Cambria
CSD Suspends Non-Potable Water
Distribution
from the Cambria
Community
Services District
Service
at Rodeo Grounds Stops As District Gauges Impact of Pumping on
Downstream Monitoring Well
The
Cambria Community Services District Board of Directors has voted to
suspend the distribution of non-potable water at its Rodeo Grounds
property until at least Aug. 4, 2014, the date of its next meeting. It
is taking this action primarily to test whether the pumping of water
from the SR-1 well along Santa Rosa Creek is lowering levels at a
downstream monitoring well, Windsor Bridge East (WBE).
The
CCSD had been making water from the SR-1 well available as a source of
landscaping water for local residents. Under emergency drought
restrictions, Cambrians are barred from using any potable (tap) water
outdoors. Initially the water was available at no charge. On June 26,
2014, the CCSD Board adopted a fee of one cent per gallon, paid on the
honor system.
As
of July 24, 2014, 6.96 acre-feet of non-potable water had been pumped
and distributed at the Rodeo Grounds location.
The
District believes it has adequate remaining supplies in the Santa Rosa
Creek and San Simeon Creek aquifers to meet the community’s
needs. However, permitting for the CCSD’s potable-water wells
on Santa Rosa Creek requires that water levels in the WBE monitoring
well remain at or above three feet. WBE levels have fallen below that
level during the past week, raising concerns that the upstream pumping
could be in violation of state regulations.
The
CCSD is addressing this issue in two ways. First, it has filed a
Petition for Temporary Urgency Change with the State Water Resources
Control Board, asking for a temporary (180-day) reduction in the
required WBE water level to two feet. Second, it is suspending the SR-1
pumping in order to determine if that activity has contributed to the
recent drop in the WBE levels.
The
Rodeo Grounds suspension is not expected to impact other water
non-potable water sources available to residents or commercial users.
The CCSD maintains a list of local water vendors at its offices at 1316
Tamsen St., Suite 201, Cambria; and on its website, Cambria CSD
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