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San Francisco, CA 94102
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January 27, 2023
Ms. Sue Parker Ms. Erika Contreras
Chief Clerk of the Assembly Secretary of Senate
California Legislature California Legislature
State Capitol, Room 3196 State Capitol, Room 3044
Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814
Darrin Polhemus
Division of Drinking Water
State Water Resources Control Board
1001 I St., 24th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, M.D., Dr. P.H.
Director and State Public Health Officer
California Department of Public Health
P.O. Box 997377, MS 0500
Sacramento, CA 95899-7377
Dear Madams and Sirs:
In accordance with Assembly Bill 1823, a bill codified in Chapter 841 of the California Water Code, Section 73504(a), the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is herewith reporting on the progress it has made during 2022 in securing additional water supplies to supplement its Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System supply during dry years.
This past year, the SFPUC has continued the implementation of its water supply projects in the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP). The projects are close to completion. The dry-year water supply projects included in WSIP were designed to allow the SFPUC to meet at least 80 percent of its customer demand during droughts assuming current system supplies and operation and rationing up to no more than 20 percent in any one year of a drought. However, the SFPUC’s ability to meet its customer demand during dry years may be affected by the State Water Resources Control Board’s Bay Delta Plan, which was adopted in December 2018. The Bay Delta Plan calls for the release of 40% of the unimpaired flow in the Tuolumne River from Don Pedro Reservoir. The SFPUC staff analysis of the Bay Delta Plan shows that its implementation could cause a significant reduction in available water supply and an associated need to increase rationing to up to 50% during droughts in SFPUC’s service area. SFPUC staff continue to engage in negotiations with other parties and the State to reach a voluntary settlement agreement.
Meanwhile, planning for new, alternative water supplies is ongoing and is described below.
The SFPUC has continued planning that was initiated in 2020 for additional water supply under the Alternative Water Supply (AWS) Program to meet future dry-year water needs in the SFPUC service area. The planning efforts involve evaluating new storage and supply opportunities throughout the SFPUC’s service area to meet anticipated future needs. The projects outlined below are regional projects that could contribute to increasing SFPUC’s water supplies for dry years. Several of the projects described remain in the planning and feasibility study stage, requiring additional analysis and resources.
• Regional Groundwater Storage and Recovery (RGSR) Project – The RGSR Project is a strategic partnership between the SFPUC and three partner agencies: the City of Daly City, the City of San Bruno and the California Water Service Company (serving South San Francisco and Colma). The project sustainably manages groundwater and surface water resources in a way that provides supplies during times of drought. During years of normal or heavy rainfall, the project would provide additional surface water to the partner agencies in San Mateo County, allowing them to reduce the amount of groundwater that they pump from the South Westside Groundwater Basin. Over time, the reduced pumping would allow the aquifer to naturally recharge and result in increased groundwater storage of up to 20 billion gallons of new water supply available during dry years. Phase 1 of this project consisted of construction of thirteen well sites and was completed in 2022. Phase 2 has been separated into two contracts. Phase 2A consists of installation of cathodic protection, variable frequency drives, flowmeters for water accounting, and valve modifications.
Phase 2B consists of work at SSF Main Well and pipeline installation to connect the well to Cal Water's treatment facility. For Phase 2, the groundwater pumps at Millbrae Yard and Benjamin Franklin Well Stations were pulled by the contractor for inspection, rehabilitation, and installation of cathodic protection systems. For Phase 2B, the 100% design phase and procurement of easements and permits continued in 2022.
• Daly City Recycled Water Expansion Project - This is a recycled water project that will produce approximately 1.25 mgd of recycled water on an average annual basis. The primary purpose of the project is to provide recycled water to local cemeteries and other smaller irrigation customers, offsetting existing groundwater pumping from the South Westside Groundwater Basin (Basin); this will free up groundwater, enhancing the reliability of the Basin. The project is a regional partnership between the SFPUC and Daly City, and the irrigation customers are located largely within California Water Service Company's (Cal Water) service area.
SFPUC customers will benefit from the increased reliability of the South Westside Groundwater Basin for additional drinking water supply during droughts. In this way, this project supports the RGSR Project described above, which is under construction. In 2022, an alternatives analysis was completed that shows the baseline project and the most favored alternative considering benefits, costs, engineering, and operational complexities and includes recommendations on potential next steps. An update to the cemetery demands was completed, which concluded that there would be sufficient recycled water supply to meet future demands. An updated cost estimate of existing irrigation costs at the cemeteries was also completed.
Later in 2022, the SFPUC staff focused on outreach to the cemeteries in collaboration with the Town of Colma.
• Alameda County Water District-Union Sanitary District Purified Water Project - This project can provide a new purified water supply utilizing Union Sanitary District’s treated wastewater and further treating it through a multi-barrier advanced treatment process to meet or exceed drinking water standards. Purified water produced by Union Sanitary District will be transmitted to the Quarry Lakes Groundwater Recharge Area to supplement recharge into the Niles Cone Groundwater Basin or for other uses in Alameda County Water District's (ACWD's) service area. With the additional water supply to ACWD, an in-lieu exchange with the SFPUC would result in more water left in the SFPUC's Regional Water System.
Additional water supply could also be directly transmitted to the SFPUC through a new intertie between ACWD and SFPUC. In 2022, the project team continued to prepare the feasibility study that includes the technical analyses of two alternatives that consist of purified water concepts involving groundwater recharge through the Quarry Lakes as a first phase and providing water supply to ACWD or the SFPUC directly as a second phase.
There are two variations of this phased concept based on whether or not planned capital improvements at the wastewater treatment facility are assumed.
• San Francisco-Peninsula Regional Purified Water Project (formerly Crystal Springs Purified Water Project) - This purified water project could provide 6-12 mgd of water supply through reservoir water augmentation at Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo County, within the SFPUC's Regional Water System. Treated wastewater from Silicon Valley Clean Water and/or the City of San Mateo would go through a water purification process that uses multi-barrier treatment technology to meet state and federal drinking water quality standards. The purified water would then be
transmitted 10-20 miles (depending on the alignment) to Crystal Springs Reservoir, blended with regional surface water supplies and treated again at Harry Tracy Treatment Plant. In addition to the SFPUC and the wastewater agencies, Cal Water, Redwood City and the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) are also participating directly in the project. In 2022, the SFPUC, partner agencies, and the consultant team made significant progress and are close to completing the Phase 3 feasibility study and have initiated a Basis of Design Report. The Mid- Peninsula Water District joined the partnership in preparation for the next phase of work. The SFPUC and the partner agencies prepared and finalized the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the Basis of Design document for a phased hybrid project, which would include 6 to 8 mgd of purified water (Indirect Potable Reuse) to Crystal Springs Reservoir followed by a second phase of 4 to 6 mgd of direct potable reuse phase that would serve customers on the Peninsula. The Basis of Design Report will be the precursor to the environmental review for this project. Different governance structures and project sponsor possibilities are also being explored for the project. The SFPUC initiated a task order for consultants to explore a parallel project alternative that would bring 12 mgd of purified water directly, through treated water augmentation, to the RWS.
• South Bay Purified Water Project - The SFPUC, the City of San Jose, and the City of Santa Clara launched a project partnership to explore and potentially implement a joint purified water project that would serve the local demands of San Jose and Santa Clara during all types of water years, while also supplementing the water supply provided through the SFPUC’s RWS in dry years. An initial concept that is being explored is a 10-mgd advanced water treatment facility (i.e., purified water facility) that would use source water from the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility and operate at 6.5-mgd capacity during wet and normal years. During dry years, the facility would ramp up to the full 10-mgd capacity. The additional
3.5 mgd of purified water produced during dry years would be fed into the RWS to increase dry-year reliability. The feasibility of this concept, including the potential capacity, sharing of supply, operation, and distribution, is being evaluated as part of the project. The project partners also prepared a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) detailing the roles and responsibilities of the partners with respect to the Feasibility Study and the terms for sharing and payment of its costs. The MOA was approved in December 2022.
• Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project - The Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project is a storage project that will expand the existing reservoir located in northeastern Contra Costa County from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000 acre-feet. The main objectives of the expansion include increasing water supply reliability for municipal, industrial, and agricultural customers as well as ecosystem benefits to south-of-Delta wildlife refuges and Delta fisheries. While the existing reservoir is owned and operated by Contra Costa Water District (CCWD), the expansion will have regional benefits and will be managed by a Joint Powers Authority (JPA), which was established in October 2021 that will be set up prior to construction. Storage in the expanded reservoir can provide a dry-year water supply benefit to the SFPUC's Regional Water System.
Currently, the SFPUC is evaluating the feasibility of storing up to 40,000 acre-feet and delivering that supply over two drought years to the SFPUC service area either directly or by exchange through the South Bay Aqueduct. Alongside this analysis, the SFPUC staff are also considering feasible conveyance alternatives and water supply options for storage. In 2022, the SFPUC continued to engage with the project partners to contribute to the development of this project from executive participation at the JPA Board of Directors and in committees to staff engagement and participation in technical, financial, operational, and legal aspects of the project. The project team continued to coordinate on several permit applications that were previously submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, and other regulatory agencies. A Basis of Design Report was submitted to the California Division of Safety of Dams. The JPA Members collectively contributed $10.8 million during Fiscal Year 2023. Federal funding for the project is expected to provide 25% of the total project cost or approximately $160 million, of which $14 million was appropriated in Fiscal Year 2021 and $50 million in Fiscal Year 2022.
• Bay Area Brackish Water Desalination (Regional Desalination) - The Bay Area Brackish Water Desalination Regional Desalination Project is a partnership between CCWD, SFPUC, Valley Water, and Zone 7 Water Agency. The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) may also be involved. The project could provide approximately 5 mgd of new drinking water supply to the region by treating brackish water from CCWD's existing Mallard Slough intake in Contra Costa County. The project relies primarily on available capacity in an extensive network of existing pipelines and interties that already connect the agencies, as well as existing wastewater
outfalls and pump stations. The SFPUC would not directly receive desalinated water but would take delivery of water through a series of exchanges. If developed in conjunction with the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion project, it can provide a dry-year benefit. Current evaluation will depend on exchange opportunities and constraints with CCWD that are being evaluated as part of the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project.
• Calaveras Reservoir Expansion Project - This storage project envisions the expansion of Calaveras Reservoir to store excess Regional Water System supplies or other source water in wet and normal years. No expansion of water rights from the local watershed is anticipated. With the Calaveras Dam Replacement project in place, Calaveras Dam holds a capacity of 96,850 acre-feet, or 31 billion gallons of water. Through an expansion, up to an additional 289,000 acre-feet, or 94 billion gallons of storage could be realized. The expansion of Calaveras Reservoir would provide storage for additional water that can be available in all water year types. The proposed project would include raising the dam, increasing the capacity of the outlet structures and the spillway, and the addition of any transmission and pumping needed to bring water to Calaveras Reservoir. In 2022, the project team along with other SFPUC staff continued to develop conveyance alternatives and the Draft Opinion of Probable Construction Costs. The draft Calaveras Conveyance Feasibility Study was completed, which includes a preliminary analysis of eight alternatives identified to deliver water from upcountry to Calaveras Dam. A Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Water Enterprise Capital Improvement Program is being prepared to support the future phase(s) of this project.
In addition to the above projects that are in the planning and feasibility study stage, the SFPUC is engaged in conversations on various other projects, including new interconnections, water transfers and exchanges through the Bay Area Regional Reliability (BARR) Partnership. BARR completed a Drought Contingency Plan in 2017, and subsequently received a grant award by the Bureau of Reclamation to pursue piloting efforts aimed at better informing water transfer and exchange opportunities. These pilot studies are currently underway.
The SFPUC and its Wholesale Customers also continue to advance conservation within our service areas. In addition to demand reduction measures, the SFPUC is simultaneously pursuing studies to evaluate the potential for additional recycled water and purified water in San Francisco and investing in innovation that can result in further demand reduction or supply
increases, such as atmospheric water generation technology. As of 2022, these efforts have been captured under the Alternative Water Supply Planning initiative and quarterly updates provided to the Commission. The most recent report is available online: https://sfpuc.org/programs/future-w ater-supply- planning/alternative-water-supplies.
Implementation of the WSIP dry-year projects and the pursuit of alternative water supplies to meet future needs are necessary to ensure sufficient water during droughts for our Retail and Wholesale Customers. These efforts will continue to carry the upmost importance to the SFPUC into the future.
Cordially,
Steven R. Ritchie
Assistant General Manager, Water
CC:
SFPUC: Dennis J. Herrera, General Manager; Ron Flynn, Deputy General Manager, SFPUC Commissioners
BAWSCA: Nicole Sandkulla, CEO; Tom Francis, Water Resources Manager