Item 27 - Water Supply Assessment for Cabrillo Town Center Project

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Santa Ana 2020 Urban Water Management Plan arcadis.com 6-29 Proposition 13 Water Bond, Proposition 84 and MET LRP. These funding opportunities may be sought by the City or possibly more appropriately by regional agencies. The City will continue to support seeking funding for regional water recycling projects and programs. Optimizing Recycled Water Use In Orange County, recycled water is used for irrigating golf courses, parks, schools, businesses, and communal landscaping, as well as for groundwater recharge. Recycled water users in the City receive their water from OCWD’s GAP. Analyses have indicated that present worth costs to expand recycled water within other areas of the City are not cost effective as compared to purchasing imported water from MET or using groundwater. The City will continue to conduct feasibility studies for recycled water and seek out creative solutions such as funding, regulatory requirements, institutional arrangement, and public acceptance for recycled water use with OCWD, MET, and other cooperative agencies. Desalination Opportunities In 2001, MET developed a Seawater Desalination Program (SDP) to provide incentives for developing new seawater desalination projects in MET’s service area. In 2014, MET modified the provisions of their LRP to include incentives for locally produced seawater desalination projects that reduce the need for imported supplies. To qualify for the incentive, proposed projects must replace an existing demand or prevent new demand on MET’s imported water supplies. In return, MET offers three incentive formulas under the program:  Sliding scale incentive up to $340 per AF for a 25-year agreement term, depending on the unit cost of seawater produced compared to the cost of MET supplies.  Sliding scale incentive up to $475 per AF for a 15-year agreement term, depending on the unit cost of seawater produced compared to the cost of MET supplies.  Fixed incentive up to $305 per AF for a 25-year agreement term. Developing local supplies within MET's service area is part of their IRP goal of improving water supply reliability in the region. Creating new local supplies reduce pressure on imported supplies from the SWP and Colorado River. On May 6th, 2015, the SWRCB approved an amendment to the state’s Water Quality Control Plan for the Ocean Waters of California (California Ocean Plan) to address effects associated with the construction and operation of seawater desalination facilities (Desalination Amendment). The amendment supports the use of ocean water as a reliable supplement to traditional water supplies while protecting marine life and water quality. The California Ocean Plan now formally acknowledges seawater desalination as a beneficial use of the Pacific Ocean and the Desalination Amendment provides a uniform, consistent process for permitting seawater desalination facilities statewide. If the following projects are developed, MET's imported water deliveries to Orange County could be reduced. These projects include the Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Project and the Doheny Desalination Project. As for City-led initiatives, the City has not investigated seawater desalination as a result of economic and physical impediments.