By RICHARD SELBY
Last December, I wrote a three part series of articles addressing mutual water company issues and needs to help inform the public of just what these types of water purveyors are. I addressed training that happened in January and February. I informed that if there was a good turnout to the training then MWA would see fit to add some funds to its next fiscal year’s budget for Small Water Systems and Disadvantaged Communities (DAC) Assistance. As I write this article, MWA is about to pass this budget.
Well good news, there was a good turnout at the training sessions put on by California Rural Water Association (CRWA) to a point that they had to add another class to cover the overflow of registrants. This since brought forth the idea at the MWA to create a Small Water Systems Sub-Committee to the Implementation Team on the current Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP). I was appointed as Chairman of this sub-committee with Marina West of Big Horn Desert View Water Agency in Landers as the Vice-Chairman as well as others to serve on this committee. This is a volunteer position that we agreed to take with the interests of helping the small water systems like Lucerne Valley’s nine mutual water companies. I am looking forward to working with this committee to see how the MWA can reach out to all small water companies to see that they can get the help they need from whatever agencies can help. This committee will work with all small water companies within the MWA’s territory. In case you didn’t know, a small water company for this discussion is one that serves less than 3300 connections (meters) and less than 10,000 residents.
Now, that leads to the meeting that was held on April 12th of Lucerne Valley’s mutual water companies for a roundtable discussion on whether these water companies would find a benefit to some sort of an association of such companies. Six of the town’s nine companies attended this meeting and unanimously felt that it would be of a benefit to at least meet again and share some more experiences, issues and concerns that affect us all. Missing at this last April’s meeting was Lucerne Valley Mutual Water Company, Desert Springs Mutual Water Company and Lucerne Vista Mutual Water Company. We certainly hope that the directors, managers and operators of these companies will see the benefit and will have the time to attend the next meeting of this consortium of local mutual water companies which is scheduled to be held on May 24th at 10:00 a.m. at the Lucerne Valley Community Center.
As you can see, there is much attention and interest in working to protect our valuable water resource to which we must take advantage of.
What about the future of water in Lucerne Valley? Will there be enough for our children and grand-children? What events could happen that may affect the quantity and quality of our water? These are some of the questions that we need to focus on.
What about the quantity issue? Lucerne Valley is an adjudicated basin, actually two basins, by the courts that has set a current free production allowance (FPA) (pumping rights) of any entity that pumps over ten acre-feet per year for a sum total of 15,422 acre-feet for the whole basin. The basin is referred to as the ESTE Sub-Area (Lucerne Valley) and started with 19,251 acre-feet but has been ramped down to 80% of that figure for today’s allowance. What’s important about this is that does not include all those private wells that are considered minimal producers or those that pump less than 10 acre-feet per year. Here’s where the issue gets fuzzy. I hear that there is an interest in Lucerne Valley by small parcel farmers, say 20 acres or less, that could plant crops that could use more than 10 acre-feet per year but they don’t get counted in this adjudication sum limit because of the private well status. The allowance could be ramped down more if in the future Lucerne Valley is determined to not be in safe yield (means water inflow matches outflow). This could happen if there was an influx of many small farms and or other uses like large residential developments or industrial facilities that would consume large amounts of water. Other basins in the MWA boundaries are ramped down much further than ESTE like to 65% or less than what they started out with. Any further ramp downs in ESTE could hurt the small water systems and their FPA. The MWA will be monitoring the water tables in the two basins that comprise the ESTE Sub-Area (Fifteen Mile Valley Basin west of the Helendale fault line and the Lucerne Valley Basin east of the fault line). Growth is inevitable so we must be careful on how we use and protect our water. The ESTE Sub-Area Advisory Committee will be addressing this issue in the future.
The other concern on quantity is the drought in California. Does this concern us since we pump our water from the ground here in Lucerne Valley? Well if you think about it, if this drought goes on long enough and the inflow will no longer match the outflow, which could be caused by a lack of rain in the mountains to our south over a period of years, then could we be faced with the ramp down issue? Maybe!
When the water tables drop, the salts and other minerals tend to concentrate in the aquifer. This definitely affects our water quality. I have noticed up to a 30% increase in total dissolved solids (TDS), which is a concentration of mineral content, in some areas of the Lucerne Valley Basin in the last decade. It’s not a problem yet but if this continues for another decade, then some areas of this basin will reach the point where the water will need some type of treatment to remove the excess TDS. The north valley area has brackish water for years now due to agricultural over pumping over many years past, but farming was all that lived here then. The MWA is now looking at the effects of salts on the water in their service area, which is 4900 square miles. So water quality is a concern.
As part of the Small Water Systems Sub-Committee I will be working with our water companies in the future as well as hoping to see you mutual water companies representatives at the next roundtable on May 24th. Look for more training classes by the CRWA coming this summer and fall and more interaction of the CRWA with all small water companies.
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Richard Selby is chairman of the Lucerne Valley-Johnson Valley Municipal Advisory Council.