24 - Laserfiche WebLink

Should mandatory conservation be in place in future years, staff will request on-going operational expenses from future budgets. Tri-Valley residents will purchase a "season pass" for a Program Fee of$100, which allows users an unlimited amount of recycled water during the fill station's operational period of April through October. Program fee revenues would be used to partially offset program costs, and would be shared equally by DSRSD, Livermore, and Pleasanton. Staff is offering the partial cost recovery model because of the uncertainty with knowing how many season passes will be sold and how long the drought will last. Any costs not recovered will be paid by revenues collected from all water utility rate payers regardless of whether or not they use the recycled water fill station. This is similar to other water conservation programs including the Eco-Friendly Lawn Conversion rebate program, Controller Assistance Program, Weather-Based Irrigation Controller rebate program, and water-efficient shower heads and bathroom aerators. BACKGROUND In 2014, in response to continuing and worsening drought conditions, all the water agencies of the Tri-Valley declared a local drought emergency and implemented mandatory water conservation measures. Most notably, these included a common limit of no more than two days a week of outdoor irrigation. To provide an alternative for residents in the city of Pleasanton and DSRSD service area with trees or landscaping that required more water than the potable limits, DSRSD developed and implemented a residential recycled water fill station program at the DSRSD Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) for residential customers. DSRSD's effort was particularly innovative, requiring special approvals from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to allow the program under the District's existing recycled water permit. The fill station served as a model for other Bay Area agency fill stations that are currently operating. Typically, residential recycled water users would utilize 280-gallon totes to haul recycled water loads of up to 2,000 pounds. DSRSD's residential fill station was popular with residents in the Tri-Valley and beyond. The number of permitted customers in 2015 rose to over 3,600 and the amount of recycled water consumed in the residential fill station program increased to 28.2 million gallons, representing about 2.7 percent of the recycled water produced that year. On individual days, the fill station use accounted for up to 5 percent of the recycled water produced. Customers were not limited to DSRSD's service area. Interest in the fill station extended throughout the Tri-Valley and as far as San Bruno, Salida, Pittsburg, Newark, Los Gatos, Foster City, and Alameda. The distribution of fill station users was: • Dublin — 17.5% • San Ramon — 12.5% • Pleasanton —45% • Other non-DSRSD customers — 25% Page 2 of 6