CENTRAL SACRAMENTO COUNTY GROUNDWATER
FORUM
Issues and Interests
Statement
(Under revision - will post when completed)
To fully realize the benefits of the Water Forum within the Central Basin, the Water Purveyors feel that groundwater quantity, groundwater quality, cost, and a flexible basin management structure are key ingredients.
1) The Central Basin is part of a larger regional groundwater basin (i.e., North, Central, and South Basins) that is comprised of saturated sands, silts, gravels and clays of widely varying permeabilities, both vertically and horizontally. These water bearing strata are known as aquifers and are not confined by political or service area boundaries. The Central Basin is a self-replenishing, yet limited source of supply for groundwater pumpers within the basin. An understanding of the Central Basin and its relationship to the regional basin through on-going modeling programs and data management systems will be necessary to responsibly manage the operation of the basin.
2) The
Water Forum Agreement’s recommended estimated average annual sustainable yield
for the Central Basin is 273,000 acre feet.
In order to meet this recommendation, management of the Basin is
necessary to protect the viability and reliability of the groundwater resource
for both current and future users.
3) Water
supply within the basin will be met by a combination of groundwater, surface
water, recycled water, and remediated water.
4) The Water Forum Agreement contains Specific Agreements which detail what benefits each stakeholder organization will receive and what it will do to receive those benefits. In part, these benefits ensure adequate water supplies for each purveyor to meet current and future water demands through the year 2030.
5) The water purveyors of the Central Basin endorse water conservation as a necessary component to managing the groundwater basin. At the same time they also recognize that there are costs associated with implementing a water conservation program. These costs will have an impact on what customers will have to pay for water, so customer acceptance of individual measures will need to be considered. Each purveyor’s implementation of water conservation measures will be as outlined in their individual water conservation plans.
1) Groundwater quality within the Central Basin is dependant on a number of factors, some natural and some man-made. An understanding of these factors will provide valuable information relative to the management of the Basin. Some of these include: naturally occurring contaminants, surface/groundwater interface, basin recharge, and the transport and fate of man-made contaminants.
2) Treating or replacing groundwater supplies will directly impact purveyors and their customers. Negative impacts associated with groundwater quality issues include:
a) Costs of treating groundwater to remove various present and future regulated constituents (e.g., iron, manganese, arsenic, VOCs, etc.). Basin management should recognize that more constituents are being regulated at ever smaller concentrations.
b) Costs to finding and developing new sources of water supply resulting from the loss of existing groundwater sources due to contamination (e.g., perchlorate).
c) Potential impacts to customers served groundwater containing measurable levels of contaminants with known adverse health effects.
d) Potential impacts on the environment associated with various water treatment processes (e.g., air striping, discharges to surface waters, disposal of spent media, etc.).
3) Localized man-made contamination of groundwater within the Central Basin is an ongoing problem. There are a number of contamination plumes within the Basin that have been identified and remediation activities are planned or underway. In those areas where a remediation plan has not been implemented the contamination plume continues to spread.
a) Groundwater contamination has impacted nearly every municipal water purveyor in the Basin.
b) Remediated groundwater from various clean-up efforts should be used within the Basin. The basin must remain whole; i.e., be able to meet the 273,000 acre foot long-term annual average sustainable yield as recommended by the Water Forum Agreement.
1) Purveyors and their customers are directly impacted by increases in the cost of pumping and treating groundwater. Pumping and treatment costs generally increase as groundwater levels decline in the Basin. The result is an increase in the cost of water production that is passed on to water users within the Basin. Limiting the volume of groundwater that could be pumped from the Basin would help provide some stability in the cost of water production.
2) Those responsible for contaminating groundwater supplies must pay the full cost of the remedy including appropriate sources of replacement capacity and the loss of capital facilities.
3) Basin
management costs should be equitably apportioned among basin pumpers/users.
4) New
development must pay the full cost of infrastructure necessary to provide water
service to it.
5) Public water supply and water quality is essential in meeting public health and safety requirements for the community, so it is imperative that cost should remain affordable to ensure this.
BASIN GOVERNANCE
I.
LAND USE AND WATER
PLANNING
Land use decisions in areas using groundwater within the Central Basin are made by the Cities of Elk Grove, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and Sacramento and the County of Sacramento – water purveyors (i.e., special districts, departments of governmental entities, or private investor owned) are not land use planning entities. Master planning for water supplies is based on adopted land use plans as described in the General and Specific Plans of each land use policy maker.
Regulations linking land use and water supply (SB 220 and SB 610) have recently been enacted by the State and their application by respective planning departments and purveyors is underway. These regulations require that a water supply be identified for a project (greater than 500 equivalent dwelling units) as part of the planning process. In recognition of these requirements, the Water Purveyors support adherence to the agreed upon long-term average annual sustainable groundwater yield of 273,000 acre feet.
The impacts of re-zoning on a purveyor’s revenue stream/debt service (the ability to extend services to these areas) needs to be recognized particularly after facilities have been installed.
II.
GROUNDWATER
MANAGEMENT
The Central basin water purveyors
are interested in developing a flexible groundwater management
program/governance structure that recognizes existing groundwater rights,
maximizes use of existing facilities, promotes inter-agency cooperation, and
ensures support for projects that will implement goals identified by the Water
Forum (i.e., the seven linked elements and the Purveyor Specific Agreements)
and the Central Sacramento County Groundwater Forum.