At its December 7th meeting, the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) Board of Directors received the first in a series of year-end reports from the Agency’s department heads. PCWA Director of Resource Development, Andy Fecko spoke on PCWA’s short and long-term planning initiatives designed to improve water supply reliability and energy production.

Water

On the water front, Fecko observed that California’s historic drought has exposed several weaknesses in the statewide water system that will have policy impacts long after the drought ends. Although PCWA has a robust and reliable water resource portfolio, much of the region relies on Folsom Reservoir and the American River, both of which are severely stressed.

“The Agency continues to work collaboratively with the water utilities of the Sacramento region to find long-term solutions that meet our coequal goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem protection for the American River,” Fecko said.

Fecko then detailed a number of regional projects that aim to prepare the region for future dry years. This includes a modified flow management standard for the American River and a groundwater bank. Fecko also discussed the RiverArc, a water diversion project off the Sacramento River, which will increase reliability and diversify the region’s water portfolio.

Fecko concluded that the projects benefit regional interests, ensure water supply reliability for existing customers, and support the future growth of Placer County.

Energy

On energy, Fecko reported that a number of factors continue to present challenges in the energy market. The first challenge is the low price of natural gas. Because the market uses natural gas as an indicator of energy prices as a whole, a drop in natural gas prices means a drop hydropower prices. The other challenge is California’s growing use of wind and solar power, which is heavily subsidized.

“The wind and solar markets are ‘must take’ markets,” Fecko said. “This means these energy sources must be used before other energy sources, including hydropower. Nonetheless, because of advanced technology infrastructure investments and improved marketing efforts, the Middle Fork Project generated better-than-expected revenue.”

Because of the drought, PCWA’s Middle Fork Project generated approximately 30 percent of the historical yearly average of 1.1 million megawatt-hours.

In other news, PCWA directors heard a drought and conservation update from PCWA Deputy Director of Technical Services Tony Firenzi. Final conservation numbers for November were released and PCWA customers conserved water at a rate of 36.3 percent as compared to the base year of 2013.

The next regular meeting of the PCWA Board of Directors meeting will be held on Thursday, January 7^th at 2 p.m. at the PCWA Business Center, 144 Ferguson Road, in Auburn. PCWA board meetings are open to the public.

Information on PCWA board meetings may be obtained through the Clerk to the Board at (530) 823-4850 or (800) 464-0030. For drought updates and water conservation information, see www.pcwa.net.