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Minutes 1999-03-11 SP MINUTES - CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP THURSDAY, MARCH 11,1999 CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 215 EAST BRANCH STREET ARROYO GRANDE, CALIFORNIA 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL: The Honorable City Council of the City of Arroyo Grande met in a special workshop session at 6:30 P.M. Present were Council Members Runels, Tolley, Dickens, Mayor Pro Tem Ferrara, and Mayor Lady. 2, STAFF PRESENT X-City Manager _City.Attorney . _City Clerk/Director of Administrative Services - Chief of Police _Director of Building and Fire _Director of Community Development . XDirector of Public Works Director of Parks and Recreation - Director of Financial Services - _Senior Consultant Engineer Also present to lead the discussion was John L. Wallace, District Administrator, South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District, and Tony Boyd, Hydraulic Operations Engineer, County of San Luis Obispo. 3. CITIZENS' INPUT. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS - None . 4. WORKSHOP ON WATER RECLAMATION PROJECTS/ISSUES Don Spagnolo, Public Works Director, stated that the Council previously considered a program to revise the City's current water neutralization policy, The proposed program established an in-lieu fee to allow ease of administration and less processing time for projects. As part of the program, a list of specific supplemental water projects needs to be identified. He noted the purpose of the workshop is to discuss potential projects that might be in the pipeline, or to discuss other projects that are appropriate for applying the fees received from the City's program. Director Spagnolo introduced John Wallace, District Administrator for the Sanitation District. He stated Mr. Wallace would be presenting one of the projects that might be an applicable candidate for those fees. . Mr. Wallace gave a history of the South County Sanitation District and an overview of the plant's capacity statistics. He said the reclamation project currently being studied was for CITY COUNCIL - WORKSHOP MARCH 11, 1999 recycling a portion of the District's water that is currently being discharged to the ocean. He noted that various groups have asked the District to study the possibility of water reclamation for uses such as irrigation and ground water recharge. Mr. Wallace advised that the State has mandated the use of reclaimed water in certain circumstances, and has set goals for increasing the volume of reclaimed water by the year' 2010. He noted that the legal framework for water treatment in California has mandated the use of reclaimed water when it is available. Mr. Wallace provided an update on the progress of the District's study. He explained the process of water recycling and the necessary treatment for various uses, He explained that the lowest quality of reclaimed water could be used for landscaping purposes where there is no public contact, for forage crops, hay crops, and agricultural operations that are non- edible types of crops. He said that water for public contact requires additional disinfection, coagulation sedimentation and filtration. Mr. Wallace presented a basic outline of how the water would be treated at the plant, costs of water treatment and transportation per acre foot. He cited some areas such as parks, and landscaping areas where the reclaimed water could be used. Mayor Lady opened the discussion to members of the audience for comments. . . Otis Page, 606 Myrtle Street, stated that $936 per acre foot is roughly twice the City's cost over Lopez water, and questioned if the Lopez future cost reflects the ten million dollar retrofit to Lopez. He also referred to the aforementioned figure of $1200, and asked if that was the sale price contemplating a profit on the water if you can get it, and if there was any practice where people take the water and seil it for profit. Tony Boyd, County Engineering Department, advised that the cost funding for the dam retrofit had not been factored into any rates as yet. He noted that at this point the cost estimate for fixing the dam is twenty million dollars, Mr. Richard Neufeld, 932 Charles, asked about the cost for State water as a comparison. He also noted that the State has mandated the use of reclaimed water for landscaping on the freeways; however, he questioned if they had a set cost as to what they would pay for it. Mr. Wallace advised the cost is a little over $800 per acre foot. He said there are some nuances in the law; one that says the State shall use reclaimed water "if available", which means it has to be there at the freeway for them to take. He stated he doesn't know for sure whether or not Cal Trans could be forced to take $1200 an acre foot water out on the 2 -- --------.- ----.--.--... _"_U'_'__ CITY COUNCIL - WORKSHOP MARCH 11, 1999 freeway when they are paying less than that now, It was noted that the City of Arroyo Grande is paying about $340 an acre foot retail for water right now. In response to Mr, John Keen's question as to how much reclaimed water Arroyo Grande would be entitled to, Mr. Wallace advised that Arroyo Grande would be entitled to none of the water; the Sanitation District would own the water, treat it, and distribute it. Mr. Keen' . spoke regarding recharge areas and indicated interest in using recharged water and saving Lopez water, Tony Boyd, Hydraulic Operations Engineer with the County of San Luis Obispo, spoke regarding water reclamation. He noted the County is taking proposals as part of the water rights application to the State Department of Water Resources for the Lopez Dam, and a study will be conducted of the creek from the dam to the ocean from the standpoint of how much water needs to be released in order to keep the creek healthy with all the habitat. Also, in Fiscal Year 1999-00, they will be working on an Urban Water Managemer:-t Plan that is required by the State of all agencies. The Plan will include all of the five water contractors in.the Lopez project, and water reclamation will be looked at as an element of that Plan. Mr. Boyd stated there is no funding for water reclamation projects for Lopez; however, he said upgrades and improvements will be necessary at the plant over the next few years that could be called Water Reclamation projects. In response to Mayor Lady:s question regarding a breakdown of costs for retrofitting to equate to dollar per square foot, Mr. Boyd stated he believed that information would be available in a few months. He noted he has not been involved in the financing aspects of the project; however, there has been a committee working on that aspect for several months and they may have something at the May Advisory Committee meeting, With regard to the question of recharge, Council Member Runels asked about putting this water into the creek for recharge. Mr, Wallace advised there is some complication with State law about degradation of groundwater basins and, in his opinion, would not want to get involved in a recharge project that progressively increases the mineral content of the groundwater basin, There was discussion about the CalFed project having any indirect affect on the coastal water reclamation projects. Christine Ferrara expressed concern about comments that the City is re-filing for' water rights out of Lopez reservoir. In addition, she axpressed concern regarding the pending litigation on the groundwater basin in the Santa Maria area. She stated these are alarming 3 CITY COUNCIL - WORKSHOP MARCH 11, 1999 water rights issues. Another concern she has is the statement made that the wastewater that will be reclaimed may be water rights held by the South County Sanitation District. She said the City needs to determine what the overall goal is in making the best beneficial use of that reclaimed water and go from there. She urged that very careful direction be considered as to where we. are going with reclamation and water rights in general. Hearing no further public comments, Mayor Lady brought the discussion back to the Council. There was clarification regarding where the fees could be applied in regards to reclarnation. Council Member Tolley suggested hanging on to those fees right now because there were a lot of things in the pipeline and he would like to wait and see what happens before making any decisions. He inquired if there was a problem holding on to the fees and waiting to see where some of these issues go. Director Spagnolo stated they could be held to a certain point; however, at some point they are going to have to be applied to an actual project. It was suggested that other workshops on water reclamation be held when new information surfaces, look at the series of workshops as status reports, and eventually have the information needed to make a decision. Mayor Lady thanked the panel for their presentation, stating that the information provided would be very helpful in making future decisions. The Council agreed it is important to stay on top of this issue. 5. ADJOURNMENT On motion by Council Member Dickens, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Ferrara, and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. .rq~ MICHAELA LADY, MAYO ATTEST: E, ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR! DEPUTY CITY CLERK 4