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Home My WebLink About09/04/1990, 4 - SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF THE WHALE ROCK COMMISSION MEETING DATE: i��,l� city of San Luis OBispo a„tet COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ll NUMBER: FROM: William T. Hetland Utilities Director SUBJECT: Special Called Meeting of the Whale Rock Commission CAO RECOMMENDATION: Receive and file. Comment if necessary to provide direction to City representative/staff. BACKGROUND: Attached is the agenda for a special called Meeting of the Whale Rock Commission. The purpose of the meeting is to address the City of Morro Bay's request for an emergency water supply. Council should review the agenda report and provide.direction to the Commission representative. i I A G E N D A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING WHALE ROCK COMMISSION MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1990, 9:00 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBER, CITY HALL 990 PALM STREET, SAN LUIS OBISPO Roll Call: Ron Dunin, City of San Luis Obispo Commission Vice Chair John Dunn, City of San Luis Obispo . Commission Secretary Doug Gerard, California Polytechnic State University, Commission Chair Carlos Madrid, California Department of Water Resources Carmen Salvato, California Men's Colony William Statler, City of San Luis Obispo ---------------------------------------------------------------- PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD (5 Minutes) I. Request for approval of contingency plan for emergency supplemental mater supply from the City of Morro Bay. ATTACHMENT 1. Letter from Gary Napper, City Administrator, City of Morro Bay, dated August 2, 1990. September 5, 1990 WHALE ROCK COMMISSION REPORT FROM: William T. Hetland, Utilities Director Barry Daffern, Whale Rock Supervisor SUBJECT: Morro Bay's Request for Emergency Water Service RECOMMENDATION: Approve Morro Bay's request subject to the specific conditions . and limitations outlined in the staff report. BACKGROUND The City of Morro Bay has submitted a request for approval of a contingency plan for an emergency supplemental water supply from the Whale Rock Commission. The request is to purchase up to 100 acre feet of untreated Whale Rock water on an emergency basis during Morro Bay's current water crisis. Morro Bay's formal request is included as Attachment A Like many cities on the Central Coast, Mono Bay has been experiencing difficulty meeting their water supply demands. The Whale Rock Commission has previously provided the City water during emergency situations. Morro Bay made similar requests for emergency standby water in 1964,72,77,and 85. Only in 1972 did they actually have to take any emergency water (57 acre feet) from Whale Rock. Morro Bay is in Stage 4 of its water conservation program and has experienced approximately 20% reduction in water consumption. The City has also be working to develop new long term water supplies including the Coastal Stream Diversion.Project and are beginning discussions with the City of San Luis Obispo on desalination. STATUS OF WHALE ROCK RESERVOIR As of July 31, 1990 the Whale Rock Reservoir had 16,666.60 acre feet in storage, which represents 40.99 % of reservoir capacity. The storage capacity is broken down between member agencies as follows: City of San Luis Obispo 89085.12 AF Cal Poly 79003.91 AF Men's Colony 1.57757 AF Total 16,666.60 AF Taking into account additional supplies for the member agencies, this represents roughly a two-year supply of water. The current rate of use from the reservoir, based on July, 1990 figures and including down stream releases, is about 415 acre feet per month. The evaporation rate is about 165 acre feet per month or 55 acre feet per day. Morro Bay's request is for approximately 1 acre foot per day not to exceed 100 acre feet. This amount represents less that 20% of the water lost each day to evaporation. The total request is less than two thirds of the reservoir evaporation for the month of July. WHALE ROCK COMMISSION REPORT Morro Bay's Request for Emergency Water Service Page 2 ALTERNATIVES The Commission basically has three alternatives they may consider. Alternative 1 Reject Morro Bay's request Alternative 2 Approve Morro Bay's request as submitted Alternative 3 Approve Morro Bay's request subject to certain conditions and limitations Alternative 1 is an option available to the Commission. The Commission has no obligation to adopt the City's request. This alternative may be the preferred option given the water shortage situation that all the Commiss..ion member agencies are currently experiencing. Alternative 2 is to approve Morro Bay's request and basically sell 100 acre feet of water. The Commission would deliver the untreated water to the City at the existing turnout. Morro Bay would pay for all costs associated with the delivery and any other agreed upon fees the Commission may wish to establish. Alternative 3 would also allow delivery of untreated water to Mono Bay but would place certain conditions and limitations on the delivery. Staff recommends the City of Morro Bay's request for emergency water supply only be approved with the following conditions and limitations: 1. Emergency water supply be granted only if and when the City of Morro Bay has declared its Stage 5 Water Conservation level including mandatory water rationing and development of additional emergency water supplies. 2 The Whale Rock Commission will provide up to 1 acre foot of untreated water per day, not to exceed 100 acre feet total over the next six months. 3. The City of Morro Bay will return an equal amount of water used to the Whale Rock Commission within one year of use of the Whale Rock water. 4. The City of Morro bay will pay all costs associated with the delivery of the emergency water supply and is responsible for arty treatment that may be required S. The City of Morro Bay agrees to work cooperatively with the Whale Rock Commission and the City of San Luis Obispo in the development of additional water supplies, including desalination: 6 The Whale Rock Commission does not guarantee water quality or delivery. WHALE ROCKCOMMISSION REPORT Morro Bay's Request for Emergency Water Service Page 3 If the Commission chooses to provide water to Morro Bay, it will also have to decide how to apportion that water among the member agencies accounts. The apportionment could be based on the current percentages of stored water each agency has in the reservoir or it could be apportioned on the basis of the original contract allocation. It could also be apportioned in any other percentage combinations the member agencies may agree upon. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends Alternative 3 be adopted granting Morro's Bay request with the above conditions and limitations. Attachment A C, P:\BILL\MORROEMW.WP -f . City of 'Morro Bay 595 Harbor St-0 Morro Bay,CA 93442 9 805-772.1214 ATTACHMENT A August 2, 1990 Whale Rock Commission c/o City of San Luis Obispo Utilities Department 555 Morro Street �:rAUG San Luis Obispo, CA S3401 CITY 0i s. CITY LC 11 nr-S 7m,_LU I__ac VUjj,j I,C vur'l I Attention: William T . Hatland Utilities Director SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL WATER SUPPLY Dear Mr . Hetland: The City of Morro Bay requests the Whale Rock Commission officially consider the City 's petition to purchase up to 100 acre-feet of untreated water from the Whale Rock reservoir on an emergency basis during the City 's present low-water condition . The City of Morro Bay will reimburse the Whale Rock Commission for any costs of delivery of this water . Water would be delivered through an existing point of connection. It is anticipated the onset of "normal" winter rains will recharge the groundwater aquifers from which the City draws its municipal water supply , and therefore we expect reliance on the Whale Rock source would at worst be required for no longer than two or three months. Use of this water would require the City to notify its customers that although blended with our well water, it does COMB from an unfiltered surface supply and must be heavily chlorinated. Therefore, we approach the use of this water only as a last- resort alternative when no other means are available to provide our municipal needs . PREVIOUS CITY USE OF WHALE ROCK WATER In I9E4, a point of connection between the Whale Rock transmission pipeline and the City of Morro Say 's municipal system was constructed and tested. Water from the line was not Cused at that time. This connection is still in place . I I //. 4:0 CITY HALL FIRE DEPARTMENT PUBLIC WORKS 595 Harbor Street 715 Harbor Street 695 Harbor Street HARBOR DEPARTMENT POLICE DB%FrMENT RECREATION AND PARKS 1275 Embarcadero 850 Morro Bky Blvd. 1001 Kennedy Way WHALE ROCK COMMISSION - EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLY Page Two In 1972, a water supply crisis occurred and the City purchased approximately 57 acre-feet CAF) of water on an emergency basis from July through October . This supplement amounted to about q% of our total water usage that year . The City paid $114/AF plus pumping costs for this water . In 1977, another dry period occurred . Contingency arrangements were made to purchase Whale Rock water for 5150/AF plus pumping costs. However, due to institution of mandatory conservation measures by the City Council , per-capita water consumption was reduced over 20: (to 131 gallons per capita per day) , and use of Whale Rock water was not required . In 19e5, the City of Morro Bay experienced depleted groundwater aquifer conditions and approached the Whale Rock Commission with a request to renew their previous contingency agreement should it become necessary for the City to acquire a temporary emergency supply . The Whale Rock Commission stated it would consider the City 's request only if the City immediately imposed mandatory water conservation requirements on its customers, a step the City Council had not yet determined to be necessary . Prior to the City Council 's consideration of mandatory action, winter rains began to replenish the aquifers and the Council withdrew its request to the Commission. PRESENT WATER USE RESTRICTIONS Due to lack of adequate rainfall during the past three winters, the City 's groundwater supply is extremely depleted. We anticipate various wells may have reduced capacity or go out of service entirely due to lack of water before the end of the current dry cycle . Further, water quality has deteriorated to the point where it has become ,prudent and necessary to implement a very expensive temporary reverse osmosis treatment system to blend with other well water to maintain the delivered water in a potable condition . The City of Morro Bay has already imposed very severe restrictions on the ways its customers may use water by instituting the fourth level of a five-level water conservation program . Staff estimates it will become necessary to impose the fifth level Cemergency) before the end of the summer . Additionally, the City Council decided not to allocate any new water equivalencies for new or expanded water uses in the City during calendar year 1990. These actions and restrictions have resulted in an estimated 17- 19% reduction of our community 's water use from its "unconstrained" demand . �-7 2 WHALE ROCK COMMISSION - EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLY OPage Three EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLY CONDITION When the City 's wells are unable to refill the water storage tanks overnight Cthereby assuring at least one more day's water supply for the community) due to deteriorating quality or diminished pumping capacity, City Staff will recommend to the City Council it declare a water supply emergency and institute extreme measures to further reduce the community 's water demand. We envision this program will include water- rationing . We believe it will still be necessary to supplement our water supply from another source as Morro Hay citizens are already at a very low per-capita use of water Caverage total demand 133 gallons per capita per day) . The City of Morro Bay appreciates the Whale Rock Commission 's earliest official consideration of this request for an emergency supplemental water supply during such anticipated time of temporary water crisis. OVery truly yours, CITY OF MOR Gary Napper City Administrator CC: Morro Bay Mayor and City Council John Dunn, Administrative Officer City of San Luis Obispo O 3