California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Board of Directors took action last week to invest in new infrastructure and water exchanges with other agencies that will allow Colorado River water and stored supplies to be more readily distributed throughout the region.
The strategy is to preserve limited State Water Project supplies for areas that depend heavily on water from that system.
“We’re entering the third year of drought in California. And while we hope conditions will improve this winter, we’re doing everything we can to ensure the entire region has reliable water if drought continues,” Metropolitan board Chairwoman Gloria D. Gray said.
Metropolitan and San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District have agreed that San Bernardino will make 7,000 acre-feet of its State Water Project supplies available to agencies that heavily rely on SWP supply. In exchange, Metropolitan will later return those SWP supplies to San Bernardino. In addition, San Bernardino will provide up to 1,000 acre-feet per month of local groundwater to Metropolitan that can be delivered to State Water Project-dependent communities. Metropolitan will cover the costs of receiving the water and returning a like-amount in the future.
“We really value the collaborative partnership we enjoy with Metropolitan,” commented San Bernardino Valley Municipal District CEO/General Manager Heather Dyer. “The wholesale water agencies of our region need to work together strategically to make every drop of water count during these very challenging water conditions. We look forward to working together in creative ways to help each other wherever possible.”
Looking to a longer-term solution, Metropolitan’s board also voted to advance infrastructure improvements that would allow water stored in its Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County and, potentially, Colorado River water, to be moved to some of these State Water Project-dependent areas that cannot currently receive that water source. The action allows project planning and preliminary design to begin on three different projects, which range in cost from $10 million to $26 million. Construction on two of the projects could start by the middle of next year.
