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The State Water Project The State Water Project June 2012 State of California Natural Resources Agency Department of Water Resources State of California Edmund G. Brown Jr., Governor California Natural Resources Agency John Laird, Secretary for Natural Resources Department of Water Resources Mark W. Cowin, Director Susan Sims Chief Deputy Director Kasey Schimke Sandy Cooney Cathy Crothers Asst. Director, Legislative Affairs Asst. Director, Public Affairs Chief Counsel Gary Bardini Dale Hoffman-Floerke Deputy Director Deputy Director John Pacheco Carl Torgerson Deputy Director Deputy Director, Acting Assistant Deputy Directors, Integrated Water Management Rodney Mayer John Andrew FloodSAFE Climate Change Bay-Delta Office Katherine Kelly, Chief Modeling Support Branch Francis Chung, Principal Engineer Individuals contributing to the development of the report John Leahigh, Principal Engineer, Division of Operations and Maintenance Sushil Arora, Supervising Engineer, Bay-Delta Office Dustin Jones, Senior Engineer, Bay-Delta Office Aaron Miller, Senior Engineer, Division of Operations and Maintenance Erik Reyes, Senior Engineer, Bay-Delta Office Sina Darabzand, Senior Engineer, Bay-Delta Office Alan Olson, Engineer, Bay-Delta Office Christopher Quan, Engineer, Bay-Delta Office Daniel Teixeira, Staff Services Analyst, Administrative and Executive Services Office Prepared by AECOM Director’s Message The State Water Project Delivery Reliability Report 2011 (2011 Report) is the latest update to a biannual report that describes the existing and future conditions for State Water Project (SWP) water supply that are expected if no significant improvements are made to convey water past the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) or to store the more variable runoff that is expected with climate change. This report is presented in a different format than previous versions. The four previous reports were written for a dual audience—both the general public and those interested in a greater level of technical detail, such as the SWP contractors. By contrast, this report is written primarily with the public in mind. As a result, it not only provides updated information about the SWP’s water delivery reliability, but is also designed to educate Californians about the SWP and its operations. This report presents a concise description of the historical events leading to the construction of the SWP and describes the SWP’s facilities and operations. It then defines and explains the concept of water delivery reliability and the types of SWP water available to contractors, and describes various factors that affect the reliability of water deliveries. Because of the public interest in water project pumping from the Delta and the dependence of SWP water supply on Delta pumping, a new chapter has been added that focuses specifically on SWP pumping (exports) at the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant in the Delta. The 2011 Report shows that the SWP continues to be subject to reductions in deliveries similar to those contained in the State Water Project Delivery Reliability Report 2009 (2009 Report), caused by the operational restrictions of biological opinions (BOs) issued in December 2008 and June 2009 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to govern SWP and Central Valley Project operations. Federal court decisions have remanded the BOs to USFWS and NMFS for further review and analysis. We expect that the current BOs will be replaced sometime in the future. The operational rules defined in the 2008 and 2009 BOs, however, continue to be legally required and are the rules used for the analyses supporting the 2011 Report. The following “Summary” includes key findings of the analyses in the 2011 Report. A technical addendum is also available which provides detail on the assumptions of the analyses and the results for the 2011 Report. The results of the studies, as presented in this report and the technical addendum, are designed to assist water planners and managers in updating their water management and infrastructure development plans. These results emphasize the need for local agencies to develop a resilient and robust water supply, and a distribution and management system to maximize the efficient use of our variable supply. They also illustrate the urgent need to improve the method of conveying water past the Delta in a more sustainable manner that meets the dual goals of increasing water delivery reliability and improving conditions for endangered and threatened fish species. Mark Cowin Director California Department of Water Resources June 2012 Summary This report is intended to inform the public gives contractors a better sense of the about key factors important to the degree to which they may need to operation of the SWP and the reliability of implement increased conservation its water deliveries. measures or plan for new facilities. California faces a future of increased The Delta is the key to the SWP’s ability population growth coupled with the to deliver water to its agricultural and potential for water shortages and pressures urban contractors. All but three of the 29 on the Delta. For many SWP water SWP contractors receive water deliveries contractors, water provided by the SWP is from the Delta (pumped by either the a major component of all the water supplies Harvey O. Banks or Barker Slough available to them. SWP contractors include Pumping Plant). cities, counties, urban water agencies, and agricultural irrigation districts. These local Yet the Delta faces numerous challenges to utilities and other public and private its long-term sustainability. Among these entities provide the water that Californians are continued subsidence of Delta islands, use at home and work every day and that many of which are already below sea level, helps to nourish the state’s bountiful crops. and the related threat of a catastrophic Thus, the availability of water to the SWP levee failure as water pressure increases on becomes a planning issue that ultimately fragile levees. Climate change poses the affects the amount of water that local threat of increased variability in floods and residents and communities can use. droughts, and sea level rise complicates efforts to manage salinity levels and The availability of these water supplies may preserve water quality in the Delta so that be highly variable. A wet water year may be the water remains suitable for urban and followed by a dry or even critical year. agricultural uses. Knowing the probability that they will receive a certain amount of SWP water in a Protection of endangered and threatened given year—whether it be a wet water year, fish species, such as the delta smelt, is also a critical year, or somewhere in between— an important factor of concern for the S-1 The State Water Project Final Delivery Reliability Report 2011 Delta. Ongoing regulatory restrictions, such as as the federal BOs went into effect, restricting those imposed by federal biological opinions on operations. These effects are also reflected in the the effects of SWP and CVP operations on these SWP delivery estimates provided in Chapters 6 species, also contribute to the challenge of and 7 of this report. Chapters 6 and 7 characterize determining the SWP’s water delivery reliability. the SWP’s water delivery reliability under existing conditions and future conditions, The analyses in this report factor in all of the respectively. The following are a few of the key regulations governing SWP operations in the points from Chapters 5, 6, and 7: Delta and upstream, and assumptions about water uses in the upstream watersheds. Estimates of average annual SWP exports under conditions that exist for 2011 are 2,607 Modeling was conducted that considered the thousand acre-feet (taf), 350 taf or 12% less amounts of water that SWP contractors use and than the estimate under 2005 conditions. the amounts of water they choose to hold for use . The estimated average annual SWP exports in a subsequent year. decrease from 2,607 taf/year to 2,521 taf/year Many of the same specific challenges to SWP (86 taf/year or about 3%) between the operations described in the State Water Project existing- and future-conditions scenarios. Delivery Reliability Report 2009 (2009 Report) remain . The estimates in this report for Table A water in 2011. Most notably, the effects on SWP pumping supply deliveries are not significantly caused by issuance of the 2008 and 2009 federal different from those in the 2009 Report. The biological opinions, which were reflected in the average annual delivery estimated for existing 2009 Report, continue to affect SWP delivery conditions (2,524 taf/year) is 2% greater, and reliability today. The analyses in this report factor the estimated amount for future conditions in climate change and the effects of sea level rise on (2,466 taf/year) is 1% less than the water quality, but do not incorporate the corresponding estimates in the 2009 Report. probability of catastrophic levee failure. The . The likelihood of SWP Article 21 deliveries resulting differences between the 2009 and 2011 (supplemental deliveries to Table A water) Reports can be attributed primarily to updates in being equal to or less than 20 taf/year has the modeling assumptions and inputs. increased relative to that estimated in the 2009 Report. However, both this report and As noted in the discussion of SWP exports in the 2009 Report show a high likelihood that Chapter 5 of this report, Delta exports (that is, Article 21 water deliveries will be equal to or SWP water of various types pumped by and less than 20 taf/year, ranging between 71% transferred to contractors from the Banks and 78% for both existing and future Pumping Plant) have decreased since 2005, conditions. although the bulk of the change occurred by 2009 S-2 Table of Contents Page Summary S-1 Tables ii Figures iv Chapter 1. Water Delivery Reliability: A Concern for Californians 1 Chapter 2.
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