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Home My WebLink About09/03/1991, 3 - TENTATIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR NACIMIENTO PROJECT IIIII�IpuI�II�`III,I I �"�/ (� MEETING DATE: V�Inj�� C� o San Luis OBISpo Se t. 3 1991 COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT I TEM NUMBER: FROM: William T. Hetland, Utilities Director IJP ' SUBJECT: Tentative Subscriptions for Nacmi iento Project CAO RECOMMENDATION: By motion direct staff to request a tentative subscription of 4,390 acre feet per year of water from the Nacimiento Project. BACKGROUND The San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (SLOCFCWCD) is formally requesting expressions of interest in Nacimiento water. This project is a permanent, long term supply project. Any.interest the City requests will be non- binding but should represent the City's best estimate of actual need based on general plan and water supply requirements. These requests will be used by the SLOCFCWCD to establish a special Flood Control zone of benefit for electoral and financing purposes. They will also be used to develop a project description and preliminary costs. The deadline for requesting tentative subscriptions is October 10, 19 91 . In November 1990, the City Council identified the required safe annual yield for the City to the year 2015. This was based on development within the urban reserve line and did not include any of the potential annexation areas outside the urban reserve line. It did include 2000 acre feet as a planning reserve. The City requires 14,400 acre feet of water to meet its safe annual yield. The break down is shown in Figure 1. The City's current safe annual yield is MWAF Planning Reserve(13.9%) Wells(3.5%)SW AF 7860 acre feet. This requires the Siltation Deficit(5.7%) City to develop an additional 1F , �, Salinas(33.3%) 6,540 acre feet of yield in order ".r;:' A 41woAF to meet our long-term water Urban Reserve Deficit(25.8%)— requirements. 25.9%)requirements. 3720 AF Cooperative Use(3.5%) Whale Rock(14.3%) 5W AF 2060 AF A number of water projects have been pursued in order to meet those supplemental water requirements. Since November Figure 1 Required Safe Annual Yield for 2015 1990, the status and priority of many of those projects have changed. The March rains provided the City a brief relief and the opportunity to delay development of a desalination project. Staff investigated the possibility of developing a Nacimiento project. The Nacimiento project was considered a temporary project the City would pursue 3-/ city of san pais o 3ispo COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Tentative Subscriptions for Nacimiento Project Page 2 by itself in place of the very expensive desalination. For general comparison purposes, staff based its estimates on a 3000 acre feet annual yield, which is the same amount used for the State Water Project and desalination. A community advisory election on the State Water Project was not supportive. The Environmental Impact Report on the Hansen and Gularte Creeks has indicated problems with the water rights and sensitive fish and wildlife habitat. The Coastal Streams Project Environmental Impact Report is also identifying the coastal streams as sensitive steelhead habitat and found the presence of the tidewater gobi, a fish that may soon be on the endangered species list. As of now, the only projects which seem to have a realistic chance of being developed include the Salinas Reservoir expansion and some additional groundwater. The Salinas Reservoir Expansion project could provide up to 1650 acre feet of water. Groundwater currently identifies only 500 acre feet as safe annual yield. It may be possible to identify an additional 500 acre feet of groundwater for safe annual yield. This would be a total of 2150 acre feet of new yield but would still result in a short fall of 4390 acre feet. The City's original request to the County was for 3000 acre feet of Nacimiento water. Staff now recommends the City request a tentative subscription of 4390 acre feet of Nacimiento water. The County's contract with Monterey County for Nacimiento water is for 17,500 acre feet. Of that amount, 1,300 acre feet have been contracted for use around the lake, therefore leaving 16,200 acre feet for the rest of the County. The last time the County requested tentative subscriptions they were over subscribed by 43%. With some agencies selecting to participate in the State Water Project at this time, it may help reduce the over subscriptions. There is still a possibility there can again be an over subscription and the county would have to reduce the requested allocations. If that was the case and the City did not get its full request, then it would be necessary for the City to develop additional sources of water different from what it has investigated in the past. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact at this time. After the County receives the requests for tentative subscriptions they will develop a project description and preliminary cost estimate. j ALTERNATIVES The Council could choose to request a different amount of water from the Nacimiento j project than recommended by staff. i ATTACHMENT District Request 3-z H LUIS OBISPO COU H19 COUNTY GOVERNMENT CENTER • SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA 93108 • (805) 549.5252 CLINTON MILNE RECEIVED Engineer GLEN L. PRIDDY AUG 1991 , DE'UTY COUNTY ENGINEER COUNTY NTT NOEL KING ADMINISTRATION ENGINEERING SPECiAT DISTPiCTS ADWNIS.RATOR £AN LUIS. OB1SPO' C-A DEPARTMENT AOADS August 19, 1991 TRANSPOATATIoN RANSIT FLOCD CON;AOL WATER CCNSE:.vATION To: Potential Nacimiento Water Project Contractors (List Attached) COU'N'TY sUAvEYOR SPECIAL SOLID WASTE Subject Nacimiento Project, Tentative Subscriptions Dear Water Purveyor: The San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District is formally requesting expressions of interest for Nacimiento water. The responses will be non-binding. They should, however, be presented only after careful consideration of general plan needs and projected water supply deficits, as they will form the basis for establishing a Flood Control zone of benefit for electoral and financing purposes, as well as for a project description and preliminary costs. No route has been formulated at this time; such will be determined on the basis of interest expressed by the various communities. Those farther from the source would bear higher costs. To allow the various city councils and district boards time to consider their desires and yet to avoid any further delays in the planning of this project, a deadline of October 10, 1991, is set for the receipt of responses. Please direct the responses and any questions to myself, Glen Priddy, Deputy County Engineer, or George Gibson, Hydraulic Planning Engineer. Sincerely, wa�� CLINTON MILNE County Engineer nac.ltr.ams Attachment cc: Harry Ovitt, Supervisor District 1 Bud Laurent, Supervisor District 2 ATTACHMENT 1 Evelyn Delany, Supervisor District 3 Ruth Brackett, Supervisor District 4 Chairman David Blakely, Supervisor District 5 3 3 Bob Hendrix, County Administrator