Some fear drought may upset already delicate budget situation

Since the state has shut off the supply Benicia counted on for 85 percent of its water, City Manager Brad Kilger will ask the City Council on Tuesday to authorize spending up to $900,000 on water.

“In light of the current drought conditions and the imposed water supply reductions in our primary source by the California Department of Water Resources, the city will need to consider purchasing an additional supply of water,” he wrote the Council on Thursday.

The Council will meet in a special session to consider the request.

Kilger is recommending staff procure enough water through the Solano Project Water Supply to meet projected demand both this year and for 2015, should the drought continue.

He also has asked the Council to hire Bartle Wells Associates, a rate consultant, to prepare an analysis on a drought surcharge the Council could impose as a second-phase drought response. The consultant also would describe the duration and structure of the surcharge in compliance with Proposition 218, the 1996 law that requires a vote by affected property owners before such a levy could be imposed.

Kilger promised the Council a report March 25 that would outline the city’s water supply and use since the beginning of the year; describe outreach and education programs to inform the public about the drought, its impacts and ways to cope with it; explain what actions the city may take to buy more water; list how the city itself is reducing water use; and provide information about programs and projects the city could use to address water issues in the short, medium and long term.

The hefty expenditure would let Benicia buy or place an option on buying up to 3,000 acre-feet of water through 2015, he wrote.

The money would be an advance from the water enterprise fund, he wrote.

At the Feb. 18 Council meeting, interim Public Works Director Steve Salomon described the effects the drought already has had on the city.

Usually, Benicia as a whole uses about 10,586 acre-feet of water yearly; each acre-foot is equal to 326,000 gallons, Salomon said.

The city counts on the State Water Project (SWP) for 85 percent of its water, contracting for 17,200 acre-feet, and spending $352,600 for the contract no matter how much the state decides to provide.

This year, for the first time, the SWP announced it would not release any water to its contractors.

“There’s never been a zero allocation before,” Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said last month.

The city has other sources for water, such as 2,000 acre-feet of Solano Project water from the Solano Irrigation District, 1,100 acre-feet from Vallejo through the Solano Project’s Lake Berryessa, and another 600 acre-feet from Lake Herman.

Salomon said at that meeting Benicia might get between 1,000 and 5,100 acre-feet of SWP water from “carryover” water, allotted quantities that weren’t used in previous years. But there is no guarantee, because of declining supplies and environmental concerns.

Benicia has another 4,900 acre-feet banked in the Solano Project reserves, but because it’s a one-time use, Salomon is recommending the city tap into no more than half that amount, should the drought extend into next year.

While Benicia technically has access to a share of the Mojave Water Agency, that water isn’t available until the SWP is willing to supply 20 percent or more of its contractors’ requests, Salomon said.

The Council learned that night that without conserving, its supplies aren’t likely to be enough to meet the city’s demands, though there are variables, such as access to SWP carryover water and unused Solano Project water, that could give Benicia access to more water.

Meanwhile, the Council agreed that night to an eight-point, Phase I drought response and asked for voluntary cutbacks from both citizens and in municipal operations, to reduce consumption by 20 percent.

At Friday’s Finance Committee meeting, Vice Mayor Tom Campbell chided the city’s Community Sustainability Commission for not doing more prior to the drought to prepare the city through water conservation projects, particularly after hearing Kilger say the water situation “is volatile,” and Vice Chairperson Lee Wines say, “I have two lots and a vineyard. I don’t know who to go to.”

Campbell mentioned some city programs, such as one that encouraged the purchase of low-flow toilets, but indicated he had expected more.

“I’ve been nice,” he said, but noted the CSC dealt with more than $1 million and hadn’t addressed graywater to recycle certain used water, or drip irrigation that would reduce the amount of water used in landscaping.

“I’m hoping they get the message,” he said.

Conservation from the public is needed, but Kilger wrote that it isn’t realistic to expect that everyone can meet the 20-percent goal.

“The largest industry in Benicia will not be able to reach 20-percent reduction,” he wrote, referring to Valero Benicia Refinery.

So, he added, “It is in the city’s best interest to purchase some quantity of Solano Project water that can be used as an emergency supply in 2015.”

Benicia has access to the raw water in Lake Herman, the city’s emergency water supply reservoir, he wrote. When it’s filled to its spillway, the lake holds 1,392 acre-feet of water, though currently its volume is 1,200 acre-feet, Kilger wrote.

“After this late-February storm event, the lake will fill to full capacity,” he wrote.

During the rains, city employees altered source pumping to meet only the city’s municipal and industrial demands, which Kilger wrote placed Valero Benicia Refinery on nearly 100 percent Lake Herman supply.

“This strategy allows our largest raw water user to draw the lake down during rain events and reduces demand on our upstream water sources,” he wrote.

The special meeting will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St. The regular meeting will begin afterward, at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the same location.