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SFPUC outlines menu of regional and local projects as it begins water-supply planning
Summary
Assistant GM Steve Ritchie described water-supply goals, a $20 million planning allocation and a menu of projects including groundwater banking, regional recycled and purified-water projects, conveyance alternatives and storage options; staff emphasized long timelines and contract obligations to wholesale customers.
The commission received an update on water-supply planning from Steve Ritchie, assistant general manager for water, who outlined level-of-service goals adopted in 2008 and a recent $20 million capital allocation to begin planning efforts.
Ritchie said the department's primary obligations are to meet contractual wholesale commitments and in-stream flow requirements, and he described a portfolio approach to meet those obligations: groundwater banking and interbasin collaboration on the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers; regional recycled-water projects with Daly City and Alameda County Water District; purified-water (direct potable reuse) projects such as a Crystal Springs purified-water option being studied with Silicon Valley Clean Water; and conveyance or storage options including Los Vaqueros and Calaveras reservoir expansions. “These are projects that are in the Tuolumne River area ... groundwater banking with irrigation districts is part of our proposed voluntary agreement,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie emphasized that some regional options were considered and set aside for now (for example, connection to the California Aqueduct and a large raise of O'Shaughnessy Dam) because they are not ripe; he also noted major uncertainty tied to the Bay-Delta water-quality control process and the need to coordinate with irrigation districts and neighboring agencies.
Commissioners and regional partners pressed staff on demand projections and balancing contractual obligations (the utility's supply assurance to wholesale customers is 184 MGD) with demand management. Nicole Sankula Bauska (CEO, Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency) told the commission her organization is conducting updated regional demand projections and expects to provide results this fiscal year; BOSCA also recommended greater transparency and a reformatted CIP presentation.
Ritchie and BOSCA recommended scenario exercises and clearer alignment of projected needs and potential supply options to help the commission make long-range tradeoffs.
Ending: Staff will continue project-level scoping, report periodic updates to the commission, present demand-projection results when available and integrate these topics into the urban water management planning cycle.
