(Davis) Officials look again at city's water, costs

Davis Enterprise - October 13, 2007
By Beth Curda

Officials look again at city's water, costs
Davis Enterprise – 10/14/07
By Beth Curda, staff writer

Most Davisites probably don't think much about their household water supply, except when they turn on their faucets or pay their water and sewer bills. But, while the city's water issues are largely invisible to the public, they are high on the Davis City Council's list of concerns. That is in part because, in the minds of many at City Hall, the city needs a new source of drinking water and better treatment system for wastewater.

It also is because the projects the city is considering would cost around $150 million each. The price tags have sparked debate among City Council members over whether the timing is right for the two major water-related projects.

One of the projects - a proposed pipeline and treatment facility that would bring in Sacramento River

water to replace much of the groundwater supply for Davis, Woodland and UC Davis - is on the City Council's agenda for Tuesday evening's meeting.

The city's Public Works Department has asked the council to approve the findings of an environmental impact report on the project and agree that the proposal is the best among a few project options studied.

The city began studying the idea in the mid-1990s and has partnered with Woodland and UC Davis. The three would share the costs of the project, estimated at $400 million, with Davis' share being estimated at between $150 million and $175 million.

If the council votes to certify the EIR and reiterate its interest in the pipeline project, the next steps would be to secure an “origin of water rights permit” and work on project design and funding decisions. Future steps would require more approvals from the council, Bob Weir, public works director for Davis, said.

Another water-related project the city has been considering in recent years is an upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant.

The city expects to receive soon its new treatment permit from the state, and expects the standards for the water that leaves the plant at the end of the process to be too strict for today's treatment system.

Both projects would require more rate increases for residents, the city has warned.

The rate increases are what has made Mayor Sue Greenwald question the timing of the projects. She would like the city to study whether it could hold off on the river water project for several years, while moving forward with the wastewater treatment plant upgrade.

The plant upgrade is being mandated now by the state, she said, but waiting on the other project would keep residents from having to pay for both at once.

“To me, it's one fund,” Greenwald said, saying supporters of the river water project say the funding is coming from different money sources. “It's the pocket of the rate/taxpayer.”

The Public Works Department and some on the City Council say the river water project is needed because it would rescue the underground aquifers from which the two cities and university draw water today. The aquifers may not produce enough water to meet all of that demand in the future, they say.

Weir said the city already is struggling to have as much water in its system as it would like.

The two projects also are linked, supporters of the river water project argue. If the water going into Davis homes contained less in the way of minerals and other constituents, it would be easier to clean later, in the wastewater treatment process.

City Councilman Don Saylor said the river water project would “improve the water quality and it will give our city and the future generations of people who live here a more reliable source, both in terms of supply and quality.

“It will lessen the cost of the treatment needed for wastewater disposal,” he said, “and it will ensure an ongoing supply of water.”

Also, he said, the city is looking at financing options and ways it might be able to bring down the costs of the projects.

Supporters also argue that if the city does not act soon, it will lose its place in the line of applications for permits to draw water from the river. Greenwald disputed that claim.

Greenwald said the city has a few issues coming up that have high price tags and has ongoing budget problems. She said she has talked with several water experts outside the city and believes that, while the city will need to import water someday, it can wait.

“I think we're going to need it eventually,” she said. But she thinks the city should “do a serious study ... and frame the question correctly.”

Jay Lund, a UC Davis professor of civil and environmental engineering, said the city hasn't had big problems with its ground water, and that bringing in surface water has risks of its own, such as with water rights, the pipeline, or if there were a spill in the river.

“It seems to be probably the least urgent,” of the city's water projects, he said. “And to me, my guess is that you might be able to put it off for a number of years.”

Ed Schroeder, a UCD professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, said the deep aquifer is “not going to disappear” and that, if it did begin to fail, the city still would have at least a few years in terms of quantity.

Saylor said the issue is one of concern for the future.

“I think this is a key set of decisions for our community at this point in time in our history,” he said, “because we must ensure a reliable, reasonable-quality water source for future generations. I think this is beyond politics. It is a matter of being responsible stewards of our community's future interest.”

The council's meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Community Chambers at City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd. #
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