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further infestations will occur and hamper the use of the San Gabriel River and associated <br />spreading facilities for the capture and recharge of local storm water. <br />In the Santa Clara River watershed, United Water Conservation District (UWCD) captures storm <br />flows from the Piru Creek watershed in Lake Piru, as well as imports a small amount of SWP water <br />from Pyramid Lake. UWCD then releases the stored water in late summer, recharging the <br />downstream groundwater basins, including the coastal Oxnard Plain. When Lake Piru became <br />infested with quagga mussels in late 2014, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) <br />ordered UWCD to limit discharges to downstream recharge facilities, to limit the spread of <br />quagga mussels. UWCD's downstream recharge facilities are the primary source for the cities of <br />the Oxnard Plain, which are also served by MWD via its member agency Calleguas Municipal <br />Water District (Calleguas). Groundwater has historically provided approximately half of the <br />water for this portion of Calleguas' service area. Quagga mussel -induced limitations on UWCD's <br />groundwater recharge will shift additional burden onto Calleguas and MWD. UWCD is currently <br />working with CDFW, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and National Marine Fisheries Service to develop an <br />eradication plan for Lake Piru using EarthTec QZ that could potentially be implemented within <br />the next few years. <br />California Department of Fish and Wildlife Regulations <br />The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has a mandate to prevent the spread of <br />quagga mussels. As a result, CDFW requires the preparation of Dreissenid Mussel Monitoring, <br />Response and Control Plans (Plan) for any facility that is impacted. <br />Desiccation is the primary method of mitigating for quagga mussel infestations. Although <br />desiccation can work for isolated spreading grounds, it is less feasible in rivers and streams and <br />impossible in large reservoirs unless they can be fully drained. For OCWD, the Plan contains a <br />requirement that OCWD use imported water for recharge only in basins that can be desiccated <br />(dried out) for two weeks. In addition, these basins must be drained and dried prior to the storm <br />season to prevent potential conveyance of quagga mussels -laden water to other basins or to the <br />Santa Ana River. Moreover, one of the most effective recharge facilities, the Santa Ana River, <br />cannot be fully utilized because it cannot be fully desiccated. These restrictions present a barrier <br />to both the recharge of imported water and the capture of storm water, which reduces the <br />recharge of local supplies and the overall efficiency of groundwater replenishment operations. <br />The recharge of imported and storm water are considered together because OCWD, as with other <br />entities, use their facilities for storage, conveyance and recharge of both sources of supply. <br />The WRD has also been affected by the potential for infestations of waterways used to convey <br />both imported and storm water by quagga mussels. The Los Angeles County Department of <br />Public Works (LACDPW) owns the conveyance and spreading facilities used by WRD for the <br />recharge of storm water, recycled water and imported water. Due to the potential for quagga <br />mussel infestations, imported deliveries from the Colorado River have not been approved by <br />LACDPW for many years. When deliveries were made in 2017, an infestation of quagga mussels <br />was found in the San Gabriel River in October 2017 even though the supplies were mostly from <br />the SWP. <br />