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Import Pipeline and the IRWMP Grant Process
The Need for Imported Water Supplies
A great deal of effort went into the Revised BMP to maximize the use of local water supplies and to conserve water so that the need for imported water could be minimized. Still, even after local projects are built, more than half of the needed supplemental supply still must be imported. The BMP includes a 54-inch diameter, 23-mile-long pipeline from the nearest pipeline in Santa Clara County to the Coastal Distribution System. The amount to be imported is planned to be an average of 11,900 acre-feet per year.
Importation Pipeline Activities: 2002-2006
As described in the BMP, the importation project would occur in two and possibly three phases. The first phase is to maintain the Central Valley Project (CVP) contract assignment from Mercy Springs Water District for 6,260 AFY of surface water supply. This water contract is held jointly with Santa Clara Valley Water District and Westlands Water District and reverts to those two agencies if PVWMA does not develop import facilities by 2017.
Click here to download larger map (438 KB PDF)
During 2003/04, PVWMA attempted to purchase the Broadview Water District lands and their associated CVP water contracts. The Broadview district encompasses about 9,000 acres and had entitlement to 27,000 AFY of supply. Negotiations were unsuccessful and discussions with Broadview ended in November, 2004.
The second phase includes obtaining a wide range of permits from federal, state and local agencies and the actual construction of the pipeline and inland turn-outs to deliver water to growers along the pipeline route. This phase can not be pursued until water supplies (CVP contracts or IRWMP supplies) are secured. In addition, construction cost have dramatically increased nationwide in the last few years due to a shortage of materials (steel, concrete, etc.), higher financing costs and demand for qualified contractors due to an increase in the number of large construction projects nationwide.
The third phase would involve Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) of imported water, where excess water and/or winter flows would be pumped into the aquifer, stored until needed, then pumped back out during summer irrigation season or during dry years when less import water is available.
A detailed description of the import project is found in Sections Four and Five of the BMP.
Current Status of Import Pipeline and Relationship to IRWMP Process
As of summer 2006, the import pipeline plan remains unchanged from that approved in the 2002 Revised BMP. However it is acknowledged that the price of the pipeline may be prohibitively high and that with the Broadview supply unavailable, additional opportunities to obtain CVP (or other) contracts must be identified. Therefore, in the last several months, the Agency has been actively involved in the Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP) process which may identify alternatives to importing CVP water. The IRWMP process will analyze a number of potential "win-win" scenarios with two inland water districts, and it is hoped the process will identify new, feasible options to cooperatively fund and build a "multi-purpose" import pipeline. The draft IRWMP will be available in the winter of 2006-07. Any significant change in the pipeline project would require an amendment to the BMP and the environmental studies.
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