Water district cuts back supply

Jenny Marder

This summer, residents will see a small hike in their water rates as

the result of the water district voting to cut back the amount of

water cities can get from its underground aquifers.

Starting July 1, the average water bill in Huntington Beach --

which is now $30.93 per month -- will increase by $1.46 per month.

City officials say this decision comes as no surprise, given

widespread water shortages.

“This information has all been expected and anticipated,” said

Robert Beardsley, director of Public Works. “The water district has

been refiguring numbers for months, based on a number of factors that

they analyze to determine how overdrafted the basin is.”

The Orange County Water District’s board voted April 23 to lower

the amount that cities can draw from the basin from 75% of their

total supply to 66%. The board also voted to raise the fees that

cities must pay to access the groundwater supply.

That means Huntington Beach and the 21 other cities that draw

their water from the basin will soon have no choice but to import

water from outside sources such as the Metropolitan Water District,

which is also being forced to cut back its take on the Colorado River

due to drought conditions.

The city will have to reach deeper into its pockets to accommodate

the new policy, since it is much more costly to purchase water from

outside than to draw it from local wells.

“It costs us approximately $150 per acre foot to pump water out of

ground,” Beardsley said. “To buy it from the wholesaler is about

$435. It’s three times as much.”

There are 325,851 gallons in one acre foot, enough to supply two

average-sized families for one year.

The amount the city pumps from the district has remained constant

for the last 10 years. In that time, drought coupled with increased

demand because of population growth has diminished supply in the

district’s groundwater basin.

The water level in the county aquifer is dangerously low, said

Jenny Glasser, spokeswoman for the Orange County Water District.

“We would like it to be at negative 200,000 feet,” Glasser said.

“Right now, it’s more than 200,000 acre feet further than we’d like

it to be.”

It could take several years before the deep aquifer refills to an

optimum level, she said.

Low levels also put groundwater at the risk of saltwater

intrusion, which could contaminate the drinking water in the

underground wells.

“There’s not enough water to hold the ocean back, so it begins to

intrude,” Glasser said. “We are currently in a position where we need

to protect that saltwater barrier so it doesn’t get to a point where

we have saltwater contamination.”

Beardsley urged residents to practice water conservation to

prevent their rates from further increase.

“With this increase, if you don’t conserve, you’ll be paying

more,” he said.

His department has taken steps to help this effort by installing

low-flow showerheads and offering a low-flow toilet program in which

residents can trade in their toilet for a low-flow version.

This summer, the city will also spearhead a pilot irrigation

program that controls the amount of sprinkler water used based on

weather conditions.

Huntington Beach is historically a very water-conscious city, said

Ken Dills, the senior administrative analyst for the city water

division.

“We’ve done a pretty good job with conservation and I think the

citizenry is really aware of it,” Dills said. “They’ve retrofitted

thousands of toilets here in the city.”

The water shortage has also led the city to look into other

options, such as a desalination plant that could provide 50 million

gallons of water per day.

The Orange County Sanitation District and the Orange County Water

District are also embarking on a joint plan to build a groundwater

replenishment system that would provide another water source. It

would take treated sewage water and purify it to drinking water

standards, enough to accommodate 20% of the need for all of northern

and central Orange County, Glasser said.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.