State imposes emergency drought mandates
State water board announces emergency drought regulations
Inyo County wanted assurances that Los Angeles would cut residential water use in return for cuts to irrigation water and higher proposed groundwater pumping by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in the Owens Valley in 2022.
Those reductions are on the way, but LADWP did not mention Inyo County’s request to cut urban water use in its final 2022 Owens Valley Operations Plan which was completed on May 19.
Earlier in May LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the city would restrict lawn watering to two days a week for eight minutes. Those restrictions will go into effect on June 1. Officials from LADWP estimated the reduced watering would help cut daily water use per person from 112 gallons to 105 gallons a day per person. The department also notes it uses the same amount of water as it did 50 years ago while the city population has increased by 1 million, thanks to aggressive water conservation programs.
In addition, earlier in May the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California dictated its water customers cut outdoor watering back to just one day a week. The district provides water to dozens of cities in Southern California from the State Water Project.
This week, the state Water Resources Control Board stepped in and announced emergency drought regulations that include mandating that all water agencies begin work to reduce water use by up to 20%. A key element of that plan are regulations that ban using drinking water for irrigating “nonfunctional” grass at commercial, industrial and institutional properties. The regulations define “non-functional” turf as grass that is “solely ornamental” and not regularly used for recreational purposes or community events.
The ban doesn’t apply to yards at individual homes. There are also exemptions for sports fields, grassy areas where people gather, and for watering to keep trees healthy.
It is unclear at this point how the new regulations and watering bans will impact Inyo County towns and small water districts. As with many state regulations, the new drought measures are directed at “urban areas.” The regulations do provide some exemptions for water agencies that have
secure, local supplies that are not impacted by the drought and will continue to provide ample water through September 2023.
Inyo County Public Works operates town water systems in Laws, Independence and Lone Pine. Those systems are supplied by groundwater under terms of the InyoLA Long Term Water Agreement. The Big Pine Community Services District supplies the town with water from groundwater wells. The City of Bishop provides water for city residents and some outlying areas. Numerous small water districts also operate in the county.
Although this is the third straight drought year stemming from record low Sierra runoff, the counties’ towns have not implemented mandatory water conservation measures or watering restrictions.
The State Water Board’s emergency regulations mandate that each “urban” water agency submit its “annual water supply and demand assessment” report. Agencies would then have to implement their plans to achieve water savings of between 10% and 20% in the coming year.
The focus on water reductions has been directed to urban areas, even though agriculture uses about 80% of the water pumped or diverted by the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Agricultural users have seen their supplies dramatically reduced in the past two years, which has resulted in 395,000 acres of cropland left dry and unplanted last year, with more losses to come this year, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Inyo County agreed to LADWP’s plan for “reasonable reduction” of agricultural irrigation water for LADWP lease holders. The cut will amount to about 4,000 acre feet, while 34,750 acre feet of water will be delivered to local agricultural lands. That is the lowest amount since implementation of the Inyo-Los Angeles Long Term Water Agreement.
Despite the county requesting a yearly pumping total of 55,900 af to a maximum of 59,540 af to supply only “in-valley uses,” the LADWP plan retained its plan to pump between 67,210 acre feet to 86,300 af. Because of the drought, LADWP only presented the first six months of planned pumping, and will present another six-month pumping plan before October, which the county will also be able to comment on.
“In-valley uses” of water on LADWP land, including irrigation, will come to about 78,890 af. All enhancement and mitigation measures will receive a full allotment of water. The Owens Lake dust control project will receive about 50,000 af of water.
Exports via the LA Aqueduct are estimated by LADWP to be about 62,700 af this water year. That would represent about 11% of the total projected water use for the city, the plan states.
The 2022 LADWP operations plan was based on runoff reaching just 47% of average, coming after last year’s runoff total of 45% of normal, which are two lowest runoff totals on record.