Kern County Water Agency – Water for the People By Josh, Jason, & Juy

Overview Description of Agency Sources of Water Incoming Logistics/Operations – Water Resources Operations – Improvement District No. 4 (ID4) Outgoing Logistics – Cross Valley Canal & ID4 Overview of Groundwater Banking

Kern County Water Agency Created in 1961 by the legislature Approved by Kern County voters in 1961 County-wide agency with 7 person voter elected board of directors Created primarily to contract for imported water supplies Groundwater protection Flood control and dams Hydro-electric power Annual entitlement of one million acre-feet of water from State Water Project KCWA has contracted with 13 local water districts for one million acre-feet of SWP supplies Largest agricultural participant on SWP - second largest urban participant KCWA represents 25 percent of the State Water Project

Seven Member Board General ManagerGeneral Counsel Accounting & Finance Executive Operations Engineering & Groundwater Services Water Resources Improvement District No. 4 Cross Valley Canal Business Management

Funding Tax Revenue – 1% of Kern County Property Tax Levee (amounts to about $2,000,000) Investment Income – Interest earned on fees we collect Municipal Bond Issue – for capital improvement projects

Water Sources External  State Water Project (31%)  Central Valley Project (Federal Bureau of Reclamation) (12%) Local  Kern River (22%)  Groundwater (35%)

Thousand Acre-Feet 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 1,500 1, Kern County Water Agency Gross Water Supplies and Net Water Requirements San Joaquin Valley Portion of Kern County ,000 CVP SWPLocalDemand (net water requirements) Additions to groundwater Withdrawals from groundwater

What Are Member Units Primarily government entities that administer water rights on behalf of their land owners:  Belridge Water Storage District  Berrenda Mesa Water District  Buena Vista Water Storage District  Cawelo Water District  Henry Miller Water District  Kern Delta Water District  Lost Hills Water District  Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District  Semitropic Water Storage District  Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District  Tejon-Castac Water District  West Kern Water District  Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District

Sources of Supply Kern County Water Districts KCWA SWP MEMBER UNITS 1,000,000 AF Delano-Earlimart ID Rag Gulch WD Kern-Tulare WD Olcese WD Tejon- Castac WD Devils Den WD Lake Isabella Kern River CVP FRIANT-KERN DISTRICTS 387,000 AF CVP CVC DISTRICTS 53,000 AF Lebec CWD California Aqueduct KERN RIVER DISTRICTS 740,000 AF 178 Rosedale-Rio Bravo WSD KCWA Improvement District No. 4 Tehachapi-Cummings CWD Wheeler Ridge- Maricopa WSD West Kern WD Semitropic WSD Belridge WSD Bakersfield Southern San Joaquin MUD Shafter- Wasco ID North Kern WSD Cawelo WD Kern Delta WD Henry Miller WD Buena Vista WSD Friant-Kern Canal Cross Valley Canal Lost Hills WD Berrenda Mesa WD Arvin- Edison WSD

Water Resources & Inbound Logistics Takes orders from member units Places orders with State Water Project and Central Valley Project Keeps track of Kern Fan Banking Collects payments from member units for water deliveries Pays the State of California Department of Water Resources (SWP Water) & Federal Bureau of Reclamation (CVP) for water delivered Approves water exchanges between member units, tries to keep water in Kern County Forecasts demand for water

Central Valley Project Federal Project run by the Bureau of Reclamation Friant Division transports surplus Northern California water through the southern part of the central valley Friant Kern Canal moves water from the Central Valley Project to the Kern River

State Water Project Deliveries via California Aqueduct  Delivers over 10,670 cfs 5.2 Billion spent as of 2001 on SWP Share of costs based on geography Water Agency has 2 nd biggest share

&Page Current SWP Reliability Supply Gap Reliable Supply Repeat of 1987 to 1992 drought = 44% supply Repeat of 1977 (critical dry year) = 20% supply WetDry Percent of time at or above Annual Delivery (MAF)

Forecasting Demand Tries to keep deliveries from going beyond what energy producers can provide power for Encourages member units to store water during wet years to have access to during dry years Try to keep groundwater banks from being “overdrawn”

Delta Smelt Crisis The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and various environmental protection groups asked the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to stop the pumps to prevent any further “take” of the threatened smelt. Because of this, the State Water project had to stop pumping water from the Delta to South California (including water to Kern County Water Agency) from June 2007 to March 2008 This forced the Agency to draw upon other water supplies, including groundwater that had been banked with various groundwater banking projects

Delta Smelt Crisis Smelt fish need brackish water to survive, and the brackish zone in the delta is decreased when fresh water is exported. State Water Project pumps have been implicated in directly destroying smelt by sucking them into their intakes. The Delta Smelt is a native fish that live Brackish (a delicate combination of fresh and salt water) waters in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The size of fish is only 2-3 inches, and its threatened status has placed it on the Federal Endangered Species list

Improvement District No. 4 Supplies supplemental water supply to the Urban Bakersfield area (serves 1/5 of urban Bakersfield’s Residents) by using State Water Project Water Water delivered is directly recharged or treated i Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant that treats water from the Kern River, Banking Projects, SWP, FK Canal 40 million gallon-per-day serves 1/5 of residents of Metropolitan Bakersfield Water purveyors are the California Water Service Company, East Niles Community Service District, North of the River Municipal Water District, and the City of Bakersfield

Water Purification Spends over $500,000 on chemical annually Some sources of water are cheaper to purify than others Kern River Water is the cheapest, State Water Project Water is the most expensive Cost of treating water remains on of the most significant costs of water

Water Purification Treatment can typically be classified into two categories Health-related treatment (Can make you sick) Aesthetic-related treatment (taste, smell and sight)  Color  Turbidity Purification Plant deals with both