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Thinking Outside the Delta: The State of Water in the Southland

Posted by: Editorial Staff | 07/07/2008 5:16 AM

It's easy to take for granted and impossible to live without, some agencies are resorting to new techniques to conserve water.

With gas prices rising by the day, it seems that public concern about our most precious and life-sustaining resource has all but...evaporated.

Kidding aside, water is vital to life and has no substitute. It may seem abundant, but is in limited supply and has been since the formation of the earth. The water cycle has bestowed our ancestors - and now, us - a seemingly unlimited supply of this resource; but with a growing population in many arid regions across the country, the importance of water conservation is more important than ever. In California, the issue is even more pressing. As one of the largest and fastest-growing states in the nation, California faces obstacles not yet encountered in other parts of the United States.

The Big Picture
The origin of the state's water supply is one of those topics often taken for granted or not even considered by the general public. Despite drought, wildlife conservation obstacles and pollution, our water providers take great pains to keep it that way.

Perhaps they do too good a job.

In a day and age when water conservation has become mandatory in some areas, it may be time the public become better educated about their water. To illustrate this point, in a recent countywide telephone survey of Orange County residents, water didn't even come up as an issue of concern. (Top issues included the economy/job market; schools/education; and cost of living/taxes.)

That said, where exactly does California's water come from?

If you said the 700-miles of twisted sloughs and waterways that make up the California Delta, you're absolutely right - but only partially. Though the Delta supplies more than half of the state's residents with water, it is only one of many water sources statewide.
The remaining amount comes largely from groundwater sources (40 percent). The rest is taken from the Colorado River (which is in the midst of a long-term drought) and various local sources (e.g. reservoirs).

But the system isn't perfect.

The Delta faces some pretty daunting environmental and engineering issues. On the environmental end, an endangered fish the size of a finger, the Delta smelt, has single-handedly cut off approximately 30 percent of the water supply from the Delta at intermittent periods for six months out of the year.

"While the faucet out of the Delta down to Southern California should be coming out at full-blast, it is coming out at a drizzle," said Stephen Sheldon, President of the Orange County Water District (OCWD).

In redistributing Delta water, the pumping plants used by the State Water Project and Central Valley Project near Tracy inadvertently suck in the smelt, killing them in the process. Because these fish are endangered, in December 2007 a federal judge ruled to shut down pumping operations during certain periods between January and June each year, effectively cutting off water to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWDSC).

"We have lost 200,000 acre-feet (65.2 billion gallons) to this decision," said Jeff Knightlinger, General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWDSC).

It has also cost the California State Water Project, which oversees the Delta water supply, $500,000 in lost revenue as of May.

Aside from environmental issues, the Delta also employs the use of an aging levee system. Seismically vulnerable, catastrophic consequences affecting our water supply, not to mention Delta-area residents, would result in the event of a levee breach. One such breach, at Jones Tract in June 2004, resulted in increased salinity (seawater intrusion) and the State Water Project being shut down for approximately a week.

"It's really a haphazard system," Knightlinger said of the Delta.

To remedy some of these issues, one idea being acted upon is a conveyance system that will more efficiently transport water from the Delta to Southern California. Currently the project is in the Environmental Impact Report stage, which will take two to three years to finish.

The entire project is expected to be finished in eight to ten years. It will be one of the largest public works projects in years for the state and is expected to cost about $4 billion. When completed, it will be able to move 2 million acre-feet (652 billion gallons) of water per year, whereas the current system moves 1 to 1.5 million acre-feet (326 billion to 489 billion gallons) annually.

In addition, Governor Schwarzenegger is well aware of California's water crisis and is on top of the issue.

In 2007, he implemented the seven-member Delta Task Force, an independent, nonpartisan group that has been given the task of coming up with a 12-point strategic plan for the California Delta, much of which will focus on its water supply. The plan is due in June and will be revised in November, after which the group will be disbanded.

"We think the governor is spot-on with his performance-based infrastructure initiative," said Dr. Wallace Walrod, Vice President of Research and Communications at the Orange County Business Council.

SoCal Solutions
Clearly, California suffers from water demand issues statewide, but Southern California has its own unique set of problems - and solutions - in response.

Southern California is a natural desert with approximately the same annual rainfall as North Africa, so it has had no choice but to historically rely on water from beyond its boundaries. Competition for water is fierce as well, and must be allocated between the general population and agriculture. Lastly, California is growing by the day. According to some estimates, Southern California could see as many as 2.6 million new residents in the next 15 years, with the state expecting an influx of 15 million during a similar time frame.

Currently, most of the region gets its water from the MWDSC, which is comprised of water from the Delta and the Colorado River. That water is supplemented by local water sources (reservoirs, groundwater, etc.).

Though the picture seems grim, not all of Southern California relies so heavily on outside water sources.

North and central Orange County sits atop a natural aquifer. The aquifer has a depth equivalent to two Eiffel Towers (1,972 feet) and 326 billion gallons of drinkable water for 2 million residents of North and Central Orange County. In fact, the aquifer is so plentiful that this portion of the county takes about 75 percent of their water from this source. The remaining 25 percent is imported.

The OCWD serves central and northern Orange County and is responsible for managing the Santa Ana River and the aforementioned groundwater basin.

Unfortunately South Orange County isn't as lucky. Because it sits largely on a layer of clay, water cannot percolate into the ground as it does in the north part of the county. Thus, South County relies almost exclusively on imported water.

Besides the aquifer, the OCWD has taken extensive steps to back up its groundwater supply in the form of Prado Dam, which was built by the district in 1938 as the result of major flooding in Orange County. It is said the flooding was so widespread, one could paddle a boat from Fullerton to the Pacific Ocean.

Water collected in Orange County begins at Prado Dam, is cleansed by the dam's wetlands, comes downstream via the Santa Ana River to Anaheim Lakes off the 91 freeway and is diverted into percolation ponds where it seeps into the groundwater system. "When we store water behind Prado (Dam), that water is not lost to ocean," Sheldon said.  Losing potable water to the ocean is much of the problem.

When it rains, any water that is not captured via reservoir or otherwise flows to the ocean. Once this happens, there's no going back. Ideas to build desalination plants along the coast are possible, but the cost, energy expenditure and sometimes, public opposition, usually outweigh the advantages.

Making Strides
Since Southern California cannot depend on rainfall as a source of water, and natural aquifers are in short supply, what is being done to ensure a continuous source of water for the region?

The new conveyance system from the Delta is one idea being hailed by many, including the MWDSC. But with the potential problems the Delta could face in the future, it is not necessarily fail-proof. Northern California relies not only on the Delta, but also on a series of dams and reservoirs. Southern California has also built some reservoirs, but not to the extent in the north.

That's why certain areas, notably Orange County, are hedging their bets on recycled water - with positive support from the public, California and the federal government and conservation organizations.

As of January 10, the OCWD has been operating its world-renowned Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) in Fountain Valley with outstanding results.

The GWRS is, frankly, revolutionary for a facility of its kind. The plant takes sewer water, which is already highly treated prior to its arrival, and purifies it even further using a three-step process (microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide). The resulting water is so pure that, according to the OCWD, minerals must be added back to stabilize the water. The GWRS replaces the first sewer water purification plant, Water Factory 21, built by the OCWD in the 1960s. The GWRS can treat an impressive up to 70 million gallons of water per day.

From there, approximately half of the treated water is injected into the western side of Orange County's aquifer as a seawater intrusion barrier to ensure no salt water escapes into the (fresh) groundwater. The other half is pumped from the GWRS plant to Anaheim Lakes, where the water percolates directly into the aquifer. The end result is water that exceeds all state and federal drinking water standards.

"It is a model for the rest of the world," said Michael Markus, P.E., General Manager of the OCWD. "This is the wave of the future."

Not only does the GWRS serve as a reliable source of water for north and central Orange County and decrease its dependence on MWDSC-purchased water, it is also the largest groundwater replenishment plant of its kind in the world, making it a showcase for water industry leaders internationally. On an annual basis, it can meet the annual needs of 500,000 people.

Besides the obvious water savings, the system is also surprisingly energy efficient, expending only half the amount required to transport water from Northern to Southern California. On an ecological note, it also lessens the impact of sewer water flows to the ocean.

The majority of the funding for the nearly $481 million project came from the OCWD and the Orange County Sanitation District. The remaining funds came from grants ($92.5 million), the federal government ($20 million), the state government ($72 million) and the MWDSC ($4 million annually). Despite the cost, because of the energy savings and lesser need to depend on imported water, the GWRS is an economically viable project for the county.

"We're doing both a project that's fiscally conservative and environmentally friendly at the same time," said Shivaji Deshmukh, P.E., Director of Local Resources and Finance for the OCWD. "The thing that's not factored into that price is reliability."

In April, the OCWD accepted the Public Water Agency of the Year award at the 2008 International Desalination Association/Global Water Intelligence conference in London. The agency also won the Water Project of the Year award at the same conference for the GWRS.

Though the GWRS is the star of the water community, Southern California as a region is making strides in the water game.

Diamond Valley Lake, Southern California's newest and largest reservoir, holds enough water to meet the needs of 18 million MWDSC users for six months if a major drought were to occur. The 260-foot-deep lake also serves as a recreation area.

In April the MWDSC, in conjunction with the states of Arizona and Nevada, authorized the construction of an 8,000-acre-foot (2.6-billion-gallon) reservoir in Imperial County. It is expected to save 228 billion gallons of water annually. The $28.7 million in funding from the MWDSC will entitle the agency to 100,000-acre-feet (32.6 billion gallons) of water per year.

It's not just large agencies that are eager to conserve water, either. Pelican Hill at Newport Coast uses a state-of-the-art water management system. The underground system consists of cisterns (rainfall storage tanks) that can hold as much water as one-and-a-half Olympic-size swimming pools. This untreated water is then used to irrigate the resort's golf courses and landscaping.

Living in Southern California comes at a price; for most of us, that is clear. Unfortunately, one of the costs is access to unlimited water supplies; however, the water industry is so good at managing our water and finding ways to provide water for the region, much of the public doesn't understand the complexity of the problem. Our water agencies and government have the foresight to realize something needs to be done to protect our way of life, but if new ideas for managing water are not discussed and put into action, at some point, population increase will make water worth more than anything.

Mark Twain is rumored to have said, "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over." If we're not mindful of our commitment to conserving and managing water, these words could ring especially true for Southern California.


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BONUS: Facts & Figures
* Water weighs eight pounds per gallon.
* Seventy percent of the Earth's surface is water.
* If the Earth's water supply held enough water to fill a bathtub, only one teaspoon of it would be drinkable.
* Sixty-five percent of the human body (on average) is composed of water.
* A person can go only 10 days without water.
* An acre-foot (326,000 gallons) is enough to satisfy the needs of two average-size families for a year and is equivalent to more than 3 million (12-ounce) cans of soda.
* Only two percent of the water that comes from faucets is ingested.
* The average family uses 163,000 gallons of water per year.
* In California, more water is wasted outdoors than indoors.
* It takes 700 gallons of water to make a cheeseburger and 32,000 gallons to make a car (all ingredients/components combined).

Source: Orange County Water District


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BONUS: The Grass is Always Greener with Aqua-PhyD
What if someone said they had a way in which you could water your garden less, save energy in the process and enjoy a higher yield (of flowers, crops, etc.) without the use of chemicals?
Of course the answer would be, "Sign me up."

As it turns out, a system like this is being used at some of your favorite golf courses.

Aqua-PhyD is a four-year-old company with some new ideas about water use. Seeing the need, especially in Southern California, for water and energy conservation, the Orange County-based company has developed a non-chemical water and soil treatment technology that uses energy waves to increase the hydraulic conductivity of water in soil, as well as mineral solubility and nutrient uptake.

In a nutshell, the "green" system takes any kind of water, which is then induced by the Aqua-PhyD unit with natural energy as a consequence of the flowing water inside, resulting in less sodium throughout and higher mineral/nutrient solubility for plants.

The company says this leads to larger root formation and more efficient water use by plants.
Currently, Aqua-PhyD is used primarily at golf courses (it serves more than 40 in California, Nevada, Georgia and Florida) and in agriculture.

In a case study of Hybrid Bermuda grass Aqua-PhyD conducted at a Southern California golf course, they were able to maintain growth and color using up to 40 percent less water. This is not necessarily the norm, but proved a significant water savings is possible. Other water-limiting studies have been applied at golf courses in California and nationwide, as well as in the agricultural community, with similar results. In addition to the water savings Aqua-PhyD provides (10 to 20 percent on average), it also can boast an impressive energy savings (dependent on location) - especially when it's considered that 19 percent of the energy used statewide goes to pump water for agricultural uses.

In an age when water is becoming more and more valuable, Aqua-PhyD is illustrating that environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and, most importantly, water-efficient alternatives are available.

For more information, visit www.aqua-phyd.com.

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