Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council

The Watershed Council Grew Out Of a.Not a law suit b.Not the Endangered Species Act c.Single purpose agencies that don’t talk to each other d.Need for a forum for cross communication

Comprehensive Multipurpose Stakeholder-Driven Consensus Process 18 Voting Directors: Environmental/Community Groups Federal/State/Regional/Local Government Academic Institutions/Professionals Business Groups/Property Owners Water/Wastewater Agencies Public at Large Nonvoting Liaisons (12 at Present)

The Double Watershed Large Geographically Complex Hydrologically Complex Politically Complex

Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watersheds

Mission To facilitate a comprehensive, multi-purpose, stakeholder-driven consensus process to preserve, restore and enhance the many beneficial uses, social, environmental and biological, of the Los Angeles River and San Gabriel River watersheds ecosystem through education, research, planning and mediation.

Four Sources of Water in Southern California Los Angeles Aqueduct Colorado River Aqueduct State water Project Native Ground Water

The Entire State is Plumbed

LA Aqueduct, Owens Valley and Mono Basin 1 st barrel from Owens Valley completed nd barrel to Mono Basin 1970s Capacity 560,000 AFY Delivering 320,000AFY or 57% of capacity

Problems Caused by LA Aqueduct Mono Lake Level Low Land bridge to nesting islands Increasing salinity Owens River Riparian & Wetland Habitat Owens Dry Lake Dust Control Ground Water Pumping

Colorado River All Used Up California 4.4 Plan MWD aqueduct capacity 1.25 MAF MWD entitlement 0.55 MAF Shortfall700,000 MAF

Colorado River Environmental Issues Estuarine Wetlands 95% gone Pacific fly way Indigenous people Salton Sea Wildlife Sanctuary Increasing Salinity Restoration of Riparian Habitat

State Water Project Bond act passed with 1/3 of 1% majority vote Service contracts, not entitlements Can deliver about half of 4.2 MAF in an average water year MWD has signed up for 48% of the water

Hub of State Water Project is the Delta 95% of delta wetlands now in urban or ag use

Issues in the delta: CALFED As much as 70% of flow through is diverted Tule peat islands as much as 30ft below sea level Levees not well engineered Pumps cause reverse flows around islands Water quality ocean water out disinfection by-products Reduced nutrients to nourish marine life

Native Ground Water & Surface Water Provides about 1/3 of So California supply Storm water captured for recharge Superfund sites Brownfields Mining of resources

Use Water More Efficiently - Urban Conservation Establishment of CUWCC.org 16 BMPs – listed on web site Water agencies that have signed on Levels of compliance Additional BMPs for the future

Agricultural Conservation Agriculture uses about 80% of all developed water Almost half of that irrigates 4 water intensive low value crops alfalfa, irrigated pasture, *rice and *cotton *subsidized

Use Water Efficiently - Reuse Bureau of Reclamation Backbone Study 28 Projects in LA County = 260,000 AFY Direct Reuse:landscape irrigation industrial process water cooling towers recreational lakes, habitat

Conjunctive Use Storing wet year surpluses against dry year need Association of Ground Water Agencies (AGWA) study identified 1.78 MAF of storage capacity in LA County Chino Basin has at least 2 MAF of unused storage

Watershed Management Storm Water: Water Augmentation Study Landscape Ethic: Native and Mediterranean Plants Remove Noxious Exotic weeds

Water Transfers – Happening Now Politically expedient Use market forces Responsibility for allocating water belongs to the state Private benefits from a public resource

New Technologies Desalinization of brackish water Desalinization of sea water

Conclusion Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting Too many agencies working at cross purposes Arcane water laws: use it or lose it Ability to profit from transfers Lack of statewide policy mandating efficiencies