San Diego Committee: SD28 Flow Control Facility Agreement - July 15, 2021
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San Diego Committee: SD28 Flow Control Facility Agreement - July 15, 2021
The Environment Committee considered and unanimously approved a recommendation to authorize a no-cost easement and long-term operation and maintenance agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority for the SD28 flow control facility. The committee also introduced an informational item on the long-term stormwater funding strategy, but no action was taken on that item.
Public Comments & Testimony
- One member of the public, Rachel Lopez, began speaking but withdrew after realizing her comments pertained to the next agenda item (stormwater) and was re-queued.
Discussion Items
- SD28 Flow Control Facility Agreement: Kelly, a staff presenter, explained that the facility is critical for providing raw water to the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant, especially during drought. The new facility, constructed and owned by the San Diego County Water Authority, will be operated and maintained at the authority's cost. The city will grant a no-cost easement of just over half an acre. Councilmember Kate moved to approve staff's recommendation, seconded by Vice Chair Von Wilpert. Councilmember Lakaba clarified that the County Water Authority operates the facility and that the agreement has no termination date. All members expressed support.
Key Outcomes
- Vote: The motion to approve staff's recommendation to adopt a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into the agreement passed unanimously (4-0: Vice Chair Von Wilpert, Councilmember Kate, Councilmember Lakaba, and the Chair all voted yes).
Meeting Transcript
Yep, right. It was that one. Yep. Background slide. I think one forward, Kelly. Yep. That's where that's where we lost the connectivity. It was when you're talking to that last bullet. Great. So I'll just pick up where I left off. Thank you, Kelly. Yes. So the city is heavily reliant on the SD28 flow control facility and the connection with the County Water Authority aqueducts in combination with our local water supply. This is even more important in times of drought when we are unable to move water from our local reservoirs into our water treatment plant. In times where we have to uh keep the water in the reservoirs to maintain our emergency storage volumes, we rely solely on this aqueduct feed to provide the raw untreated water to the Alborado water treatment plant. The action before you today is for a written agreement between the San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego. This agreement establishes the terms and conditions for the operation and maintenance of the SD28 flow control facility. The San Diego County Water Authority paid for the construction of the new facility, owns the new facility, and this agreement sets forth the terms for long-term operation and maintenance. The County Water Authority will maintain and operate this facility at their cost. It was determined that a no cost easement was appropriate for this action due to the significant benefit this facility provides to the City of San Diego's water system. The easement that we will be granting the County Water Authority is a little over a half of an acre. This action is in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. We did environmental review for the project itself as well as for this action today. The proposed action uh is to request your approval to pass this action item forward to full council to adopt a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with the county water authority granting a no cost easement for the operation and maintenance of the San Diego 28 flow control facility. That concludes my presentation, and we're available for any questions you might have. Thank you, Kelly. Um we will now proceed with public comment. Brendan. To raise your hand to speak, select your raise your hand button or input star nine. When I let you know it is your turn to speak, unmute yourself by either selecting the unmute button or by inputting star six. And we have uh one speaker in the queue for this item, Rachel Lopez. You can unmute yourself. Hi, my name is Rachel Lopez, and I live in district three, and I believe our communities have a right to clean safe water. And oh, sorry, I'm on the wrong issue. Never mind. Yeah, I think your comments are addressing stormwater. That's the very next uh item. So I'll put you back in the queue. Uh chair, that concludes um uh public comment for this item. Thank you, Brendan. Um, and thank you to all the members of the public for participating. I will now turn it over to the committee members for questions and comments and entertain a motion. Um I will begin this item with uh the committee's resident water expert, Councilmember Kate. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate that. Uh thank you, Kelly, for the presentation. Uh, our presentation was uh spot on about the importance of this uh this facility, and as she mentioned, this is a project that was finished uh a couple months ago, and and uh as the water authority board member I can assure you that there are um quite a handful of discussions going on right now regarding asset management and maintaining our infrastructure. So obviously, this action day will allow the water authority to continue those efforts. So um, again, pretty self-explanatory and very much seen.
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