The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) aims to deliver a variety of services that provide benefit to its stakeholders and constituents. Our efforts focus on sound planning and appropriate investments in water supply development, water use efficiency, public information, legislative advocacy, water education, and emergency preparedness.
On May 9, 2016, Governor Brown issued Executive Order B-37-16 “Making Water Conservation a Way of Life” that extends the Emergency Regulation to January 31, 2017. In response to this Executive Order, on May 18 the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) adopted a localized self-certification approach that replaces the prior state imposed mandatory conservation standard, which ranged from 8% to 36% for each retail agency. This new approach mandates each retail agency to conduct a “stress test,” certifying whether they have sufficient available potable supplies for a three-year period under high demand and low precipitation conditions to meet the needs of their customers. As part of this self-certification process, the State Board emergency regulations requires urban water wholesale agencies (i.e. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and MWDOC) to publicly disclose the amount of regional water supplies they expect to deliver to retail water suppliers for each year over the three-year period. This posting provides the required wholesale information from MWDOC for our 27 member agencies.
MWDOC is a third-largest member agency of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) and the largest purchaser of treated drinking water. MWDOC provides and manages imported water supplies used in Orange County, with the exception of the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana. As the wholesale agency for 27 cities and water agencies within Orange County, MWDOC is required by the State Board to assist our retail agencies meet the State Board’s self-certification process by providing data and information on the imported water supplies that we project to deliver to them.
To determine MWDOC’s expected imported supply need over the next three years, MWDOC coordinated with each retail agency in assessing their local and imported supply needs for the stress test period. These estimates were prepared in coordination with both our retail member agencies (e.g. urban water suppliers) and Metropolitan. Additional wholesale information required by many of our member agencies for the groundwater supply is being provided by Orange County Water District (OCWD).
Below is a summary of the total imported supplies requested by MWDOC’s 27 member agencies over the next three years as part of this process:
| MWDOC’s imported supply request | 2017 (2013 hydrology) | 2018 (2014 hydrology) | 2019 (2015 hydrology) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Retail Agency | 177, 130 AF | 177, 130 AF | 177, 130 AF |
| Groundwater Recharge | 49, 750 AF | 49, 750 AF | 49, 750 AF |
| MWDOC Imported Supplies - TOTAL | 226, 880 AF | 226, 880 AF | 226, 880 AF |
MWDOC’s Imported Water Supply Request was revised on June 21, 2016 due to changes in retail agency supply requests.
The “groundwater recharge” represents Orange County Water District’s request for imported water supplies to recharge/replenish its groundwater basin to manage its expected groundwater production over the next three years.
The stress test emergency regulation requires that the wholesaler information identify each source of water and the amount of water expected to be delivered to each of the urban potable water retailers for the water years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The required assumptions include using:
MWDOC purchases imported supplies and groundwater recharge for our retail agencies exclusively from Metropolitan. Metropolitan utilizes its supplies to meet its 26 member agencies’ imported water needs from three key sources: State Water Project, Colorado River Aqueduct, and storage. Below is a brief description of these sources and assumptions used to demonstrate their availability of supplies.
Metropolitan assumes receiving the same State Water Project (SWP) “Table A” supplies as the hydrologic conditions of water years 2013, 2014, and 2015 for the next three years. Providing a SWP Allocation of 35% for 2017, 5% for 2018, and 20% for 2019.
Metropolitan assumes receiving a Colorado River Aqueduct Base Supply similar to the hydrologic conditions of water years 2013, 2014, and 2015 over the next three years. This provides Metropolitan with its Colorado River basic apportionment, Imperial Irrigation District’s Conservation Program, Palo Verde Irrigation District’s land management program and San Luis Rey’s Canal Lining supply project, as well as its transfer obligation to Coachella Valley Water District.
Due to the limited supplies under the Water Years of 2013, 2014, and 2015. Metropolitan utilized its water storage supplies to meet projected imported demands over the three-year period. Metropolitan will start 2017 with over 2.12 million acre feet (AF) in total storage and expect to end with roughly 657,000 AF at the end of 2019. Metropolitan has a diverse water storage portfolio ranging from groundwater storage in the Central Valley of California to surface storage along the Colorado River in Lake Mead (Intentionally Created Surplus – ICS). For further details on Metropolitan’s sources of supplies and its supply-estimation methodology.
MWDOC projections for Member Agency imported water supply for the three projected years:
| MWDOC member agency Imported water supplies | 2017 (2013 hydrology) | 2018 (2014 hydrology) | 2019 (2015 hydrology) |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Brea | 3, 382 AF | 3, 382 AF | 3, 382 AF |
| City of Buena Park | 4. 488 AF | 4. 488 AF | 4. 488 AF |
| East Orange County Water District - Retail Zone | 310 AF | 310 AF | 310 AF |
| East Orange County Water District - Wholesale Zone | 3,819 AF | 3,819 AF | 3,819 AF |
| El Toro Water District | 9,495 AF | 9,495 AF | 9,495 AF |
| City of Fountain Valley | 3, 028 AF | 3, 028 AF | 3, 028 AF |
| City of Garden Grove | 7, 772 AF | 7, 772 AF | 7, 772 AF |
| Golden State Water Company | 6,217 AF | 6,217 AF | 6,217 AF |
| City of Huntington Beach | 9,092 AF | 9,092 AF | 9,092 AF |
| Irvine Ranch Water District | 15,529 AF | 15,529 AF | 15,529 AF |
| Laguna Beach County Water District | 1,813 AF | 1,813 AF | 1,813 AF |
| City of La Habra | 500 AF | 500 AF | 500 AF |
| City of La Palma | 642 AF | 642 AF | 642 AF |
| Mesa Water District | 0 AF | 0 AF | 0 AF |
| Moulton Niguel Water District | 28,771 AF | 28,771 AF | 28,771 AF |
| City of Newport Beach | 4,968 AF | 4,968 AF | 4,968 AF |
| City of Orange | 9,379 AF | 9,379 AF | 9,379 AF |
| Orange County Water District | 49,750 AF | 49,750 AF | 49,750 AF |
| City of San Clemente | 9,532 AF | 9,532 AF | 9,532 AF |
| City of San Juan Capistrano | 6,910 AF | 6,910 AF | 6,910 AF |
| Santa Margarita Water District | 28,726 AF | 28,726 AF | 28,726 AF |
| City of Seal Beach | 1,138 AF | 1,138 AF | 1,138 AF |
| Serrano Water District | 489 AF | 489 AF | 489 AF |
| South Coast Water District | 6,659 AF | 6,659 AF | 6,659 AF |
| Trabuco Canyon Water District | 3,081 AF | 3,081 AF | 3,081 AF |
| City of Westminster | 3,720 AF | 3,720 AF | 3,720 AF |
| Yorba Linda Water District | 7,672 AF | 7,672 AF | 7,672 AF |
| MWDOC Total: | 226,880 AF | 226,880 AF | 226,880 AF |
[1] MWDOC’s Member Agency Imported Water Supply projections were revised in June 21, 2016 due to changes in retail agency supply requests.
[2] East Orange County Water District is both a retailer and a wholesaler. The wholesale imported water to portions of the City of Orange, portions of Golden State Water Company – Cowan Heights, portions of Irvine Ranch Water District – Orange Park Acres, and the entire service are of the City of Tustin’s Water Department.
Although MWDOC can meet the imported needs of its member agencies, the need to conserve remains. Southern California is still in a drought. Local precipitation has reach its fifth consecutive year below average; and local groundwater as well as local surface water reservoirs are still at historic lows.
Based on these conditions, the MWDOC Board on June 15, 2016 adopted a resolution declaring a “Condition 2 – Water Supply Alert”, as part of MWDOC’s Water Shortage Contingency Plan, which calls for the continued implementation of extraordinary conservation measures during the emergency regulations and encourages retail water agencies to amend their water drought ordinances to incorporate the Governor’s new permanent conservation measures.
Furthermore, to continue the significant water savings achieved by Orange County over the past 12 months, and to be cautious for the upcoming water year, the MWDOC Board also called for a countywide water saving goal of approximately 10% from the average annual demands of calendar years 2013 and 2014.
Robert Hunter General Manager, MWDOC