Valley Wells Will Not Be Pumped : Drought: The DWP’s pact with Metropolitan Water District allows buildup of underground reserves for next emergency.

For the first time in six years, Los Angeles officials won’t be pumping water from San Fernando Valley wells this summer, preferring instead to allow the water to sit underground as a reserve for the next drought emergency.

During the drought years, the city pumped about 15,000 acre-feet of water from Valley wells each month from April to September, supplying about 15% of the city’s annual needs.

An acre-foot of water contains 325,580 gallons, about the amount used in a year by two average-sized families, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

This summer, only the new Tujunga Well will operate, pumping between 10,000 and 20,000 acre-feet as part of its operational tests, said Gerald Gewe, the DWP’s director of water planning.

The DWP can leave the wells off for the summer because it has accepted an offer from the Metropolitan Water District, which provides water to cities from Hawthorne to Oxnard, to sell water at the lower winter rate this summer to encourage a buildup of water reserves for the next drought, said Mike Young, the water district’s assistant chief of operations.

MWD water that would ordinarily cost $385 per acre-foot after June is being offered at $203 to $254 per acre-foot, said Gewe, which will save the city about $8 million.

The savings will lower the average residential customer’s water bill by about $2.38 a month, he said.

Under the agreement with the district announced Monday, the city will purchase 40,000 to 60,000 acre-feet of water this summer, and as much as 200,000 acre-feet over the next calendar year, depending on conservation efforts, Gewe said. Since the city imposed use limits two years ago, there has been a 20% reduction in consumption levels.

“By buying water now, we are saving water for when MWD doesn’t have water, two, five, or 10 years from now,” Gewe said. “We’re trying to be forward looking as a water industry to store as much water as we can while it’s available.”

The savings in the agreement is not the primary benefit, Gewe said.

“I just don’t want my customers to run out of water like they did two years ago,” when the city imposed water rationing, he said. “When you don’t have water, you don’t have many choices.”