Each of the funding proposals will


be reviewed for geographic diversity and cost diversity as it relates to agricultural and urban water use, Hasencamp said. Under the terms of the agreement with Reclamation, funds must be expended by the end of 2016. Funding pilot conservation projects continues a history of collaboration between MWD, SNWA and CAP, which have worked together on projects such as the Drop 2 Storage Reservoir in Imperial County, the Yuma Desalter pilot run and agricultural water conservation in Mexico, Hasencamp said. Fallowing has its supporters and detractors, something of which urban water providers are aware. “Te lowest common denominator is to fallow ag land; that’s the easy one and that’s what the ag community is most concerned about,” Lochhead said. For the Upper Basin, in particular, the concern is the potential drop in Lake Powell below the power pool. “We hope this is something we frankly would never have to implement because obviously we hope we don’t reach that critical elevation,” Lochhead said. “Te conse- quences are so high that we have to have plans in place to deal with it, it’s like any other emergency response that anybody would do. “We want to move water from the


Upper Basin Colorado River Storage Project reservoirs down into Powell when necessary to maintain the criti- cal elevation,” he said. “Ten, we want to reduce demands above Powell as it approaches these critical elevations.” Te program will provide up to $11 million in funding for projects related to reduced risk to water sup- plies, hydropower production, water quality, agricultural output, recreation and environmental resources across the Colorado River Basin. Te water conserved under this program will stay in the river system, helping to boost declining reservoir levels and the overall health of the system. “Instead of the Intentionally Created Surplus, where we fund conservation


“[T]his is different. We would fund conservation but it would remain as system water without anyone’s name on it.”


– Bill Hasencamp, MWD


and store that water in Lake Mead, this is different,” Hasencamp said. “We would fund conservation but it would remain as system water without anyone’s name on it.” An “interesting situation” occurred in the Colorado River Basin in 2014 as every reservoir, including Powell, expe- rienced water level increases except Lake Mead, Hasencamp said. “Te reason Mead went down is


because we tend to operate a year after the rain and snow, so the rules for this year were set last year and last year was very dry and Lake Powell was low so that triggered reduced releases this year,” Hasencamp said. “Because Lake Powell went up, next year [it] will release 1.5 million acre-feet more, even if it’s dry. So next year, there’s going to be some relief for Lake Mead.” A dry 2014-2015 would mean a


lower Lake Powell, but wet conditions could lead to higher elevations at both reservoirs, Hasencamp said. Urban water providers in the Colorado River Basin have long taken the initiative in pushing the water con- servation envelope. Te SNWA’s highly successful turf rebate program pays residents to take out grass and replace it with desert-friendly landscape. Since 1999, more than 171 million square feet of lawn have been replaced. “We’ve actually rebated enough to


run a line of turf almost all the way around the world,” said Huntley with SNWA. Te program has paid about $200 million in rebates since its inception, saving 240,000 acre-feet of water. “We are 75,000 acre-feet below our [annual] Colorado River allocation of 300,000


6 • Colorado River Project • River Report • Winter 2014-2015


acre-feet,” Huntley said. Huntley pointed to the city of Los


Angeles’ Department of Water and Power, which announced a rebate increase in November that will pay people $3.75 per square foot for the first 1,500 square-feet of lawn replaced with “California Friendly” drought-tolerant landscaping, the highest price paid by any utility in Southern California. “With our current water crisis, we


now need to do even more,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, in a statement. “Conserv- ing water through DWP rebate pro- grams is not only better for the environ- ment, it’s cheaper for ratepayers, costing 30 percent less than buying expensive water from outside our city.” Te rebate program has replaced about 9 million square feet of turf since 2009, saving nearly 400 million gallons of water, according to the city. “A decade ago, municipal and ag- ricultural agencies in California came together to help the state permanently reduce its use of Colorado River water. Te goal of this latest effort is to develop new basin-wide partnerships to expand conservation activities during this historic drought for the benefit of all Colorado River water users,” said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.


Lochhead said “both basins bear


responsibility” for helping to solve the problem, though “clearly, the Lower Basin bears a big responsibility to deal with this because they are operating at a deficit.” Total uses from the river in the Lower


Basin and Mexico, including evapora- tion and system losses, “far exceed” the amount of water flowing into Lake Mead, Lochhead said, adding that the Lower Basin “has been surviving off the system storage in Mead and Powell and the fact that the Upper Basin is using less than the 7.5 million acre-feet allocated to it.”


Te situation “is clearly not sustain-


able,” especially given the projected losses under climate change scenarios.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11