Future water supply unclear

<p>The future of Petaluma’s water supply is much less clear today than it was a year ago, when plans were well under way to build a second supply line from Cotati to Kastania Road, south of Petaluma, a valuable redundancy for a city that gets 90 percent or more of its water through a single, 50-year-old pipe.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Today, all planning has been suspended on that project — the South Transmission Line — along with several other major water projects throughout the county, and no one is sure what the next step will be or who will take it.</p><p>The process fell victim to squabbling among the “contractors,” the cities and water districts that buy water from the Sonoma County Water Agency. The fights are about rate increases to pay for infrastructure improvements in these troubled economic times.</p><p>Randy Poole, the outgoing general manager and chief engineer of the SCWA, calls it “new economics.”</p><p>“We aren’t going to have the demands projected in 1991, because of technology,” Poole said by phone from Washington, D.C., where he is pitching a unique energy efficiency program set up in Sonoma County to Congress and the White House.</p><p>Poole cited the tremendous advances in water-saving technology along with huge conservation efforts made by the general public over the past five years as major reasons for canceling an environmental impact report being prepared to enable the second pipeline. The SCWA also stopped collecting surcharges that fund reserve accounts for future needs.</p><p>A new, lower limit on the amount of water pumped to contractors has resulted in substantial rate increases that have sparked lawsuits, including one by Sonoma water users who were hit with an immediate 28 percent rate hike.</p><p>California water wars haven’t slacked off since the Gold Rush days, as evidenced by the passage of a series of bills two weeks ago in Sacramento designed to head off looming statewide conflicts. Locally, Petaluma and Novato are heavily dependent on water delivered by a single pipeline, called the Petaluma Aqueduct, that runs from Cotati to Kastania Road, south of Petaluma on the west side of the freeway.</p><p>Petaluma gets 90 percent of its water from the aqueduct; Novato gets almost 80 percent. Both are looking for some protection against losing service from the existing 50-year-old pipeline from an earthquake or failure.</p><p>The need for a new pipeline is not perceived by everybody who would have to pay for it under existing agreements.</p><p>“I don’t think the project as envisioned has much benefit,” said Darrin Jenkins, Rohnert Park city engineer. “I’m not concerned about Rohnert Park meeting peak demands without that pipe.” Jenkins pointed out that the new pipe would begin in Cotati, south of Rohnert Park. “That’s not our problem,” he said.</p><p>“The existing pipe doesn’t need fixing,” Cordel Stillman said in response to e-mailed questions. Stillman is capital projects manager for the SCWA. “The decisions to be made as to whether to build an additional pipeline involve (1) timing and (2) how/who pays. If communities increase their conservation, use more recycled water and develop local sources of water, an additional pipeline won’t be needed anytime soon.”</p><p>Petaluma City Councilman Mike Healy disagrees, in part. While he doesn’t envision needing more water to accommodate growth, he is not comfortable relying on a 50-year-old pipe that has proven deterioration, found after taking a test slice out of the pipeline near Ely Road a few years ago. The test showed up to one-third of the steel pipe’s mortar lining was worn away.</p><p>In past years, the pipeline has been run at over-capacity, using increased water pressure and additional pumping stations, both of which can cause deterioration. Reduced growth predictions alongside increased conservation going forward have eliminated the need to deliver more water through the existing pipeline.</p><p>Petaluma Mayor Pam Torliatt is a member of the SCWA’s Water Advisory Committee, which is made up of representatives from all the contractors. </p><p>“Over the last year, WAC has been given decisions the (water) agency has made at the last minute. It has not been as smooth as it could be,” Torliatt said. “We need to be working together to accommodate the different needs and different systems each of us has as contractors.” </p><p>The advisory members asked SCWA to provide them with a sense of where things are heading with the agency at their November meeting, Torliatt said.</p><p>Torliatt also noted that there is between $4 million and $5 million still left in SCWA reserve accounts for Petaluma Aqueduct projects.</p><p>“If we don’t have the money to replace the entire pipeline,” Torliatt said, “we should look at doing piecemeal repairs. If we don’t have the pipeline up and running, we are going to be reliant on groundwater, and we would need additional storage. We’ve been trying to build additional storage, but the bonding market has been very difficult. Even that wouldn’t solve everything, but it would be an additional emergency capacity and deal with peaking.”</p><p>All parties agree that a major problem with having one pipeline is that it can’t be taken out of service for maintenance. It’s pumping all the time.</p><p>Right now, the second pipeline plans are going nowhere, but Torliatt expects to know more when the SCWA comes out with next year’s budget proposals.</p><p>(Next week’s story will look at how Petaluma has reduced its water demand over the last few years and how new technology will affect water use in the future.)</p><p>(Contact Jay Gamel at argus@arguscourier.com)</p>