Council discusses water supply issues

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Questions about Santa Barbara’s water supply and drought preparations cropped up as city leaders discussed moving forward with reconstructing the Ortega Groundwater Treatment Plant at the City Council meeting on Tuesday.
“People shouldn’t be panicked that we’re running out of water tomorrow,” Councilmember Das Williams said, “but I do like people to be a little bit panicked, because we are always in a precarious water supply situation as a community.”

Drought predictions, based on conservative estimates of available water, show the city’s supply dipping below demand in 2011, the same year construction of the new Ortega treatment plant is slated to be finished.
With an estimated six percent shortage that year, city water resources supervisor Bill Ferguson said having the treatment plant online will be crucial.
“We would not be able to meet our target of meeting at least 90 percent of demand without that facility,” he said.
Built in the 1970s, the current facility limped through the last drought in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ferguson said, adding that it can no longer produce drinkable water.
“It’s pretty much dysfunctional now,” he said. “...Luckily we got a string of wet weather to end the last drought. As we move further away from that time, it is apparent that it is time to get that back online.”
The Council unanimously approved a $291,500 contract for supplemental pilot testing and engineering analysis to narrow down and select the final treatment technology to be used, bringing the total spent on the project so far to about $1 million.
Construction costs for the plant are estimated at $8.5 million, including rehabilitation work on the four groundwater wells that are plumbed into the facility, located at Ortega and Garden streets. Funds for the testing and design stages are budgeted in the Water Fund and an anticipated bond or loan is expected to cover construction costs.
During normal and rainy periods, surface water from Lake Cachuma and Gibraltar Reservoir, along with state deliveries, provide most of the local supply. In the event of strained water supplies, the Ortega plant is capable of producing nearly four million gallons of water every day, about 30 percent of the city’s demand.
However, groundwater removed from the four Ortega wells requires treatment for hydrogen sulfide, iron, manganese, radon and contamination from a dry cleaning solvent. After investigating and examining treatment options in 2003 and conducting pilot testing and preliminary design in 2006, staff determined that demolition of the existing plant is the best approach.
“We would have to replace significant parts of it just to make that facility run again,” Ferguson said.
In the final round of pilot testing and analysis, engineers will examine several new treatment technologies that may improve the taste and odor of the water, and mitigate noise and aesthetic impacts.
With environmental review and the permit process slated for February 2009 and final design approval in September 2009, city leaders hope to have the treatment plant up and running by June 2011, in time for a dry summer, should one occur.
As the conversation turned to drought preparations, several members of the Council brought up the desalination plant, asking how it fits into the city’s long-term water planning scheme.
“Our desal plant should not be used unless the 10 percent shortage is exceeded,” Williams said, calling the price tag too exorbitant. “I think that’s something we need to address from a policy standpoint.”
After Councilmember Iya Falcone chimed in, agreeing that the desalination plant should only be used as a last resort, Ferguson said the Council will be updating the long-term supply plan soon and can address that issue in greater detail.
“It’s in our plan to meet the target demand,” Ferguson said. “We don’t expect to need the desal plant. It’s there if things get really bad.”
Despite experiencing the driest year in more than a century, Ferguson said Santa Barbara residents should not be worried, explaining that sufficient rain fell in previous years to fill Lake Cachuma.
“It takes a few years before we start to get nervous,” he said. “We’ll watch what happens this coming winter.”
However, both Ferguson and members of the Council urged the public to continue water conservation efforts, with Williams suggesting that if local residents want to improve the situation, converting lawns to native, drought-tolerant landscaping is one path to take.