By Kim Adamson, General Manager Soquel Creek Water District
As we settle into fall, our fingers are crossed that we are approaching a typical, rainy winter that will help replenish water supplies across California. But here in the mid-county area, we will still have a serious water shortage even if the drought ends this year and normal rainfall returns.
Fantastic Water Conservation Efforts!
Mid-county residents have done an excellent job at conserving water and are continuing to adopt this “new normal”, making water conservation a way of life to protect our over-drafted groundwater basin. Conservation efforts have been remarkable: Soquel Creek Water District customers used 26 percent less water in August compared to a year ago.
Central Water District customers have used 25 percent less, and many private well owners have also shared with us how they are working to reduce their use.
Water Shortage Outlook
However, despite these efforts, our groundwater supply remains in a state of overdraft and the basin wide, long-term demands are unsustainable. While we have made great strides at conserving this year, the water shortage problem doesn’t end when the rain comes. Think of it this way as a health/medical analogy: Your doctor said that you were 50 pounds overweight and wanted to put you on a diet and limit your food intake to 1,200 calories a day to lose 10 pounds and reduce your chances of getting diabetes. Within a few months you hit that initial target weight loss goal, the doctor is very proud of you, and you’d likely not have to take insulin.
However, there still exists an overweight condition that can lead to other health issues. As a region, we are nearing our “target initial weight” (using our limited water conservatively) as we address that we’re still “overweight” (overdrafted basin). This is the only way we can repair the damage that has already been done. Using less than is replenished through rain each year, for many years, is the only way to refill the void left in the basin from over-pumping.
The risk if we don’t do this is great. We know we have seawater intrusion in two areas on our coastline. If our underground basins are contaminated further by ocean saltwater, our only source of water will become un-usable. This means we must keep moving forward with our efforts to protect our water supply and secure enough safe, affordable water to meet our community needs now and for future generations.
New Groundwater Law in CA
Luckily we’re making progress towards these goals, and we received a big boost from the state last month when Governor Brown signed a package of groundwater management bills into law. While most states have laws governing the pumping and management of local groundwater sources, until now, no such regulations existed in California.
We were the only state in the West without these types of regulations. This lack of oversight and management has led to overdraft and subsidence, where the ground actually starts sinking, throughout the state. In some areas in CA the ground level is dropping by about a foot a year.
The new law requires that depleted groundwater basins be replenished. In priority basins such as ours, we will have to monitor and report quantities of water pumped by all basin users to the state, except small residential users who are excluded from the state mandate. Across the state, regional groundwater sustainability management agencies will be created by 2017 to oversee basin use. For our basin, a basin sustainability plan must be developed by 2022, showing how water pumping and replenishment will be balanced to stop further depletion. The new law requires that a groundwater sustainability agency be identified to create and implement the plan. In our basin, a regional, collaborative approach including the County of Santa Cruz, both mid-county water districts and private pumpers is being explored.
Collaboration is Essential
We’ve actually been working with our neighbors in the mid-county area for several months in order to develop shared solutions to our regional issue – even ahead of the state legislation. We’ve had several well-attended meetings with community stakeholders, including private well owners, to explore the issues with our shared water basin and start to identify solutions.
Soquel Creek Water District is also moving forward to identify the best option for a new, supplemental water supply that would help provide enough water to meet our ongoing community needs for our homes, businesses and schools. In August, our Board short-listed four options for further study, including two groundwater replenishment and two surface water transfer projects. Over the next several months, we’ll be studying these more closely to evaluate legal, technical, financial and other factors.
One of the key criteria for a supplemental water supply is community acceptance. We held several workshops last year to review and evaluate our options, including several ideas put forth by customers and community members. We’ll continue to have a transparent, public process as we narrow our choices. And since many items on our short list involve regional cooperation, we’ll keep collaborating with our agency partners and neighbors.
As you can tell, it’s been an exciting few months in the wide (and wild) world of water! I’ll keep you posted in this column as things continue to evolve, and as always you can keep up with Soquel Creek and mid-county water issues on our website, www.soquelcreekwater.org social media (Facebook: soquelcreekwater, Twitter: soquelcreekH2O) and with our newsletter and e-newsletter.