Background

The North Coast County Water District (Water District) is a local government agency responsible for providing water to approximately 40,000 residents of the City of Pacifica as well as to commercial and institutional customers in Pacifica and nearby San Bruno. The Water District’s water is purchased from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which operates a regional wholesale water supply system.

The Water District is one of the SFPUC wholesale customers who are supplied with high-quality water from San Francisco's local and regional resources. The SFPUC is committed to optimizing its system reliability and water deliveries to insure that customers' water supply and quality needs are met, particularly during droughts. Consequently, the SFPUC has embarked upon the development of conservation, desalination, groundwater and recycled water programs within San Francisco and, when given the opportunity, in partnership with its wholesale customers. The conversion of Sharp Park Golf Course irrigation system to recycled water is an excellent opportunity to match water quality requirements with a local, reliable source water that further allows the SFPUC to conserve its potable water supplies for appropriate drinking water needs.

Continuing population growth in California and water shortages experienced in drought years of 1987 through 1992 has also prompted the California legislature to formally recognize the importance of utilizing recycled water to help meet the state’s water supply needs. The legislature established a goal of recycling one million acre feet of water annually by 2010 and prohibited the use of potable (drinkable) water for landscape irrigation wherever suitable recycled water is available at a reasonable cost to help meet the growing water demands of the State.

In response to these legislative mandates and the desire of the SFPUC to manage more efficiently its regional water resources, the Water District and SFPUC have investigated alternative water sources, including recycled water.

Project Description

The recently completed Calera Creek Water Recycling Plant (CCWRP) in Pacifica produces highly treated water that meets the California Department of Health’s requirements for landscape irrigation; currently, this recycled water is discharged into a constructed wetland. However, the development of the CCWRP anticipated the future demand of recycled water for irrigation needs.

In an April 2004 report titled “Water Recycling Project Initial Study,” the Water District identified several areas in the central portion of the City of Pacifica that can receive recycled water for irrigation purposes:

Sharp Park Golf Course, Sharp Park Beach Promenade, Fairway Park, Highway One landscaping, and turf playing fields at Oceana High School and Ingrid B. Lacy Middle School. The Water District proposes to convert these customers, who are currently irrigating with potable (drinkable) water supplied by either the Water District or the SFPUC, to the use of recycled water produced at CCWRP.

As proposed, the project includes the addition of booster pumping facilities at the water recycling plant, construction of a new 400,000 gallon recycled water above-ground storage tank and approximately 17,000 lineal feet of reclaimed water transmission and distribution pipelines. The new system will also replace several thousand feet of the golf course's irrigation pipelines and a small underground tank.

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Benefits to the Community

Water recycling allows water managers to match water quality to specific reuse applications. In their 1997 “Conceptual Water Reclamation Plan” the Water District determined the total annual irrigation demand for recycled water in Pacifica to be about 63 million gallons (MG). By implementing the Water Recycling Project’s more than 80% of that demand can be met. That means more than 50 MG per year of increasingly scarce drinking water will be saved (offset) by using recycled water to irrigate the designated areas in the City of Pacifica; it ensures that at least 50 MG of the best and purest sources of water will be reserved each year for their highest uses, such as drinking and bathing.

Even in non-drought years water supply is a big concern, particularly in arid states like California. By using recycled water for landscape irrigation, precious potable water can be reserved for these higher uses. For many years, recycled water has been used safely for irrigation and other applications throughout California and the world. In California, the treatment and use of recycled water is carefully regulated by the California Department of Health Services and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.

California’s regulations are among the most stringent in the world. Recycled water is commonly used for agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, and toilet flushing. San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Daly City and other Bay Area communities use it on their parks, school grounds, median strips, large landscape areas and golf courses. Recycled water has also been used for landscape irrigation for many years in states such as Arizona, Florida and Texas.

School and city budgets will be aided as recycled water will be provided at lower rates than potable water.  Because recycled water is always plentiful, parks, golf courses and school yards will stay green even during times of extended drought.  

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Recycled Water Treatment Process

The recently completed, “state-of-the-art” Calera Creek Water Recycling Plant utilizes a Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR); the process is mechanically simple and effectively allows high-quality recycled water to be produced with a minimum number of steps. The process also lends itself to environmental controls for noise and odor.

The plant also has a tertiary sand filtration system for additional clarification and disinfects the water with ultraviolet light. The water is tertiary-treated to California’s Title 22 standards for unlimited reuse as landscape irrigation water, without limitations of human contact. Pursuant to state law, the Water District will lay a separate set of purple pipes to distribute the recycled water. There will be no direct inter- or cross-connections between the recycled and drinkable water systems, both of which are inspected annually.

Public landscape areas irrigated with recycled water will be clearly marked with appropriate signage.

In addition, the Water District has prepared a “Water Recycling Project Initial Study” and proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration, which are available for review and comment in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Availability of Documents:

The Initial Study and proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration on the North Coast County Water District Recycled Water Irrigation Project are available for review at the Water District Office at 2400 Francisco Blvd. in Pacifica from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Public Information and Comment:

An Open House and Informational Meeting was held on Tuesday, May 4, 2004. Residents were invited to drop by between 5 and 7 p.m. Staff were available with maps and project information to answer questions about the project. For information contact our office at (650) 355-3462.

Written comments extended to July 30, 2004.

Written comments are now due by July 30, 2004. Written comments regarding the Initial Study and proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration on the project can be sent to the attention of Cari Lemke, North Coast County Water District, P.O. Box 1039., Pacifica, CA 94044-6039.

Recycled Water Pilot Test at Sharp Park Golf Course.

The Water District, in partnership with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, will conduct a pilot test using recycled water to irrigate one practice putting green at Sharp Park Golf Course. The objective of the pilot test is to assess turf sensitivity to recycled water and to develop user and public familiarity with recycled water in the community. The pilot test has been rescheduled to begin in early July and continue through August 2004.

For more information contact our office at (650) 355-3462.

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