CC 2017-01-24_12b Recycled Water Plng Facilities Study
MEMORANDUM
TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: TERESA MCCLISH, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
SUBJECT: PRESENTATION OF THE SOUTH SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
SANITATION DISTRICT RECYCLED WATER PLANNING FACILITIES
STUDY
DATE: JANUARY 24, 2017
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council receive and file the South San Luis Obispo
County Sanitary District (SSLOCSD) Recycled Water Planning Facilities Study
(RWPFS).
IMPACT ON FINANCIAL AND PERSONNEL RESOURCES:
Expenditures associated with the City’s participation to match grant funds for the Water
Recycling Facilities Planning Grant from the State Water Resources Control Board with
the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District (SSLOCSD) include $40,877 and
are budgeted in the Water Fund. Staff resources will continue to be required for
participation in ongoing regional efforts. Addressing water supply is one of the City’s
priorities identified in the Critical Needs Action Plan and reiterated in the 2016 Council
goals.
BACKGROUND:
In 2014, the Council directed staff to pursue the following goals:
Meet the City’s future projected water demand of its buildout population by:
Meeting the reduction in per capita use as prescribed in the Water
Conservation Act of 2009;
Proceeding with work necessary to develop a recycled water project
that can be used to prevent seawater intrusion in order to provide long-
range protection of the City’s groundwater supply; and
Ensure water use efficiency and drought protection through regional
conjunctive use, storage and management of surface and groundwater
supplies.
Additionally, in 2014, the Council supported the Northern Cities Management Area
(NCMA) Technical Group’s Strategic Plan that provides a framework for identifying
common water resource planning goals and objectives and to establish a 10-year work
plan for implementation of those efforts, including pursuing recycled water options.
CITY COUNCIL
CONSIDERATION OF THE SOUTH SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SANITATION
DISTRICT RECYCLED WATER PLANNING FACILITIES STUDY
JANUARY 24, 2017
PAGE 2
In November 2014, theRegional Recycled Water Strategic Plan (RRWSP) was
completed, which was one component of an update to the SLO Integrated Regional
Water Management Plan (IRWMP), and was funded by a Round 2 IRWM Regional
Planning Grant from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). According
to the study, the SSLOCSD has the largest volume of effluent considered in the
RRWSP and the largest opportunities for large-scale reuse.
In May of 2015, an Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Plan planning grant
funded a groundwater basin characterization study of the Santa Maria Groundwater
Basin. The objectives of the overall study were to compile previous studies and data,
develop a lithologic database and prepare geologic cross-sections, perform and analyze
pumping tests, evaluate several key hydrogeologic issues for the study area and to
prepare a Salt and Nutrient Management Plan and the development of a numerical
groundwater model.
Also in 2015, two specific recycled water studies identified potential regional projects.
The first was the City of Pismo Beach’s recently completed Recycled Water Facilities
Planning Study. The second was the SSLOCSD/City of Arroyo Grande grant funded
study evaluating a Satellite Water Resource Recovery Facility (SWRRF), potentially
located along one of the upstream trunk lines that conveys Arroyo Grande’s wastewater
to the regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. The State Water Resources Control Board
is funding approximately 50% of the project cost ($75,000) with the remaining costs split
evenly between the SSLOCSD and the City of Arroyo Grande. On June 23, 2015, the
Council directed staff to continue collaboration and participation in each of the regional
recycled water projects. The Council heard a status report on both of the recycled
water project efforts in November 2015.
In March 2016, the Council authorized a revised scope of work for the SSLOCSD/AG
project, to evaluate the construction of an onsite or offsite tertiary or advanced water
treatment facility close to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) that could treat its
effluent for use as agriculture irrigation or groundwater recharge or a hybrid (i.e.
combination of groundwater recharge and agriculture irrigation. The offsite facility would
be located outside of the Coastal Zone, Tsunami Inundation Zone and the Arroyo
Grande Creek 100-YR Flood Plain, but could take advantage of the existing primary and
secondary treatment facilities at the WWTP. Additionally, this facility would be
expandable to receive effluent from the Pismo Beach WWTP and realize potential unit
costs savings associated with larger capacity facilities.
On January 4, 2017 the SSLOCSD Board directed that their staff submit the RWPFS to
the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Division of Financial Assistance
per the District’s obligations under the grant agreement.
CITY COUNCIL
CONSIDERATION OF THE SOUTH SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SANITATION
DISTRICT RECYCLED WATER PLANNING FACILITIES STUDY
JANUARY 24, 2017
PAGE 3
On January 10, 2017 The City Council approved a Letter of Interest regarding the
overall Regional Groundwater Sustainability Project (RGSP) that is envisioned in the
RWPFS. The City is a RGSP Stakeholder. The Letter of Interest is intended as the first
step to secure a commitment to continue to collaborate toward establishing a new, local,
drought resistant, sustainable and highly purified water resource.
ANALYSIS OF ISSUES:
At the request of SSLOCSD and the City Council, Water Systems Consulting (WSC)
prepared the RWPFS. During the preparation of the study, a number of meetings and
discussions were held with the consultant and District staff.Additionally, the City of
Pismo Beach has held meetings with representatives from the City, the Oceano
Community Services District, and the City of Grover Beach to keep stakeholders
informed regarding the progress of the regional recycled water project.
Importantly, the RWPFS indicates that both regional efforts may be constructed as a
single regional recycled water project with phased components.Below are
recommendations from the RWPFS (per the Executive Summary):
Both the onsite and offsite alternatives meet the goal of diversifying the RGSP
Stakeholders water supply portfolio by developing a local, resilient water supply
and providing a new source of recharge to the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin
(SMGB). Based on the results of the alternatives analysis, it is recommended
that the District and the RGSP Stakeholders move forward with an Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) that evaluates both the onsite and offsite options.
Onsite Alternative Pros and Cons With the onsite alternative, less infrastructure
is required to convey secondary effluent from the existing WWTPs to the ATP,
reducing capital and operation and maintenance costs. Additionally, there is no
additional cost to purchase property for the ATP for the onsite alternatives.
However, while the onsite alternatives require less conveyance infrastructure and
have lower unit costs, there may be regulatory constraints that could limit the
District and the RGSP Stakeholders from obtaining the necessary permits to
develop FAT (Full Advanced Treatment) upgrades at the existing District WWTP
site. Ongoing discussion with the Coastal Commission regarding infrastructure
upgrades at the District WWTP site will help inform the District and its RGSP
Stakeholders on the viability of the onsite alternatives.
Offsite Alternative Pros and Cons With the offsite alternative, there are fewer
regulatory constraints associated with obtaining the permits to develop the ATP
facilities. However, the offsite alternative requires more infrastructure to convey
secondary effluent from the existing WWTPs to the ATP, increasing capital and
CITY COUNCIL
CONSIDERATION OF THE SOUTH SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SANITATION
DISTRICT RECYCLED WATER PLANNING FACILITIES STUDY
JANUARY 24, 2017
PAGE 4
operation and maintenance costs. Also, there will be the additional cost of
purchasing property for the offsite ATP.
Groundwater Recharge Only In comparison to the hybrid alternatives that include
agriculture irrigation, the groundwater recharge alternative has a lower capital
cost because infrastructure to convey recycled water to the agriculture irrigation
customers is not required.
However, the groundwater recharge alternative has a higher operation and
maintenance cost due to the need to treat all of the water through the FAT
process. Also, it is estimated that approximately 30% of the water injected will not
be recoverable due to flow to the north, south and west. This increases the unit
cost on the basis of water put to beneficial use, but does not account for the
additional basin capacity that is made available by alleviating the threat of
seawater intrusion. Additional hydrogeologic investigation being performed for
the RGSP will help to compare the benefits to the groundwater basin from
groundwater recharge versus offsetting groundwater pumping through delivery of
recycled water to agriculture irrigation customers.
Groundwater Recharge and Agriculture Irrigation In comparison to the
groundwater recharge alternative, even with the increased capital costs the
hybrid alternative has lower unit costs (i.e. $/AF) due to the increase yield
assumed for the agriculture irrigation alternative and the lower operation and
maintenance costs associated with tertiary treatment.
One additional consideration is that while the Hybrid alternatives could present
the opportunity for lower unit costs (i.e. $/AF), developing a framework for
ensuring that benefiting agencies and individuals are contributing to the cost of
the project is more complicated than in the groundwater recharge only
alternative, therefore it may make the hybrid alternatives more difficult to
implement.
In conclusion, the RWPFS builds upon other efforts to promote recycling within the
South San Luis Obispo County area. Additional work is underway as part of the overall
Regional Groundwater Sustainability Project and will help the participating agencies
better understand the advantages and disadvantages of the onsite and offsite locations.
Table 1-6 of the Executive Summary outlines the ongoing and upcoming initiatives, the
lead agencies and the timelines that will allow the RGSP Stakeholders to implement the
RGSP. Additional information regarding these initiatives in provide in Section 8 of the
Executive Summary. Public feedback and input is encouraged.
CITY COUNCIL
CONSIDERATION OF THE SOUTH SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SANITATION
DISTRICT RECYCLED WATER PLANNING FACILITIES STUDY
JANUARY 24, 2017
PAGE 5
ALTERNATIVES:
The following alternatives are provided for the Council’s consideration:
1. Receive and file the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitary District
(SSLOCSD) recycled water project study;
2. Provide staff other direction.
ADVANTAGES:
The RWPFS identifies potentially viable options to protecting and augmenting existing
water supplies.
DISADVANTAGES:
No disadvantages have been identified.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
No environmental review is required for this item.
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND COMMENTS:
The Agenda was posted in front of City Hall on Thursday, January 19, 2017. The
Agenda and staff report were posted on the City’s website on Friday, January 20, 2017.
No public comments were received.
Attachments:
1. SSLOCSD Recycled Water Facilities Planning Study (Distributed to Council
under separate cover. Study is located on the City’s website at
www.arroyogrande.org and at City Hall for public review.)