In November 2022 the Sweetwater Authority initiated a controlled transfer of water between the Loveland Reservoir to the Sweetwater Reservoir where water is treated and distributed to Authority customers in National City, Chula Vista and Bonita. The Loveland Reservoir, owned and operated by the water utility, was built in 1945 pooling water from the Sweetwater River. It has been a destination for fishing, birdwatching, and hiking. After a second water transfer in January between the two reservoirs and substantial storms which caused damage to the HUD-funded fishing pier and erosion damage to the trails, Loveland is now closed to the public for all recreational usage for an indefinite period of time.
Authority General Manager Carlos Quintero said, bottom line, with both water transfers there is not enough water to fish. He said Loveland has always been a water supply reservoir,
“Our mission is to provide water to the Sweetwater customers,” he said. “We use both of our reservoirs. They work in conjunction. Sweetwater is in Spring Valley and that is where we have our treatment plant. When conditions are optimal, when we are outside the arroyo toad breeding season, that is when we can transfer water from one reservoir to another. It is a 17-mile trek for every drop of water, and we try to find the optimal conditions to minimize our losses.”
Quintero said one thing they are seeing in this “new climate” is that the soil is extremely dry, so we lose water to the soil, calling the soil a dry sponge that has to fill up before we retain water. He said the first water transfer in November 2022, if they had known about the storms that came in December and January, things would have been a little bit different.
“The reality is that we were down to about 400 acre feet of treatable water at the Sweetwater Reservoir,” he said. “We use approximately 25 acre feet of water every day, so generally speaking, 50% of our water comes from surface water or imported water, and the other half comes from our groundwater desalter and wells we have in National City. So that is not a lot of water, so we had to transfer as much water as we could to continue to treat water from the reservoir at Sweetwater Authority.”
Quintero said it had some losses, but gained those losses when the rains came.
“With the storms there was a lot of erosion (at Loveland) so we decided to close the access all together,” he said. “We did not want anybody to get hurt. We will be doing an assessment and possibly some short-term repairs to make sure that it is safe. Longer term issues like the fishing float, those will have to come later.”
The fishing float was installed in December 2009, when the water level was higher.
Quintero said right now, getting down to the fishing float is extremely challenging with no real access and getting heavy equipment down to move things around is too challenging and probably very expensive. He said the float was damaged in the January storm over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, with too much water coming in too fast until the float collapsed.
Quintero said the Authority is working with its insurance company to make sure they can cover some of the damage, but like much of the state after the recent storms, there has been no disaster declaration in San Diego County for FEMA, to his knowledge, so at this point he does not know if there is any FEMA funding available. He said they filed a damage report assessment with the County.
Quintero said the reality of the situation is that the Sweetwater Authority owns the water rights to the Loveland Reservoir.
“Our main mission is to provide water at the lowest price possible,” he said. “Our surface water is our cheapest water. Any water authority will provide water at probably twelve times the cost of surface water, from the untreated aqueduct. Treated water costs about 15 times more. So, we always try to maximize the use of local water.”
To protect and preserve water quality and the natural habitat, Sweetwater Authority and the USDA Forest Service established a partnership in 1997 to provide public fishing access along a five-mile portion of the shoreline. In exchange for a parcel of land near the reservoir, previously owned by the federal government, Sweetwater Authority provided land near Descanso, California to the National Forest System. This exchange increased natural habitat and forest lands available to San Diego County and Southern California residents and wildlife.
“There was nothing in that easement, or anything else that transferred or sacrificed, or gave away water rights,” he said. “It is exclusively an access easement. Activities such as hiking, birdwatching, fishing are allowed if the resources are there. The way we see it, the [board of directors] has been very supportive of recreational activities, but these activities are incidental to having sufficient water. Historically it has been the case that there has been more water at Loveland, so it has not been an issue. We have not had Loveland near its capacity since around 2009.”
Quintero said reservoirs across the state that are solely fed by runoff are not in the best shape. Researchers are saying that California is going longer times without water, then getting a large amount of water in a very short period of time.
“It is challenging,” he said. “I understand those who were used to fishing at will, but times are a bit different. Having said that, if we get a miracle March or April that put the reservoirs more at historical levels, fishing would be available. There has been no commitment, no transfer, no gift of water rights to recreational activities.”
Now Quintero said after nearly four years of drought, the Sweetwater Reservoir is very close to 50%, but it has not been at 50% since June 2019. The total storage of Sweetwater is about 28,000 acre feet, and being close to the 14,000 acre foot mark, that gives them almost 14 months of providing the cheapest water to its customers.
“It is certainly much better than November when we were down to 4,000 acre feet with about 400 acre feet of treatable water,” he said. “Once the level gets too low it is extremely challenging to treat. It sounds like we got a lot of rain, but it takes a lot. You need these series of storms to start saturating the soil. I am not only talking about the riverbed, but I am talking about the whole watershed.”
Quintero said the Palo Verde Lake north, and the lake at Willow Glen Golf Course must fill up first before collecting at Loveland.
“By the time we had the fourth or fifth atmospheric river, that is really when we got a whole bunch of water in one day,” he said. “We probably had about, combined Loveland and Sweetwater reservoirs, about 20% of all of our annual water supply in one day.”
Quintero said Sweetwater is probably good for the next year, but it could also be in a tougher position in a year. “I do not have a crystal ball. I just hope some of these storms develop over the Pacific and we get the rain that we need to keep going,” he said.
Authority Public Affairs Manager Leslie Payne said that the Sweetwater Reservoir is “gorgeous right now” and fishing is still available there, and is still a great recreation spot.
“If people are looking for alternative options for fishing and hiking, come out and enjoy the space. It is very affordable,” she said.
Quintero said the Authority has given all fifth graders in the Chula Vista Elementary School District and National School District receive a pass for one year to fish, to encourage youth to get familiar with the reservoir, learn about water, and have the time to fish with their families.
