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The Los Vaqueros Reservoir Joint Powers Authority, a governing body made up of several water agencies in California to oversee the expansion of the reservoir, approved a resolution earlier this month to dissolve itself — meaning agencies like Zone 7 will have to look elsewhere for places to store more water in the future.
Zone 7 Board Director Kathy Narum, who served on the governing body as a Zone 7 representative, told the Weekly that while this means the agency will not be able to store excess amounts of water at the reservoir, the dissolution of the JPA will not have any current effect on Zone 7’s water supply.
“For Zone 7, while we’re disappointed that (the reservoir expansion project) didn’t go forward, we accept that,” Narum said. “Speaking for myself, I look forward to a discussion about what other projects we can pursue to increase water supply reliability now that this is off the table.”
In 2019, the water agency conducted a water supply evaluation that “confirmed the need for new water supplies to maintain Zone 7’s commitment to water reliability,” according to the Zone 7 website.
Several projects were then identified as ways to achieve the needed water supplies in the future — among those projects was the Los Vaqueros expansion project.
Owned and operated by the Contra Costa Water District (CCWD), the Los Vaqueros Reservoir is a 1,900-acre reservoir located in the Diablo Range. According to the CCWD’s website, the reservoir stores up to 160,000 acre-feet of water for CCWD customers in central and eastern Contra Costa County.
The JPA was formed in 2021 as a way to govern and oversee the second phase of the reservoir expansion project, which was intended to increase the water supply reliability in the Bay Area and Central Valley, among other things.
“When completed, the Los Vaqueros Reservoir capacity was to be increased from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000 acre-feet with new and modified conveyance facilities added to provide environmental, water supply reliability, operational flexibility, water quality and recreational benefits,” according to the JPA.
The decision to dissolve the JPA stemmed from the CCWD’s move to terminate the Los Vaqueros expansion project.
Back in September, CCWD held a meeting where the water district’s staff gave the board of directors several reasons why it needed to pull out from participation in the Los Vaqueros Expansion project.
One of the main reasons being the project cost roughly doubled from $760 million to $1.5 billion over the past few years.
Other reasons included reduced benefits from the project due to regulatory changes that resulted in a 30% reduction in the project’s water yield; having to take the reservoir out of service for at least five years; a lack of guaranteed water supply during construction of the project; and the inability to reach agreements on key terms, according to the Sept. 18 CCWD meeting transcript.
Additional reasons were that several partnering water agencies reduced their requested storage amounts or withdrew support and the potential for endangering CCWD ratepayers’ existing investment in the reservoir.
Due to all those reasons, the CCWD voted Nov. 6 to end its participation in the reservoir expansion project, effectively terminating the project.
As a result of the CCWD’s decision, there was no need for the JPA because the sole purpose of the governing body was to oversee that expansion project, which is why the JPA approved the resolution to dissolve itself on Jan. 8.
“Without question, this is a significant and somber day for the JPA and the Phase 2 Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project,” JPA Chair Anthea Hansen said in a Jan. 8 statement.
“As we move forward with the dissolution process, it is important to document the contributions and lessons learned from this effort,” she added in the statement. “The Phase 2 Expansion Project brought together diverse partners representing urban, agricultural and environmental entities to work together to maximize broad public benefits and regional resilience.”
Hansen went on to say that the work done by the JPA wasn’t for nothing. She said important discussions were sparked and regional collaboration was strengthened, which showed how different agencies representing diverse interests can — and should continue to — come together to work on water-related projects in the future.
“My hope is that this will not be the end of collaboration between the JPA members, but the beginning of an ongoing dialogue which leads to the successful completion of projects that secure regional water resilience for the future,” Hansen said in the statement.
So what does this mean for Zone 7 and the Tri-Valley?
Narum said the most important thing to remember is that the goal of the recently terminated expansion project was not to increase the water supply for Zone 7, it was to create more storage space.
For example, during periods of increased rain that excess water would have been stored at the expanded reservoir so that agencies like Zone 7 could draw from that reservoir during dry times.
Zone 7 was going to get about 10,000 acre-feet of storage space from the reservoir expansion project, but now it will have to evaluate other areas for that additional storage space.
“I look forward to learning about other projects that can improve water reliability,” Narum said.
The Zone 7 Board of Directors approved its own resolution in favor of dissolving the JPA during its Dec. 18 meeting but the board will have to once again vote next month to formally dissolve the JPA.
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