Water Commission Outlines Another Dry Year In Recent Report

Photo by Aaron Castrejon.

The Glendora Water Commission gave a presentation at a scheduled public meeting April 23 about city water production and current water levels.

The report was not so rosy regarding the potential purchase of pricey imported water for Glendora amid the worsening drought, but there is some good news looking into October.

As of Oct. 2014, the city has been served with 100 percent well water from Glendora sources and no expensive imported water, Water Division officials said, which is normal for this point in the year.

The city produces water from the Glendora Basin and Canyon Basin, which rely heavily on rainwater runoff and imported water. Both basins are historically unsustainable without imports.

To keep up with demand this past summer, Glendora relied heavily on its three Metropolitan Water District connections to supply glendora customers. The three connections can supply 40 cubic feet of water per second. One CFS is equal to 450 gallons per minute, Water Division officials said.

As a result this summer, Glendora went over its water allocation by 1,392 acre feet. Although the city went over its allocation, the TVMWD as a whole did not. As a result, the city was not subject to higher Tier 2 rates, Water Division officials said.

Area water wells, where potable water is drawn from, have seen levels drop to historic lows.

The water level-monitoring well known as the Baldwin Park Key Well is at an all-time historic low of 179.87–16 feet lower than the same time last year, Water Division officials said.

The MWD may or may not institute drought allocation plans on July 1. If the MWD does, deliveries to area spreading grounds would cease this summer, which would mean water purchased by Glendora in excess of 3,000 AF would cost 2 to 3 times more, at about $3,000 per AF.

City water production has a better outlook than it did last year. Steve Patton, Water Division Manager, said that the city may maintain decent canyon basin water levels through October, when import deliveries are expected to start again and may possibly not exceed allocation limits.

“It’s a lot better news than we had three weeks ago,” Patton said at last week’s meeting.