Good afternoon. Welcome to West Basin Municipal Water District Water Policy and Legislation Committee.
Hello. Yes, I apologize. We had some background noise. Okay. Does that start over?
No, I think you've called the meeting to order. If you don't mind, we can determine a form.
Yes, Mr. General Manager, do we have a quorum?
I'll read roll call.
Director Don Deere, Chair, Chairwoman Gloria-Grace.
Here.
Director Scott Cusins, Director Tommy Favai, Director Desi Alvarez.
Madam Chair, we have a quorum.
Thank you very much.
Public comment.
Madam Chair, we have not received any requests for public comment prior to this meeting.
though this meeting has been held both in person and virtually.
If there's any member of the public that would like to speak, please indicate so by raising
your virtual hand.
And Madam Chair, I do not see any requests for public comment.
Thank you.
Presentations.
The staff has no presentations today.
All right.
Number five, Action Calendar.
Mr. General Manager, would you please introduce 5A?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Item 5A is Adopt a Resolution, number 08261240, supporting the association of California Water
Agency's Vision for a Water Future Initiative. For this presentation, we do have Augustine
Hahn, our Water Policy and Resources Development Analyst 2, and this item begins on packet
page 3. Thank you, E.J. Chair Gray, members of the board. As E.J. mentioned, the item
before you is an action item to adopt the resolution of support of AWQA's vision for
our Water Future Initiative. AWQA, as you all well know, is the largest statewide coalition
of public water agencies whose members collectively are responsible for 90% of the
water delivered in the state of California. Back in the fall of 2025, AWQA began developing
this vision initiative as a way to inform gubernatorial candidates about the importance
of water issues in the state. AQUA has developed an initial high-level policy framework, which you'll
find in your agenda package on page 9. And just a quick summary, the policy framework includes
four calls to action, which are lead on water, protect affordability, deliver critical
infrastructure and modernized water management.
Aqua and its member agencies
are currently developing the full vision for our water future policy
platform which they plan to use to inform the new administration when they're
in place. Aqua staff have also shared that they plan to bring this full
policy platform to the Aqua Board in November of this year for adoption. So
So far, 70 plus members have signed on to this resolution of support. These include Metropolitan,
Las Virginas, the County Water Authority, Cayegas, Eastern, Three Valleys, the Southern
California Water Coalition, and Burbank, to name a few. As a result, staff is recommending
that the committee and board approves and authorizes the board president to sign a
resolution of the board of directors of West Basin supporting
opposite vision for our water future. That concludes the brief presentation and
I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Are there any questions?
Madam Chair, this is Director Houston. I'll just make a comment, not a
question if it's okay. Yes please. I just wanted to say Augustine, thank you for the presentation.
You mentioned the Southern California Water Coalition is a supporter which of course I
get to serve on their board on the Apple West Basin and at our board meeting just the other day
we actually talked about this heavily and we'll be talking about it in October so I'm
highly supportive and I think West Basin should be supporting so I lent my support to this
Madam Chair to the committee.
Thank you. Director Deere,
are you okay moving this forward with the recommendation from the staff?
Yes, ma'am. Yes.
Thank you. We move it forward with the recommendation.
Thank you. Thank you, Augustine, so much.
Item 6, Information Calendar 6A, please.
Yes, Madam Chair.
I think 6A is our monthly state legislative update.
for the presentation would you have Augustine Hahn or water policy and
resource development analyst too? And this item begins on packet page 13. Thank
you E.J. members of the board. Before you is the monthly state and federal
update. Staff will present a few highlights from the NPA and BSA monthly
updates which you'll find in your packets. The full state and federal
updates are on page 15 and page 52 of those packets. In addition you'll find
that in both state and federal updates there is included an update about the
Colorado River but for the time being we'll defer that item to the Metropolitan
Update which is the next item on our agenda. So with that I'll move to the
state update. Next slide please. Slide. So 2025-26 legislative session is nearing the end. This
Friday is the last day for bills to pass the appropriations committees in the second house
and for bills that move on legislators will have until August 31st to pass these bills on
their respective floors. Bills that pass the floor will move to the Governor's
desk where he will have until September 30th to veto or sign bills. Next slide
please.
So the West Basin Board has adopted a number of physicians on
legislation this year. On the slide you'll see those priority bills included
along with their current status. I will mention two of those bills, and that's
SB 872 regarding Delta subsidence and levies, which is also a metropolitan
priority this year, and AB 2739 regarding funding for low-income rate
assistance or lira. Both of those bills are set to be heard this Thursday and
their respective fiscal committees. They sit on the suspense file and will be
part of the suspense file hearings. Next slide, please.
So on July 29, DWR
announced their strategy to address golden mussels, specifically on the state
water project. And this strategy includes immediate midterm and long-term
actions to address the protection of infrastructure, the containment of mussels,
and the research for eradication methods of these invasive species. DWR will work
with other state and federal agencies as well as stakeholders included in the
Golden Muscles Task Force in this effort. You'll recall that last month the
board took positions on three pieces of legislation related to golden mussels
with more of a statewide scope and we adopted a support position on one bill
and a support if amended position on two bills. And so just wanted to provide an
update on one of those bills and that's AB 2032, a bill by Assemblymember
Ransom. We've heard that there was agreement on language to expand the
bill to include all invasive muscles, which is an amendment that Metropolitan
was seeking. And so if engagement is needed on this bill, West Basin is now
ready to advocate and support.
That includes the brief state update. I'll
just pause here to see if there's any questions.
Thank you, Augustine. Are there any questions? Director Deere?
No.
Director Houston?
No, no thank you.
All right. Thank you. Augustine, please continue.
Sure. If we could move on to the next slide, please.
Last month, we reported that discussions about full-year federal appropriations had stalled out.
And so, as a result, lawmakers in Washington have turned to the stopgap
or continuing resolution process to keep the federal government funded beyond September 30th.
And the current discussions are to fund the government through December.
And so in July, the House passed a clean CR which proposed to keep the government funded
at current levels through December 4th.
In the upper house, Senate appropriators released language for a CR that would fund the government
through December 11th, and it passed over the weekend on Saturday.
However, this CR included what's referred to as anomalies or things that weren't included
in the current budget, and some of those things include targeted defense and emergency items
like wildfire mitigation, disaster relief, veterans health funding, and an extension
of major highway and surface transportation programs.
As a result, the House would need to take up the Senate's modified CR when they return
from recess on September 1st.
We'll continue to track this item and keep the Board updated as that moves along.
Next slide, please.
So on July 29th, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Senator
Padilla's More Water Act.
You might recall that back in March, the West Basin Board took a support position
on this bill, and that bill would reauthorize Title 16, the large-scale recycling program,
which is slated to fund a part of Pure Water SoCal and a Biden-era USBR program.
This bill would also authorize a new multi-benefit conveyance program, which is also of interest
to the state of California.
Slide please.
You may recall that in May of 2026,
the Trump administration proposed rolling back limits
on forever chemicals or PFOS
that were set during the previous Biden administration.
This included a, this rollback included a two year extension
on two PFOS varieties.
And so extending it from 2029 to 2031.
one, and it also removed the limits on four other PFAS variants.
And so on August 4, a group of 26 Senate Democrats led by California Senator Schiff urged the
Trump administration to reconsider these actions, among their concerns were that these actions
would likely draw legal challenges related to the backsliding provisions.
And there's also questions about whether these rollbacks would actually result in
reduce costs for utilities.
More to come on that, I'm sure. But for the time being, that
will conclude the federal update. As I mentioned, the full federal update can be found in your
packet, and I'm happy to answer any questions at this time.
Madam Chair, did you have any
questions?
Is she on the bunch? Sure.
Hello. I'm sorry. Yes, Madam Chair, we can hear you.
Yes, I'm sorry, I had to get off briefly.
We're still on 6A or B.
We just completed item 6A.
All right, thank you.
And no questions then.
If no questions, we'll go to item 6B, please.
Yes, Madam Chair, item 6B is our monthly Metropolitan Water District updates.
And for this presentation, we have Tammy Hurley-Hide, our Senior Water Policy and
Resources Analyst.
And this item begins on packet page 66.
Thank you, E.J.
Good afternoon, Chair Gray, Member Deere, and Director Houston.
So this report summarizes a few updates on programs of metropolitan,
which includes the California system conservation agreement
for the Colorado River water supplies,
Reclamation final EIR for the Colorado River operations,
and Metropolitan Web Tract Island Wetland Restoration Program.
This report will conclude with an update on the water supply conditions.
And in addition, there are PowerPoint slides to help guide the updates in this report.
And they begin on page 78 of the packet. Thank you.
First off, we'll start with the California Conservation Agreements for Colorado River Supplies.
Metropolitan Board last month approved extending system conservation agreements
for water use with reclamation. So these agreements will enable Metropolitan to
receive funding for water that is conserved. A few years ago...
Back in 2023, the three lower basin states, which include California, Arizona, Nevada collectively
submitted a proposal to reclamation pledging to conserve 1.25 million acre feet a year.
This effort was intended to stabilize the Colorado River system water and elevation
level that Lake Powell and Lake Mead. However, with the last year being one of the driest on record,
Lake Mead and Lake Powell's elevation have continued to decline and that 1.25 million
acre feet is no longer sufficient, so additional conservation efforts are needed.
Reclamation has offered extensions of their current federal funding programs and that's
what Metropolitan staff brings this item to the board, which they approved.
So, there are different categories of agreements that they approved.
The first is a system conservation implementation agreement to add up to 200,000 acre feet of
Colorado River system water to Lake Mead.
And metropolitan would be compensated at $325 per acre foot for this conserved water.
And then second, to enter into system conservation agreements to allow reclamation to pay for
conserved water under metropolitan transfer and supply programs with the Qixon tribe and the
Bard water district. And third, the metropolitan would enter into agreements with Imperial Irrigation
District and Coachella Valley Water District to forebear water conserves under the amendments
to their current system conservation agreement with reclamation. So reclamation has stated that
they want an option to use that can serve water
under the agreement to create a federal resource pool
that would benefit the Indian tribes
in the state of Arizona.
So these agreements would provide a financial benefit,
as I mentioned, to Metropolitan
and they also demonstrate multi-ADT partnership
that can benefit the use of Colorado River supplies.
Next slide please.
So on July 31, Reclamation released the final impact statement for the
post-2026 operational guidelines and strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Reclamation's
approach is intended to provide flexibility when needed to adjust the rejection as the
drought reservoir storage conditions change. So under this framework, the lower basin would
be required to reduce water use by as much as three million acre feet through 2036, depending
on the river conditions and reservoir levels. The upper basin states, however, would have
voluntary cuts under the proposal. So as we see outlined here on the slide, reclamation
preferred alternative include these operational thresholds with respect to
releases. The lake Powell operational releases would range between 5 and 12
million acre feet each year. Shortages, the lower basin water shortages of up to
3 million acre feet would be permitted if necessary. Conservation storage up to
8 million acre feet in lake Powell and 3 million acre feet of concert water in
Lake Mead. And for the upper basin, voluntary conservation efforts would be
up to 200,000 acre feet depending on the hydrologic conditions. So following
this EIR, the record of decision is expected to be released in mid-August
and will include operations specifics for lakes Powell and Mead. So the
Metropolitan Water District staff will be reviewing it at the One Water Stewardship and Adaptation Committee next week, which will be on Monday, August 17th, and we'll be hearing more about their analysis, and we'll share that with you as well.
Next slide, please.
So
with respect to the Webtrack Wetland Restoration, the Metropolitan Board advanced, they approved
advancing a wetland restoration project on Webtrack Island, which is partially funded
by a grant by the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta Conservancy.
And Webtrack is one of five metropolitan-owned islands located in the Bay Delta.
A few years ago, Metropolitan was awarded grant funding from the Delta Conservancy to fund
the design, environmental documentation, and construction of rice fields as a wetland project
on this island, approving phase one of the project.
Earlier this year in April, the board had accepted phase two funding for the rice
conversion project.
grant. The total cost is anticipated at approximately $28.5 million. The Delta Conservancy Grant
is $20.9 million. The Metropolitan Capital Investment Plan share for both projects is
$7.6 million or approximately 25 percent of the total amount. And this grant has
five-year funding term which is set to expire in February 2029 and construction of the project
is anticipated to be complete by November 2028. All right and then next slide please.
So here's the list of Metropolitan's schedule for community and board meetings this month
and for Tuesday obviously 18th the times have changed a little bit we just received an update
this morning. So for Tuesday, August 18th, the finance committee will be at 10 o'clock.
The legal and claim committee will be at 12.30, and then the board of directors meeting will be
at 2.30.
All right. Next slide, please.
And then with respect to water supply conditions,
here's a look at the imported supply conditions provided by Metropolitan.
The northern Sierra snowpack is at 0% with snowpack that peaked early this year.
The northern Sierra precipitation showed a heavy amount during December and April.
From the significant precipitation events, DWR had updated their allocation for state
water contracting agencies to 45% of their requested supplies.
And this is the final allocation for this year.
For the Colorado River Basin, the winter snowpack was the lowest since 1987.
And as a result of the low snowpack and warmer than normal temperatures this year, two reservoirs
for Lake Mead and Lake Powell have been falling to critical low levels.
For Lake Powell, the elevation is 3,521 feet.
This is very close to the record low level from 2023.
And for Lake Mead, this chart indicates the current elevation at 1,042.81 feet as of
July 19.
However, the elevation has since declined and has reached a new record low elevation,
which is 1,040.24 feet.
Lake Mead is forecast to continue dropping in the coming months and metropolitan estimated
Colorado River supply is approximately 963,000 acre feet. Metropolitan supply allocation
from the state water project is 869,000 acre feet. So these two combined bring a total of
1.83 million acre feet for the calendar year and their current demand estimate on imported
water supplies from metropolitan is 1.56 million acre feet. So metropolitan is projecting to manage
approximately 272,000 acre feet of surplus water supplies as well as leading system
conservation supply in Lake Mead as I had mentioned earlier. So that concludes this
report and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Tammy. Director Deere, any questions?
No, thank you.
Director Houston?
No, no, thank you.
Thank you.
Tammy, thank you very much, you and Augustine, for your thorough reports this morning.
Ms. Jenner-Manager, do we have any closed sessions?
There are no closed session items for today.
All right.
Number eight is director's comments and future agenda items.
Director Deere,
director Deere, okay, director Houston.
No comments.
Just thank you to staff for the good reports.
Thank you very much.
Sure.
Yeah.
Thank you, staff.
Again, I want to repeat that and thank you board members and general manager.
if nothing else, this meeting is adjourned.
So thank you very much, everyone.
Bye-bye.