San Simeon residents told: Use more water

Water purveyors in some communities such as Cambria are mulling how to balance drought-triggered water-use limits and restrictions — some of which are state mandated — and recent rainfall that brought well levels back up to near or at normal for this time of year.

But San Simeon’s services district is going one step further, again: At a special meeting Jan. 13, the San Simeon Community Services District Board of Directors not only voted unanimously to lift all of the tiny town’s water restrictions, the agency is urging residents and businesses to use as much water as they want … for now.

The unrestricted water use will only last for a few months at most, because it’s all about high chloride levels.

Once the levels go back down to “normal,” the water restrictions are likely to go back into effect, depending on rainfall and timing on a new $1 million water-treatment project. The reverse-osmosis plant is under construction and estimated to be complete this spring (again, weather permitting).

If the project works as planned, this could be the last go-round for the community’s see-saw between unlimited water use and stringent water restrictions.

Freshwater from recent rainstorms is flowing through the soil, down the hills into San Simeon’s underground aquifer, which feeds the town’s wells within that aquifer. Unfortunately, the aquifer currently is filled with salty, brackish water. According to district General Manager Charles Grace, that’s because high tides and storm waves have pushed seawater in.

Drinking the brackish water isn’t a health hazard, except for people who are salt sensitive (they should consult their physicians), but the salty taste can be unpleasant for some.

There is a fix, but it involves using more water than normal.

Much like a full cup of too-strong tea or coffee could be made better by draining some of it and adding water, officials say the aquifer’s normal chloride readings can be restored gradually by using up the salty water so freshwater can flow in. Community use can gradually pull the freshwater from the wells and the underflow into the aquifer, replacing the brackish water that’s there now.

Recent tests for chloride showed levels as high as 3,500 parts per million (ppm), SSCSD Director Allan Fields told the Cambria Forest Committee participants on Jan. 13. Grace said “normal” is considered to be about 32 to 35 ppm, and that current readings are about 1,300 (Well 2) to 2,200 (Well 1). “We’re only using Well 2 right now.”

Grace estimated it could take as long as March for the readings to normalize.

The process has worked before, and the recommendations are familiar. The district’s water committee made a similar recommendation for the same reason almost exactly a year ago, on Jan. 14, 2015, and Grace implemented the action. He said Tuesday, Jan. 26, that the same problem occurred in 2014, but restrictions weren’t lifted because the problem wasn’t as bad.

Grace said the district has a delicate balancing act to equalize its water supply stored so close to the sea, in a Mediterranean climate that’s prone to watery feast or famine, with Mother Nature often providing too much rain in one season, too little in another, and occasional high waves and tides to complicate things even further. The too-predictable result has been seawater intrusion.

That’s one reason for the district’s current groundwater treatment project, which will remove the chlorides and other total dissolved solids.

The CSD also has a separate process that filters and recycles treated (but not drinkable) water that can be used for many irrigation purposes. The district is seeking grants to pay for a purple-pipe system through which the recycled water would be piped directly to customers with large landscaped areas.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 12:08 PM with the headline "San Simeon residents told: Use more water."