Community Corner
Local Groundwater Basins At Historic Low Despite Imports: SBVMWD
Inland groundwater basins are at an all-time low, officials with the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District said Monday.
INLAND EMPIRE, CA — San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District and its retail water agency customers imported a record 78,496 acre feet of State Water Project water from Northern California last year, the district announced Monday.
“This is the greatest amount of water we have imported in a single year since we first started taking deliveries of State Water Project water in 1972,” said Bob Tincher, deputy general manager of water resources for Valley District. Last winter’s record precipitation in Northern California and the resulting increase in the availability of State Water Project is what made this possible.
“The Valley District Board of Directors unanimously agreed to pay for about half of the record water imports last year using reserve funds, citing the local groundwater basin that continues to remain at a historical low as a result of the continuing drought in Southern California” said Board President Susan Longville.
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The remainder of the imported water was paid for by the retail water agencies within Valley District’s boundaries.
“About 70 percent of our deliveries for 2017 were for groundwater recharge,” Tincher said, with the remaining water being delivered directly to Valley District’s retail water agency customers, including East Valley Water District, Marygold Mutual Water Company, the City of Rialto, the City of San Bernardino, West Valley Water District, Western Heights Water Company and Yucaipa Valley Water District.
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But even though record amounts of imported water were used to recharge local groundwater basins last year, Tincher said that it not enough to overcome 20 years of local drought, and counting, which has resulted in the lowest groundwater levels in history.
“While Northern California received record precipitation last winter, we in the Inland Empire are in the midst of a drought that has lasted 20 years, so far, and shows no signs of abating,” Tincher said, adding that snowpack in the Sierra is tracking with the historically dry winter of 2015.
Tincher said Valley District paid for the half of last year’s water imports as a good will gesture while retail water agencies set up a Groundwater Council, a 21 st century model for cooperation, that will have everyone pitching in to achieve sustainable levels of water storage in the San Bernardino groundwater basin.
Participation in the council is open to anyone who pumps from the basin. East Valley Water District and Yucaipa Valley Water District have already approved their participation in the council. Other prospective members include: the cities of Colton, Redlands, Loma Linda and Rialto; Riverside Public Utilities, San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, Riverside Highland Water Company, West Valley Water District, San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, and Western Municipal Water District.
Participating agencies will contribute water and/or funding to purchase imported water to restore and maintain the groundwater basin at optimum levels.
“Given our historic low groundwater storage levels, and no end in sight for our current drought, we must continue to recharge every drop of imported water that is available,” Tincher said. “We are grateful for the decision that was made to invest in the State Water Project almost 60 years ago. Without it, conditions would be even worse.”
About San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District
Valley District provides supplemental State Water Project water to 13 retail water agencies from Rialto to Yucaipa that collectively serve more than 700,000 business and residential customers. In addition to providing supplemental water from Northern California, Valley District manages groundwater storage within its boundaries. The San Bernardino-based agency was formed in 1954 - in the midst of a 20-year drought - to find a way to import supplemental water into western San Bernardino County to make up for shortfalls in local water supplies. Visit www.sbvmwd.com for more information.
