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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.26.20 Paul Gosselin - Water Resources Report _ June 2020 AT1 Water andResource Conservation Paul Gosselin, Director buttecounty.net/waterresourceconservation 308 Nelson Avenue T: 530.552.3595 Oroville, California 95965 F: 530.538.3807 bcwater@buttecounty.net MEMORANDUM DATE: June 26, 2020 TO: Board of Supervisors FROM: Paul Gosselin, Director RE: Water Resources Update June 2020 The following is an update of significant water resource issues from the Department of Water and Resource Conservation. Sustainable Groundwater Management Act The Department and the other GSA managers are working on various portions of the Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP) for the Vina, Butte and Wyandotte Creek subbasins. Even with meeting and workload adjustments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GSPs remain on schedule to meet the January 30, 2022 deadline. The major effort for the last two years has been the development of the basin setting and other technical portions (e.g., monitoring protocol, groundwater dependent ecosystems) of the GSP. The preliminary basin setting results have been presented at various public meetings (online). rd On April 23, the Butte Subbasin Advisory Board met virtually to receive a presentation on the draft groundwater conditions and water budget information. The meeting materials can be found at the Butte Subbasin Advisory Board webpage at https://www.buttebasingroundwater.org/meetings. th On May 19, the Vina Stakeholder Advisory Committee met virtually to receive a presentation on draft groundwater conditions and water budget information for the Vina subbasin. The Vina Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting materials can be found at https://www.vinagsa.org/stakeholder-advisory-committee- meetings. For the Wyandotte Creek, a public workshop on the basin setting information was rd held on June 23. Information on Wyandotte Creek can be found at https://www.wyandottecreekgsa.com/. The Butte County Water Commission received a presentation on the basin setting information for all three subbasins at their regularly scheduled June 3rd meeting. The Department has posted information on the Basin Setting project and roll out at http://www.buttecounty.net/waterresourceconservation/Special- Projects/Basin-Setting-Project The basin setting sections will undergo an internal review by GSA managers before being released for a 30-day public comment period. We expect the public review drafts to be released at various stages this summer. Tuscan Water District The Butte Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) has received an application for the formation of a California Water District (Water Code 34000) which is a landowner voter district, initiated through a landowner petition and to be called the Tuscan Water District (TWD). The formation of the Tuscan Water District will be subject to approval of the Butte County LAFCo and by a vote of the landowners within the proposed district. According to LAFCo, the proposed TWD is to be approximately 97,000 acres in size and contains 3,122 individual parcels that are primarily used for agricultural production. The purpose of the TWD is to organize the landowners into a public agency with the overarching purpose of working cooperatively with the County of Butte, Vina, Butte and Rock Creek Reclamation District Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GS other state and local agencies in the development of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP) for the Vina and Butte sub-basins that will ensure adequate water is available to continue the existing agricultural uses of the affected land. The proposed TWD is initially focused on developing its organizational/administrative capacity that will allow it to provide meaningful representation to its landowners as the process of developing groundwater sustainability plans is completed. The proposed TWD has presented no plans to develop or implement any particular projects, facilities or infrastructure and any such ideas would require great speculation at this time and would ultimately be determined by the yet to be developed groundwater sustainability plans. The Butte County LAFCo is accepting comments and recommendations from local agencies and the public. Although neither Butte County nor the Vina GSA has decision making power over the formation of the Tuscan Water District, these agencies will review the proposal and offer comments and recommendations to the Butte County LAFCo. The Water th Commission will discuss the proposal at their August 5 meeting and may consider making a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The Butte County Board of th Supervisors will consider making comments and recommendations at their August 25 meeting. The Vina Groundwater Sustainability Agency will consider comments and recommendations at meeting in the fall. The application to form the Tuscan Water District can be found at http://buttelafco.org/ Miocene Canal Water Supply In June, PG&E plead guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and causing the 2018 Camp Fire. As part of the plea agreement with the Butte County restore water to the Miocene Canal. PG&E has agreed to provide up to $15 million over the next five years towards restoring water to the Miocene Canal. The Department is continuing to facilitate discussion among PG&E, stakeholder and local partners. The immediate effort involves securing a short-term solution that could be implemented this summer. Landowners have been without water since the Camp Fire. PG&E is planning to have a temporary outtake at Lime Saddle that would deliver water to the Middle Miocene. There are a number of permits, agreements and approvals required to achieve this goal. Butte County will likely - Oroville. All the water that had gone down the Miocene Canal is now going into Lake Oroville. A similar agreement water reached between Butte County and DWR in 2019 so CalWater Oroville could use their PG&E water out of Lake Oroville. The Department of Water Resources is engaged in the effort and working cooperatively. Discussions on long-term solutions occur over the summer. Delta Conveyance Project On June 18, 2020 the Department of Water of Resources (DWR) submitted a reviewed permit application to the United States Army Corps of Engineers for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project actions pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act. The permit application will not be acted upon until the process under the National Environmental Quality Act and other environmental reviews are completed. The Army Corps of Engineers will coordinate among other federal agencies to identify the appropriate lead agency under the National Environmental Quality Act. Under the WaterFix process, DWR had submitted a permit application to the Army Corps of Engineers. DWR subsequently issued a Partially Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report (PREIR). On October 27, 2015, the Board of Supervisors sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers requesting that they reject the permit application based on the flaws of the PREIR. The Department will continue to track the developments of the Delta Conveyance Project. Water Commission The Butte County Water Commission resumed meeting in June under a virtual format. The Water Commission will not meet in July. The next meeting will be on August 5, 2020. Paradise Irrigation District (PID) Options Study began in April. The study is being led by Sacramento State University under the direction of the State Water Resources Control Board. The study will evaluate potential options for PID to remain viable as well as water supply reliability along the Ridge. Initial options proposed by PID include local transfers of treated and raw water (including the PID-Chico Intertie), out-of-basin transfer of raw water, rate increases, new business operations and taking no action. There has not been any meetings or correspondence since May. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.