WATER FRONT (Continued from page 5)
more ecological sense than building new surface reservoirs inland at an estimated cost of a billion dollars each, and then attaching them to the overloaded State Water System, or spending $22 billion for the governor’s pet Twin Tunnels project.
The City has recently completed a potable reuse feasibility study for expanded use of recycled water. Advanced treatment of recycled water could allow for either indirect potable use through injection into its groundwater basin, or direct potable reuse when that use is permitted by California law.
Montecito Participation
Environmentally Responsible
Neither the City nor the Montecito Water District (MWD) is in a position to discuss the details of negotiations at this time, as they work toward a water purchase agreement. However, many of the details are already public knowledge. Montecito is seeking the City’s commitment to provide a 50-year supply of 1,250 AFY from the City, with the City retaining the discretion to supply Montecito with State Water, imported water, Cachuma or Gibraltar water, groundwater, and, of course, desal. The City uses approximately 10,000 AFY of water. Pre-drought usage was approximately 14,000 AFY. The Montecito Water District currently uses approximately 4,000 AFY. Pre-drought usage was approximately 6,500 AFY.
Water Projections
With the election of Floyd Wicks and Tobe Plough to the Montecito Water Board in November 2016, shared development expense agreements were signed, and good-faith negotiations began between professional engineers on both sides to develop costs and terms for a water agreement with the City. Under current permits, the City is allowed to nearly triple its desalination plant capacity from 3,125 AFY up to 10,000 AFY. The intake system has already been sized to accommodate the 10,000 AFY; the modular seawater treatment process is expandable, as needed, by adding additional trains; the outflow system to carry the desalinated water from the seaside plant up to the Mission for highline City users, and then on to the Cater Water Treatment Plant for connection to the South Coast Conduit, is in final design.
Desalination Plant Cost
Capital costs to reactivate the desalination plant were $72 million, financed over 20 years at a super-low 1.6% interest rate, which equates to $4.2 million in annual debt service. A $10 million state grant was awarded to the City in the spring of 2018 by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) from the $7.5 billion in Prop 1 state funding passed by the voters in November 2014 to improve California’s water reliability. Annual operating costs are estimated to be about $4.1 million at full production. Ralph Felix, IDE America’s plant manager, noted that the new desal plant is so automated that it only requires a staff of 12 people for 24/7 operation. Amazingly, the plant can be monitored from a home laptop, but at least two operators are present on each shift for contingencies.
Seawater Intake System
The reactivated plant uses 40% less energy than the original design, reducing power demand and carbon footprint. Some residents question whether a sub-surface intake system should be required to replace the current open ocean intake system. The City conducted a lengthy study that concluded that sub-surface intakes are not feasible at this time for multiple reasons, among which are negative impacts to sensitive habitats in Mission Lagoon and unproven technology.
Potential Benefits
MWD believes that a water purchase agreement, with no ownership and no residual value by MWD, creates a major revenue stream for the City, allowing it to reduce both its current plant capital costs and operating cost loads on City ratepayers. In addition, MWD believes that adding a new train to the desal plant to process an additional 2,500 AFY of desalinated water, at the City’s option, not only drops the unit production cost for both parties, but it blunts City ratepayer criticism that the City is providing its own water to benefit Montecito. Win-Win negotiations always seem to work best in the rare instances that they can be negotiated and agreed to by rational potential partners. •MJ
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Seawater enters the City’s desalination plant from 2,500 feet offshore, passing through wedge wire screens made of a durable copper-nickel alloy that have one-millimeter openings to minimize marine life entrapment and impingement. The one-millimeter openings are the size of a paper clip.
Lori Daffron, CFP® Senior Vice President–Wealth Management 805-730-3415 lori.daffron@ubs.com
Treatment of Intake Water
Sycamore Wealth Management UBS Financial Services Inc. 222 East Carrillo Street, Suite 106 Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805-963-3771 800-262-4774
A combination of intake screens, static mixers, gravity filters, and RO filters remove suspended solids. The system removes sediment, bacteria, viruses, and minerals (including salt). The guts of the plant are the salt-removing modular reverse osmosis (RV) membrane trains that process the sea water. High-pressure pumps push the water through semi-permeable membranes at 850 pounds per square inch to remove salt and dissolved minerals and other impurities. Outflows include: 1) desalted water for further treatment and 2) concentrated brine.
Brine Treatment
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The brine leaving the plant is roughly twice as salty as normal seawater, so it is diluted with a small portion of the City’s treated wastewater before being discharged back into the ocean 1½ miles offshore.
Mineralization & Outflow
The desalted water goes through a further disinfection, re-mineralization, and chlorination process. For use in the northern tier of the City, and for possible use in Montecito, the desalinated water can be pumped to the Cater Water Treatment plant, allowing MWD to receive its share of treated Cachuma water, state water, or desal water from the City through the South Coast Conduit.
Recycling Wastewater 23 – 30 August 2018
Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list is comprised of approximately 2,200 financial advisors. It was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings to measure factors such as: quality of practice, industry experience, compliance record, assets under management (which vary from state to state) and revenue. Neither UBS Financial Services Inc. or its employees pay a fee in exchange for these ratings. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC and not indicative of future performance or representative of any one clientís experience. As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers both investment advisory services and brokerage services. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that clients understand the ways in which we conduct business and that they carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to them about the products or services we offer. For more information, visit our website at ubs.com/workingwithus. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. owns the certification marks CFP® and Certified finanCial PlannerTM in the U.S. © UBS 2018. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. ACC_DC_06182018-1b Exp.: 08/31/2019
• The Voice of the Village •
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