Grand Jury: O.C. imported water supply “very vulnerable”
June 19th, 2009, 12:04 pm · 10 Comments · posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor
Orange County’s imported water supply is “very vulnerable” to disruption by catastrophic failure, with important water-delivery structures in disrepair and insufficient planning for emergencies, according to a new report by the Orange County Grand Jury. 
Much of the planned water supply exists on paper only, says the report, “Paper Water: Does Orange County Have a Reliable Future?”
“The gap between allocated ‘paper water’ and available ‘real water’ can be dramatic,” the report reads. “This term may succinctly define Orange County’s water future as judicial rulings systematically continue to remove available supplies from the reach of Orange County’s consumers.”
Grand Jury foreman James Perez said he hopes the report will help encourage conservation.
“We’re not at the crisis yet, but we’re getting there,” Perez said. “If conservation is coming through, it’s amazing what can happen if everybody gets behind it.”
The report paints a grim picture of imported water delivery systems. It says there is a 67 percent chance of “drastic levee failures” sometime in the next 25 years. If the failure were earthquake-related, it could result in the seawater inundation of the California Bay Delta, the source of much of Southern California’s imported supplies. That, in turn, could cut off supplies from the delta to Southern California for “two to four years, or longer.”
Colorado River supplies also are in doubt, along with other imported-water sources. “Every source of water coming into Southern California from afar. . .is increasingly unreliable,” the report says.
The report contends that land planners also do not coordinate well with water planners to map out reliable supplies, and that most Orange County residents are blithely unaware of the danger they face.
“The public’s consideration for water supply typically starts and stops at the faucet handle as they expect, with every turn, dependable delivery of high-quality, safe, clean water,” the report reads.
Southern Orange County is especially vulnerable, says the report, because it is 95 percent dependent upon imported water sources; central and northern Orange County supply part of their water from the county’s underground aquifer, which the Grand Jury says is managed well.
South county’s imported water, the report says, is “sent 35 miles to south County via two, aging pipelines, traversing active seismic faults.”
Emergency water planning covers about 10 percent of what is needed, it says, the rest dependent on construction of planned pumps, pipelines, reservoirs and treatment systems, along with purification systems for seawater and brackish water in south county.
Karl Seckel, the assistant manager and water engineer at the Municipal Water District of Orange County who was consulted by the Grand Jury, along with other local experts, said he believed water planning is better than characterized in the report. The Grand Jury might have based some of its conclusions on outdated planning reports, he said, although Perez, the Grand Jury foreman, said it was based on current information.
“They understated where we’re at today,” he said. Planning now would ensure supply for Orange County for 5 to 7 days if Metropolitan water became suddenly unavailable; the agencies are working together, he said, to reach a goal set by Metropolitan of seven days, but they hope to do even better than that.
“I think the rest of it is pretty good,” he said of the report, although it “might be a little negative.”
The report called on the county’s “autonomous, fragmented” water agencies — members of the Municipal Water District of Orange County — to resolve their differences and unify, either by modifying existing agreements or by creating a new county-wide water authority.
The report also says every Orange County city or water district should approve new plans for water-saving measures based on up-to-date projections of potential constraints on supply, engage in more public outreach, and work together to plan for droughts, disasters and catastrophic disruptions.
Among the judicial rulings referred to in the report is a court-ordered reduction in pumping from the California Bay Delta to protect a threatened fish, the delta smelt; that as well as continuing drought conditions and reducted water from the Colorado River prompted the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles in April to approve a cut in supply to downstream agencies.
Many Orange County cities and water agencies are responding to the long-anticipated supply cut by passing tighter rules on water use, such as restricting times of day for outdoor watering.
The Grand Jury’s assessment of potential trouble with imported water supplies matches that of the Metropolitan Water District, said Metropolitan spokesman Bob Muir.
“I think you’ll hear the same concerns, not only in Orange County, but throughout Southern California,” Muir said.
(Photo of water basins at the Robert Diemer Water Filtration Plant in Yorba Linda by Rod Veal, Orange County Register. Register graphic, based on figure in Grand Jury report, by Brian Moore.)
Related posts:
- Despite glitches and hitches, O.C. cities pass new water rules
- O.C. falls into ’severe’ drought
- El Toro Water District calls for mandatory conservation
- San Clemente decides to tighten water conservation law
- Brea could impose mandatory water reductions
- Golden State Water seeking approvals for rationing plans
- Santa Ana water rates going up. . .again
- No restrictions on Tustin water customers
- District cracking down on water waste
- San Juan Capistrano is 9th to approve O.C. water measures
- Amid warnings, San Juan chooses voluntary water savings
- City Council hears mandatory water-use regulations
- Water rates may increase June 1
- Water agency approves supply cut; could lead to rationing
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Been saying for years if Al Qaeda really wanted to do the most damage they would go after our water supply. Contrary to what most people here think we are in big time trouble with our water supply and we need to do more to save what we have or else in the very near future we will be forced to do so
Scientists have claimed that 99.9% of all species that have ever lived are extinct. We’re protecting a smelt that dies in one year as soon as it spawns – at the potential expense of human lives. Bright, real bright.
We teach evolution and simultaneously try to impede same. What if by keeping these lil’ darlings alive in greater numbers, we are limiting the natural evolution of all the other life that live in the delta?
SoCo Dave, nobody will die if we water our lawns less. When will it be our turn to be part of that 99.9% extinction rate?
Pull your head out! SoCaDave is right.
and so what is going to be done?
Solution: Buy an Ecoloblue or equivalent machine. It gets water from the atmosphere without any of that fluorosilicic acid junk that is a by-product of the fertilizer industry and toxic. It saves the use of ground water and is better for your health. Think about it, if the water districts wanted you to be independent, they would promote people using these things. If water sources from the ground and waterways are so low, then why don’t THEY take it from the atmosphere. Makes you think. In Ireland they complain about the same thing, NO WATER, and it rains all the time there. I for one am not very concerned. What is called for is prudent use nor irrational fear mongering.
There are too many people in California. Not to mention Navada and Arizona. The water shortage that’s coming will make near ghost towns here and there once again.
The El Toro Airport runways should be dug up, piled up on the sides into tall hills, hills overlooking deep connected lakes, in order to create a large reservoir, fish and wildlife refuge, and sandy lake shore building lots for enough low density million dollar lake view homes, to pay for the whole thing! Turn El Toro into a reservoir/wildlife preserve!
Your reservoir idea is a great one Bruce, under normal conditions. However, one thing that you might not be considering is the contamination of the underground water table by toxic chemicals that were leaching from the El Toro Marine base.. El Toro is an EPA Superfund site, which means that the ground water has high contamination. The contamination plume is now reaching towards and threatening Irvine, CA.
Might not be the best idea then to build a water reservoir right on top of that area!
Some water reservoirs were contaminated with Perchlorate. The one by Riverside contaminated with Uranium. Thats right, Uranium.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-uranium-hayfield-2185785-district-agency
http://www.nossaman.com/showprofessional.aspx?Show=316
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july252008/el_toro_delays_7-25-08.php
Now, how much do you feel like drinking water, or trusting others to purify your water for you? You are far better off getting your own high quality water filter..as one member here suggested, reverse osmosis is a great technique. Those Britta and Pur water filters are useless.
I enjoyed this article.
Storage capacity = changes in inflow – changes in outflow. Our inflow is quite limited here. If you look at the math, the problem is much more serious than what this article conveys.
It would be much better if people lived closer to healthy water sources.
Since OC has been dealing with compacted aquifers since the 1930s (wells started being metered in the 1950s as a result). Farming destroyed a large percentage of the storage capacity of aquifers by draining+compaction. Once compacted, an aquifer never fully recovers. When WWII and all the people came, they brought many more toxins and eventually resulted in salt-water intrusion near where a lot of OCers live (via normal water consumption).
I think we should start exporting people from the area. OC was a truly wonderful place even thirty years ago… and could be again if there were less people+local consumption. OC could also be much safer place, which it isn’t now. OC is one disaster away from a half-million deathtoll. It’s frightening. You need to be on notice about this.
Why not encourage people to move to the north part of the state where there are still underutilized aquifers? Why not give these people (and existing companies) tax breaks and business incentives? Get people out who don’t want to be here. Many ppl do not want to be in OC. So, incentivize them to leave. (Note: we need to post surpluses to do this)
Perhaps people who stay in OC should pay a huge amount of taxes to offset the real costs of dealing with water inflow and outflow.
It’s sad. I know. I am politically quite right-wing. But in the case of OC it’s not reasonable to keep going the same direction as we have in the past. Water availability is a tremendous problem in the area and must be addressed more aggressively.