TULARE LAKE BASIN Surface / Groundwater Storage Water Quality, Quantity and Reliability A Concept Proposal that supports Safe, Clean, Reliable Drinking Water Supplies and Regional Self-Sufficiency in the San Joaquin Valley January, 2009 Prepared By Steve Haze, Program Director Fresno, California
Tulare Lake Restoration Concept Proposal Techniicall,, Enviironmentall and Fiinanciiall Based Synopsiis A Catalyst for moving towards Regional Self-Sufficiency In the San Joaquin Valley There are a number of significant challenges facing California when it comes to managing our precious water resources in all regions of the state including most importantly the overwhelming pressures being placed upon the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This has been demonstrated through programs such as CALFED a State and Federal Consortium and more recently the Governor s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force. Additional pressures are now being placed on the delta to move massive amounts of water southward with the resurrection of what is known as the Peripheral Canal. The restoration of the Tulare Lake basin in the San Joaquin Valley is a unique opportunity to provide for the quality, quantity and reliable regional sourcing and use of water for agricultural, economic development and environmental needs on a self-sufficiency basis. At one time, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater body west of the Mississippi River storing up to 25 million acre feet. The concept proposal based upon technical, financial and environmental analysis is superior to the only other storage proposal currently under study within the San Joaquin Valley known as Temperance Flat on the Upper San Joaquin River above Millerton Lake/Friant Dam. As an example, the restoration of just 10% of the historic Tulare Lake would be nearly twice the surface storage capacity of Temperance Flat let alone the fact that the Tulare Lake basin provides ground water storage capabilities as well and Temperance does not. Another important distinction between Temperance Flat versus Tulare Lake is the fact that the Tulare Lake basin can support the collection and management of flood waters from at a minimum of four south Sierra river systems Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern as well as the upper San Joaquin. Temperance Flat would only support the flood waters of the upper San Joaquin River. With a $42.5 Billion budget imbalance and with the taxpayers of California being fatigued by expensive bond measures, the Tulare Lake concept proposal can be developed for less than 1/5 th the cost of Temperance Flat which is now hovering at $5 Billion and climbing. Imagine with the development of Tulare Lake, that the people of California can get twice the storage; four times the flood water management capability; save taxpayers over 80% of the construction costs; be a catalyst for regional self-sufficiency and relieve the amount of pressure being placed on the delta environmentally and on south delta exports.
Comparison of Temperance versus Millerton Enlargement and Tulare Lake Basin Surface Storage Facility Benefit or Impact Temperance Tulare Cost >$5 Billion < $1 Billion Maxiimum Storage 1.3M acre Ft 2.5M acre Ft or greater 5 Rivers Fllexiibiilliity of Conveyance None 3 Canals Use of exiistiing Maximum Minimal iinfrastructure Leverage Fllood Controll - Riivers 1 4 Liink to Calliiforniia Aqueduct None Yes Loss of Cllean Yes 216 Giga Hydroellectriiciity Watt Hours / year No Loss Groundwater storage / rechargiing None Yes Bii-Diirectiionall movement of water None Yes 2 Enviironmentall IImpacts Significant Minimal Enviironmentall IImprovements None Significant
CREATING FEASIBLE SURFACE STORAGE OPPORTUNITIES IN CALIFORNIA The Challenges: 1). Save money 2). Leverage finances for best return on investment for taxpayers 3). Assure flexibility of new infrastructure 4). No direct or indirect impact to the environment 5). Minimize or reduce the impact of greenhouse gases and global warming 6). Complete projects on time, to cost and to specification 7). Work toward minimizing deficit spending or raising taxes 8). Pay as you go 9). Long term capital improvement with low cost maintenance 10). Multiple benefits to all Californians 11). Leverage off of existing infrastructure Tulare Basin Background and Overall CVP/SWP System Benefits Historic Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River Historic Tulare Lake was 50 miles by 100 miles or 5,000 square miles Historic Tulare Lake covered over 3,200,000 acres with a depth ranging from 6 to 25 feet The Historic Tulare Lake stored approximately 25,600,000 acre feet of water - or 8.345 Trillion Gallons of water The storage capacity of the historic lake would serve the water needs of 26 to 40 million people in California -- and nearly all of agriculture's need At just 10% of its potential capacity - Tulare Lake could store over 2.56 Million acre feet of water This equates to the water needs of 2.6 to 4.0 million people This equates to nearly twice the storage capability of the largest dam being built at Temperance Flat Temperance Flat is now estimated to cost $5 Billion Dollars for a 1.3 million acre foot storage or $3,850 an acre ft. Tulare lake as managed storage and 10% increment would be 2.56 million acre feet or 2 times greater than Temperance Flat for only $195 an acre foot or @ 6.5% of the cost The capital outlay for the total system enhancements would be $313 an acre foot or 10.4% of the cost of a Temperance Flat Capital Outlays would not only systematically benefit the San Joaquin River - but also the Kings River, Kaweah, Tule and the California Aqueduct - thus allowing for greater flexibility in moving water around in a timely, reliable, cost effective and efficient way CALSIM II and/or CALSIM III could be enhanced to simulate system enhancements and performance Imagine if the Salton sea could store fresh water - and then imagine that Tulare Lake at one time was the largest freshwater lake in California - and can again be serving a thriving and growing California
San Joaquin Valley Tulare Basin Surface Storage and Conveyance Enhancement Capital Improvements Proposal (ILLUSTRATIVE ANALYSIS) Item Description Benefit Budget 1 Raise Millerton 25 Feet 1). Increase flood control by 130,000 acre ft. or 25% $ 220,000,000 2). Increase average new water by 25,000 acre feet per year 3). Utilize dead storage area of 135,000 acre ft. 4). Total average additional water for river restoration 150,000 acre feet. 5). Total average additional flood control range 235,000 acre ft. or 50% 2 Enhance Fresno Slough / James Bypass Intertie 1). Increase bi-directional conveyance between San Joaquin and Kings River Basins $ 50,000,000 2). Little or no environmental impact 3 Re-establish Tulare Lake as freshwater storage facility 1). Scalable Run-off Capture and Surface storage transfer facility $ 500,000,000 Feasibility, environmental, planning, engineering and Implementation 2). Capture run-off from both Kings and San Joaquin River Basins 3). Public Resource Declaration under California State Constitution 4). Conservation Easement Overlay 5). Scalable or incremental storage facility 6). Groundwater recharge and storage feature 7). Recreation, Tourism, Wildlife Refuge, Agriculture (e.g. rice growing) 8). Little or no environmental impact 9). Creates new habitat for various species 10). Contribute to cooling valley and reducing the creation of harmful ozone 11). No loss - or required replacement of hydroelectric power 12). Gravity Flow system - no significant requirement for additional electricity 13). No requirement for using electricity to pump into groundwater/water bank storage facility 14). Very little time to construct - natural berm 15). Do not have to compete for concrete, steel and aggregate - and drive up costs and create inflation in other sectors of the economy - such as roads, buildings and housing 4 Tulare Lake Storage Facility - California Aqueduct Intertie 1). Establish bi-directional conveyance and storage transfer next to Aqueduct $ 25,000,000 5 Tulare Lake Storage Facility - Friant-Kern Canal Intertie 1). Establish gravity flow conveyance off of Friant-Kern Canal to Tulare Lake surface storage $ 5,000,000 Total Estimated Capital Outlay (illustrative analysis) $ 800,000,000
TULARE LAKE BASIN Surface / Groundwater Storage Conveyance Hub with River and Canal Interties San Joaquin / Kings Intertie Friant-Kern Canal Kings River Intertie CA Aqueduct Intertie Tule River Cross Valley Canal
TULARE LAKE BASIN Surface / Groundwater Storage Conveyance Hub with River and Canal Interties Schematic Friant-Kern Kings Intertie Kings River Kaweah River Tule River San Joaquin / Kings Intertie Surface Groundwater Cross Valley Canal CA Aqueduct Intertie CA Department of Water Resources CALSIM-II
Contact Information Steve Haze, Program Director (559) 970-6320 34876 SJ and E Road Auberry, CA 93602 stevehaze007@gmail.com Principals Chris Acree Walt Shubin Richard Sloan Gary Temple Technical Advisors Dr. John Suen, California State University Fresno Sargeant Green Consultant to California Water Institute CSUF (Former GM Tranquility Irrigation District; Former Chair FCWA) Communications Advisor Dr. G. Gary Manross, PhD Strategy Research Institute
Reference Materials Upper San Joaquin River Basin Storage Investigation (USJRBSI) Winter Newsletter 2005-2006 GIGAWATT (GW) - One thousand megawatts (1,000 MW) or, one million kilowatts (1,000,000 kw) or one billion watts (1,000,000,000 watts) of electricity. One gigawatt is enough to supply the electric demand of about one million average California homes. GIGAWATT-HOUR (GWH) - One million kilowatt-hours of electric power. California generated about 290,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2004.