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CC 2015-05-26_08d Amended Water Supply Contract_Consent to One Time Extension of Time NRROY ° INCORPORATED 92 U D * JULY 10. 1911 AMENDED 441F Oft N�P MEMORANDUM TO: CITY COUNCIL FROM: GEOFF ENGLISH, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS SUBJECT: LOPEZ WATER SUPPLY CONTRACT- REQUEST FOR CONSENT TO ONE-TIME EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE ZONE 3 WATER CONTRACTORS TO REQUEST AN AMENDMENT TO THEIR WATER DELIVERY SCHEDULES FOR THE PRIOR WATER YEAR DATE: MAY 26, 2015 RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended the City Council approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the Consent to One-Time Extension of Time under Article 9 Paragraph (C) of the Lopez Water Supply Contract to allow the Zone 3 Water Contractors additional time to request an amendment to their water delivery schedules for the prior water year. IMPACT ON FINANCIAL AND PERSONNEL RESOURCES: There is no fiscal impact to City of Arroyo Grande as a consequence of the recommended action. BACKGROUND: On August 22, 2000, the City Council adopted a resolution approving the current Contract between the San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and the City of Arroyo Grande for water supply from the Lake Lopez Reservoir. (Attachment #4) The Consent to One-Time Extension of Time contains similar language for all of the Zone 3 Water Contractors; City of Arroyo Grande, City of Grover Beach, City of Pismo Beach, County Service Area 12 (CSA-12) and the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD). In December of 2014, the OCSD Board of Directors adopted a resolution requesting "that the 2014 delivery of 326 acre feet of surface water delivered to OCSD from the County to be accounted to for as State Water, as opposed to Lopez Water." Attached is a letter from Paavo Ogren, General Manager for OCSD, providing additional information about the December 2014 request. (Attachment #1) On May 6, 2015, the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Works (County) mailed correspondence to the Zone 3 Water Contractors, notifying the agencies of a "water management opportunity regarding entitlements of State Water and Lopez Item 8.d. - Page 1 CITY COUNCIL LOPEZ WATER SUPPLY CONTRACT- REQUEST FOR CONSENT TO ONE-TIME EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE ZONE 3 WATER CONTRACTORS TO REQUEST AN AMENDMENT TO THEIR WATER DELIVERY SCHEDULES FOR THE PRIOR WATER YEAR MAY 26, 2015 PAGE 2 Water." (Attachment #2) The County has requested that all of the Zone 3 Water Contractors respond to the Consent to One-Time Extension of Time under Article 9 Paragraph (C) of the Lopez Water Supply Contract by May 19, 2015. (Attachment#3) ANALYSIS OF ISSUES: The City of Arroyo Grande is a Zone 3 Water Contractor and has an annual delivery entitlement of Lopez water of 2290 Acre Feet (AF). A chart showing the entitlements for all Zone 3 Water Contractors is shown in the table below. Contractor Eint. Arroyo Grande 2290 OC'SD 303 Grover Beach 800 Pismo Beach 892 CSA-112 245 San UgueNiito rota l 4530 The reclassification opportunity presented by the County only applies to the following Lopez Contractors who are also State Water Contractors, OCSD, City of Pismo Beach and CSA-12. The reclassification matter requires the consent of all Zone 3 Water Contractors because of the necessity to waive Article 9 Paragraph (C) of the Lopez Water Supply Contract. Article 9. Time for Delivery of Proiect Water. ¢CorFY nl I(�o,�' i"r(1�€h ufhJ,4 rFi a' '„ �;ll. ,r N d"V'Iwl,d�ia k�JArr29e:.nsr,rYlil ,aw;r L1 ,�,,,, ! l�yy�,fi ,Pol „�.B„ti �,rry„ �i� �I .u°ter,�,,,,,f. ll�r„d„�kf�n tc') ,aI ( ;?dr°,W.t 10,x"', "u r '� f�.hli�, �Y s„& „d`-^r W1�,� 6j,n(� ,,u l Item 8.d. - Page 2 CITY COUNCIL LOPEZ WATER SUPPLY CONTRACT- REQUEST FOR CONSENT TO ONE-TIME EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE ZONE 3 WATER CONTRACTORS TO REQUEST AN AMENDMENT TO THEIR WATER DELIVERY SCHEDULES FOR THE PRIOR WATER YEAR MAY 26, 2015 PAGE 3 This One-time Waiver must be approved by all of the Zone 3 Water Contractors in order for the County to approve the OCSD request for reclassification. Two additional Zone 3 Water Contractors, the City of Pismo Beach and CSA 12 have also informed the County that they will participate in the retroactive water delivery reclassification opportunity. Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the Mayor to sign the Consent to One- Time Extension of Time under Article 9 Paragraph (C) of the Lopez Water Supply Contract. ADVANTAGES: City staff is supportive of the retro-active reclassification by OCSD and the One-Time Extension of Time under Article 9 Paragraph (C) of the Lopez Water Supply Contract for the following reasons; • Currently there is approximately 900 AF of State Water stored in Lopez. Since the Low Reservoir Response Plan (LRRP) has already been triggered, as the reservoir level is below 20,000 AF, and stored State water is subtracted from the reservoir level for determining the LRRP triggers, less State water and more Lopez water in Lopez Reservoir is a benefit to Arroyo Grande because maintaining a higher Lopez Reservoir elevation prevents further reductions in Lopez Entitlement. • Allowing agencies to reclassify stored State water as Lopez water will provide these agencies with more flexibility to evaluate transfer opportunities with other Zone 3 agencies that cannot take delivery of State water, including Arroyo Grande. More available State water ordered and consumed locally, extends our local water resources; both surface and groundwater. Maximizing the use of State water by local agencies that have access to this source is encouraged. • Local control over the use and classification of Lopez reservoir water is a strong interest to all of the Zone 3 agencies. Zone 3 agencies should be able to use their water entitlement and surplus water; both Lopez and State, in our own best interest as long as it is consistent with the Lopez Contract and does not harm other member agencies. DISADVANTAGES: The primary concern with reclassification and storage capability in Lopez is that it may encourage more groundwater pumping to build up the Zone 3 agency member "banks" of stored Lopez water while the LRRP is enacted. When the LRRP is activated, Zone 3 agencies can store, or bank, their unused Lopez water entitlement and previously determined surplus water. This concern has largely been diminished by the on-going Item 8.d. - Page 3 CITY COUNCIL LOPEZ WATER SUPPLY CONTRACT- REQUEST FOR CONSENT TO ONE-TIME EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE ZONE 3 WATER CONTRACTORS TO REQUEST AN AMENDMENT TO THEIR WATER DELIVERY SCHEDULES FOR THE PRIOR WATER YEAR MAY 26, 2015 PAGE 4 groundwater protection practices by the Northern Cities Management Area (NCMA) agencies, including OCSD. All of the NCMA agencies are maximizing their surface water supplies and have pumped less groundwater in 2015 compared to 2014. Additionally, a robust groundwater monitoring program is in place to help guard against potential seawater intrusion into the groundwater basin. ALTERNATIVES: The following alternatives are provided for the Council's consideration: • Approve staff recommendation; • Do not approve recommendation; or • Provide direction to staff. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: No environmental review is required for this item. PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND COMMENTS: The Agenda was posted in front of City Hall on Thursday, May 21, 2015. The Agenda and staff report were posted on the City's website on Friday, May 22, 2015. Attachments: 1. Correspondence from OCSD General Manager 2. County Correspondence dated May 6, 2015 3. Consent to One-Time Extension form Item 8.d. - Page 4 ATTACHMENT 1 O CUyt Oceano Community Services District * +► >♦ * 1655 Front Street, P.O. Box 599, Oceano,CA 93475 (805)481-6730 FAX(805)481-6836 �!��'sl9st41S Geoff English, Director of Public Works City of Arroyo Grande 1375 Ash Street Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 Subject: 2014 Delivery of State Water; Consent Request from the San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District(County) Mr. English, The purpose of this letter is to respond to your request for background information on the pending contract consent forms provided by the County for local agency consideration. In December 2014,the Oceano Community Services District(OCSD) Board of Directors adopted a motion requesting that the 2014 delivery of 326 acre feet of surface water delivered to OCSD from the County be accounted for as State Water, as opposed to Lopez Water. In response to the OCSD request,the County established a decision-making process, and developed consent forms for local agencies to consider. Meanwhile, other agencies with water contracts similar to OCSD(i.e.those with both State Water and Lopez Water allocations) have indicated a desire to seek similar determinations as OCSD. Background Throughout the course of 2014, the water delivered to OCSD was accounted for as Lopez Water. With the approval of the Low Reservoir Response Plan (LRRP), the OCSD Board of Directors requested that 2014 deliveries be accounted as State Water. Doing so would permit OCSD to carry over the 326 acre feet as Lopez Water. OCSD initiated its request to more fully develop our multi-year drought strategies, with a greater level of certainty than otherwise exists this time, and because State Water was in fact delivered. If the OCSD request is not approved by the County,then based on discussions with the County, they will continue to account for the water as"Stored State Water" in Lopez reservoir. Together with water deliveries prior to 2014, approximately 1,000 acre feet of State Water was stored in Lopez reservoir as of December 31, 2014. Item 8.d. - Page 5 yp COJII�G l u�� Oceano Community Services District ACES/981��� In that event,the County has indicated that the "Stored State Water" will be available for the benefit of State Water contractors, and as such, a portion will be allocable to OCSD at some time in the future. How and when the County will allocate that water, under its own determinations and a separate process, is uncertain. Consequently, the OCSD request is essentially seeking to have determinations made now, with input and consideration by local agencies provided sooner as opposed to later. The significance of the current drought, and the need for local agencies to have certainty in developing drought strategies should be of utmost importance to all agencies. Likewise,the proposed action will also provide the opportunity for other agencies, including Arroyo Grande, to have possible access to additional water during the drought since "Stored State Water" will no longer exist and, instead, water in Lopez reservoir will solely be "Lopez Water." As you may note,the actual quantities allocated to each of the local agencies have not been established in the County correspondence. Those quantity determinations are subject to additional analysis; in part dependent on the desires of other local agencies. OCSD respectively recognizes that multiple approaches to analyzing State Water deliveries, and how it should be allocated, are ultimately the determination of the County Board of Supervisors in accordance with State Water contracts but also with input from local agencies. We hope that Arroyo Grande will approve the consent form provided by the County so that this effort, initiated by OCSD and now incorporated into a fully collaborative process, can help to resolve an issue that will otherwise continue to remain uncertain. As always, we appreciate your effort and that of the other City staff in meeting and discussing this and other water resource issues that are of common interest. Respectfully, Paavo Ogren, General Manager Cc: Mark Hutchinson, Deputy Director of Public Works,County of San Luis Obispo Item 8.d. - Page 6 ATTACHMENT 2 SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Wade Horton, Director County Government Center, Room.206 - San Luis Obispo CA 93408 - (805) 781-5252 5 Fax (805) 781-1229 email address: pwdo -)co.slo.ca.us May 6, 2015 City of Pismo Beach Oceano Community.Services District City of Grover Beach City of Arroyo Grande County Service Area 12 Subject: Request for Agreement not to Object to One-Time Extension of Time Dear Zone 3 Water Contractor: Last month Zone 3 contractors were notified of a water management opportunity regarding entitlements of State Water and Lopez Water, both delivered through the Zone 3 distribution system. With the implementation of the Low Reservoir Response Plan for the Lopez system agencies now have the opportunity to "carryover" unused Lopez water in an agency specific water account. Consequently, agencies that are subscribed to both Zone 3 and State Water have inquired about the ability to implement a retroactive water accounting change to effectively exchange'Lopez water used in 2014 for a like amount of unused State Water. This exchange is possible because during the spring of 2014 State Water was moved.into Lopez Reservoir for the benefit of State Water subcontractors connected to the Lopez turnout. Therefore,this exchange could be accommodated using the stored.State Water in Lopez Reservoir. In order to affect any requested water accounting changes, a key process needs to occur, because it requires the Flood Control District to extend the period of time within which an agency can request an amendment to its water delivery schedule for the water year ending on March 31, 2015: Both the Water Supply Contracts for Lopez Water and the Water Supply Agreements for State Water do not,permit after-the-fact changes in water deliveries at the request of the agency. Article 8 paragraph (c) (3) of the State Water agreement states "The water delivery schedule may be amended by the District upon the District's initiative or upon the Contractor's written request. Proposed amendments shall be submitted by the Contractor within a reasonable time before the desired change is to become effective and shall be subject to review and modification by the District in like manner as the schedule itself" (underline added]. Article 9 paragraph (C) of the Lopez contract-states "Proposed amendments to such schedules shall be submitted by the Agency within a reasonable time prior to the date the desired change is to become effective and they shall be subject to review and modification by the District in the. same manner as the preliminary water schedule described in paragraph (B) above" (underline Item 8.d. - Page 7 added]. However, the Flood Control District can extend the time period within which each agency can request an amendment to the water delivery schedules pursuant to Article 8 paragraph (c) (3) of the State Water agreement and Article 9 paragraph (C) of the Lopez contract provided that none of the agencies object to said extension. In addition, Article 23 (C) of the Lopez contracts state that any amendment to said contracts must be approved-by the unanimous-written-consent-of all-agencies. Therefore, this letter seeks your written agreement not to object to the one time extension of the time period within which each agency can request an amendment to its water delivery schedule for the water year ending on March 31, 2015 (see attached). Your response by May 19 would be greatly appreciated, however, if you need more time to process an official response please let us know. If you have any questions about this opportunity or would like-to discuss this process further, please contact me at (805) 781-5458 or mhutchinson @co.slo.ca.us. Sincerely, -ell MARK HUTCHINSON Director of Public Works C Wade Horton, Director of Public Works File: CF 970.01.01 L:IMANAGMNTIMAY15\2015.05.06 Zone 3 Cover Letter Final.dou MH:Jb Item 8.d. - Page 8 ATTACHMENT 3 CONSENT TO ONE-TIME EXTENSION OF TIME UNDER ARTICLE 9 PARAGRAPH (C) OF THE LOPEZ WATER SUPPLY CONTRACTS The San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District ("Flood Control District") offered each agency that is a party to both a Lopez Water Supply Contract and a State Water Supply Agreement (the City of Pismo Beach, Oceano Community Services District, Avila Beach Community Services District, Avila Valley Mutual Water Company, and San Luis Coastal Unified School District) the opportunity to request a modification to their water delivery schedules for the prior year on or before May 31, 2015. These agencies may receive an additional benefit under the carryover provisions of the recently enacted Lopez Low Reservoir Response Plan by decreasing their Lopez water deliveries and increasing their State water deliveries during the prior year. The ("Agency') hereby affirms that is has no objection to and will not challenge the Flood Control District's one-time extension of the period of time within which the City of Pismo Beach, Oceano Community Services District, Avila Beach Community Services District, Avila Valley Mutual Water Company, and San Luis Coastal Unified School District can request an amendment to their water delivery schedules for the prior Water Year (Water Year ending on March 31, 2015) pursuant to Article 9 Paragraph (C) of the Lopez Water Supply Contracts. Signature Date Name— Print Title Page 1 of 1 Item 8.d. - Page 9 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Item 8.d. - Page 10