Symposium tackles future water woes

Public Record, The, Nov 02, 2004 by Kleinschmidt, nice

Water management in the Coachella Valley began almost 100 years ago, long before anyone conceived the prospect of a million people living here (a number now considered a n count if realistic population counts, if trends continue, of permanent and seasonal residents by 2030). Even then, groundwater levels had begun to fall, and concerned community leaders saw the need for a supplemental water source.

Jumping ahead a few pages, forward-thinking individuals worked to secure rights to Colorado River water, and the AllAmerican Canal was built. By the early 1960s, water levels were returned to historical highs.

In water terms, the 1960s are yesterday and 2030 is tomorrow. Recognizing as much, the Coachella Valley Water District held a water symposium on Oct. 20 in Indian Wells to discuss implementation of the district's 2002 Water Management Plan.

"We have to face growth and take part in the discussion how growth is going to affect our water supplies," said Steve Robbins, CVWD general manager and chief engineer.

In 1999, the water district mailed 75,000 notices out for two public forums to discuss water; 12 people showed up. About 300 showed up for this month's symposium, which also was used to solicit interest in a water management plan implementation task force scheduled to begin meeting in January.

The plan, adopted in September 2002, sets goals for reduced demand: a 7 percent decrease by 2015 from agricultural operations, a 5 percent decrease by 2010 from golf courses and a 10 percent decrease by 20 10 from domestic users.

Last year, CVWD passed a landscape ordinance affecting new developments and large-scale landscape refurbishing within the district and asked local cities to adopt parallel ordinances. Rancho Mirage and La Quinta have since passed ordinances; Palm Desert's preceded the water district's.

Palm Desert City Councilman Buford Crites said his city also hands out a maintenance guide when new projects are approved. According to him, anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of water used for landscaping doesn't go where it's needed because of leaks, stopped emitters or overworked emitters. Additionally, water is wasted from automatic sprinklers not adjusted or turned off when they're not needed, such as the day before the symposium when it rained. "We need to pay a lot better attention to water scheduling," Crites said.

This month, CVWD changed its fee structure to take into account the amount of water a project uses. The new fees, which take effect Jan. 1, 2005, affect new developments. Whereas developers have been paying a fee for each meter installed, they now will be charged a fee based on historical averages from 13 types of development and will get a credit for a wise-water use plan. "We are trying to make people think about water at the early stages of a development," Robbins said.

Doug Bennett, a certified landscape irrigation auditor with Southern Nevada Water Authority, said Las Vegas reduced its use of Colorado River Water by 15 percent between 2002 and 2003. Forty-five million square feet of ornamental turf grass, which uses four to five times as much water as other plantings, was converted to desert landscaping. Putting the accomplishment into perspective, Bennett said 45 million square feet is the equivalent of 750 football fields or a roll of sod from San Francisco to New York and back and into the Pacific Ocean.

Bennett said Southern Nevada Water Authority water waste enforcement bears the most severe penalties anywhere in the United States ($1,600 for a single violation) and there's talk of making them even more stringent. "We found the easiest way [to enforce conservation] was to make it a condition of agreement between the water agency and the customer," Bennett said. "The penalty shows up on their water bill."

Mark Beuhler, CVWD general manager, said the valley's groundwater basin is 30 million acre-feet - 30 times larger than Lake Powell or Lake Mead and 40 times larger than Diamond Valley Lake, but has 5 million acre feet of empty space - larger than the Oroville or Shasta lakes.

Droughts and increasing demand have resulted in more water being taken out of the basin than going in. Dave Luker, general manager of Desert Water-Agency, said the Coachella Valley has been well equipped to deal with the overdraft because of contracts for State Water Project entitlements.

"Without the State Water Project, we wouldn't see much of the Coachella Valley that we see today," he said. Prior to importing water to recharge the water basin, groundwater levels had dropped 100 feet. After about 40 years of recharge, about 50 feet have been recovered.

Another source has been "pool" water: State Water Project contractors who do not need all of their entitlements can put it on the market for other contractors. "Since 1996, there has been an effort to secure as much of that as we can," Luker said, In addition to landscape ordinances and water use education, the water districts are expanding sewer systems, which makes more recycled water available for golf courses.