REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Update on Collaboration with the City of San José, Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) on Recycled and Purified Water; Action on Letter of Intent with Valley Water and the City of San Jose for Collaborating on Expanding the Use of Purified Water; Action on Memorandum of Understanding with San Jose and the SFPUC on a Purified Water Feasibility Study and Action on a Class 6 Categorical Exemption Under CEQA.
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure
BACKGROUND
Santa Clara is the co-owner of the Regional Wastewater Facility (RWF), co-owned and administered by the City of San José. The City of Santa Clara’s sewer customers discharge approximately 14 million gallons a day (MGD) to the RWF. Valley Water operates the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center (SVAWPC), located at the RWF. The SVAWPC currently treats the secondary effluent from RWF and blends it with tertiary treated recycled water to customers in San José, Santa Clara and Milpitas for various non-potable uses such as irrigation and industrial processes.
In January 2020, Valley Water approached San José and Santa Clara about a Purified Water Project at the RWF. Valley Water intended to model a project similar to the one with the cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View to expand potable reuse by approximately 24,000 acre-feet (AF) as described in their Countywide Water Reuse Master Plan. In order to implement this project, Valley Water would need approximately 30 MGD of wastewater from RWF.
In September 2020, the San José and Santa Clara Councils both directed staff to proceed with negotiating an agreement. In October 2020, Santa Clara Council reiterated the need for this effort. Meetings continued into late 2021. Discussion items included the cost and amount of the effluent, the length and cost of the land lease at the RWF site, and the allocation of the purified water, among others.
The SFPUC is also exploring and performing feasibility studies to increase water supply and water resiliency. As part of its Alternative Water Supply Program, SFPUC holds quarterly meetings and presents Water Supply Development Reports. SFPUC is partnering with Santa Clara and San José to find additional water supply through purified water projects at the RWF to increase supply and make Santa Clara and San José permanent customers with guaranteed water allocations.
DISCUSSION
The attached documents are indicative of the status of these ongoing collaborative efforts. All of the parties have shared goals related to water supply resiliency and have been negotiating the framework for these collaborative efforts moving forward.
The attached Draft Letter of Intent (LOI) (Attachment 1) provides a framework for collaborative efforts between the cities of Santa Clara and San José (as co-owners of the RWF) and Valley Water. The LOI is designed to assist earlier negotiations between the parties that did not produce an agreement on a project. Valley Water finalized agreements for a Purified Water Project with the City of Palo Alto in December 2021. Valley Water Board directed their staff to continue negotiations with San José and Santa Clara to work towards a project that would provide up to 24,000 acre-feet (AF) of potable reuse of wastewater effluent from the RWF. The LOI is non-binding and no investments have been agreed to at this time.
The attached Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) (Attachment 2) between the cities of San José and Santa Clara and SFPUC is the result of a parallel effort being undertaken by staff regarding water supply resiliency. When the Water Supply Agreement (WSA) between the SFPUC and 26 wholesale customer agencies was amended and restated in 2019, Section 4.06 of that agreement set a deadline of December 2028 to decide on the question of making San José and Santa Clara permanent and uninterruptible customers with dedicated water supply allocations from the Hetch Hetchy system.
Direct Potable reuse projects were determined, as part of the Alternative Supply Program, to be potential paths to the kind of regional supply reliability that may make permanent status for Santa Clara and San José possible. The MOA provides a framework for a feasibility study for potable reuse projects that may be completed as cooperative efforts of the parties. As part of the MOA, all parties will contribute $100,000, including Santa Clara, in order to fund the feasibility study.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15306 (Class 6 - “Information Collection” ) which exempts projects that consist of basic data collection, research, experimental management, and resource evaluation activities which do not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource. These may be strictly for information gathering purposes, or as part of a study leading to an action which a public agency has not yet approved, adopted, or funded. Here, the LOI and MOA will assist the City in evaluating the potential to participate in recycled water efforts and guaranteeing future water supplies.
FISCAL IMPACT
This informational report does not have a fiscal impact beyond administrative staff time, nor does the proposed Letter of Intent to collaborate with San José and Valley Water on a Purified Water project. Any proposed investment in a purified water project from the City of Santa Clara would return to City Council for consideration. The MOA with the SFPUC and San José includes a city contribution of $100,000 towards a feasibility study in cooperation with those two parties regarding purified water and water supply resiliency.
COORDINATION
This report was coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov <mailto:clerk@santaclaraca.gov> or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Adopt a Class 6 Categorical Exemption Under CEQA Guidelines Section 15306);
2. Note and file the informational report on the Collaboration with the City of San José and Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) on Recycled and Purified Water;
3. Authorize the City Manager to Execute the Letter of Intent for Collaborating on the Expansion of Purified Water in Santa Clara County, subject to minor modifications approved by the City Attorney; and
4. Authorize the City Manager to Execute the Memorandum of Agreement Between San Jose, Santa Clara, and the SFPUC for the South Bay Purified Water Project Feasibility Study.
Staff
Reviewed by: Gary Welling, Director, Water & Sewer Utilities
Approved by: Rajeev Batra, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Letter of Intent for Collaborating on the Expansion of Purified Water in Santa Clara County
2. Memorandum of Agreement Among City of San Jose, City of Santa Clara, and City & County of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for the South Bay Purified Water Project Feasibility Study