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“We are pleased to rescind the Emergency Drought Regulations and the voluntary stage of our Water Shortage Contingency Plan,” said PWD General Manager Dennis D. LaMoreaux. “For two long years, our customers have worked hard to help us conserve water by following the strict guidelines. We appreciate all the effort. It’s great to finally have a year when everyone can relax a little bit.” Last month, the PWD Board of Directors voted to remove all emergen- cy drought restrictions, which began in 2021 as a voluntary phase. It became mandatory 20% conservation one year later and returned to voluntary this past March. In April, the Department of Water Resourc- es informed its 29 State Water Contractors, including PWD, that they would receive 100% water allocation for the year. It is the first time in 17 years that the annual State Water Project (SWP) allocation is at the full amount, which for PWD is 21,300 acre-feet (AF), or 6.8 billion gallons, of water. Annually, PWD requires about 20,000 AF of water to meet the needs of its 126,000 customers. Along with surface water from the SWP, the Littlerock Reservoir is full of water from the San Gabriel Mountains’ rain and snowmelt. Since Jan
uary, water from the reservoir has been flowing via the 8.5-mile Palm - dale Ditch to Lake Palmdale where it is stored before entering the Leslie O. Carter Water Treatment Plant. In addition to meeting customers’ needs, this year’s water supply will allow the District to also bank water in the Antelope Valley, meet water transfer agreements, create new agreements for the future, and store at least 5,000 AF for 2024. “We have plenty of water for this year and will have a good carry-over amount,” said Resource and Analytics Supervisor Claudia Bolanos. “However, we would ask that everyone continue to still think about conservation and use water wisely.” Although the emergency drought restrictions have ended, the District’s Water Waste Policy is always in effect. They include prohibiting the watering of outdoor landscape within 48 hours of measurable rainfall and car washing without an auto shutoff hose nozzle. For a full list of the Water Waste Policy’s 11 restrictions, please visit www.palmdalewa- ter.org.
The Pure Water Antelope Valley Demon- stration Facility will be the first advanced water treatment plant in California to use cutting-edge, direct air technology to remove carbon using brine. “Successful deployment of this first kind of technology will bring great opportunity to save ratepayers money and allow us to generate nearly all of the 5,325 acre-feet of recycled water we are allowed,” said PWD Engineering Manager Scott Rogers. The technology will be installed and paid for by Capture6, a public benefit corpora- tion, at the Demonstration Facility that will be the test site for treating recycled water. Stantec is designing the project.
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Summer 2023 - The Pipeline
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