Page 10 - Beaumont Basin Watermaster - DRAFT 2016 Annual Report
P. 10
Section 1
Background
Beaumont, Beaumont Cherry Valley Water District (BCVWD), South Mesa Water Company
(SMWC), and Yucaipa Valley Water District (YVWD). The effective date of the Judgment for
accounting purposes was retroactively established to July 1, 2003.
The Court gave the responsibility of managing the Basin to the Watermaster by approving the
Stipulated Agreement but retained continuing jurisdiction should there be any future need to
resolve difficult questions among the Parties.
1.2 Essential Elements of the Judgment
Elements of the 2004 Judgment are as follows:
All producers shall be allowed to pump sufficient water from the Basin to meet their
respective requirements.
The Safe Yield of the Basin was established at 8,650 ac-ft/yr to be distributed among the
Overlying Producers. The Safe Yield of the Basin is to be re-evaluated every 10 years,
at a minimum.
The Overlying Parties can extract a combined total of 8,650 ac-ft/yr. with individual rights
set for each Overlying Producer. If an Overlying Party pumps more than five times its
share of the operating safe yield in any five consecutive years, the overlying producer
shall provide Watermaster with sufficient funds to replace the overproduction.
A controlled overdraft of the basin is allowed to create enough additional storage
capacity to prevent the waste of water. This controlled overdraft, also known as
Temporary Surplus, allows Appropriators to extract up to 160,000 ac-ft of water from the
basin over the 10-year period immediately following the Judgment inception. The
Temporary Surplus will cease after the initial 10 years of operations.
During the first ten years after adoption of the Judgment, the Appropriators have the
right to extract, as a whole, a maximum of 16,000 ac-ft/yr not including storage credits
from spreading supplemental water or transfers from Overlying Parties. The Temporary
Surplus has been divided among the Appropriators as follows:
9 Beaumont Cherry Valley WD 42.51 percent or 6,802 ac-ft/yr
9 City of Banning 31.43 percent or 5,029 ac-ft/yr
9 South Mesa Water Company 12.48 percent or 1.997 ac-ft/yr
9 Yucaipa Valley Water District 13.58 percent or 2,173 ac-ft/yr
After the first 10 years of operation, Appropriators can extract only the amount each has
in storage or credited to them. An Appropriator shall provide Watermaster with sufficient
funds to replace any amount of overproduction that may have occurred over a five-year
consecutive period.
The Watermaster has the authority to enter into Groundwater Storage Agreements with
producers for the storage of supplemental water, wellhead protection and recharge, well
Beaumont Basin Watermaster 2016 Annual Report – DRAFT – August 2017 1-2
