CWA adopts discount ag water rates
By Joe Naiman
The Alpine Sun
The San Diego County Water Authority adopted an ordinance
setting transitional Special Agricultural Water Rates for
customers who opt out of the Metropolitan Water District’s
Interim Agricultural Water Program.
The December action sets Calendar-Year 2009
transitional SAWR supply rates at $412 per acre-foot for
untreated water and $580 per acre-foot for treated water. The
total costs, including customer service and transportation
charges, will average $503 per acre-foot for untreated water and
$671 per acre-foot for treated water.
“This was just kind of turning up loose ends and
finally adopting the rates,” said Dana Friehauf, the SDCWA’s
Principal Water Resources Specialist.
MWD has had an agricultural water program in place
since 1958. In November 1990 the Incremental Interruption and
Conservation Program was adopted by MWD, and the agricultural
program was incorporated into the IICP in 1991. The Interim
Agricultural Water Program was implemented by MWD in 1994. The
twelve participating MWD agencies have a maximum annual cap of
155,190 acre-feet, although agencies can use less than their
allocation.
The San Diego County Water Authority was allocated
100,459 acre-feet. During Fiscal-Year 2005-06 the 17
participating CWA agencies utilized 84,993 acre feet of IAWP
supplies.
In October the MWD board approved changes to the
Interim Agricultural Water Program, which will phase out the
IAWP over a four-year period. The IAWP provides surplus
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California supplies to
agricultural customers at a discounted rate, and the IAWP
conditions allow for a reduction of up to 30 percent prior to
implementing any mandatory reductions to municipal and
industrial customers.
An agricultural property may choose to pay the
municipal and industrial (M&I) rate and not be subject to the
IAWP cuts, although when MWD adopted a 30 percent reduction
program to be implemented at the beginning of 2008 a participant
obligation cutoff date of December 31, 2006, was stipulated. The
phase-out of the IAWP program allows for customers to opt out,
and be subject to M&I rates, at the beginning of any calendar
year during that four-year transition period.
Because agricultural customers will be cut back in a
drought, they are not subject to certain County Water Authority
storage costs or supplemental supply costs. The CWA’s Special
Agricultural Water Rates program exempts SAWR customers from the
melded supply and treatment charges from Imperial County water
and from the CWA member agency’s proportional share of the fixed
storage charge.
“The rate reflects that. They’re paying for Met water.
They’re not paying for the Water Authority supplies,” Friehauf
said.
On October 23 the CWA board approved a two-year
transitional program for customers opting out of the IAWP
program, which would provide the same discounts from storage and
supply costs as continuing IAWP customers. The customers
choosing to participate in the transitional program are subject
to the same allocation of water from the Emergency Storage
Project and the future Carryover Storage Project as continuing
IAWP customers and they are also subject to MWD regional cutback
levels if the CWA’s supplies are cut back. The October 23 board
action also formed a workgroup, which will return to the board
by the end of Calendar Year 2009 with options for programs
beyond the transitional period.
The transitional program is only available to customers
who had been in the IAWP and have opted out. Customers may
remain in the IAWP throughout the phase-out period and be
eligible for all CWA discounts. Customers who remain in the IAWP
will continue to receive the IAWP discount but will also be
subject to higher cutback amounts than M&I customers if a
continued drought leads to further cutbacks. “If you don’t want
to have greater cuts in the future, you opt out,” Friehauf said.
“If you stay in IAWP you get the cheap water,” Friehauf
said. “But you could experience even more severe cutbacks.”
During Calendar Year 2009, member agencies will pay M&I
supply rates of $463 per acre-foot for untreated water and $631
per acre-foot for treated water. The member agencies will also
pay $64 per acre-foot in transportation costs to recover
capital, operating, and maintenance costs of the CWA’s aqueduct
system.
The CWA’s Customer Service Charge covers costs which
support the operations of the CWA and is allocated among member
agencies based on a three-year rolling average of all
deliveries; that charge is assessed to both M&I and IAWP
customers and the CWA-wide average is $27 per acre-foot. The
Storage Charge recovers costs related to emergency storage
programs and is also allocated based on a pro-rate share of
deliveries; the average is $44 per acre-foot. The full M&I rates
average $598 per acre-foot for untreated water and $766 per
acre-foot for treated water, and CWA member agencies pass along
their costs to customers.
The IAWP total rates average $413 per acre foot for
untreated water and $556 for treated water. The IAWP supply
rates per acre foot are $322 for untreated water and $490 for
treated water.
“We’ve got options for the farmers and it’s really
their decision,” Friehauf said. “We’re giving them options on
how to move forward.”
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