Soquel Creek Water District, founded in 1961, is a water
purveyor and groundwater management agency in one. Its service area encompasses
seven miles of shoreline and extends from one to three miles inland into the foothills
of the
Soquel Creek Water is a special district and operates under
the laws of the State of
The goal of Soquel Creek Water District is to provide safe,
clean water now and in the future, and to protect the groundwater basin from
the threat of seawater intrusion. Soquel Creek Water District annually delivers
about 1.8 billion gallons per year, or 5,400 acre-feet per year. This water is
primarily for residential use within the communities of Aptos,
The district owns and operates 17 production wells. Sixteen
are currently active and have an estimated production capacity of 15 million
gallons per day.
The distribution system includes 130 miles of pipeline and 18 water storage tanks, which have a combined capacity of 7.5 million gallons.
The Purisima Formation Aquifer provides two-thirds of the
district’s annual production (3,600 acre-feet) for the service areas of
Capitola, Soquel and Aptos. Water from this aquifer meets all state and federal
standards but contains higher than desirable levels of iron and manganese. The
Aromas Red Sands Aquifer provides the remaining one-third (1,800 acre-feet) for
the service areas of Seascape,
Soquel Creek Water District has an emergency response plan
in case of disruption due to drought, earthquake or other factors that could
stop the district’s ability to provide water.
Soquel Creek Water District personnel.
Draft Integrated Resources Plan, 1999.
Groundwater Assessment Plan, 2004.
Integrated Resources Plan, 2003.
Metroactive News, “Dousing for Dollars,” December 2004 article.
Production and Monitoring Well-Monitoring Frequency Schedule, May 2005.
Soquel Creek Groundwater Management Work Plan and Budget, FY 2005/06.
Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors meeting minutes,
Soquel Creek Water District web site, http://www.soquelcreekwater.com.
“Hot Topics in Energy Efficiency: Descriptions of Leading Projects,” www.fypower.org.
Soquel Creek
Water District, letter to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors,
Soquel Creek Water District Long Range Financial Plan, Powerpoint presentation to Board of Directors, FY 2005-06, Spring 2005.
Statement of Future Water Demand Projections, presentation to Board of Directors, Spring 2005.
Summary of Proposed 2005/06 Groundwater Management Expenses.
Three Potential Alternatives to Increasing Water to the District Outlines, June 2005.
Water Supply Emergency Response Plan from Urban Water Management Plan Update 2000.
1. Water is drawn almost exclusively from groundwater aquifers. These are either overdrafted or are in danger of contamination from seawater intrusion. According to district documents, “studies…show that mid-county groundwater wells are threatened by saltwater contamination, which could result in district customers and other well operators facing supply shortages.”[1]
2. The district’s 2004 Groundwater Assessment Report states that coastal wells are threatened by seawater intrusion. The wells are near Pleasure Point and the Seascape/La Selva Beach area. The report states that stronger protections are needed in these areas to preserve the quality of groundwater.
3.
The Soquel Creek Water District has plans to
experiment with injection wells to pump water from another part of the Purisima
Aquifer and putting that water in wells near Aptos that are in danger of
saltwater intrusion.
4.
The Groundwater Model Project consists of
updating the district’s computer-generated groundwater model. The model would
assist in developing pumping strategies that would restore and retain
sufficient coastal groundwater levels to serve as a barrier against seawater
intrusion.
5.
Current demand exceeds the safe yield of local
aquifers. The water district is seeking new water supplies. One solution is to
import water from the
6.
7.
Technical studies prepared by Soquel Creek Water
District indicate that existing groundwater sources in mid-county cannot
support projected demand at buildout of the current General Plan. These studies
show that another 2,000 acre-feet per year are needed to meet buildout of the
General Plan, even with a substantial conservation effort.
8. The Santa Cruz County Draft Housing Element would re-zone 44 acres for higher density housing to provide affordable housing. The proposed affordable housing provisions will increase water demand within the district.
9. The district has three options for acquiring more water:
·
the regional seawater desalination plant with
the City of
·
the water import/groundwater banking option with
the City of
· a creek diversion project which would skim excess winter water (December to May) into a holding pond. The water would be available for immediate use or placed in storage. This privately owned land would have to be purchased by the district. The stream diversion project would cost between $19 and $25 million.[2]
10. The
district hopes to include the City of
11.
According to Soquel Creek Water District
personnel, the county permit process may cause any new water projects to take
several years.
12. The water district has adopted a Water Demand Offset policy as an interim measure to allow development to continue without increasing the ground water overdraft. This requires developers to retrofit existing customers with enough water-saving items to provide water savings equal to the amount of water the new developments would require. Retrofits include waterless urinals, synthetic turf and low-flow toilets.
13.
All residential, commercial and industrial
buildings within the part of the City of
14. The district has established water-use efficiency requirements for new development to help protect water supply. They include the following:
·
limited
lawn area
·
limited
spray irrigation
·
irrigation
designed to avoid runoff and overspray
·
the use
of soil conditioners to help retain moisture
15.
Soquel Creek Water District has several
innovative water efficiency programs. In 2004, they were able to save both
electrical energy and 140 acre feet of water through several innovative water
efficiency programs. By 2010, the
district aims to conserve an additional 600 acre-feet and, through reduced
pumping alone, cut annual energy use by more than 2 million kilowatt hours.
16. The district receives no tax revenues. Current rates generate funds for operations and management plus approximately $1 million annually for capital programs.
17.
District water bills increased in January 2005.
The amount of the increase depended on meter size and water usage.
18. A water rate fee consultant supported the need to increase fees.[3] Rate increases were needed to:
· maintain existing infrastructure and operations;
· enable the district to fund its ongoing capital program;
· allow the district to build and maintain fund reserves; and
· keep rates in line with the cost of inflation.
19. In 2003-04, the district began with about $4 million in reserves. That amount fell to $800,000 by the end of the year with the completion of capital projects.
20. To lessen the impact of increasing charges on rate-payers, the district has payment options and a schedule for projected rate increases.
21. The
district has submitted an application for up to $250,000 from the State of
· the Groundwater Management Plan Update; and
· the Groundwater Model Update.
22. Staff
representatives from the City of
23. The district is working with other agencies within the county to apply for approximately $25 million under Proposition 50 (the Water, Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002). This includes preparing a Santa Cruz County Integrated Water Resources Management Plan. The plan will identify the highest priority water resource projects and will determine water supply reliability, quality and water resource management.
1. The Soquel Creek Water District’s water supply is currently in overdraft mode.
2. Mid-county wells located near the coast are experiencing seawater intrusion. The district is working to slow this process by pumping water from inland wells to coastal wells to keep the basin recharged. When water is plentiful in inland wells, water is pumped to coastal wells to prevent overdraft and seawater intrusion.
3.
There is a countywide effort to cooperatively manage
the
4.
Water production would be increased with either PVWMA’s
imported water pipeline project or
5. The district has adopted creative and effective means of reducing water demand and maintaining water quality: pumping water from inland wells to coastal wells, cutting energy used in pumping, requiring retrofitting with water-saving devices and tiered pricing.
6. The district’s water rates continue to increase. This is the main source of revenue.
7. An overdraft of the groundwater sources is already projected based on current growth. Additional proposals to increase this density will add further strain on the water supply.
1.
Soquel Creek Water District should aggressively
address its overdraft problems through continued conservation, retrofitting and
pumping groundwater from inland areas to coastal areas.
2. Due
to its proximity to the PVWMA service area, and the advanced state of the
project. Soquel Creek Water District should consider connecting to PVWMA’s
pipeline project to import water from the
3. Soquel
Creek Water District, in cooperation with the City of
4. Soquel
Creek Water District should be commended for its conservation and water use
reduction programs.
5. Soquel
Creek Water District may need to continue to increase rates to build up capital
reserves until additional funding sources are secured.
Entity |
Findings |
Recommendations |
Respond Within |
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Soquel Creek Water District |
1-23 |
1-5 |
90 Days ( |