Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 18, 2007
4. Water Quality
WELL WATER:
Lathrop may flush water from contaminated well - Manteca Bulletin
SEWAGE PLANT:
Santa Paula takes new tack on sewage plant - Ventura County Star
WELL WATER:
Lathrop may flush water from contaminated well
By Vince Rembulat, staff writer
LATHROP - As much as a million gallons of ground water belonging to the City of
City Council gave the go ahead Tuesday for Mayor Kristy Sayles to approve municipal well drainage agreements with the adjacent property owners.
This ground water - specifically, Well 21 - contains bacterial particles, and would be chlorinated, filtered, and tested, according to Steve Machida.
"We're looking to pump out one million gallons for use of flood irrigation for crops," the acting public works director said.
"That's a lot of water," said Councilman Steve Dresser, who urged his colleagues to keep close tabs on the issue.
The water-flushing method was successful at cleaning out another municipal well, according to Cary Keaten, interim assistant city manager.
Construction on Well 21 along with the Manganese Water Treatment Facility began about three years ago to serve the new development taking place west of Interstate 5.
The project was substantially completed in December 2004.
But because of the presence of microbes in the well water, the state Department of Health Services hasn't yet allowed active service for the facilities.
He indicated another option included the cleaning and rehabilitating the well at a cost of about $200,000, or capping and abandoning it in order to drill at another site.
Other options could cost $2 million.
Staff recently worked with the state Department of Health Services to develop this plan of disinfecting the well by flushing and continuously pumping the ground water for about 30 days.
"Hopefully, we won't have to pump that much (a million gallons of) water,"
Besides the nearby orchards, some of this water will be flushed to an existing pond until laboratory tests show that the water is safe enough to discharge to a potable water system as permitted by the state.
"All we can do is hope for the best," Sayles said. "I also hope this is the last time we have deal with the dumping of water onto the orchards (from this water well)."
The City needed the OK from the property owners in this area of south Lathrop to discharge the well water on to their orchards, thus, giving the mayor the authorization to enter into the agreements. #
http://mantecabulletin.com/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=758&SectionID=28&SubSectionID=58
SEWAGE PLANT:
By Sam Richard, staff writer
Intent on saving money for sewage-treatment ratepayers,
Instead, the City Council decided Monday night to switch to another method that officials say could save millions of dollars.
The council voted 4-1 to take actions to search for a firm that would design, build, operate and finance the facility. The plant must be built by September 2010 for the city to avoid water-quality penalties.
Councilman John Procter voted no, questioning whether there would be significant savings.
For several months, the city staff and the council have looked into how the facility could be built. The abandoned system was the "conventional" method in which a company designs the facility, construction bids are received, and the winning bidder builds it.
The estimated cost of the total project was about $76 million under the conventional method.
The other method, which the council chose, involves having only one firm design, build, operate and finance the project — known as DBOF. Cost estimates won't be known until proposals are received, which could occur by the end of this year, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said Tuesday.
Several factors could lead to the project costing less, he said. For example, construction of one building instead of several could lead to lower costs. Under DBOF, condensing the process could lead to lowering costs, he added.
Realizing that cost estimates were not available, the council took a calculated risk in selecting the process, Bobkiewicz said.
"The belief is that it's going to save us anywhere from $15 million to $25 million," Councilman Ralph Fernandez said Tuesday. "Even if we save $10 million, it's still a substantial saving."
Sewage bills are expected to increase to help pay for construction and operation costs, Bobkiewicz said.
Under the conventional method, the wastewater rates would have gone up to $46.73 by July 2009, with a rise to $64.17 by 2018, along with more increases.
Rates under DBOF won't be clear until potentially later this year, Bobkiewicz said.
"Given the socio-economic makeup of
Steven Owen, vice president of business development for the Fountain Valley, Calif.-based Pacific Environmental Resources Corp., said at the meeting that the design, construction and initial startup of the project would cost a "guaranteed maximum price" of $35 million.
Owen said Tuesday that PERC has built similar projects in various states, including
The same can be done for
"There's nothing in
Procter said he voted no because of "the uncertainty" that the DBOF system would lead to a less-costly plant with lower costs to ratepayers.
"I didn't see any compelling evidence that the DBOF process was going to provide lower rates," he said, later adding "it's a gamble, and it was a gamble I wasn't willing to take for
Fernandez said that, although there are uncertainties, he believes the council made the right decision after months of studying facts and making educated guesses. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/jul/18/santa-paula-takes-new-tack-on-sewage-plant/
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