San Clemente, District Are at Odds Over Missing Water

Where did all the water go?

That’s what San Clemente Utilities Director Greg Morehead wants to know.

According to figures compiled by Morehead, the Tri-Cities Municipal Water District’s reservoir inexplicably continued to decline during the water shortage earlier this summer even as San Clemente residents were voluntarily conserving millions of gallons.

So, at a district board meeting this week, Morehead raised the question, only to have water officials in turn question his figures.

Water officials said that Morehead was wrong and that no water was missing. Tri-Cities board member James Lawson accused Morehead of “trying to point a finger at some other user.” Lawson said that San Clemente is Tri-Cities’ biggest user and that any conservation in the city would be reflected in overall water availability.

Morehead, however, said that Tri-Cities’ reservoir readings show that its water level continued to dip precariously in August even as San Clemente’s utility meters were showing sharp cutbacks in water use by residents.

Morehead said the August water “mystery” has current relevance. He said San Clemente city government cannot plan for emergency water rationing in the future if “there is incomplete information” about where available water is being consumed.

San Clemente’s City Council last month deferred action on a proposed water-rationing law, saying that an emergency situation no longer existed. The Tri-Cities board, at its Wednesday meeting, criticized the council for not acting on that water-rationing measure and said it is still needed.

According to Tri-Cities, San Clemente accounts for two-thirds of the district’s water consumption. The other users served by the water district, which is managed by an independently elected board of directors, are Capistrano Beach (now a part of Dana Point), the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and San Onofre State Park.

“Your figures would defy the laws of physics,” Lawson told Morehead at the meeting. Lawson said that if San Clemente conserved as much water as Morehead contended, the conservation would be felt by Tri-Cities.

Morehead, however, said: “I don’t believe you have sufficient data. You don’t know what the other users are using on a daily basis.”

Ray Woodside, general manager of the water district, conceded that the district did not have daily consumption figures from the other three users. But Woodside said he believed that overall consumption during the water shortage remained about the same, with San Clemente still accounting for two-thirds of the usage.

Lawson said, “I think it’s pretty clear, Mr. Morehead, that you’re suggesting that San Clemente is not responsible for the drop in the reservoir” during the July-August water shortage.

Morehead responded, “I’m saying that if San Clemente residents decrease water use by 500,000 gallons, then that 500,000 gallons ought to show up in the (Tri-Cities) reservoir.” He added that the city cutbacks and reservoir levels showed no such correlation.

Dennis Erdman, president of the water board, said after the meeting that the discrepancy might be explained by intermediate water-holding areas used by San Clemente. Erdman said San Clemente has its own water-holding areas, and that these, like the Tri-Cities reservoir, decreased during the water shortage.

“I believe the city’s water-holding places probably increased during the water conservation, and the increase would be reflected there while not necessarily at our reservoir,” Erdman said.