Dry Year Actions. In addition to extraordinary conservation in drier and driest years, the Water Forum Agreement includes three alternative ways for purveyors to accomplish this objective. The first is by purveyors limiting their additional American River diversions in drier and driest years. The drier the year, the more the purveyors would limit their American River diversions. By the driest years, purveyors would limit their American River diversions to baseline amounts. “Baseline amount” means the historic maximum amount of water that a purveyor diverted from the American River in any one year through the year 1995 or in certain appropriate instances other amounts specified in a Purveyor Specific Agreement (PSA). Purveyors would continue to meet their customers’ needs in drier and driest years through supply alternatives such as increased use of groundwater. There is a second method by which some purveyors who currently divert upstream from Folsom Reservoir could meet their customers’ needs and minimize impacts on Folsom Reservoir inflows and lower American River fisheries. The signatories to the Water Forum Agreement would provide their support to a purveyor that chooses to continue its increased American River diversions in drier or driest years, if in the drier years there was a release of replacement water upstream of Folsom Reservoir. The drier the year, the greater the amount of water that would be replaced. By the driest years the amount of water replaced would be equivalent to the purveyor’s increased diversions over baseline or, in certain appropriate instances, other amounts specified in the PSA. One source of this replacement water in drier or driest years would be water not normally released in those years from the PCWA MFP2. Adequate assurances that the replacement water will be released are specific to each purveyor and are included in the specific agreements for any purveyors intending to use this method. Any other method of replacing water consistent with the two coequal goals of the Water Forum would be considered. The third way that purveyors could meet at least a portion of their needs is by diversions from the Sacramento River. Any Sacramento River diversion would avoid direct impacts on the American River. Table 0.2The chart in Section Three, I entitled, “1195 and Proposed year 2030 Surface Water D iversions” summarizes the proposed drier and driest year diversions for each purveyor. Specific information for each purveyor is found in Chapter 5, Secti...
