Evolution of Groundwater Management in Los Angeles
Transcript of Evolution of Groundwater Management in Los Angeles
CaliforniaCenterforSustainableCommunitiesatUCLA
EvolutionofGroundwaterManagementinLosAngeles
SustainableL.A.GrandChallengesUCLA
15June2016
CaliforniaCenterforSustainableCommunitiesatUCLACaliforniaCenterforSustainableCommunitiesatUCLA
• Overdecades,pumping rightsandmanagementhasevolvedintheadjudicatedgroundwatermanagementareasofL.A.County
• ImportedwaterfacilitatedgroundwateradjudicationsanddevelopmentofSouthern California’swatermanagementagencies
• Growingscarcity,climatechange,andpopulation growthwillstrainavailablewaterimports forgroundwater recharge
Background
2LA AqueductCredit: Lowe (2001)
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CurrentGroundwaterRightsHoldersCurrentRights
(data collected for 2011-13)3
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• Controlofgroundwaterrightsisevolving,becomingmorepublic andconsolidated– Smallerrights’holderssellingorleasingtolargerpublicagenciesandwaterutilities
• Allocationofrightsvariesbybasinacrossdifferenttypesofusers(Figure1)
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Evolution
Table1:Distribution ofpumping rightsamongthetopfiverights’ holdersinsixbasins ofthestudyarea.Thetrendshows aconsolidation inpumping rightsamonglargeusers
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1965AdjudicatedRightsCity
County
Investor-OwnedUtility
MutualWaterCompany
OilandChemicalCompany
PrivateEntity
SanitationDistrict
UnifiedSchoolDistrict
WaterInvestmentCompany
WaterReplensihmentDistrict
2013ExtractionRights
0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000
Non-Profit
Private
Public
Publicly-Regulated
Adjudicated Rights(ac-ft)0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000
Private
Public
Publicly-Regulated
Adjudicated Rights(ac-ft)
WestCoastBasin
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1955AdjudicatedRights
City
CountyWaterDistrict
Investor-OwnedUtility
IrrigationDistrict
MutualWaterCompany
PrivateEntity
2013ExtractionRights
0 10000 20000 30000 40000
Non-Profit
Private
Public
Publicly-Regulated
Adjudicated Rights(ac-ft)0 10000 20000 30000 40000
Non-Profit
Private
Public
Publicly-Regulated
Adjudicated Rights(ac-ft)
RaymondBasin
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• Percapitagroundwaterrightsvarywidelythroughouttheregion– Forinstance,theCityofSantaFeSpringshas~220gallons/person/day(gpd),whilethe
CityofArtesiahaslessthan2gpd– Acrossthecounty,UpperBasinuserstendtohavemorepercapitapumpingrights
• Themajorityofcitieswithrights(28)haverightsoflessthan100gpd– Twelvecitieshaverightslessthan22gpd.– Manycitiesintheregionwouldnotmeetevenconservativeestimatesofpercapitadaily
waterusewithcurrentgroundwaterrights
• Nearlyone-thirdofcitieshavenogroundwaterrightsandnodirectaccesstogroundwaterforwatersupply.
– WatermanagersthroughoutL.A.increasinglylooktousedistributedstormwaterinfrastructuretoimprovewaterqualityandrechargegroundwaterbasins
– Citiesmustpayforstormwaterinfrastructureupgrades,butiftheyhavenopumpingrights,theycannotuseprojectedwatersupplyrevenuestopayfornewstormwatersystems.
Findings
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Percentsupply fromgroundwater(left)andpercapitapumping rights(right)forwaterretailersinLACounty
WaterSupplySources
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BeyondGroundwater
• Cities and groundwater rights:– With pumping rights in adjudicated basins, cities have more options for over-
year storage– Stormwaterandrecharge:Municipalpermits
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LA City Stormwater Capture Master Plan
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BeyondGroundwater• Citiesandgroundwaterrights:
– Withpumpingrightsinadjudicatedbasins,citieshavemoreoptionsforover-year
– Stormwater andrecharge:Municipalpermits– storage
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LA City Stormwater Capture Master Plan
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Findings
• Managementsystemishighlyfragmentedacrosstheregionandstilldividedbyurbanwatersectors(groundwater,stormwater,watersupply)
• Despitechallenges,thecomplexandpolycentricsystemofgroundwatermanagementhasmanagedtoadaptovertime
– Actorsofvaryingsizesandorganizationalstructuresnegotiatetransactionsandwatertransfers,movingwaterfromareasofgreaterabundancetoareasofscarcity
– Buttheseareshorttermadaptations,notlongtermchangesforclimatechange
– Limitedinscopeaswell:landscapingneedstoevolve,infiltration,stormwatercaptureandwaterrecyclingneedsubstantial interandtransjurisdictionalinstitutionalreform
• Adaptivecapacityisconstrainedbyestablishedallocationsofrights,limitedcost-effectivestorage,diverseinstitutionalknowledge,anddecreasinglyavailableimportedwater
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PolicyRecommendations
Reducerelianceonimportedwater
Watermastersmustplanfor long-termreductionsinavailableimportedwaterforrecharge.Managementmustfocus onreducingwaterdemands andreplenishment ofbasins fromcapturedlocalstormwater.
Identifycapacityforwaterreuse
Waterreusecanreduceimports, butitrequiresassessments availablegroundwaterbasincapacity,wherewatercanbestored,aswellasnewinfrastructureforpiping.Newregulationsenablingcollectivestoragepools ingroundwaterbasins canallowagenciestodevelop collectivereuseprojects.
Reallocategroundwaterrights
Codified groundwater rightsinhibitsystemflexibility andadaptabilitytomeetfuturescarcitychallenges.Moreequitableaccesstogroundwaterwillhelpgreaterwaterselfreliancebutwillrequirereallocatingsomeextractionrights asagenciesstoremorewateringroundwaterbasinstomeetwatershortagesduringdroughts.
Regulategroundwaterforthiscentury
L.A. County’s diversegroundwatermanagementsystemmirrorsstatewidefragmentationandlocalcontrol.Stateandregionalagenciesmustmanageacrossdiverseclimatesandcultures.Newsustainable groundwatermanagementregulationsshould buildontheknowledgeofL.A.approachesbut,unlike L.A.,reduceinstitutionalized relianceonimportedwater.
Policy Recommendations
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References
AllinformationfromthispresentationwasgatheredfromapublicationincludedinCCSC’s2015researchreporttotheHaynesFoundation,WaterManagementinLosAngeles,availablehere.
Porse E.,GlickfeldM.,Mertan,K.,Pincetl,S.“Pumpingforthemasses:evolutionofgroundwatermanagementinmetropolitanLosAngeles”.GeoJournal. (2015).doi:0.1007/s10708-015-9664-0
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