Water supply seems adequate ––for now

Acorn Staff Writer


EYES ON WATER--From left to right: Charles Caspary, Ann Dorgelo and Glen Peterson, members of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Board of Directors, inspect Parker Dam on the Colorado River. Water from the dam flows into the Colorado River Aqueduct, a major source for Southern California drinking water.

EYES ON WATER–From left to right: Charles Caspary, Ann Dorgelo and Glen Peterson, members of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Board of Directors, inspect Parker Dam on the Colorado River. Water from the dam flows into the Colorado River Aqueduct, a major source for Southern California drinking water.

Water supply seems adequate

––for now

Part II of two parts

Ever stop to consider the source of your tap water?


For the 17 million customers of Metropolitan Water District, the largest purveyor of potable water in Southern California, the answer is a long one––almost 700 miles to be exact. That’s the combined distance our water travels from Metropolitan’s two main fresh water sources—the Colorado River in the east and the Bay Delta in the north—before it reaches our homes.


How the builders of the two aqueduct systems were able to push the water across miles of empty desert and over and under tall mountains, boils down to what Americans had the most of in the early to mid 20th Century: muscle power, brain power and machinery.


Take the Colorado River Aqueduct for example, a 60-year-old network of pumps, pipes and reservoirs that pulls water from Lake Havasu just above Parker Dam and transports it 242 miles across the Mojave Desert to Lake Mathews in Riverside County.


A true engineering marvel, the canal system allows water to flow safely and reliably to almost a third of all Southern California homes.


Residents living in the local Las Virgenes Municipal Water District began receiving the Colorado water in 1955, but switched to Northern California water in 1972 with the opening of the newly built Bay Delta, or State Water Project.


Despite its age, amazingly little has changed with the Colorado aqueduct infrastructure. At Whitsett intake plant on Lake Havasu where the aqueduct officially begins, a series of huge, 9,000-horsepower pumps operate just as smoothly today as when they were installed over half a century ago.


Except for some new stainless steel components, the pumps are essentially the same.


Working the impeller shafts into a high revolution frenzy, the pumps whir so loud that conversation becomes a shout, but produce such little vibration that if a single nickel is placed upright on the pump housing, the coin will remain standing without falling over. The Whitsett machinery, like the aqueduct itself, is a monument to American engineering and know-how.


W.P Whitsett was Metropolitan’s first chairman of the board.


"It’s amazing," said Glen Peterson, an Agoura resident who’s a boardmember for both Metropolitan and Las Virgenes. "Until five years ago, they had the old control desk here with crank phones and everything."


"What you see here is pretty much original technology," said Bob Machen, the Whitsett plant operator. "I don’t think we could do a project of this magnitude today—cost, for one thing."


During the Depression, California taxpayers took a bold step by approving the $220 million aqueduct, cheap by today’s standards. Shudder the thought, but without the water—especially in years like this when Southern California faces record low rainfall amounts—our lawns would turn brown and our pools would be empty. "Shower with a friend" might become "don’t shower at all."


"The California issues are our biggest challenge right now," said Bill Rinne, deputy regional director for the U.S. Department of the Interior.


Rinne and other water agency officials have devised a new Colorado River apportionment plan that will help the state meet its long-term needs.


"We know that California can’t do this overnight," Rinne said.


Watching the River Flow


The transportation of more than 375 billion gallons of water through the aqueduct each year is a finely tuned and highly critical operation.


At Metropolitan’s Gene field headquarters, the aqueduct nerve center near Parker Dam, one accidental flick of a switch could bleed the pipes dry and deprive Southern California of its precious water in less than two days.


Gene dispatcher Austin Dane doesn’t do anything by accident, however.


Keeping his eye on a large mimic board that depicts the pipes and pumping stations strewn across the desert, Dane is able to make instant volume adjustments along the aqueduct route, depending on water demand.


"One of the things we do is forecast system load and system stability," Dane said.


"People ask if we can get more water out of our system. No. We’re at maximum capacity and we have been for about 30 years."


Unlike an automobile that rarely reaches its top speed, the Colorado River Aqueduct is designed to go full tilt, 24 hours a day. But the steady flow requires balancing act.


"It’s like pushing on a pillow," said Tim Worley, a Colorado River Aqueduct expert.


"You push down in one area and it pops up in another."


Using mostly gravity—but pumps where necessary—the water leaves Copper Basin reservoir just west of Parker Dam and winds up 48 hours later at Metropolitan’s Lake Mathews near Riverside. Digging a 13-mile tunnel underneath the massive Mt. San Jacinto in 1936 was the last major obstacle in construction of the aqueduct.


San Jacinto isn’t the only tunnel by any means. The aqueduct flows underground for 92 miles, a greater distance than all of the country’s railroad tunnels combined.


In the future, Metropolitan officials hope to ensure adequate water supplies to Southern California by storing surpluses when available and by trading water "shares" with other agency providers.


"Exchanging water, much like electricity, is happening throughout much of the state," Peterson said.


Safe Drinking


Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials took extra precautions to safeguard aqueduct facilities. Among other things, officials have discontinued much of the public access to Hoover Dam, a major tourist attraction.


In the desert, young thrill seekers occasionally breach aqueduct security by sneaking past the protective fences to "surf" in the swiftly flowing canal.


Instead of trying to destroy aqueduct infrastructure, terrorists probably would target the water itself, according to security experts. But given the unfathomable amount of water in the system, the intentional introduction of deadly poisons would be an exercise in futility.


"Due to the volume, you’d literally have to dump tons and tons of contaminants and toxins to have any kind of deleterious effect," said Edgar Dymally, a senior environmental specialist with Metropolitan.


Of far greater concern to health officials is the battle against everyday pollution. MTBE, the cancer-causing gasoline derivative that spews out of jet skis, has been a problem for years.


Human contact with most of the aqueduct water is prohibited. Debate stillcontinues, however, over recreational uses at Diamond Valley Lake, Southern California’s newest fresh water reservoir. The 13 square-mile lake near Hemet is expected to allow limited kayaking and boating.


To keep water quality in check, Metropolitan and Las Virgenes regularly test for dozens of potential contaminants.


That white mineral stuff swirling in your glass, for example, how harmful is that?


A certain amount of salinity or "total dissolved solids," is permitted in the drinking water, officials say.


As for other bad guys floating around, the chlorine takes care of that.


The byproducts of chlorine disinfection, such as trihalomethanes (THMs), are what concern industry watchers the most. A publicized report in 1998 linked THMs to miscarriages in pregnant women. Las Virgenes responded with a study that showed the THMs contained in local water are only about half the maximum amount allowed by the state.


According to experts, the future of disinfection lies in a process called ozonation, the use of naturally-occurring ozone to "scrub" the water clean.


"There is a major concern for disinfection byproducts, especially the THMs," said Peterson, a longtime clean water advocate. "There’s a need to move on it and get to the ozonation."


Some parents and dentists, meanwhile, are calling for the use of more fluoride in the water to reduce tooth decay.


"The fluoride already exists," Peterson said, "it just doesn’t exist in high enough levels. One concern it what it would cost and who would bear the cost, but it is tremendously beneficial."


Cities such as Los Angeles, Long Beach and Beverly Hills currently add fluoride to their water and Santa Monica is preparing to start, Peterson said.


Las Virgenes water is not fluoridated.


On a separate front, water agency leaders in Southern California and Nevada announced plans last week to prevent the chemical compound perchlorate from leeching into the Colorado River. Used in the production of rocket fuels and fireworks, perchlorate is known to affect the thyroid gland. Contaminated groundwater from the Las Vegas wash flows into the river and reaches Lake Mead, a major fresh water source.


"This is an issue that requires immediate action to protect all communities that rely upon the lower Colorado River for their water supply," said Ronald Gastelum, Metropolitan’s chief executive officer.


"Metropolitan is working closely with the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the EPA to ensure the remediation program being implemented by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is successful," Gastelum said.


Updated water quality news can be found at the Metropolitan Water District Website by visiting www.mwdH20.com.


See the Las Virgenes Website at www.lvmwd.dst.ca.us for information about local water topics.




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