City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: October 22, 2024
Agenda Item: 5.B
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works, Water Resources Subject: Award American Water Chemicals, Inc. a Purchase Order for Water Treatment Antiscalants and Cleaning Chemicals
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines; and
2. Authorize the Procurement Manager to issue a purchase order with American Water Chemicals, Inc. to provide antiscalant and cleaning chemicals at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant for the Public Works Department – Water Resources Division. The recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.250 (b) and is for a total amount not to exceed $2,920,000 over a five-year period with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
The City of Santa Monica’s Water Resources Division within the Public Works Department operates a multi-barrier treatment process through the Charnock Treatment Plant and Arcadia Water Treatment Plant to provide a high-quality, safe, and reliable supply of water to the City’s customers. A key component of the multi-barrier treatment process is the reverse osmosis filtration system that requires the addition of antiscalants to maximize its overall recovery. The existing reverse osmosis system was recently retrofitted with the proprietary Flow Reversal Reverse Osmosis (FRRO) technology that increased its production efficiency from 80% to 90% as outlined under Component 2 of the 2018 Sustainable Water Master Plan (SWMP) (Attachment A). The FRRO technology requires the use of proprietary antiscalant chemical produced by American Water Chemicals, Inc. in order to achieve and maintain 90% recovery at the Arcadia 2 of 5
Water Treatment Plant. Due to the proprietary nature of the FRRO technology and antiscalant, staff recommends that American Water Chemicals, Inc. be awarded a purchase order, in an amount not to exceed $2,920,000 over a five-year period, as an exception to the competitive bidding process to provide proprietary antiscalant and cleaning chemicals at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant.
Discussion
As part of the City’s overall goal to reduce its reliance on imported water supplies and enhance sustainability and climate resiliency of its water supply, the Water Resources Division has been implementing several local water supply projects outlined in the 2018 SWMP. Under Component 2 of the 2018 SWMP, the existing reverse osmosis filtration system at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant is retrofitted with the proprietary FRRO technology to increase overall recovery or production efficiency from 80% to 90%. The FRRO system is a proprietary technology provided by ROTEC, a business unit of the Water From Innovation Group. The increase in recovery from 80% to 90% allows the City to produce additional drinking water (approximately 1,200 acre-feet per year or nearly 10% of the City’s total water supply) without having to pump additional groundwater for treatment. In other words, for every 10 gallons of groundwater pumped, the City is now able to produce 9 gallons of high-quality drinking water as opposed to 8 gallons previously. The production of local groundwater for drinking water use in the City has historically been 30% cheaper than purchasing imported water.
Through onsite pilot testing conducted at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant, ROTEC has approved the use of two proprietary antiscalant chemical vendors, American Water Chemicals and Avista, to support its performance guarantee of sustaining 90% recovery for the FRRO system as outlined in Exhibit 6 – Performance Parameters in the Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment (see Attachment D). The Design-Builder for the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant initially used Avista’s antiscalant and was unsuccessful in achieving 90% recovery with the full-scale FRRO system for over 6 months of operations. The Design-Builder has since switched from using Avista to American Water Chemicals’ antiscalant in June 2024 and the FRRO system has been operating consistently at 90% recovery since then. The use of American Water 3 of 5
Chemical’s antiscalant will also result in a projected savings of roughly $130,000 per year on sulfuric acid chemical use when compared to the other approved antiscalant by ROTEC since it is an acid based antiscalant. Once the Design-Builder completes the project by the end of 2024, the City will need to purchase American Water Chemicals’ antiscalant to continue operations and drinking water production at 90% production efficiency. Justification for exception to competitive bidding for American Water Chemicals’ antiscalant chemical is provided below.
Exception to Competitive Bidding
Staff recommends American Water Chemicals, Inc. to furnish and deliver/provide antiscalant and cleaning chemicals at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant as an exception to competitive bidding per Muni Code 2.24.250 (b). b. Competition does not reasonably exist because only one vendor possesses the unique ability or capability to meet the particular requirements of the solicitation, such as when a good or service is copyrighted, patented or only available form one license holder, including, proprietary goods, original equipment manufacturers and/or exclusive distributors;
Vendor Justification
Staff recommends American Water Chemicals, Inc. to furnish and deliver/provide antiscalant and cleaning chemicals at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant as an exception to competitive bidding per Muni Code 2.24.250 (b). The proprietary antiscalant provided by American Water Chemicals is the only antiscalant approved by ROTEC to meet the performance requirement of 90% recovery on the full-scale FRRO system at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant. Increasing Arcadia Water Treatment Plant’s recovery to 90% allows the City to reduce its reliance on imported water supplies (primary goal of City Council directed 2018 SWMP) and would also save approximately $130,000 in sulfuric acid cost at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant.
Environmental Review
The purchase and use of antiscalants and cleaning chemicals for the FRRO system at the City’s Arcadia Water Treatment Plant is categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines. Section 15301 provides exemption for the 4 of 5
operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency's determination. The purchase order would continue the practice of antiscalant addition and periodic cleaning of the FRRO system as part of the operations at the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant. The agreement would not expand or materially change existing facilities or operations. Therefore, the award agreement is categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
11/27/2018 (Attachment A) Sustainable Water Master Plan Update and Pathway to Water Self-Sufficiency
12/17/2019 (Attachment B) Award Request for Proposal and enter into Agreement with Walsh Construction Co., LLC for Design-Builder
Services for the Olympic Well Field Restoration and
Arcadia Water Treatment Plant Expansion Project
7/27/2021 (Attachment C) Approval of the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant Design/Build Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Water Fund to award a purchase order to American Water Chemicals, Inc. for water treatment antiscalants and cleaning chemicals.
Purchase Order Request
FY 2024-25 Request
Amount
Department Account # Future Years
Amount
Total Contract
Amount
$400,000 50500003.525081 $2,520,000 $2,920,000
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. 5 of 5
Prepared By: Sunny Wang, Water Resources Manager
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. 2018 Sustainable Water Master Plan (Web Link)
B. Award Request for Proposal to Walsh Construction Co. ll, LLC for Design-Builder Services for the Olympic Well Field Restoration & Arcadia Water Treatment Plant Expansion (Web Link)
C. Approval of the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant Design/Build Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment (Web Link)
D. Design-Build GMP EX06-Performance_Parameters
E. FY 24-25 Oaks Initiative (American Water Chemicals)
F. FY 24-25 Levine Act (American Water Chemicals)