1. Amendment to the Cooperative Agreement with Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District for Upper Temescal Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan
Jayne Joy, P.E.
April 13, 2017

2. Cooperative Agreement with Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
Agenda
Background
Cooperative Agreement with Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
Salt and Nutrient Management Plan
Cooperative Agreement Second Amendment
Recommendations
Already presented to SAWPA’s Imported Water Workgroup for review including SARWQCB staff, Dr. Cindy Li.
CEQA required for this including Scoping meeting, SED, Economic Analysis and assist on the staff report
Alternative to keeping the 650 mg/L TDS limit would be to…
1) Build a desalter for recycled water discharge to meet the limit Or
2) Possibly pay for downstream treatment, such as additional desalter for OC water.
All are high $$$$ compared to this path.

3. Background
EMWD has a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, that allows:
Discharge into Temescal Creek near Lake Elsinore
52.5 million gallons per day (mgd) for seasonal discharge
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) limit of 650 mg/L
Discharge exceeds TDS permit limit due to elevated salinity in the source water
EMWD’s Offset Mitigation Plan has an action item to evaluate TDS limit in our NPDES permit
Discharge TDS has been above 700 mg/L; Current discharge was at 734 mg/L
As part of the Offset Mitigation Plan for TDS, the SNMP was an action item to be conducted.
***By developing the SNMP, our past exceedances were “mitigated” so no violation or fines were associated.****

4. Background
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD) has an NPDES permit that allows:
Discharge to Temescal Creek
TDS limit of 700 mg/L
Both EMWD and EVMWD TDS limits are not scientifically based on water quality data
Typically based on groundwater and surface water quality objectives
Insufficient water quality data for the groundwater basins in the Upper Temescal Valley
ELSINORE also exceeded their discharge limit of 700 mg/L (DID NOT WANT TO STATE THAT IN THE BRD RECORD).
Similarly, ELSINORE wants to increase their TDS limit.
The current objective were based on “Best Professional Judgment” of Regional Board staff at the time it was develop for the Santa Ana River Basin.

5. Cooperative Agreement with EVMWD
EVMWD and EMWD staff agreed to cooperatively work on evaluating the TDS objectives for the Temescal Valley
Wildermuth Environmental Inc. (WEI) to conduct study
July 3, District approved and authorized the cooperative agreement with EVMWD to develop an Upper Temescal Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan (Plan) for $322,964
EMWD’s cost was not to exceed $161,482
November 5, District approved and authorized the first amendment to the cooperative agreement to develop ambient water quality of the groundwater basins for $67,992
EMWD’s cost increased by $33,996 and not to exceed increased to $195,478
SARWQCB staff accepted the study as mitigation for TDS exceedances…
WEI Task
Compute Water Quality Objectives for Salt and Nutrients (Historical)
Estimate the Impact of Recycled Water Reuse and Discharge Plans on the Water Quality
Describe Regulatory Implications of Recycled Water Planning Alternatives and Develop SNMP Challenges
Compute the Ambient Water Quality (AMENDMENT)
The District’s cost is an equal share of the between ELSINORE.
July 3, 2013: Total Cost = $322,964 including 10% Contingency
November 5, 2014:
Amendment Cost = $67,992
Total Project Cost = $390,956

6. Upper Temescal Valley Groundwater Basins
Small basin at 75,000 Acre-ft
Compared to San Jacinto Upper Basin estimated to be 1 million Acre-ft
Basin turn over every 5 to 7 years
Therefore, ambient water quality similar to recharge sources
Water Quality is significantly influenced by climate conditions
Water Quality improves over wet periods and degrades over dry periods

7. Salt and Nutrient Management Plan
Upper Temescal Valley Basin Groundwater Quality Results
EMWD discharge limit 650 mg/L TDS & 7.5 mg/L Nitrate
EVMWD discharge limit 700 mg/L TDS & 9.8 mg/L Nitrate
Antidegradation Objectives may be incorporated into the Santa Ana Region’s Water Quality Control Plan for the Regional Board to use in permitting practices.
20 Year Period
TDS
Nitrate
Historical Ambient Water Quality
1954 to 1973
822 mg/L
7.9 mg/L
Current Ambient Water Quality
1975 to 2014
750 mg/L
4.7 mg/L
Proposed Antidegradation Objective(1) NA
820 mg/L
Historical WQ: Reason for higher values - mostly Ag runoff, locally imported water with higher TDS (Lake Elsinore and San Jacinto Basin)
Current WQ: Lower values – 1970 urbanization development, Ag reduction, imported SWP
Assimilative Capacity for both TDS (90 mg/L) and Nitrate (3.2 mg/L).
For TDS, both the DISTRICT and ELSINORE are below both the Historical Ambient and Current Ambient Water Quality. Therefore, no assimilative capacity is required.
**FINDING SHOWED INCREASE TO TDS FOR DISCHARGE WOULD BE WITHIN BOTH THE CURRENT AMBIENT AND PORPOSED ANTIDEGRADATION OBJECTIVE**
HOWEVER, for NITRATE both the DISTRICT (at 7.5 mg/L) and ELSINORE (at 9.8 mg/L) are above the Current Ambient Water Quality value of Therefore, assimilative capacity is required. Lucky, there is assimilative capacity of 3.2 mg/L based on the SNMP Findings.
In the SNMP, we state that “… “ Therefore, action items within the SNMP must be adhere to and completed.
The NITRATE mention above already have the 25% uptake reduction.
Assimilative Capacity is the difference between the Proposed Antidegradation Objective and Current Ambient Water Quality.

8. Salt and Nutrient Management Plan
Recommendations included in the second amendment to the Cooperative Agreement:
Incorporate the Upper Temescal Valley Salt and Nutrient Plan into the Water Quality Control Plan for the Santa Ana River Basin (Basin Plan)
Requires CEQA which includes a CEQA Scoping Meeting, Substitute Environmental Document (SED), Economic Analysis, and Staff Report
Participate in the joint water quality monitoring with EVMWD for the Upper Temescal Valley as required by the Salt and Nutrient Management Plan
EMWD will continue to work with the Regional Board to increase EMWD’s TDS discharge limit from 650 mg/L to 700 mg/L

9. Project Cost Estimates
Monitoring Program
Task
Description
Cost 1
Field Groundwater Monitoring Program
35,148 2
Field Surface Water Monitoring Program
34,701 3
Cooperator Data Acquisition and Management
8,602 4
Well Siting Study
14,930 5
Reporting
17,236 6
Meetings and Project Management
10,696
Monitoring Project Total:
$121,313
Environmental Documentation and Basin Plan Amendment
Coordination with Regional Board Staff
6,824
Prepare the Substitute Environmental Document
39,618
Perform Economic Analysis of SNMP Project Alternatives
7,320
Prepare Staff Report and Amendment Language
9,922
Prepare Administrative Record
2,424
As-Requested work to update SNMP and Staff Reports
12,640 7
Project Management
4,620
Environmental Documentation Project Total:
$83,368
Project Cost Summary of Recommendations
121,313
83,368
Subtotal:
$204,681
Contingency (10%):
$20,469
Total Cost for Recommendations:
$225,150
Total EMWD Cost (50%):
$112,575

10. Recommendations
Approve and Authorize an amendment to the Cooperative Agreement with EVMWD to implement the first year of the Upper Temescal Salt and Nutrient Management Plan Monitoring Program and develop a Basin Plan Amendment to incorporate the Upper Temescal Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan into the Santa Ana Region Water Quality Control Plan.
Appropriate $112,575 for this effort.

11. Contact Information
Jayne Joy
Environmental and Regulatory Compliance Director
(951) Ext. 6241