Kern County Water Agency – Water for the People

By Josh, Jason, & Juy

Overview

Description of Agency Sources of Water Incoming Logistics/Operations – Water

Resources Operations – Improvement District No. 4

(ID4) Outgoing Logistics – Cross Valley Canal &

ID4 Overview of Groundwater Banking

Kern County Water Agency

Created in 1961 by the legislature Approved by Kern County voters in 1961 County-wide agency with 7 person voter elected board of directors Created primarily to contract for imported water supplies Groundwater protection Flood control and dams Hydro-electric power Annual entitlement of one million acre-feet of

water from State Water Project KCWA has contracted with 13 local water districts for one million

acre-feet of SWP supplies Largest agricultural participant on SWP - second largest urban

participant KCWA represents 25 percent of the State Water Project

Seven Member Board

General ManagerGeneral Counsel

Accounting & Finance

Executive Operations

Engineering & Groundwater Services

Water ResourcesImprovement District

No. 4Cross Valley Canal

Business Management

Funding

Tax Revenue – 1% of Kern County Property Tax Levee (amounts to about $2,000,000)

Investment Income – Interest earned on fees we collect

Municipal Bond Issue – for capital improvement projects

Water Sources

ExternalState Water Project (31%)Central Valley Project (Federal Bureau of

Reclamation) (12%) Local

Kern River (22%)Groundwater (35%)

Th

ou

san

d A

cre-

Fee

t

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

1,500

1,000

500

01970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Kern County Water AgencyKern County Water AgencyGross Water Supplies and Net Water RequirementsGross Water Supplies and Net Water Requirements

San Joaquin Valley Portion of Kern CountySan Joaquin Valley Portion of Kern County

1999

2,000

CVP SWPLocal Demand (net water requirements)

Additions to Additions to groundwatergroundwater

Withdrawals Withdrawals from from

groundwatergroundwater

What Are Member Units

Primarily government entities that administer water rights on behalf of their land owners: Belridge Water Storage District Berrenda Mesa Water District Buena Vista Water Storage District Cawelo Water District Henry Miller Water District Kern Delta Water District Lost Hills Water District Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District Semitropic Water Storage District Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District Tejon-Castac Water District West Kern Water District Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District

Sources of Supply

Kern County Water Districts

KCWA SWP MEMBER UNITS1,000,000 AF

4 0 4 8

Delano-Earlimart ID Rag Gulch WD

Kern-Tulare WD

Olcese WD

Tejon-Castac

WD

Devils Den WDLake

Isabella

Kern River

CVP FRIANT-KERN DISTRICTS387,000 AF

CVP CVC DISTRICTS53,000 AF

Lebec CWD

California Aqueduct

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

43

119

166

55

43

46

33

58

58

KERN RIVER DISTRICTS740,000 AF

178

Rosedale-Rio Bravo WSDKCWA

Improvement District No.

4

Tehachapi-Cummings CWDWheeler Ridge-Maricopa WSD

West Kern WD

Semitropic WSD

Belridge WSD

Bakersfield

Southern San Joaquin

MUD

Shafter-Wasco ID

North Kern WSD Cawelo

WD

Kern Delta WD

Henry Miller WD

Buena Vista

WSD

Friant-Kern Canal

Cross Valley Canal

Lost Hills WD

Berrenda Mesa WD

5

599

184

33

46

5

5

Arvin-Edison WSD

KCWA Member Units and Entitlements(in acre-feet)

Ag M&I TotalBelridge WSD 123,727 123,727 Berrenda Mesa WD 115,100 115,100 Buena Vista WSD 21,300 21,300 Cawelo WD 38,200 38,200 Henry Miller WD 35,500 35,500 Improvement District No. 4 5,946 77,000 82,946 Kern County Water Agency 8,000 8,000 Kern Delta WD 25,500 25,500 Lost Hills WD 119,100 119,100 Rosedale-Rio Bravo WSD 29,900 29,900 Semitropic WSD 155,000 155,000 Tehachapi-Cummings CWD 4,300 15,000 19,300 Tejon-Castac WD 3,278 2,000 5,278 West Kern WD 25,000 25,000 Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa WSD 197,088 197,088

881,939 119,000 1,000,939

Water Resources & Inbound Logistics Takes orders from member units Places orders with State Water Project and Central

Valley Project Keeps track of Kern Fan Banking Collects payments from member units for water

deliveries Pays the State of California Department of Water

Resources (SWP Water) & Federal Bureau of Reclamation (CVP) for water delivered

Approves water exchanges between member units, tries to keep water in Kern County

Forecasts demand for water

Central Valley Project

Federal Project run by the Bureau of Reclamation

Friant Division transports surplus Northern California water through the southern part of the central valley

Friant Kern Canal moves water from the Central Valley Project to the Kern River

State Water Project

Deliveries via California Aqueduct Delivers over 10,670

cfs

5.2 Billion spent as of 2001 on SWP

Share of costs based on geography

Water Agency has 2nd biggest share

&Page

Current SWP Reliability

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

2.0

2.4

2.8

3.2

3.6

4.0

0

Supply Gap

Reliable Supply

Repeat of 1987 to 1992 drought = 44% supply

Repeat of 1977 (critical dry year) = 20% supply

Wet DryPercent of time at or above

Per

cent

of

time

at o

r ab

ove

Ann

ual D

eliv

ery

(MA

F)

Forecasting Demand

Tries to keep deliveries from going beyond what energy producers can provide power for

Encourages member units to store water during wet years to have access to during dry years

Try to keep groundwater banks from being “overdrawn”

Delta Smelt Crisis

The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and various environmental protection groups asked the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to stop the pumps to prevent any further “take” of the threatened smelt.

Because of this, the State Water project had to stop pumping water from the Delta to South California (including water to Kern County Water Agency) from June 2007 to March 2008

This forced the Agency to draw upon other water supplies, including groundwater that had been banked with various groundwater banking projects

Delta Smelt Crisis

Smelt fish need brackish water to survive, and the brackish zone in the delta is decreased when fresh water is exported. State Water Project pumps have been implicated in directly destroying smelt by sucking them into their intakes.

The Delta Smelt is a native fish that live Brackish (a delicate combination of fresh and salt water) waters in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta . The size of fish is only 2-3 inches, and its threatened status has placed it on the Federal Endangered Species list

Improvement District No. 4

Supplies supplemental water supply to the Urban Bakersfield area (serves 1/5 of urban Bakersfield’s Residents) by using State Water Project Water

Water delivered is directly recharged or treated i Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant that treats

water from the Kern River, Banking Projects, SWP, FK Canal

40 million gallon-per-day serves 1/5 of residents of Metropolitan Bakersfield

Water purveyors are the California Water Service Company, East Niles Community Service District, North of the River Municipal Water District, and the City of Bakersfield

Water Purification

Spends over $500,000 on chemical annually

Some sources of water are cheaper to purify than others

Kern River Water is the cheapest, State Water Project Water is the most expensive

Cost of treating water remains on of the most significant costs of water

Water Purification

Treatment can typically be classified into two categories

Health-related treatment (Can make you sick)

Aesthetic-related treatment (taste, smell and sight)

ColorTurbidity

Purification Plant deals with both