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)


CurrentGroundwaterRightsHoldersCurrentRights

(data collected for 2011-13)3


• Controlofgroundwaterrightsisevolving,becomingmorepublic andconsolidated– Smallerrights’holderssellingorleasingtolargerpublicagenciesandwaterutilities

• Allocationofrightsvariesbybasinacrossdifferenttypesofusers(Figure1)


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

CaliforniaCenterforSustainableCommunitiesatUCLA 5

CaliforniaCenterforSustainableCommunitiesatUCLACaliforniaCenterforSustainableCommunitiesatUCLA 6

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


• 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

8


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


BeyondGroundwater• Citiesandgroundwaterrights:

– Withpumpingrightsinadjudicatedbasins,citieshavemoreoptionsforover-year

– Stormwater andrecharge:Municipalpermits– storage

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LA City Stormwater Capture Master Plan


Findings

• Managementsystemishighlyfragmentedacrosstheregionandstilldividedbyurbanwatersectors(groundwater,stormwater,watersupply)

• Despitechallenges,thecomplexandpolycentricsystemofgroundwatermanagementhasmanagedtoadaptovertime

– Actorsofvaryingsizesandorganizationalstructuresnegotiatetransactionsandwatertransfers,movingwaterfromareasofgreaterabundancetoareasofscarcity

– Buttheseareshorttermadaptations,notlongtermchangesforclimatechange

– Limitedinscopeaswell:landscapingneedstoevolve,infiltration,stormwatercaptureandwaterrecyclingneedsubstantial interandtransjurisdictionalinstitutionalreform

• Adaptivecapacityisconstrainedbyestablishedallocationsofrights,limitedcost-effectivestorage,diverseinstitutionalknowledge,anddecreasinglyavailableimportedwater


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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Evolution of Groundwater Management in Los Angeles

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