Water Subcommittee Meeting Minutes
April 27, 2022
Via Zoom
Mayor Robertson called meeting to order: 10:06 am
Subcommittee Members / City Staff:
Mayor Deborah Robertson
Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott
Marcus Fuller, City Manager
Robert Messinger, Assistant City Attorney
Tom Crowley, Utilities Manager
Nicole Hemmans, Senior Administrative Analyst
Angela Perry, Council & City Manager’s Executive Assistant Other Attendees
Steve Dopudja, Consultant
Peter Luchetti, Table Rock – in person
Public Comments: None
Minutes: March 26, 2021– Accepted for the Record
DISCUSSION ITEMS
2. Chino Well #1 Property Exchange.
Tom gave presentation
Committee Comments/Recommendations
Tom said we want to keep it because we may need it in the future.
Mayor Robertson asked Tom if the Well has levels of nitrate. Tom said yes; however they are not above the MCL, but very close. Mayor Robertson asked if that was part of the school area where the busses run. Tom said it’s at the corner of Cactus and Rialto Ave.
Mayor Pro Tem Scott asked if it was an approved project? Tom said no, they haven’t presented it to the City. Mayor Pro Tem said we should find out if they have done a phase 1 and/or phase 2. He said that he hopes that someone looks at the ingress and egress. Marcus said he will have that checked.
Marcus asked Robert, said we have to follow the Circle Lands Act if we are doing an exchange to do something. Robert responded to Marcus; he believes 5000 square feet will trigger.
Robert said, there is an exemption for exchange where the Publication is going to use the property.
Mayor Robertson asked if we adopted an Ordinance for 300 feet. Mayor Pro Tem Scott said no.
MPT said we should be open to it, Mayor agreed.
Tom said, the company name is Lincoln Property.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if it’s zoned. Tom does not have that information.
3. Mid Basin Operable Unit Alternate Treatment Locations.
Committee Comments/Recommendations
Mayor Pro Tem Scott asked about the negotiation we agreed to work with Fontana Water to go after the County. Mayor Pro Tem Scott said we are not renegotiating.
Tom said, they agreed if we couldn’t get the County to increase, they will pick up the difference. In our last agreement, the county increased it for us.
Mayor Pro Tem said, we negotiated with Fontana, we did not negotiate with the county.
Tom said, we negotiated with Fontana on the settlement agreement; if we couldn’t get to the County to pay for, we will go to Fontana.
Mayor Pro Tem said, we agreed to help Fontana Water to go after the county. He asked if the money comes from Fontana Water. Tom responded, it comes from the County, and they pay the increase. Mayor Pro Tem said, we are not giving them the three-year extension without renegotiating the price.
Mayor said in the future we need to have Tom attend these meetings.
Mayor Robertson said, we need to move the County of the dime in dealing with the improvement at the Rialto Channel.
Mayor Pro Tem asked why the discussion of increasing the water.
MPT said why would we want to give up water rights to help them. Tom said that we wouldn’t be giving it up, we could sale it. Mayor said who would we sale to, he said West Valley. This is a no, by all. Tom said he understands that we are going to raise the rate the County is giving us and no to giving up water rights.
Mayor Robertson said, we needed to talk about security.
Mayor Robertson is concerned about ended up having the City to provide some of our water to help. Tom said, that is not in the options. Mayor Robertson said, she had asked if that can be on the table for us at the Subcommittee.
Marcus said, we don’t have a formal proposal from them. Mayor Pro Tem said, we should not have a meeting with these people without an attorney. Mayor Robertson said, we need to decide what we want before we ask anybody to give us something in writing.
Mayor Robertson asked Tom if the lines for option 1 are existing lines. Tom said no, they have to be constructed. Mayor Robertson asked Tom where will EW1 treat the water. Tom responded, at the new combined remedy which is built at Linden and Miro Way facility. Mayor Robertson wanted to know Colton’s relationship to this. Tom said it’s west and south. Tom said, if we didn’t use Colton’s systems, option 1, and we only use the West Valley system, option 2, then West Valley will overproduce by 1600-acre feet; they will need to deliver 1600-acre feet to the Cactus basin from their own system. Therefore, Colton and Rialto will not get involve in the exchange. Mayor Robertson asked Tom how they would know if they have sufficient water to put into their system to treat it; where will they pull the water from. Tom said, this well. Mayor Robertson asked how they will take the water back to their site. Tom said, they will use the 5-mile pipeline they have wanted to build. Mayor Robertson asked why we have to deal with the 5-mile pipeline when it is something they have to figure it out. She asked if this was part of the plan. Tom said no.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if they are going to track the water, treat it, and send it to Colton. Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom, what is the plan on the table that the people seemed to like. Tom said Plan 2, which it will only go to West Valley’s IX treatment plant; it will go from the contaminated to the treatment system at the Rialto HS. Tom said West Valley will do their exchange within their own system.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if they would do that with the existing pipes. Tom said, they might need to construct some additional pipes to deliver to Basin-3. He asked Tom if there is a model that shows that this pumping in the south-in does not draw the plume further toward Riverside. Tom said the purpose of the study was to identify the well that will cutoff the plume moving south to Riverside. Mayor Pro Tem told Tom if they decided the well is down there, vs containing the plume up here. Tom said the source operable units main job is to cutoff the plume from moving south.
Mayor Pro Tem Scott said, EW1 should capture the plume; theoretically, if you’re pulling further south, it’s pulling some of the contaminate that it’s out of the area EW1 and diluting it. Mayor Pro Tem said it’s a matter of delusion. He asked Tom who is behind this scheme.
Tom told Mayor Pro Tem that was the strategy of the containment.
Mayor Pro Tem told Tom the original strategy was to pick a fence to hold it and for all the contaminants to be drawn out.
Tom responded if they put a fence to stop it and then do treatment to pull it back out, hydraulically, it’s going to flow south. Tom said if everything gets intercepted above that well, it’s not going to pull from above EW1, it will pull from below EW1. Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom what’s around EW1. Tom does not have that information.
Mayor Robertson said it’s taking us a while to get the well in.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom when we are getting EW1 online. Tom said probably we are 3 months away from an appointment, probably July of this year. Tom said they are evaluating whether to do a Public Hearing.
Mayor Robertson asked Tom why they would not do a Public Hearing. Tom said it’s a DDW decision. Mayor Robertson asked Tom what if someone request a Public Hearing under environmental justice concerns. She doesn’t think anybody with the right mind will want to bypass that point to move forward. Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if we are still under the plan for Colton to receive water out of EW1 with their well shut down. Tom said yes. Mayor Pro Tem said we are just move water back and forth; he said it does not make a lot of sense. Tom responded, option 2 is the best alternative. Tom talked about the issue with the grant for the FBR project and approaching the State Water Resources Control Board to argue the FBR project serves its purpose. Marcus told Tom they are assuming they are not going to have contaminants; it might not be accurate. Marcus added, they were up to the point where they didn’t have to pump anymore.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if there is contamination in the well. Tom said Well 6. Mayor Pro Tem said once EW1 fires up, theoretically, goes away.
Marcus said they are going to build 5-mile pipeline and destroy neighborhoods. Tom said RTX and UTC do not want to use the FBR project; they prefer to do the extraction well and use IX.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom how they got convinced to make the deal if they really don’t want to do it. Tom responded, access to water rights. Mayor Pro Tem said West Valley doesn’t have water rights to begin with. Tom said yes, they are limited.
Marcus asked Tom if we have a concern about getting high up with the County on discharging that water into the Cactus Basin; the discharge water is clean. Tom said it would not be a concern.
Marcus asked Tom if he is comfortable, he got a member from West Valley around this option. Tom responded yes.
Mayor Robertson asked Marcus if Wayne responded to his comments. Marcus said yes, they are going to respond to his comments; they gave him a time frame. Tom said Wayne wants information by the end of this month.
Mayor Robertson asked about the pipeline (blue piping construction). Tom said that pipeline will impact the area of San Bernardino area. She asked if San Bernardino is part of the table. She doesn’t think San Bernardino is part of the decree. Tom said no.
Mayor Robertson asked how that resonates to the rest of the members in terms of contamination and the way it will impact other communities.
Marcus will reach out to his colleague at San Bernardino to discuss Mayor said they closed us out of the discussion, they craft up something that impacts us, we are on the end trying to fix something that we were never apart of the discussion in the first place. She wants to figure out what would be the less impact to the communities.
Tom is saying that he wants to submit an option for Wayne. MPT said not until he speaks to the attorneys. Mayor agrees, she wants to get more clarification from the attorneys. Marcus will bring in attorney at the closed session on May 10. MPT said that they need to keep the leadership involved. Mayor said that those ladies from EPA they were going to put the feasibility study on hold.
Marcus asked if it would be appropriate for him to meet with Tom and Peter Wiener. MPT said they waited 10 years for EW1 to come online. Mayor said that we need to write a letter to Martha? to let her know, regarding not seeing her and concerned about the feasibility study and time frames. Make sure she is onboard with what staff is doing.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Marcus if they had working session before the meetings. Marcus said yes. Mayor Pro Tem wants to have more work sessions before meeting with Council.
Marcus said he was concerned that West Valley wasn’t going to drop the wanting of using the FBR treatment facility. Mayor Robertson asked Tom if he crystalized the 2 suggestions from their previous discussion. Tom said, these are the 2 options they were presented to Council. Mayor Pro Tem told Tom he only discussed concepts not water rights, recharging, or moving stuff around.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if we build those 8,000 houses, do we have water rights. Tom said no, that is West Valley service area.
There is concern that the Planning department doesn’t understand about how we will get water to those 8,000 houses. Mayor Robertson said when we talk about facilities capacities, we need to talk about reliability and availability.
MPT said that we have added waste area
Peter provided information about waste treatment. Steve made comments too.
Mayor Pro Tem said there hasn’t been a discussion with the 3 cities, 4 agencies to discuss will serve letters, water rights, and build outs.
Marcus asked about the delay from the State, is it on purpose they don’t issue the permit. Marcus said we should have our representatives involve.
Mayor Robertson talked about delta pipes and the aqueduct investment. She also mentioned there is enough water in Bunker Hill equate to Shasta Lake; if we don’t keep replenishing, charging, and adding state water in, it will start dropping.
4. Final Construction Work Authorization to Rialto Water Services in the amount of $1,563,953 for the Activation of Digester No. 1 and the Rehabilitation of Digester No. 2.
Committee Comments/Recommendations
Mayor asked if Digester 1 is older than Digester 2. Tom said, they are almost the same age. Tom said, they only use one at a time. Tom said they took 1 and cleaned it, it looked good in the inside. Marcus asked Tom why Digester 1 was not activated. Tom said no because they were still using Digester 2. Tom said 2 needs to come down, it will take a 6-month process to bring 1 online. Tom talked about a detailed work plan Veolia put together to bring it online. Marcus asked Tom if they are having another digester cover. Tom does not know if it’s going to have another fix lid or Dystor cover.
Tom said the total cost is approx. $1.6 m. to cover the project and would like to bring it to the Utilities Commission and then Council.
Tom said that he will bring to Utilities commission and then Council
5. Riverside Avenue Central Water Line Project
Committee Comments/Recommendations
Mayor Robertson asked Tom when it was ever scheduled on the plans, they were doing waterlines. Tom said they were not. He said the line is in good shape but not the valves; however, if they want to pave, they will have to replace them.
Mayor Pro Tem recalls years ago the valves were in good shape.
Mayor Robertson said that we keep talking about things that needed to be done.
Side Note
Mayor Robertson asked Tom if we have looked for the status on where we are for the Fiber Optic Plan in our City. She said we keep digging, trenching, and doing things but never take the opportunity to use that trench and build fiber optic.
Mayor Pro Tem asked if it’s our responsibility to build fiber optic. Mayor Robertson said we have fiber optic somewhere in place and we haven’t completed it.
Mayor Robertson said every time we want to use our recycle water, we never planned to try to connect the prototype system.
Marcus said there is a new company that just approached the City that wants to extend fiber optic along Riverside all the way to new Lytle Creek development; they are from the East coast.
Mayor Pro Tem asked if we are notifying all the agencies, such AT&T while we are checking the waterlines along Riverside.
Peter said we are talking about Communications Plan. She would like to know where it supposed to go if we are moving away from fiber optic. Marcus said we have Utility coordination. She wants to see the Fiber Optic plan.
She wants to know what we have done, have we been able to create any savings in terms of water/conservation. Mayor would like to see the analytics regarding conservation. Tom said he will look into that.
Returned to item:
Marcus said that the plans for the central section should be wrapped up by the middle of May. He will bring it to Council by the end of May for approval bid. Marcus said he is looking to be awarded by August. He added, the south segment of Riverside got a bid last Friday. Mayor Pro Tem asked how much cheaper they are. Marcus said it was not cheaper, the low bid for the prior project was $7.6 m. He said the bid we have now, we revised it, so it is night work only. Marcus said, the low bidder bid $10.6 m. the first time and now his bid is $9.6 m.
Mayor Robertson asked Marcus, what was our engineering estimate. Marcus told Mayor Robertson he does not have that information now, but he knows it’s within the budget for that project. Mayor Robertson wants to make sure the engineering’s estimate is not different from what they have estimated from the beginning. Marcus told Mayor Robertson he will work on having that information ready.
Mayor Robertson asked Tom if we are doing any testing for anything around that water. Tom said no. She said, we need to do testing. Mayor Pro Tem wants to know if they see any discoloration or smell solvent. Tom responded yes; if there’s anything, they will give them the heads up for them to go look at it.
Steve told Tom he might want to move it to the north side of Randall; the sidewalk is corroding. Tom told Steve if we move it to the north side on the east side, there is a big Edison pole, we will not be able to go there. Tom said southeast is the most desirable option. Marcus asked if we are good to move forward with designs and betting for the waterline repairs. Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor Robertson agreed to move forward.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom if we are good with the south portion project. Tom said there are no serious issues there; they are in the process of doing the north end. He added, they keep them up today on the progress; they might be done by the middle of June, according to the last conference call they had with them.
Mayor Robertson asked Tom other than conference calls, how they communicate they are fine. Tom said our Project Manager communicates with them through emails, phone calls. He said out in the field, we have inspectors and contractors.
Mayor Pro Tem asked Tom why we are potholing the south end. Tom said they have enough data on the depth of their valves.
Mayor Robertson wants to formalize something; she mentioned issues she has with the neighbor’s community about not notifying mayor projects, such as the one on Baseline and Meridian. Mayor Robertson wants the community to be aware and express they thoughts.
UPDATES
1. Standby Water Lease Agreement with the County of San Bernardino Committee Comments/Recommendations
The 1600-acre Water Lease. Marcus asked if we have the write to say no. Mayor asked that we revisit the whole agreement.
2. Selection of CEQA Consultant for Lake Rialto
Committee Comments/Recommendations
They put out an RFP, only got one proposal. This will be evaluated as a stand a lone project. Mayor wants them to look at grants through Bureau of Reclamation. Committee said proceed.
Next Water Subcommittee Meetings
May 25, 2022
Peter asked Marcus if he needs further guidance on loan application process. Marcus said we have clear direction to start process and move forward. Peter said in order to get there, we are starting loan applications. Peter said we are carrying the cost of that on behalf of the City and the out of pocket expensive related to that. He will bring updates to next Council meeting. Marcus told Peter to bring more information about the loan applications to the next Water Subcommittee.
Marcus talked about the discussion on the last Water Subcommittee; he said we need to move forward on the critical projects and the finance with Lithia loans.
Peter said we have been approved with Lithia process if we don’t proceed within six months, we are out.
Peter said he will bring a Capital Structure Cleaning Process to the next meeting; it will include SRF and Lithia financing information.
1. World Water Event
Committee Comments/Recommendations
Mayor talked this event at the US Conference of Mayors, and they are running it through their legal staff. She said that she will let the discussion go. It is off the table.
Adjournment: 12:20 pm.