In the midst of a record dry year in Southern California, Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors today secured additional water supply insurance against future drought for the region by authorizing upgrades to a Central Valley groundwater banking program.

Along with solidifying the amount of water Metropolitan can receive during dry years through 2035, the enhanced agreement with Arvin-Edison Water Storage District near Bakersfield will help improve the quality of water delivered through the State Water Project to Southern California.

“As one of the first water banking agreements between urban and agricultural communities in California, our program with Arvin-Edison has served as a model for other similar ventures throughout the state over the past 10 years,” said Metropolitan board Chairman Timothy F. Brick.

“The program upgrades approved today take that partnership to the next level,” Brick said.  “This will help improve the quality of our state project deliveries from Northern California by increasing our ability to exchange supplies for higher quality groundwater from Arvin-Edison.  Metropolitan water currently stored in Arvin-Edison’s aquifer have concentrations of bromide and total organic carbon that are up to 80 percent lower than our state project supplies.”

Steve Collup, Arvin-Edison’s engineer-manager, said the Metropolitan partnership has benefited both agencies since 1997.  “Building on our collaboration, we have learned how to glean even more efficiencies by working cooperatively,” Collup said.

“With these improvements, the program will generate dry-year water and operational flexibility for both districts and enhance water quality for Southern California, while reducing costs and building much-needed infrastructure for farmers in the San Joaquin Valley,” Collup added.

The enhanced program allows Metropolitan to store up to 350,000 acre-feet of state project water at any one time in the groundwater basin under Arvin-Edison’s service area.  (An acre-foot of water is nearly 326,000 gallons, about the amount used by two typical Southland families in and around their homes in a year.) 

Program upgrades provide Metropolitan the ability to withdraw up to 75,000 acre-feet of water during dry years by increasing the capacity of Arvin-Edison’s South Canal.  Previously, capacity issues limited Arvin-Edison’s ability to return previously banked water to Metropolitan during dry years. 

To date, Metropolitan has stored 290,000 acre-feet and retrieved 76,000 acre-feet from the program, leaving a groundwater storage balance of 214,000 acre-feet.

In its action today, Metropolitan’s board authorized $13.2 million in Proposition 13 funds and $1.2 million in MWD monies to increase the capacity of Arvin-Edison’s South Canal.  The state allocated Metropolitan a total of $20 million from Prop. 13 to help develop partnerships with San Joaquin Valley agricultural districts to improve the quality of water supplies delivered through the SWP’s California Aqueduct.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage, and other resource-management programs.