Laguna water getting tapped out

Water supplies are dwindling throughout California, but Laguna is particularly vulnerable, water district officials said Monday at the Laguna Canyon Conservancy meeting.

All of Laguna’s water is imported, which puts it at the mercy of suppliers who dictate the allotment to the city.

District officials are looking at ways to find or develop new water sources for the long term, but the short-term view is grim, including the Damocles Sword of mandatory rationing.

“The water crisis is real,” said Renae Hinchey, general manager of the Laguna Beach County Water District, which services customers north of Nyes Place and in Emerald Bay.

Recent rainfall is a drop in the bucket needed to alleviate the long-term reduction in water supplied to Southern California by allotments from the Colorado River or from Northern California, via the Metropolitan Water District.

For the immediate future, the Laguna Beach district has asked its customers to voluntarily cut water use by 20 gallons a day. But future demands require reducing the city’s reliance on imported water.

“We need to find ways to diversify our water supply — a mix of sources, “ Hinchey said.

Possible water sources include ground water recovery, desalinization and recycled water projects.

“We’re proceeding with a study of the Laguna Canyon watershed to determine how much ground water is there,” Hinchey said.

A 1977 study indicated the district could siphon 200 acre feet of canyon water per year. The Laguna Beach district provides about 4,400 acre feet annually to its customers.

An acre foot equals 350,000 gallons, which is enough to supply water for two families of four for a year.

The new study will look at water quality, extraction, treatment, storage, and conveyance costs; as well as environmental issues.

However, Laguna’s backyard is the best bet for a long-term, sustainable source of water supplies, district officials said.

“The future is right out there — it’s the ocean, the largest reservoir around,” said Mike Dunbar, general manager of the South Coast Water District, which serves Laguna Beach residents from Nyes Place to the city’s southern boundary, and communities beyond that.

“We’re working on it,” Dunbar said. “Your community is driving it.”

Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman said the city is ready to cooperate and the two districts are working in concert.

“We have the property, you have the money,” Dunbar said.

Make no mistake. Money is an issue for many.

“When people talk about ‘desal,’ a lot of them say, ‘It is so expensive,’ “ Hinchey said. “But in five or six years, imported water will cost the same as desalinized water.

“There is also some concern about [the process] sucking up marine life, but a plant can be designed to be environmentally safe.”

The salt taken out of the water could be poured into the outfall that pipes water from the treatment plant at Aliso Beach and dumps it into the ocean, without unduly altering the salt content, Dunbar said.

The salt content in recycled water, also called reclaimed water, also has been a problem.

South Coast has been working with the South Laguna Civic Assn. on a project Dunbar described as an innovative proposal to take water from the contaminated Aliso Creek — “fresh” as opposed to salt water — and blend it with recycled water.

The project would reduce runoff on Aliso Beach and lower the salt content of the recycled water, making it more usable for irrigation, Dunbar said. It is not potable.

Dunbar deflected the applause from the audience, which included members of the civic association.

“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Thank Mike Beanan, Ginger Wallace and Bill Rihn, and thank my board president Richard Dietmeier.”

Dunbar said the Laguna Beach district does not have a recycling project because of the expense and the need for a large parcel of land.

“But times are changing,” Dunbar said.

The Laguna Beach City Council voted unanimously at the Jan. 22 meeting to direct City Manager Ken Frank to ask South Coast and Laguna County to assess all options for using reclaimed water in all areas of Laguna.

Reclaimed water is being used to irrigate the grounds at Montage Resort & Spa, the county park behind Aliso Creek and along South Laguna greenbelts and parks.

Dunbar said he welcomed the opportunity to work with the city to expand the use of reclaimed water throughout the city, although current infrastructure makes that difficult.

Dunbar said it is better to tap the ocean than ground water, because the ocean is replenished by rain and runoff.

However, South Coast broke ground in December on a ground water project, begun in 1998 by the Capistrano Beach District and inherited by South Coast.

“The cost is high, but cost is no longer the issue,” Dunbar said.

Getting the public to understand how impacted it will be by the curtailed water supplies is a big issue with the districts.

“We cannot continue to rely on imported water in a desperate situation,” Hinchey said.

How desperate?

The drop in California’s share of Colorado River water since 2000 has resulted in 40% loss of water for Southern California. Supplies from Northern California, which travel 600 miles through the state water project aqueducts to get here, have been cut 30% by legal action taken to protect the Delta smelt, a tiny fish on the endangered list.

Problems could be even worse if the Delta levee system breaks — it would take months to repair, Hinchey said.

And while supplies are shrinking, costs to the district are increasing, Hinchey said — 20% this year, on top of a $35-per-acre-foot increase last year. The district is paying $513 an acre foot — multiply that by the 4,400 acre feet used annually and that adds up to real money.

“We may be into mandatory rationing as early as July of this year for non-interruptible water supplies,” Hinchey said.

Depending on the situation, penalties by Metropolitan for exceeding the allotment will be tough, four to five times the cost, Hinchey said. Try multiplying $1,500 by 4,400.

Cost is one thing, but reduced supplies are the scary part.

Orme, Tenn., Hinchey said, only has water flowing from its taps from 6 to 9 p.m. daily. Water use is restricted for almost 80% of the population in Georgia and North Carolina, she said, and a large Riverside County project was warned that water might not be available.

Design Review Board member John Keith said one Southern California Community has put a moratorium on development by refusing to supply water meters, as was done decades ago in Marin County and highly criticized.

Criticism waned when a drought in the early 1970s hit Marin and residents were limited to 30 gallons of water per day — about enough to fill a bath tub, but not enough to also wash clothes, the floor, dishes, a car or a dog; to frequently flush toilets or to top off a swimming pool, which must be filled or it will crack.

“The majority of people think that water will be available even if mandatory rationing is implemented and they’ll just pay more for water, like they did during the drought here in 1991 and ’92, but [they believe] water will always flow from the taps,” Hinchey said.

Former board member J.J. Gasparotti has said that people will not comprehend the severity of the problem until sand comes from the tap.

“Since December, we have asked our customers to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 10% — 20 gallons a day,” Hinchey said.

Too little, too late, said long-time Laguna resident Arnold Hano. He railed against the rampant development of the South County hills and valleys that were vacant when he moved here, blaming that — not the drought nor the cutbacks by suppliers — for water shortages.

No conservation effort is too little, Hinchey said. She provided a list of reminders to help customers meet the voluntary conservation goal:

 Letting a faucet run for one minute uses up 2.5 gallons.

 A hose uses 20 gallons per minute.

 Watering before 6 a.m. and after 8 p.m. saves 20-25 gallons.

 Upgrading old irrigation controls to smart timers saves 40 gallons and earns the homeowner a $60-per-valve rebate and an additional $200 to cover installation.

 Rebates also are available on high efficiency washing machines and $150 on high efficiency toilets.

The district is helping to promote reduced water usage and to get the message out to the public.

Waterless urinals have been installed in public restrooms, audited by the city. The district also is participating in a countywide “Water Hero” program in schools and produces a bi-monthly newsletter with conservation tips to help customers save those precious 20 gallons a day. And by the end of the month, the district will have a supply of little flags on wire stakes that residents can plant to alert neighbors of run off or over-watering.

The district also has a water-saver garden to inspire home landscapes.

For more information, call the district at (949) 494-1041.