The Southern California Area Planning Program offers water management
consultative services and can assist in addressing water issues in your area, developing integrated and
sustainable solutions to water problems from a regional perspective, and providing local program advocacy.
Reclamation promotes the efficient use of water through conservation, recycling,
salinity management, ground and surface water conjunctive management, storm water
management for water supply, drinking water protection and groundwater recharge.
Some of the programs we've been involved in include:
Southern California Comprehensive Water Reclamation and Reuse Study (SCCWRRS)
This 6-year, $6 million study evaluated the feasibility of maximizing the beneficial uses of
recycled water through regional collaborative programs. SCCWRRS covered a 6 county area in
southern California, included over 7,300 demand points and all wastewater supplies in its data
bases. SCCWRRS was a partnership between Reclamation and 8 cost sharing partners:
A final report on this activity is available with attachments (all are PDF files):
Southern California Water Recycling Projects Initiative
The Southern California Water Recycling Projects Initiative is a multi-year Bureau of Reclamation planning program. The Initiative is designed to continue the work begun
during the Southern California Comprehensive Water Reclamation and Reuse Study and assist
local water and wastewater agencies in final planning and environmental documentation leading
to implementation of projects identified in the SCCWRRS. The Initiative began in 2000 with $3.4 million dedicated to effort over the following three years.
The Initiative began with 12 cost sharing partners:
Several reports have been produced during the initiative including:
Santa Margarita River Watershed Activities
October 29, 2008, Conjunctive Use Project Open House
Presentation Materials
 Presentation (PDF, 2.45 MB)
Decision Regarding Alternatives for Further Study Memorandum - December 11, 2006 (PDF, 125 KB)
Recommendation of Alternatives for Further Investigation Memorandum - June 2, 2005 (PDF, 24 KB)
Proposed Obermeyer Modifications to O’Neill Diversion Weir - August 2004 (PDF, 884 KB)
Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project
Final Technical Memorandum No. 1 - April 2007 (PDF, 3.1 MB)
Final Technical Memo No. 2.2 - Volume 1 - April 2007 (PDF, 2.1 MB)
Final Technical Memo No. 2.2 - Volume 2 - April 2007 (PDF, 8.8 MB)
Final Technical Memo No. 3 - April 2007 (PDF, 3.4 MB)
Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Pre-Feasibility Plan Formulation Study - May 2005 (PDF, 6.3 MB) and Appendices (PDF, 467 KB)
Report - Hydraulic & Sediment Considerations for Proposed Modifications to O’Neill Diversion Weir on Santa Margarita River - Sept 2004 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Report - Santa Margarita Watershed Supply Augmentation, Water Quality Protection, and Environmental Enhancement Program - December 2003 (PDF, 1.6 MB)
Appendix A (PDF, 2.5 MB)
Appendix B (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Appendix C (PDF, 335 KB)
Appendix D (PDF, 56 KB)
Recycle and Reuse Study - Fallbrook Public Utility District: Supplemental Study to the Santa Margarita River Recharge and Recovery Enhancement Program - Permit 15000 Feasibility Study
for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton - February 2002
Part 1 (PDF, 7.6 MB)
Part 2 (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Part 3 (PDF, 6.2 MB)
Part 4 (PDF, 6.2 MB)
Part 5 (PDF, 4.7 MB)
Santa Margarita River Recharge and Recovery Enhancement Program - Permit 15000 Feasibility Study for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton - March 2001
Part 1 (PDF, 3.6 MB)
Part 2 (PDF, 5.4 MB)
Part 3 (PDF, 4 MB)
Part 4 (PDF, 2.7 MB)
Appendix A (PDF, 3.1 MB)
Appendix B - Part 1 (PDF, 6.3 MB)
Appendix B - Part 2 (PDF, 3.9 MB)
Appendix B - Part 3 (PDF, 6.3 MB)
Appendix C (PDF, 645 KB)
Appendix D (PDF, 3.7 MB)
Appendix E (PDF, 2.7 MB)
Appendix F (PDF, 6.1 MB)
Appendix G (PDF, 8.2 MB)
Reclamation holds three water rights permits totaling 185,000 acre-feet on the Santa Margarita
River. These permits were intended for surface water impoundment that, at one time,
Reclamation was proposing to develop. Under California Water Rights Law, these permits must
be "perfected" - the water must put to beneficial use - by 2007 or the water rights may be
lost. Reclamation has been
meeting with interested parties on the watershed to examine the possibility
of perfecting the permits by identifying and implementing a functional equivalent to the dams
and surface impoundment originally envisioned for these permits.
As a result of these
discussions, Reclamation recognizes that more effective water management on the watershed
will depend on water quality monitoring methods that include water supply management as an
objective. Presently, Santa Margarita watershed agencies are required to monitor for various
constituents as set by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. These water quality
monitoring requirements are viewed as expensive, with little water management value, by local
water agencies. Thus, to augment local water supplies through
perfection of Reclamation's water rights permits, a more effective water quality monitoring
approach needs to be identified and adopted for use on the watershed by the regulatory authorities.
Activities included a review of existing methodology and regulations, and development of
new water quality monitoring plan. Reclamation, along with its partners on the watershed, obtained and reviewed information on monitoring programs by Santa Margarita River watershed agencies, and suggested monitoring
alternatives. The information was
obtained from Fallbrook Public Utilities District, Rancho California Water District, Eastern
Municipal Water District, Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, the
Santa Margarita River Watermaster, the Pechanga, Cahuilla, Pauma, and Ramona Band of
Indians, US Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base
Office of Water Resources.
Reclamation developed a framework-monitoring plan to supersede existing monitoring requirements, and
satisfy regulatory mandates scheduled to be set on the Santa Margarita watershed and water
supply issues related to the water rights permits that Reclamation holds in the name of local
agencies.
In January 2005, Reclamation held public meetings to receive comments on the scope of issues to be addressed in a Environmental Impact Statement /Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) for a proposed conjunctive use water
resource development project on the Santa Margarita River. The Federal Register Notice about this activity offers additional information.
Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Activities
The Los Angeles County Basin Watershed is home to nearly 30% of California's
citizens. This area is also heavily dependent on water supplies from the Owens Valley,
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and Colorado River. As such, the population in the Watershed is
subject to increasingly unreliable water supplies from growing urban and industrial demands,
environmental water user competition and competition from water users outside the Watershed.
Reclamation has assumed an active role in partnering with local water, wastewater, and storm
water management agencies to identify feasible local water supply development and management
strategies with the intention of easing pressures on imported southern California water supplies,
all of which are associated with limited supplies, increasing competition, and regulatory
pressures.
Urban and industrial activities in the Watershed negatively impact the water quality of receiving
waters including the Santa Monica Bay and Long Beach Harbor. Additionally, stormwater
quality management has
become an increasingly important and potentially expensive issue. Wastewater agencies are only treating this stormwater runoff in very limited
amounts, and Los Angeles County and its 88 cities are
facing increasing costs and increasingly stringent stormwater quality regulations. They are therefore
interested in this water supply in that they must treat and/or otherwise dispose of it in an
economically feasible fashion. Local water agencies are interested in the potential supply
augmentation opportunities of this stormwater. Together with academic, environmental,
community based organizations, and municipalities, these agencies have formed the Los Angeles
and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council to evaluate the beneficial opportunities associated
with the water supply management issues in the Watersheds and identify multi-purpose solutions
which benefit multiple partners.
Need More Information?
If you have water resources planning questions or need technical assistance, call 951-695-5310.
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