[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY -9/16/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

September 16, 2008

 

4. Water Quality -

 

Water authority mulls addition

Chino Basin group might expand

Contra Costa Times – 9/15/08

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer

 

Chino Basin Desalter Authority may need a new partner in its joint-powers authority to help fund an expansion of its infrastructure to clean salt from the region's major water supply.

 

Western Municipal Water District, which serves western Riverside County, has pipes in place that could be used for the expansion and would provide $46 million of the $120 million needed, officials said.

 

Some agency officials with the six-member authority have expressed concerns about Western Municipal joining. They cite concerns over the impact on their voting strength, future water supplies and operation costs, officials said.

 

But Ken Willis, chairman of the Chino Basin Watermaster, a court-ordered forum where agencies can voice concerns and come to agreements over water issues, said he supports Western's proposal.

 

"It's a long-range benefit, and it will make for better relations in the future," he said. "It fits the overall goal of the region."

Regional water officials are hopeful that a $26 million federal grant to help fund the expansion of desalination efforts in the Chino Water Basin will pass the U.S. Senate next month.

 

The grant was approved last week by the Senate Energy Committee.

 

John Rossi, general manager of Western Municipal, expected membership proceedings to move forward within the next two months and did not expect any challenges from other agencies or stakeholders.

 

"The bottom line is, we're cleaning up the groundwater basin," Rossi said. "We're taking care of the basin and taking care of the next generation that is going to rely on it."

 

The Chino City Council is expected to vote on the matter tonight at its meeting.

 

Chino Basin Desalter Authority is responsible for cleaning and desalinizing Chino Basin water for Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, Jurupa and Norco.

Since desalination efforts began 10 years ago, about 60 percent of infrastructure for the authority has been completed.

 

Officials expect the expansion to be completed around 2012 or 2013, said Richard Atwater, CEO of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency.

The Chino Valley Basin Desalter Authority produces 20 million to 25 million gallons of clean water daily. A completed project would produce about 35 million, Atwater said.

 

The cities and agencies that contract with the authority receive about 20 percent of their water from it, he said.

 

The Senate bill for the authority's expansion was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

 

Recent statewide water shortages and less reliable water supplies have spurred Western Municipal to look for a secondary supplemental source outside the Metropolitan Water District's Henry J. Mills Treatment Plant in Riverside, Rossi said.

 

Ken Manning, CEO of the Chino Watermaster, called the inclusion of Western Municipal as an authority member a "smart move" that would expedite the cleanup of the basin more quickly.

 

In the unlikely situation Western Municipal is denied membership in the authority, Manning said, the agency would probably build infrastructure for its own desalination operation out of the Chino Basin, though that possibility would be too "cumbersome and administratively difficult to handle."#

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_10474264?nclick_check=1