75E - PH - WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN

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2015 URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN defend its water rights to the OC Basin. This legislation is found in the State of California Statutes, Water — Uncodified Acts, Act 5683, as amended. The OC Basin is managed by OCWD under the Act, which functions as a statutorily- imposed physical solution. Groundwater levels are managed within a safe basin operating range to protect the long -term sustainability of the OC Basin and to protect against land subsidence. OCWD regulates groundwater levels in the OC Basin by regulating the annual amount of pumping (OCWD, Groundwater Management Plan 2015 Update, June 2015). 3.3.2 Basin Production Percentage The OC Basin is not adjudicated and as such, pumping from the OC Basin is managed through a process that uses financial incentives to encourage groundwater producers to pump a sustainable amount of water. The framework for the financial incentives is based an establishing the basin production percentage (BPP), the percentage of each Producer's total water supply that comesfrom groundwater pumped from the OC Basin. Groundwater production at or below the BPP is assessed a Replenishment Assessment (RA). While there is no legal limit as to how much an agency pumps from the OC Basin, there is a financial disincentive to pump above the BPP. Agencies that pump above the BPP are charged the RA plus the Basin Equity Assessment (BEA), which is calculated so that the cost of groundwater production is greater than MWDOC's full service rate. The BEA can be increased to discourage production above the BPP. The BPP is set uniformly for all Producers by OCWD on an annual basis. The BPP is set based on groundwater conditions, availability of imported water supplies, and basin management objectives. The supplies available for recharge must be estimated for a given year. The supplies of recharge water that are estimated are: 1) Santa Ana River stormflow, 2) Natural incidental recharge, 3) Santa Ana River baseflow, 4) GWRS supplies, and 5) other supplies such as imported water and recycled water purchased for the Alamitos Barrier, The BPP is a major factor in determining the cost of groundwater production from the OC Basin for that year. In some cases, OCWD encourages treating and pumping groundwater that does not meet drinking water standards in order to protect water quality. This is achieved by using a financial incentive called the BEA Exemption. A BEA Exemption is used to clean up and contain the spread of poor quality water. OCWD uses a partial or total exemption of the BEA to compensate a qualified participating agency or Producer for the costs of treating poor quality groundwater. When OCWD authorizes a BEA exemption for a project, it is obligated to provide the replenishment water for the production above the BPP and forgoes the BEA revenue that OCWD would otherwise receive from the producer (OCWD, Groundwater Management Plan 2015 Update, June 2015). 3.321 2015 OCWD Groundwater Management Plan OCWD was formed in 1933 by the California legislature to manage and operate the OC Basin in order to protect and increase the OC Basin's sustainable yield in a cost - effective manner. As previously mentioned, the BPP is the primary mechanism used by OCWD to manage pumping in the OC Basin. In 2013, OCWD's Board of Directors adopted a policy to establish a stable BPP with the intention to work toward achieving and maintaining a 75 percent BPP by FY 2015 -16. Although BPP is set at 75 percent, arcadis.aom 75E-44 3 -10