The Middle Ranch Reservoir was at 65% capacity in early January, according to Luck Schaner of Southern California Edison. (Visitors may be surprised to know that the local water utility is owned by an electric company.) Schaner gave the Avalon City Council a water update at the Tuesday, Jan. 18, meeting.
That wasn’t the only good water news from Edison. The desalination plant’s water yield is improving and Edison expects to increase the water capacity of a sea water well.
Schaner told the council that Edison is looking at policy changes that could reduce water rationing in Stages 2, 3 and 4. (Right now, Avalon is not experiencing water use restrictions. In fact, Catalina officially ended Stage 1 restrictions in 2019.)
Among the highlights of Schaner’s presentation: Edison has completed the so-called 60% design of a sea water well. The well improvement is expected to increase the well’s capacity from 400 gallons per minute to 750 gallons per minute.
The previous design had envisioned getting the water from two wells.
Schaner said Edison was looking at producing an average of 317 acre feet of water a year. (An acre foot of water is defined as enough water to submerge an acre of land 1-foot deep in water. Imagine the section of a football field between the goal posts submerged in water.)
During the Jan. 18 meeting, Schaner said Edison was looking at what the company calls a water flex alert system to reduce demand.
Schaner said that on the mainland, when it going to be hot, the utility issues a communication to customers asking them to reduce power usage during peak periods. “It’s kind of taking that same concept and apply it to water,” Schaner said.
In phone interviews on Jan. 19, some council members shared their number one takeaways from the update.
Mayor Anni Marshall said she was very happy to hear the wat yield had increased. She was also happy that the city might get water allocations. “That is great news, as we’ve had people who’ve been waiting for years,” she said.
Council Member Lisa Lavelle said she was happy that the Public Utilities Commission had increased the amount of water available. Lavelle said there are several projects on the waitlist that were waiting for water allocations.
“This will provide dozens of workforce housing units,” Lavelle said.
“I’m encouraged that we will be getting water allocations come February,” said Council Member Cinde MacGugan-Cassidy.
She said the water allocations would not solve the housing crisis but wuold provide some housing.
“I’m very appreciative of the update itself,” Cassidy said.
