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FPUD board and audience given briefing on Conjunctive Use Project

The non-voting items at the Feb. 27 Fallbrook Public Utility District (FPUD) board meeting included a presentation on the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project.

FPUD assistant general manager Jack Bebee provided the presentation on the Conjunctive Use Project which will be the subject of FPUD votes for specific actions over the next several months.

"It was just to give some background on the project because we have a new board member," said Bebee.

The presentation also informed veteran board members of the project's current status.

"There's really a couple of key updates," said Bebee. "Camp Pendleton's awarded the start of construction on their facilities."

The Camp Pendleton infrastructure will include piping to deliver the water to the boundary of the Naval Weapons Station (NWS) and Fallbrook behind the FPUD solar facility site on Alturas Road. Construction of the facilities from the NWS boundary is FPUD's responsibility. The water will be treated at the Alturas Road plant and delivered into FPUD's distribution system.

The Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project being pursued by FPUD, Camp Pendleton, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would enhance groundwater recharge and recovery capacity within the lower Santa Margarita River basin and develop a program which would increase available water supplies for Camp Pendleton and FPUD.

Facilities within the lower basin would be constructed to capture additional surface runoff, which currently flows to the Pacific Ocean, during high stream flow periods. The surface water would be recharged through existing groundwater ponds and stored in groundwater basins during wet years while being "banked" for water rights statistics. The water would be used to augment supplies during dry years, which would reduce the reliance on imported water provided from San Diego County Water Authority sources.

The Conjunctive Use Project would include improvements to the diversion works, increased capacity to the headgate and the O'Neill Ditch, improvements to seven existing recharge ponds, installation of new groundwater production wells and gallery wells, water treatment at either an existing or an expanded or new water treatment plant, and a bidirectional pipeline which could deliver water to FPUD while also providing the Marine Corps base with an off-base water supply should conditions warrant.

Although the Department of the Navy has awarded the construction contract for the Camp Pendleton portion, a decades-old court case regarding Santa Margarita River water rights will require a settlement agreement before construction can begin.

"They've got to get the government approval by the Department of Justice and Department of Defense," Bebee said.

The amount of water obtained will depend on weather conditions. FPUD will not receive any water in the event of an extreme drought. The minimum water delivery to FPUD will be 580 acre-feet for a very dry hydrological year, 1,300 acre-feet for a below-normal year, 3,100 acre-feet for a normal year (based on the average over the past 50 years), 5,120 acre-feet for an above-normal year, and 6,320 acre-feet for a very wet year. A potential additional allocation of 400 acre-feet is possible, and FPUD also has the first right of refusal for excess water sold rather than used by Camp Pendleton, which could provide up to 1,500 additional acre-feet annually for FPUD while also providing Camp Pendleton with revenue for operations and maintenance.

The final design for the FPUD portion has been completed. On Jan. 23, the FPUD board authorized an application for a State Revolving Fund loan from the State Water Resources Control Board to construct the Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project. The loan would be for $45 million and would be repaid over 20 years at an interest rate of approximately 1.6 percent. The FPUD cost consists of $27.7 million for a groundwater treatment plant, $5.5 million for a distribution system to the Gheen Zone east of Stage Coach Lane, $7.9 million for the Gheen Pump Station and a storage tank along with piping, $1.8 million for construction management and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system integration, and $2 million for contingency. The Camp Pendleton cost estimate is $54 million.

Bebee expects the settlement agreement to be finalized this spring.

"We're just basically waiting for it to work through the Federal approval process," said Bebee.

The water rights work also includes finalizing changes to water rights permits with the State Water Resources Control Board, and Bebee expects that to occur this spring.

Another spring 2017 milestone is the completion of a rate study and long-term rate impact from the project. "We'll include the project in establishing what we do for water rates," Bebee said.

The summer 2017 planned activities include pre-qualifying contractors and issuing a request for proposals.

"We're hoping to begin a pre-qualification process for contractors in the summer with goal of awarding construction late in 2017 if all goes as planned," said Bebee.

Although the contract award is scheduled for late 2017, the actual construction will likely begin in early 2018. The work will take approximately two years to complete.

 

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