited success in finding adequate new ground water. They have drilled seven sites and are finding 10 to 40 gallons a minute which is not enough for the district (but fine for a single home). Some residents have not responded to their request to drill a well on the county road right of way next to their property. Each well costs $400,000. They have spent about $85,000 so far. They need 300 -350 gallons a minute from the four combined wells. They have one well producing 150 gallons a minute. They are looking for wells to produce at a minimum 100 gallons a minute.
It takes about 60 days after a good test well is found to get the well online after getting all the permits, inspections and the construction.
Pumping the ground water really hard leads to reliability concerns.
About the middle of August they could run out of water in Lake McClure. The cut off will be 560 feet above sea level.
1.3 acre feet a day could be supplied by four wells producing 300 gallons a minute while the district uses 1.8-1.9 acre feet (360 gallons a minute) during the summer peak demand. The daily demand quadruples from the winter months.
Supplying water for a fire could cause the system to never recover. A well failure could also occur along with a power failure or system leaks to cause they system to fail to deliver water.
Surface water options are really expensive and take time. The district has no rights to Lake Don Pedro water. Installing a Lake McClure deep water access, 120 feet deeper than where the pumps are currently, could cost well over $10,000,000. This deep water access is five miles away from the current pumps. They are looking at a temporary system of piping the water overland. A permanent system with a buried pipe and fixed pumps would take a year at the soonest. They are looking at this as the permanent solution and are looking for grants.
When the water system in the district was installed Boise Cascade used inferior materials and also the system was not installed right and sometimes they have to contend with five leaks a day.
To get the grants they have to have the 50% water conservation.
The district does not have the money for four wells. The district has a state grant commitment for $408,000 that pays for one well but they cannot wait for the grants.
The Water Budget
Creates a baseline usage amount for indoor use. Anything over the baseline amount used has to be reduced by 50%.
The Community is already at about an 85% compliance rate.
A resident questioned the water use for the salmon and said humans are a higher priority than the salmon. Mr. Kampa said the agreement to supply the water for the fish was established in 1966.
Board member Chuck Day said both of our federal senators have declined support to change the rules for the fish and he urged the community to write letters to the state and federal legislators.
A resident asked the board to provide them adequate notice so they could make arrangements for their horses if it looks like they are going to run out of water.
Board member Day said they are going to have a 50% reduction in water sales while the costs do not go down but the 50% reduction opens the door for grants.
The second item on the agenda was asking to operate the district in an emergency state so they do not have to have competitive bids of projects (which could put projects out a minimum of 120 days with all the postings and meetings that would be required.) With the water situation the way it is they do not have the time to wait four months to put bids out and award the bids.
Before the vote Mr. Day said "We gotta do it" and "Prevailing wage is the highest union wage within 5,000 miles."
The sunset on this resolution is December 31, 2015 unless it is extended.
