ITEM:		INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/STAFF REPORTS
33.	QUARTERLY CARMEL RIVER EROSION PROTECTION AND RESTORATION PROJECTS REPORT
Meeting Date:			April 20, 2009	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			Darby Fuerst	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Larry Hampson	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

Carmel River Advisory Committee: The Carmel River Advisory Committee met on April 9, 2009. Final minutes of this meeting will be provided to the MPWMD Board of Directors under Committee Reports in a future Board packet (see Informational Items in monthly Board packets).

State Propositions 84 and 1E Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Grant Program: On February 23, 2009, the District held a meeting of project sponsors and other interested parties to review an updated project list and the process for prioritizing those projects. Subsequently, District staff forwarded a draft project list for consideration to representatives of the six IRWM planning regions along the Central Coast and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

In March 2009, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) published the final guidelines for the Regional Acceptance Process (RAP), which is the first step DWR will use to evaluate and accept an IRWM region into the grant program. MPWMD staff have begun assembling the information necessary for a submittal, which is due on or before April 29, 2009. DWR intends to finalize its decisions on IRWM regions before initiating planning or implementation grant rounds.

Carmel River Lagoon and State Beach Management: The Monterey County Public Works Department carried out work at the Carmel River State Beach to create an outlet channel for the river on February 16, 2009, as the lagoon water level rose to nearly flood stage during a high tide with significant inflow from the river (nearly 700 cubic feet per second). MPWMD staff continue to monitor conditions at the lagoon and at Carmel River State Beach.

Los Padres Reservoir Area-Capacity Study: In the fall of 2008, MPWMD contracted with California Sate University at Monterey Bay and the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories to conduct surveys of Los Padres Reservoir to determine the existing storage capacity. Data collection tasks are complete and both organizations are currently analyzing the data in order to complete work products, including updated stage-volume and stage-area relationships. MPWMD staff collected additional data at Los Padres Dam in order to determine the relationship between the datum used to gather the most recent data (i.e., the North American Vertical Datum of 1988), which is the current standard, and the original datum used to establish the elevation of the dam (i.e., National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, or Mean Sea Level) and associated storage capacity data since completion of construction of the dam in 1948.

Lower San Carlos Restoration Project: During the week of March 30-April 3, 2009, Graham Matthews and Associates were able to wade through the Carmel River to obtain field data at the site, which is located between Rancho San Carlos Road Bridge and Via Mallorca Bridge. The next step in design process is to develop a preliminary set of plans for use in obtaining access agreements, conducting environmental review, and acquiring permits.

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