VII. Agency Coordination

This section addresses the past and present activities of the District with respect to coordination at the local level and also at the level of federal and state government.

A. COORDINATION AT LOCAL LEVEL

The District has actively supported the coordination of meaningful data gathering and water management activities within Yolo County. The District was a major proponent of the effort to prepare the "Yolo County Water Plan 1984." The District and Yolo County shared 50-50 in funding the work. The District was an active participant in ICOR, the Interagency Water Management Coordinating Group that emerged following the 1984 Water Plan.

In 1991, when the USBR was in the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Statement for marketing what was thought to be the remaining yield of the Central Project, the District recognized that a coordinated effort on the part of Yolo County purveyors was needed to protect their interests. The District took the lead to organize the Yolo County Water Group¹ to request water from the USBR and to investigate alternatives for supplemental water supplies for water purveyors in Yolo and Solano counties. It was not long after the USBR initiated its work, however, that it realized it had no water for additional water service contracts. The Yolo County Water Group worked with the Solano County Water Authority and investigated supplemental water supplies jointly.

From the investigation of supplemental water supplies, it was determined that supplemental water was available in the Sacramento River by virtue of provisions embodied in the Watershed Protection Act. In view of the relatively high cost for diversion and conveyance facilities to use the water, it was acknowledged that any water appropriated from the Sacramento River would not be affordable for agricultural use and, thus, would serve as a municipal water supply only. At the same time, it was acknowledged that supplemental water supplies that could be developed through the District's proposed Cache Creek Groundwater Recharge/Recovery Project would be allocated to agricultural use.

Understanding the urgency with respect to securing a priority position for appropriating water, the District filed an application to appropriate 45,000 acre-feet of water from the Sacramento River. The application was filed naming the cities of Davis and Woodland, and UCD as beneficiaries of the appropriation. The City of Davis and UCD have applied for a grant to fund a feasibility study to assess the opportunities afforded by this potential water supply. The City of Woodland has also submitted a grant request for the same purpose. Although the grant applications are separate, the respective parties and the District meet periodically to keep apprised of each agency's activities, to increase the opportunity for working together and to avoid conflicts.

In 1992, when DWR established the Drought Water Bank, the District actively addressed concerns with the proposed transfers by drafting terms and conditions for a water transfer agreement. The document was provided to Yolo County and subsequently adopted by the County for use with the Conaway Ranch water transfers.

In 1991, six years following completion of the first Yolo County Water Plan, the District, working with other purveyors in the County, jointly funded the update of the 1984 Water Plan. The updated Water Plan was supported by the participating agencies and adopted by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors in February 1993.

Following adoption of the updated Water Plan, work was initiated on drafting the bylaws for the WRA, for the primary purpose of facilitating the coordination of water-related activities in Yolo County. The District was an active participant in this process.

Recently, interested member agencies of the WRA, including the District, formed a team to establish a subsidence monitoring project. The purpose of the project is to develop a grid of monuments throughout the valley portion of Yolo County and, using GPS technology, establish the ground elevations, latitude and longitude for each monument, and horizontal as well as vertical relationships between monuments. The baseline data from the 1999 effort will be stored on the computer system at UCD. Eventually, it is proposed to be stored in Yolo County's GIS computer. The grid will be monitored in the future based upon the demand for this type of information to monitor subsidence, to analyze drainage and flood control issues, and other issues requiring this type of data. The data will be available to the public and other agencies.

The District keeps in close contact with the Yolo County OES during periods of heavy rainfall or runoff. It also provides information to the Lake County OES and/or the Lake County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

The District has cooperated with the Yolo County Resources Conservation District on numerous projects such as the Willow Slough Watershed Integrated Resources Management Plan co-sponsored by the California Wildlife Conservation Board, the Model Farm Project resulting from a USBR Challenge Grant, and a Water Quality and Irrigation Ecosystem Management Project resulting from a grant from the State Water Resources Control Board.

The District helped develop and supported a grant request by the Cache Creek Conservancy for a long-term research project to establish the most effective method of removing Tamarisk and revegetating an area, and to develop and implement an educational process to inform public agencies and the general public regarding the problems identified with the species. The District also submitted an independent and complementary grant proposal to provide for the immediate removal of Tamarisk at Cache Creek and Interstate 5, where the flood-carrying capacity had been significantly reduced by Tamarisk.

In 1989, the District organized the formation and first meeting of the Water Awareness Committee of Yolo County. The composition of the committee has varied over the years, including the cities of Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland, the County of Yolo, the Dunnigan Water District, the Yolo-Zamora Water District, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, PG&E, and Project H.A.W.K. In the past, the committee usually conducted activities centered on May as Water Awareness Month by producing a newspaper insert, conducting a countywide poster contest, providing potable water for a bike ride event, and providing a tour or other educational opportunity.

As previously mentioned, since 1992, the District has been involved in a joint venture with the Yolo County Office of Education in Project H.A.W.K. and associated projects. The District has provided an area, manpower, and materials to facilitate students and teachers experiencing first-hand educational opportunities provided by the Cache Creek Watershed.

The District also coordinates with the Yolo County Office of Education to create displays for the Yolo County Fair, providing an educational booth focusing on some aspect of water, agriculture, or natural resources.

B. COORDINATION AT STATE AND FEDERAL LEVEL

Since 1967, the District has coordinated with DWR and the USBR in transferring groundwater data, twice annually, from 153 wells in Yolo County. DWR and the USBR incorporate the District's data into its own database, which is then available for public distribution.

On a daily basis, the District provides the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers information regarding storage, inflow, and discharges at the Indian Valley Reservoir. On a weekly basis, the same information from Indian Valley Reservoir and Clear Lake is provided to DWR. During winter storm events, every change of discharge is coordinated with the Corps' operations.

The District coordinates with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to conduct tests involving two federal agencies, four state agencies, and nine local agencies of offices of the District's Emergency Action Plan (EAP) related to the Indian Valley Reservoir.

The District coordinates with the Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) and FERC regarding annual inspections at both the Cache Creek Dam and the Indian Valley Dam.

In 1995 and 1998, the District worked with the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service to use its Emergency Watershed Protection Program to repair and/or prevent damages to District and private properties as the result of winter storms. Regarding the work on private property, at the request of the landowners, the District agreed to act as the public agency sponsor required by the program. One of these projects brought Caltrans in as an additional participant. All the projects required coordination with the State OES.

In 1998, the District called the attention of Caltrans to potential problems due to sediment partially blocking culverts under Interstate 505 and Highway 16. Since Caltrans did not have the proper equipment available to handle the problem, the District worked with Caltrans providing equipment for its use.

The District coordinates with the USGS to operate and maintain numerous gages and reporting stations. However, the District also keeps in touch with DWR regarding the operation and maintenance of the Cache Creek stream gages at Yolo and Rumsey.

The District has requested the assistance of and cooperated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in performing feasibility studies for flood control and environmental restoration along Cache Creek.

The District coordinates with the California Division of Water Rights to address the legal protection of the District's existing water rights in the context of junior water appropriators' water rights.

The District, for and in behalf of itself and its water users, provides input to various legislators regarding bills and actions that could adversely impact the District, its water supply, or Yolo County.

Due to the extensive damages to the District's facilities from the recent declared flood disasters, the District has for the first time had to coordinate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State OES to repair millions of dollars worth of damage.

¹The Yolo County Water Group was an informal association of agencies in Yolo County involving the District, the City of Davis, the City of Winters, and the City of Woodland, the University of California at Davis, and the Yolo-Zamora Water District.