The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has issued its Annual Operations Plan which includes groundwater pumping.
In a letter to Inyo Water Director Bob Harrington, DWP Aqueduct Manager Jim Yannotta says DWP plans to pump between 36,920 and 47,930 acre feet in the first six months of the 2014-2015 runoff year. Yannotta says, “As in past years, the majority of groundwater pumping is planned for the first six months of the year.” Yannotta says that while LADWP has not yet developed a specific groundwater pumping plan for the second six months of the runoff year, “total groundwater pumping during the year is anticipated to be in the 65,000 acre-feet range.”
DWP’s Operations Plan summary says that the forecast for Eastern Sierra runoff for the Owens River Basin is 50% of normal. DWP says in the case of two consecutive dry years with a forecasted runoff below 75%, DWP must prepare two six month operations plans.
DWP’s report to Inyo County says that of 26 Enhancement/ Mitigation Projects supposed to be done in the Valley, “24 of these have been completed or are being implemented, and two are in the final stages of implementation.” The report further says that of 42 other mitigation projects identified, 29 are complete, ten are partially implemented and three are in the design phase. LA and Inyo signed the agreement requiring these projects in 1997.
Examples of amounts DWP wants to pump in individual wellfields include these:
Laws – between 5,760 and 7,200 acre feet. Bishop – 7,200 to 8,700 acre feet. Big Pine – 10,200 to 11,550 acre feet. Taboose-Aberdeen – 1,500 to 4,500 acre feet. Independence – 4,280 to 6,600 acre feet. Lone Pine – 580 acre feet.
Inyo County will respond to DWP’s plans and then the Technical Group of both sides will discuss any differences.
Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News - The Community's News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
What are the risks to running any residential wells dry, in the future years? Are there protections against that?
There won’t be any pumping when the wells run dry. =
Much of the LADWP pumping this year, as always, will be for use in the Owens Valley. Those local uses include agriculture (alfalfa etc), irrigated pastures, town water systems, enhancement/mitigation projects and hatcheries. We definitely do not want those wells to run dry. LADWP estimates that the aqueduct will send around 37,000 acre-feet to LA this year instead of the average of somewhere in the 200,000+ acre-feet range.
Benett: How does the specified amount, “…between 36,920 and 47,930 acre feet”, compare to other years? Do you have the figures for the last 10 years?
The Water Department has those figures.
BK
Ken, LADWP’s past pumping in Owens Valley is on the Inyo County Water Department’s web site at:
http://www.inyowater.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/historical-runoff-pumping-1935-2011.pdf.
A more detailed breakdown of historic pumping is at:
http://www.inyowater.org/maps-data/hydrology/runoff-pumping/pumping-by-wellfieldl/
LADWP’s draft Owens Valley report is on our web site at:
http://www.inyowater.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2014-DRAFT-Annual-Owens-Valley-Report.pdf (Chapter 2 is LADWP’s proposed pumping plan; hope you have a fast connection).
To put LADWP’s proposed of pumping of around 65,000 acre-feet into perspective, consider that LADWP pumping for many decades before the second aqueduct was completed averaged 7,100 acre-feet/year (1935-1969). For the period after the second aqueduct was completed, but before the Inyo/LA Water Agreement was signed, pumping averaged 104,000 acre-feet/year (1970-1990). For the period since the Water Agreement was signed, pumping has averaged 73,000 acre-feet/year (1991-2011). Last year (April ’13 through March ’14) LADWP pumped 78,880 acre-feet, so for the next twelve months LADWP expects to pump about 14,000 acre-feet less than was pumped last year.