Safe Yield: 6,700 Acre Feet Per Year
By: Libi Uremovic| Original Article at Patch.com
The Beaumont Basin Watermaster released their Report on the Basin’s Safe Yield. The Report recommends Watermaster set the Safe Yield at 6,700 acre feet per year for the next ten (10) years.
The current Safe Yield is 8,650, which means usage needs to be reduced by 23%, but the actual usage is much higher.
The Water Districts that draw from the Beaumont basin are the Beaumont-Cherry Valley Water District, Yucaipa Valley Water District, Banning Water Dept., the South Mesa Water Company, and a number of Overlying Owners.
The Watermaster 2013 Annual Report page 3-11 states: “Total Beaumont Basin groundwater production in calendar year 2013 was 17,114 acre feet. Total artificial recharge in calendar year 2013 was 8,603 acre feet.” http://documents.yvwd.dst.ca.us/bbwm/documents/2013combinedannualreport140807.pdf
Production in 2013 was 14,537 ac-ft by the Appropriators (Please see Table 3-1K of the 2013 Annual Report) and 2,576 ac-ft by Overlying Users (See Table 3-2K).
Giving full credit for recharging; the 2013 groundwater used was 8,511 acre/feet. It will take 20 – 30 years before the recharged water reaches the basin, so giving full credit for the recharging is not realistic.
South Mesa only has one (1) well feeding out of the Beaumont Basin with an estimated yield of 300 – 400 acre feet per year.
Banning uses approximately 9,000 acre feet per year for their 11,000 customers, but only 24%-30% is drafted from the Beaumont Basin.
Yucaipa Valley Water District also draws some water from the Beaumont Basin to service the southern parts of Calimesa, but has other water sources.
And then we have the Beaumont-Cherry Valley Water District. Cherry Valley’s population is 6,500 and Beaumont’s population is 40,000.
BCVWD Financial Report Dated December 31, 2013 states: “At the end of 2013, the District had a total of 16,137 connections, an increase of 1,008 connections over 2012. Approximately 335 of these connections are landscape irrigation connections to non-potable water and approximately 69 of these total connections are for agricultural irrigation which is connected to the potable water system. The number of connections increased from 5,800 in the year 2000.”
BCVWD 2009 Water Rate Study page 14 states: “During the calendar year 2009 the District provided water service to an estimated 15,000 customers, distributing roughly 13,700 acre feet of potable water.”
The Water Districts that draft potable water from the Beaumont Basin is already draw twice as much as the Safe Yield of 6,700 acre feet per year. It is very unlikely that water usage can be reduced to meet the Safe Yield requirement.
The Beaumont Basin has been in overdraft for years. It does not have the water capabilities to provide potable water for the population and businesses currently in the area. The Beaumont Basin area can not sustain any more growth of any kind.