GROUNDWATER STORES TO BE PROTECTED CITIES AGREE TO LIMIT PUMPING FROM AQUIFER.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH

Staff Writer

Concerned that the region is slowly using up a vast reserve of water stored beneath the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Glendale and Burbank have agreed to limit the amount of groundwater they pump so the basin can refill.

Under the proposed agreement approved Tuesday by the L.A. Board of Water and Power Commissioners, the cities can still pump their annual allotment of groundwater -- which is the cheapest water available.

But they won't use most credits that would allow the cities to draw extra water during dry years and save millions of dollars spent on purchased water.

The goal is to prevent the cities from drawing down the groundwater to historic lows while L.A. tries to develop new ways to get more water into the aquifer.

"Something's out of balance," said Mark Mackowski, a court-appointed water master overseeing the San Fernando groundwater basin.

"We're pumping more water than we're recharging over the long term. We need to study that to find out what's happening and figure out how to reverse that trend."

The eastern San Fernando Valley sits atop an underground reservoir that could hold 3.2 million acre-feet of water -- enough to supply the entire city for five years.

But since 1944, the groundwater supply has dropped dramatically. The region has been developed, cities began pumping groundwater and previously open spaces are now paved over, preventing rain and storm water from seeping into the aquifer.

To reverse the trend, the Department of Water & Power has budgeted $30 million for projects to capture storm water and infiltrate it into the ground.

State bond money also is being sought for a $78 million project to enlarge the Big Tujunga Dam to catch more winter-water runoff that now flows to the ocean.

The two projects could add 12,000 acre-feet of water each year -- enough for 12,000 families.

Until then, however, the water master has persuaded the cities to hold off extra pumping for 10 years.

Historically, water rights make for nasty fights in California. The lawsuit over water rights in the San Fernando Basin took 24 years before it was resolved in 1979.

Tuesday's proposed agreement is the biggest change to the judgment since then, and the cities agreed to voluntarily limit their water rights rather than face the prospect of a Los Angeles Superior Court judge doing it for them.

"Trying to work these issues out is always difficult because nobody wants to be seen giving up some water rights," said Bill Mace, assistant general manager of the Burbank Department of Water and Power.

"We're avoiding a lot of motions by attorneys and trying to come to a reasonable understanding of the current situation."

Under the agreement, Los Angeles, Glendale and Burbank will each deduct 1 percent of their stored water credit each year. The cities earn credits when they don't use all of their annual allotments of water.

The cities also will support a new study of the groundwater basin to see how much the cities can withdraw from the aquifer each year without drawing down the long-term supply.

There is a chance the study will recommend lower annual allotments, which could mean the cities would have to buy more expensive imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

The Glendale City Council has already approved the agreement and the Burbank City Council is expected to consider it this month.

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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