Dudley Ridge Water District and San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District Water Transfer and Banking Program
4 Documents in Project
Summary
SCH Number
2021120653
Lead Agency
Dudley Ridge Water District
Document Title
Dudley Ridge Water District and San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District Water Transfer and Banking Program
Document Type
NEG - Negative Declaration
Received
Present Land Use
The Project is located in Kings, Kern, and Los Angeles Counties. Land within and surrounding the DRWD boundaries are primarily agricultural and located on the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, with the Coastal Mountain Range to the west and the Sierra Mountain Range to the east. SGVMWD’s boundary is located in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area of Los Angeles County and abuts the San Gabriel Mountain Range and Angeles National Forest to the northeast.
Document Description
The DRWD-SGVMWD transfer program, which began in 1995 and has been modified through its existence, has allowed DRWD to convey excess water supplies in a given year to SGVMWD when SGVMWD has the capacity to receive the water. Capacity is determined by the California Aqueduct capacity, water levels of the Main Basin in the SGVMWD, and flood control restrictions affecting SGVMWD’s ability to recharge water. SGVMWD maintains an accounting of the DRWD water received, and when DRWD requests a transfer from SGVMWD for up to 90% of the water previously conveyed to SGVMWD, SGVMWD transfers a portion of its current year Table A water to the extent it can meet DRWD’s request. This arrangement allows SGVMWD to receive additional water that it can recharge earlier than it otherwise could, and nets 10% of the DRWD water delivered to supplement SGVMWD’s groundwater account in the Main Basin. In return, DRWD can better regulate its variable SWP supply year by year. The return of water is available to DRWD once SGVMWD has received 5,000 AF of its SWP supply, approximately 17% of its Table A allocation. The 2020 Agreement also allows for DRWD have a portion of their previously transferred water to SGVMWD delivered to DRWD by requesting DWR to reclassify a portion of SGVMWD’s SWP previously water delivered in a given year to SGVMWD to be shown as delivered to DRWD. Water delivered to SGVMWD by this reclassification is limited to years where the SWP Table A allocation is 50% or greater.
The 2020 Water Banking Agreement allows SGVMWD to store water within the KWB capacity for interim storage during times when SGVMWD’s conveyance capacity in the East Branch of the California Aqueduct is limiting deliveries to SGVMWD. It is expected that SGVMWD would generally bank some of its Table A water in the KWB in years where there is 70% SWP water allocation or greater. Banking the water during higher allocation years allows SGVMWD to avoid the risk of carryover water spilling from San Luis Reservoir when SGVMWD’s delivery capacity is limited to a rate lower than its contract capacity of 48 cubic feet per second in the East Branch.
Except for the system and administrative losses of 10-15%, the intent of the 2020 Agreement is for DRWD and SGVMWD to each receive the same amount of SWP water with or without the transfers, however, the timing of the transfers will be different to allow each district to better regulate, through storage, the SWP water in a manner that provides each district greater reliability.
Contact Information
Name
Dale K. Melville
Agency Name
Dudley Ridge Water District
Job Title
Assistant Manager/District Engineer
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant
Phone
Email
Name
Dena Giacomini,
Agency Name
Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group
Job Title
Principal Planner, Environmental Project Manager
Contact Types
Consulting Firm
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
Bakersfield, Hanford, Los Angeles
Counties
Kern, Kings, Los Angeles
Regions
Citywide, Countywide
Other Location Info
The Dudley Ridge Water District (DRWD) proposes to continue with the long relationship of water transfers with San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District (SGVMWD) and allow SGVMWD to bank water in DRWD's capacity in the Kern Water Bank (KWB). The DRWD-SGVMWD Transfer and Banking Project (Project) includes: (1) delivering approved State Water Project (SWP) Table A water allocation between DRWD's and SGVMWD's service areas; and (2) recharge, storage, and recovery of SGVMWD's SWP water within DRWD's capacity in the Kern Water Bank. DRWD and SGVMWD have had a water exchange/banking program in place since 1995. DRWD and SGVMWD would each receive the same amount of SWP water (less losses) with or without the transfers/banking, however, the timing of the transfers would allow each district to better regulate their respective SWP water supplies in a manner that provides each district greater reliability.
Other Information
The SWP diverts and conveys long-term water supplies from northern California through State-run water conveyance facilities to portions of northern California, Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, and southern California. Approximately 70 percent of the water is used for residential, municipal, and industrial uses and about 30 percent is used for agricultural irrigation. It is the largest state-financed water project ever built. SWP facilities deliver each year’s available water through contracts between the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the 29 State Water Project Contractors (Contractor or Contractors), including DRWD and SGVMWD. Each year water is allocated by DWR and provided to each water Contractor in an annual allotment represented as a percentage of their Table A amount. The Contractors pay for the costs of construction and DWR’s maintenance, operation, and administration of the SWP facilities.
The Contractors’ contracts were structured to reflect anticipated increasing population and water demand, estimated by DWR and the Contractors, and completion of SWP facilities. The SWP Table A amount is specified in each Contractor’s contract in a schedule that sets forth the maximum annual amount of water that may be requested to be delivered in any given year. DRWD has a maximum annual Table A amount of 41,350 AFY and SGVMWD has a maximum annual Table A amount of 28,800 AFY.
Whenever the available annual supply of Table A water is determined by DWR to be less than the total of all Contractors’ requests, the available supply of Table A water is allocated among all Contractors in proportion to each Contractor’s Table A amount relative to the total Table A amounts pursuant to Article 18 of the SWP Water Supply Contracts. Table A allocations differ from year to year based on water availability within the State according to DWR. Due to persistent dry conditions in California, DWR has currently decreased all Table A allocations for 2021 to 5 percent of Contractors’ requested Table A amounts.
Notice of Completion
State Review Period Start
State Review Period End
State Reviewing Agencies
California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Central Region 4 (CDFW), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, South Coast Region 5 (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Transportation, District 6 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, District 7 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Fresno Region 5 (RWQCB), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region 4 (RWQCB), California Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Delta Protection Commission, Delta Stewardship Council, San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC), State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights
Development Types
Other (Water Transfer and Banking )
Local Actions
Water Transfer and Banking
Project Issues
Cultural Resources
Attachments
Draft Environmental Document [Draft IS, NOI_NOA_Public notices, OPR Summary Form, Appx,]
Notice of Completion [NOC] Transmittal form
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