With extreme drought highlighting the vulnerability of some Southern California communities, the Metropolitan Water District is pursuing additional actions to help ensure all its service area has the water it needs to withstand this year’s severe dry conditions and the impacts of climate change.
Metropolitan’s Board of Directors have voted to approve infrastructure investments, water transfer options and alternate delivery programs to improve resiliency and preserve limited State Water Project supplies for member agencies in the western portions of its service area that depend most on this drought-stricken water source, including parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Metropolitan board Chairwoman, Gloria D. Gray said: “We are now in the third year of a severe drought that is challenging our mission to ensure every community in Southern California has the same level of water reliability. We have taken several steps to improve water reliability in areas that depend on the State Water Project over the past two years, and our latest actions will build on those efforts. As we pursue these projects, we need everyone to keep saving as much water as possible.”
Southern California gets on average 30 percent of its water from the northern Sierra via the State Water Project, but drought has severely limited these water supplies over the last three years. While much of the region can turn to Colorado River water, water stored in Metropolitan’s Diamond Valley Lake or their own local supplies to meet demands, some communities aren’t physically connected to the Colorado River supply or DVL and have limited local supplies, leaving them much more challenged by the state’s severe drought conditions.
The board approved a proposal to incorporate several potential infrastructure projects into its Capital Investment Plan to explore how to boost operational flexibility and water delivery capabilities so SWP-dependent agencies in the western portion of its service can access other sources of water. As part of the action, the board also authorised $700,000 in funding to conduct a feasibility analysis to examine projects that could include local water supply development, groundwater or surface water storage, and interconnecting infrastructure between agencies to increase the flexibility of water systems.
Metropolitan also will examine the feasibility of expanding its Greg Avenue Pump Station to increase the capacity of Colorado River water and water stored in Diamond Valley Lake that could be pumped to SWP-dependent areas and building new pumping facilities along its Sepulveda Feeder to push Colorado River water and DVL supplies further into the western portion of its service area.
The action follows projects in the eastern portion of Metropolitan’s system that were incorporated into the CIP in December 2021 to support reliability for agencies in the SWP dependent areas.
Metropolitan General Manager, Adel Hagekhalil said: “All of these projects will improve our water delivery system to be more resilient, integrated and flexible so that we can quickly adapt to challenging conditions, including future droughts. We are one region, so when we invest in our infrastructure, all of Southern California benefits.”
Do you have an article or video that you would like to share? Submit your article here or keep up with the latest news from the water industry and wastewater industry by subscribing to our weekly newsletter
