Politics & Government
'Water Banking': Riverside County Agencies Join Up
The $150 million program will require the cooperating agencies to collectively prepare for contingencies and manage resources.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Water districts in Riverside County have joined with districts throughout the region to form a water banking program intended to provide access to stored supplies in the event of drought, it was announced Wednesday.
"This is a historic agreement and will benefit millions of Southern California residents by better preparing our respective regions for future droughts," Perris-based Eastern Municipal Water District Board President Phil Paule said. "We are proud to have helped develop and implement this innovative program. We sincerely appreciate the partnerships of all the member agencies that have helped make this program possible."
The Santa Ana River Conservation & Conjunctive Use Program — SARCCUP — involves a master compact between the EMWD, the Riverside-based Western Municipal Water District, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, the Municipal Water District of Orange County, the Orange County Water District and the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District.
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According to the agreement, SARCCUP will ensure up to 137,000 acre-feet of water is set aside in groundwater basins within the Santa Ana watershed, held in reserve for hard times.
"Water that is banked would be extracted using groundwater wells, treated, and then used for drinking water during periods of drought," according to an EMWD statement. "The regional water agencies will be able to bank groundwater in any of six groundwater basins, with deliveries made through interconnecting pipelines or via in-lieu-of delivery."
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The $150 million program will require the cooperating agencies to collectively prepare for contingencies and manage resources with an eye to conservation, officials said.
About $55 million in Proposition 84 (the Safe Drinking Water Act of 2006) funds has been set aside for the program, which includes assisting retail water agencies in creating efficiency-based budgets, according to the EMWD.
The agency alone is completing its Mountain Avenue West Groundwater Replenishment Basins, which will enable it to redirect water imported as part of the State Water Project into local basins, according to officials.
