Food, Water, Climate, People and Land - Carol Presley, Santa Clara Valley Water District

Land and Water (in 10 minutes)

Bay Area Open Space Council GatheringNovember 22, 2013

Carol Presley, P.E.

From Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations :

“How is it that water, which is so very useful that life is impossible without it, has such a low price while diamonds, which are quite unnecessary, have such a high price?”

Ecosystem Services

• Water Supply• Flood Management• Ecological Services• Water Quality• Recreation

WATER SUPPLY

• Surface

• Ground

RECHARGE POND in Pajaro Valley

~ 7 acres prime farmland

Some advantages of enhancing groundwater storage

• Potential to improve water quality

•Uses limited surface storage multiple times

•Allows for conjunctive use, banking (increases flexibility)

•Less evaporative loss than surface storage

• Demands less energy for storage and conveyance (local)

• May be cheaper than concentrated surface storage and conveyance

• Can respond to irregular supply, changing climate conditions

• Local solution to a local problem (politically viable)

Some challenges in enhancing groundwater storage

• Uses lots of area

• Groundwater does not sit still, recovery <100%

• Not all basins are amenable to enhanced recharge

• Potential to harm water quality

• Water rights unclear in some cases

• Stored water can't be seen (requires trust)

• Requires careful design, planning, testing, operation

FLOOD MANAGEMENT, etc.

Post-Levee Construction: Planning and Devastation Continues

1992 1995 1998 1999

Zone 7 Formed

FPA Formed

ACOE Baseline Report

Financial Impact

More Flooding

LEVEE COSTS INCREASE BY AT LEAST $110 MILLION WITHOUT SOAP LAKE FLOODPLAIN

• Increased levee height results in 150% cost increase

• 44 additional acres required (not included in cost estimate)

• New or Modified Highway 1 Bridge, Main Street Bridge, Railroad Bridge (not included in cost estimate)

Agricultural Operations and Site Enhancements

• Water Quality Practices– MBNMS– TMDLs for Nutrients and Sediment

• Vegetative Buffer Strips• Cover cropping• Wetlands

Sambucus mexicana tree

Artemisia douglasiana perAster chilensis perClematis ligusticifolia decid vineBaccharis pilularis shrubEuthamia occidentalis per

Baccharis salicifolia shrub

Achillea millefolium perAtriplex lentiformis shrubCeanothus concha shrubCeanothus 'Blue Jeans' shrubCeanothus thyrsiflorus 'skylark' shrubCeanothus griseus 'Louis Edmunds' shrubA. bakeri 'Louis Edmunds' shrubRhamnus californica shrubEriogonum fasciculatum woody perEriogonum giganteum shrubHeteromeles arbutifolia shrubMonardella villosa perEpilobium canum perAsclepias fascicularis per

Regional Collaborations

•Getting people and organizations that are nothing alike and do not share any interests to work together

•Inclusive, avoid protracted litigation Creative synthesis leads to unexpected solutions

•Regional, interdependent solutions add to political and legal clout

•New funding and solution partners Examples: Calfed, Water Forum, Napa River, Truckee River, Yuba River Accord, etc.

Create a water element for your General Plan

• Combine all of the hydrologic cycle into one element

• Incorporate new water supply requirements by including local water purveyors

• Incorporate wastewater and recycling plans to locate demand sites demand sites

• Incorporate stream and wetland protection,

• Incorporate retention drainage policies to address water quality and recharge issues

Thank [email protected]

Acknowledgements•Andrew Fisher, ProfessorThe Recharge InitiativeUniversity of California , Santa Cruz•San Francisco Estuary Institute•Gutierrez Consultants•Pajaro River Watershed Flood Prevention Authority •Jeff Loux, Director, Land Use and Natural Resources, U.C. Davis Extension