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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.)