8H
Date: May 5, 2026
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Craig Bilezerian, Public Works Director
By: Chuck Schaich, Policy & Resources Specialist | [email protected] Subject: Public Works – Approve First Amendment to Contract Services Agreement for the Purchase of Treated Water from the Goldsworthy Desalter Project. Expenditure:
$7,000,000 (Non-General Fund).
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation of the Public Works Director that City Council approve a first amendment to the contract services agreement with the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) (C2021-040), in the amount of $7,000,000, for a new total not-to-exceed amount of $24,000,000, for the purchase of treated desalinated groundwater from the Goldsworthy Desalter Project and to extend the term of the agreement by two (2) additional years through March 31, 2028.
FUNDING
Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Water Enterprise Fund annual operating budget and is anticipated in future fiscal years.
DISCUSSION
The Goldsworthy Groundwater Desalter is located in the City Services Facility (City Yard) at 20500 Madrona Ave and converts brackish groundwater into a potable (fresh) water source, and in the long term remediates a fourteen square mile brackish plume in the local West Coast Groundwater Basin. Currently, the Desalter provides approximately 15 to 20% of Torrance Municipal Water’s (TMW) annual potable water requirements. The Goldsworthy Desalter is owned by the Water Replenishment District (WRD) and TMW operates and maintains the facility under a service agreement. TMW purchases all the treated water from the Desalter at a 10% discount compared to the alternative of purchasing more expensive imported water supplies from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). The Desalter is undergoing a major expansion that will nearly double its existing capacity, and the project is scheduled for completion in late 2028.
The original agreement (C2021-040) was executed in March 2021 for an initial five-year period at a cost of $17,000,000 and included one two-year extension with the mutual consent of both the City and WRD. The Water Replenishment District submitted a letter to the City (Attachment 2) formally requesting an extension of the agreement through March 31, 2028, and both parties are agreeable to this.
With the two-year extension the total not-to-exceed contract value will need to be increased from $17,000,000 to $24,000,000.
1 City Council
May 5, 2026
It is the recommendation of the Public Works Director that the City Council approve a first amendment to the contract services agreement with the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) (C2021-040), in the amount of $7,000,000, for a new total not-to-exceed amount of $24,000,000, for the purchase of treated desalinated groundwater from the Goldsworthy Desalter Project and to extend the term of the agreement by two (2) additional years through March 31, 2028.
ATTACHMENTS
1.First Amendment for the Purchase of Treated Water from the Goldsworthy Desalter Project.
2.Letter from WRD requesting a two-year extension to agreement. 2 3
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