Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 14, 2007
4. Water Quality
POINT LOMA SEWAGE PLANT EXPANSION:
Partner for sewage plant still elusive; Navy, national park refuse to give up land for expansion - San Diego Union Tribune
WATER TREATMENT ISSUES:
Building cost may lead to a rate hike;
LOS OSOS:
Editorial: Heartening headway in Osos; Supervisors deserve a pat on the back for informing the water board of the potentially devastating consequences of premature enforcement - San Luis Obispo
POINT LOMA SEWAGE PLANT EXPANSION:
Partner for sewage plant still elusive; Navy, national park refuse to give up land for expansion
By Mike Lee, staff writer
POINT LOMA – The Navy and the National Park Service have rejected San Diego's repeated requests for access to federal land as it seeks ways to expand the region's largest sewage treatment plant in Point Loma.
The city faces a huge upgrade to the facility so it can satisfy federal water-pollution standards.
Enlarging the plant on military or park property could shave about $500 million off the project's estimated $1.5 billion bill, the city said. Federal officials are adamant that
“If this were to come to pass – and we certainly hope that it doesn't – the first thing (park visitors) would see is a big sewage treatment plant at one of San Diego's finest . . . attractions,” said Terry DiMattio, superintendent of the Cabrillo National Monument. “We don't think it's appropriate.”
The park service and the Navy provided The San Diego Union-Tribune with letters they recently sent to City Hall outlining their opposition.
The Point Loma plant, which handles sewage for 16 wastewater agencies, including
One estimate by
In the next several months,
Federal water regulators have said they are open to reviewing such a request, though few officials in the county expect to receive an indefinite reprieve from going to more stringent sewage treatment.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders hasn't announced his strategy for the Point Loma facility. The Union-Tribune has asked Sanders' office for updates on the waiver-or-upgrade situation several times in recent months, including Thursday and Friday.
Each time, the mayor's assistants said they weren't ready to publicly discuss the latest developments.
The Web site for
A $4,000 increase would be a double-whammy for San Diegans. In February, the City Council approved new water and sewer rates that will boost the typical monthly residential utility bill by about $27, or 35 percent, over the next four years.
The Point Loma plant processes about 175 million gallons of sewage a day and sends the effluent into the
Without a federal waiver, it would have to upgrade to secondary treatment, which boosts the filtering level to 85 percent or higher.
The facility is the nation's largest sewage-treatment operation that doesn't use secondary treatment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued two waivers to
Public opinion is split about which course to take in the months ahead.
Some prominent environmentalists in the county have pushed hard for secondary treatment and signaled their intent to sue if
In a letter
Navy documents show that
The next year, Navy officials said they wouldn't support an upgrade that relied on their land. Capt. M.D. Patton, commanding officer of the Point Loma Naval Base, said the proposed expansion would eat up about 70 percent of the potentially developable land at the base.
“The city proposal, if implemented, would have a real and permanent impact on the ability of (the base) to execute our military mission, today and in the future,” Patton said in a January letter to City Hall.
A 1989 memo shows that
“I told the group (from
When
“We strongly recommend that the city accept the limitations of the (existing Point Loma) site and investigate other alternatives than acquiring a significant part of Cabrillo,” he wrote to city officials in August.
DiMattio reiterated the agency's position in a March letter to the city.
“Our responsibility is to preserve the land unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations,” DiMattio said last week. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070513/news_1m13loma.html
WATER TREATMENT ISSUES:
Building cost may lead to a rate hike;
By Adam Ashton, staff writer
Doubling Modesto's supply of treated river water for city taps likely will cost at least $77 million, more than twice what officials anticipated when they started planning the expansion seven years ago.
The cost increases could prompt the city to set up another round of water rate hikes in 2009, four years after
When it opens in 2010, the plant is expected to send 36 million gallons each day from the
On hot summer days,
The new river water should improve the quality and ensure a more reliable supply, Public Works Director Nick Pinhey said.
The plant is being built with city money, but the Modesto Irrigation District will own it. The arrangement stems from a partnership the agencies established in the 1990s to build a similar plant, which can supply up to 40 million gallons of water a day.
Despite the cost increases
"I'm satisfied that the ultimate project that was bid is the price that it should be," Councilman Brad Hawn said. "Getting from where we started to where we are has been a painful process because the numbers kept going and obviously we didn't plan on that for our rates."
The council and the MID board of directors last week voted to issue up to $97 million in bonds to pay for the plant. The bond money not spent on construction is earmarked for interest costs and other financing charges.
Next month, the MID is scheduled to choose a contractor to build the plant. Three submitted bids ranging from $57.3 million to $60.3 million.
Add in $15.3 million in engineering fees, some operating costs and the project's price tag hits $77.2 million if it goes to the lowest bidder.
"None of us are happy about it, but we're satisfied that it is what it is," Pinhey said, referring to how a steep rise in the cost of steel, cement and other materials affected the plant's bottom line during its planning.
The rise in the plant's cost obliges
Bond rating affects interest rate
The problem was exacerbated when the city and its consultant bungled the rate hike, which took effect Jan. 1, 2005. That mistake led to a $29.5 million shortfall in water revenue over five years, according to a December 2006 study.
Most people saw their bills increase by 35 percent when the new fees took hold. Annual adjustments are expected to bring a monthly water bill for a house on a 7,000-square foot lot to $42.31 by next year, up from $27.81 in 2005.
Last week, two bond rating agencies looked at the numbers and gave the city a mark of A+, helping to keep interest rates low, according to a press release from one of the agencies.
Maintaining that rating could necessitate another water rate hike to raise more money for the bonds, a process that would begin in two years, Finance Director Wayne Padilla said.
Other charges that could increase the city's demand for water revenue could include higher-than-expected operating costs for the plant, he said.
Greg Dias, MID project manager, said those changes delayed the project, contributing to its cost increases.
One of the biggest factors that drove up the cost was a decision to use a more advanced filtering system that differed from what was installed in MID's other water treatment plant.
Dias said MID tested the filters, known as membranes, over a year and a half. He said the project could not proceed with designs until after the MID and the city tested the technology and selected a company to provide it.
Critic asks if plant is needed
Those decisions came together in late 2005, when engineers projected a $44.9 million cost for the plant. Since then, material costs continued to swell as engineers refined the plant's designs.
"At the start of a project, you're really only at a conceptual level," Dias said. "You don't have a crystal ball to determine what the world market is doing, or the local economy."
Councilwoman Janice Keating said more realistic estimates for the project's costs would have helped the city, but she said time played a major role in driving up the plant's costs.
Eric Reimer, a critic of the 2005 water rate hikes, questioned whether the plant was necessary. He said it caters to people who don't yet live in
"When you see numbers like this, even though you're accused of dragging your feet, you might want to ask the underlying question of what is the real need for this," he said. "We're potentially building a system that's far in excess of need."
Pinhey said the plant would secure the city's ability to grow reasonably through 2019. Other plans are in the mix to draw more drinking water to
"It's a huge number of dollars," MID spokeswoman Kate Hora said. "But the city's going to get a good value for it. They're going to get a dependable and safe drinking water supply for years to come." #
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13581001p-14180846c.html
LOS OSOS:
Editorial: Heartening headway in Osos; Supervisors deserve a pat on the back for informing the water board of the potentially devastating consequences of premature enforcement
San Luis Obispo
It appears the stars may be aligning in Los Osos.
First, Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee passed legislation that allows the county to oversee design and construction of a sewer. The county then followed through and took the reins.
Next, 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson, who represents Los Osos, penned a letter on behalf of the board asking the state Regional Water Quality Control Board to withhold sending letters to Los Osos residents that threatened fines if a sewer isn’t built by 2011. The board’s reasons for making the request are compelling:
• Enforcement actions would “distract the community” at a time when the county and residents are trying their best to identify an effective sewer solution.
• Enforcement actions taken prior to this fall’s Proposition 218 vote — in which property owners will decide whether to tax themselves to pay for the sewer —may lead to the appearance that the water board is trying to influence the election’s outcome.
• Further enforcement action at this time could lead to lawsuits against the county and state and would only delay construction of a sewer and continue degradation of the environment.
The letter was given unanimous approval by supervisors and sent to the water board, which followed Gibson’s advice and decided against sending out the threats.
To say we’re heartened by this turn of events would be an understatement. We believe the county is correct in its assessment: To rile up the residents and increase the fear quotient with enforcement actions before a 218 vote would almost surely have guaranteed a negative backlash at various levels.
Unfortunately, there are those in the community who vow to fight a 218 vote, regardless of the design or where it’s built.
For now, the Board of Supervisors deserves a pat on the back for stepping up and informing the water board of the potentially devastating consequences that would follow if the water board were to proceed with a premature enforcement action.
The water board also deserves kudos for following that advice.
The next step in pursuing a sewer is critical: Determining a design that best fits the community, and selling that design to the residents so they will assess themselves to build it. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/181/story/40234.html
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