Daily reports in the local press have served up a treasure trove of local government screw-ups. San Diego agencies responsible for transportation, roads, real estate, water, gas and electric, have not only fallen short on delivering value, but also have continually demonstrated what should be a very embarrassing lack of risk management and due diligence.
In some of these failures, there may be a question of actual illegal behavior.
This is not a political critique. My interest is in effective governance that delivers what’s best for residents, businesses and the environment and doing it at costs that are reasonable and proper. This month we focus on WATER.
One of the big concerns is supply. With frequent photos of almost dry reservoirs, and the Colorado River no longer flowing freely into the Sea of Cortez, responsible municipalities are looking at options for risk mitigation. The normal response to risk is to either ignore it or downplay it, often leading to undesired results.
To their credit, the City and County of San Diego have engaged in strategies that have effectively mitigated the risk. However, the actions, and especially the extreme cost, have inflicted consequences in excess of what would be considered prudent.
Let’s visit the saga of water supply for San Diego County to see what I mean. Our water is managed by the SD County Water Authority (SDCWA). The Water Authority arranges for sourcing our water and manages the storage and distribution to the agencies (such as Poway and San Diego).
Traditionally, our water has come from Northern California via the State Water Project (SWP) and an allocation of Colorado River water. The water is delivered through a pipe/aqueduct and storage system owned by the Southern California Metropolitan Water District (MWD), in Los Angeles.
SDCWA shares everyone’s concern about the potential for severe water shortages. Although the immediate region has sufficient current water resources, SDCWA has frequently complained about having to depend on the MWD for our supply, and even more so about the increasing fees by MWD to process our water, now reaching about $1,100 per acre-foot (AF) for processing the water that is legally ours.
There is also legitimate concern as to how long our allocation will be available based on the extended drought in the Colorado River drainage basin. There are discussions, negotiations, and bartering taking place on revised allocations.
Until six years ago, almost all our drinking water came from the MWD supply. The water is stored and treated by SDCWA and sold to 24 local water agencies (currently priced at $1,783 per AF).
SDCWA, in preparing for a future of potential reduction in MWD water, and escalating prices, promoted the building of the Poseidon Desalinization Plant in Carlsbad. As a commercial venture, Poseidon required that the various Water Authorities in the region (clients of SDCWA) subscribe to a minimum purchase of their desal product, with a current price of about $2,100 per AF. Operations started in December 2015.
While s are gaining supply assurances, they now have to pay a high price for water that they don’t need.
Just last month, SDCWA announced a deal with MWD to sell excess San Diego County water to MWD, for $893 per AF, while we are required to pay over $2,100 for the Poseidon water. This is the price we pay because SDCWA can’t accept MWD having control over the delivery of our upstate and Colorado River water.
Another issue is that San Diego was facing a fine by the State for not meeting standards for discharge from the Point Loma Sewerage Treatment Facility (we currently have an exemption). In order to avoid a $2 billion-plus cost to upgrade the plant, the City pushed for sewerage to drinking water recycling process (called toilet to tap by its detractors).
A pilot program was successful and a two-phase recycled water system is under construction, under the name of Pure Water. This will assure San Diego of even a greater supply of potable water, this time at an expected cost of about $2,700 per AF.
At this time the water is not needed. But San Diego is prepared to deal with the probability of limited supply from MWD sources, with associated spiraling prices.
Looking eastward, we find that Ramona has its own water department, for distribution and wastewater. Ramona is one of the 24 local agencies that look to the San Diego Water Authority as their water purveyor. For now, that water is sourced from the State Water Project and the Colorado River, and also includes Carlsbad desalinated water, delivered by the SDWA. Ramona also has the capability to purchase water from Poway, when the SDWA connection is interrupted.
Ramona’s two wastewater reclamation plants produce recycled water that is used on golf courses and a few agricultural properties.
We can’t say at this time whether the County’s actions are good strategy. Only the future will tell. However, if we don’t really need the Pure Water additions, the City will have paid $3 to $4 billion to avoid the $2 billion expense of upgrading Point Loma. s in San Diego will also have to overcome a natural revulsion to ingest water with such a dark past.
The strategy to increase an independent water supply is working, but at what cost? The strategy to mitigate the risks of declining supply and escalating MWD prices has forced our costs to exceed any possible fee that MWD would charge. So what did we win?
Both desalination and purification of sewage require extensive capital investment. They are also huge s of electricity, due to the reverse osmosis process underlying both systems. How does that impact another complex system, that of marginal energy supply?
Preparing for an uncertain future often forces us to travel a tortuous path. We are paying a dear price for following the path that was chosen for water insurance.
A Rancho Bernardo resident, Levine is a retired project management consultant and the author of three books on the subject.
