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Fiscal Year 2007-2008
Adopted Budget
The FY 2007-08 Adopted budget was reviewed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors in its work study sessions of May and June, and it was adopted on the session of June 28, 2007.
Key highlights include:
Priorities and Challenges for FY 2007-08
For FY 2007-08, District staff will
continue annual post-construction
monitoring of the Island Pond Tidal
Wetland Restoration project, 374 acres
of tidal marsh located at the southern
end of the San Francisco Bay Estuary
near the mouth of Coyote Creek;
monitor post-construction planting at
the nearly eight-acre Coyote Parkway
Freshwater Wetland near Metcalf Road;
begin construction south of Gilroy of
the nine-acre Pajaro Basin Freshwater
Wetland Project in August 2007, with
construction completion projected for
March 2008; and begin planning for
the Laguna Seca Wetland Project, a 41-acre freshwater wetland at the north
end of Coyote Valley. Project planning
will include biological, hydrogeologic
and engineering data collection, as
well as initiation of environmental and
engineering planning documents.
Collaboration: Integrating planning through strategic partnerships
As an independent special district with a critical public function, the District must take extra steps to integrate its work with the larger community. The District’s greatest effectiveness comes in sharing expertise with local partner agencies. This collaborative approach integrates District planning with other local planning efforts, benefiting consumers, clarifying regional roles and avoiding wasteful duplication of effort. Two key initiatives model this approach which began development in FY 2005-06, for implementation in FY 2006-07: The Five-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP), which incorporates Board-approved criteria and review by partner agencies and the Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan, which also seeks input from local agencies. Formulated as a District “general plan,” the comprehensive plan will bring together District water supply, flood protection and environmental stewardship policies in one document for local land-use agencies to use in conjunction with their own general plans for a more streamlined approach to local government. The plan is allocated $548,641 in the FY 2007-08 budget.
Ensuring employee safety
Employee safety is a top priority for the District, as reflected in Board and administrative policies.
In FY 2005-06, the District completed an assessment of its safety program through the Cal/OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which sets rigorous standards for excellence beyond regulatory compliance. The assessment indicated areas in which the District must make significant improvements. In response, the District established a Safety Steering Committee and a timeline for corrections. Once corrections have been made, the District must document three years of exemplary safety performance before applying for Cal/VPP Site status. This initiative is funded at $1,737,860 plus staffing costs in the FY 2007-08 budget.
Environmental monitoring costs
The District relies on environmental data and analysis to ensure success of mitigation measures; assess the health of the watersheds; track effects
of our activities on stream and bay ecosystems; and aid in adaptive management decisions affecting operations and maintenance of District facilities.
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Carbon-neutral goal
The District has identified climate change as a key challenge for the future. Projected climate change could affect our mission and activities in all areas, including water supply, water quality, flood protection and environmental stewardship. We are committed to doing what we can as an agency to reduce our own carbon footprint. In the current fiscal year, 97 percent of our energy use came from renewable resources, including from the District’s solar parking lot. The District is adjusting its long-range planning efforts to address global warming; see Chapter Four, Strategic Planning for details. |
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Creating new wetlands
To protect communities from flood damage, the District maintains waterways and keeps them free of overgrowth, debris and sediment. Under our flood control benefit assessments program and the voter-approved Clean, Safe Creeks program, we mitigate these flood protection activities by enhancing the environment and vital natural habitat. Wetlands design and construction is part of this mitigation commitment.
As more flood protection projects and enhancement opportunities are completed and transitioned into operations, environmental monitoring costs increase proportionally. The operating and capital outlays associated with environmental enhancements are budgeted at $18.8 million in the FY 2007-08 budget. Mitigation efforts to protect watershed streams and natural resources are budgeted at $11 million in the FY 2007-08 budget. |
Groundwater protection: Leveraging federal funds to clean up perchlorate contamination
Since 2003, when a plume of perchlorate contamination was discovered near Gilroy, the District has spent more than $4 million toward an extensive and comprehensive response, pending potential repayment by the responsible party(ies).
In FY 2006-07, as part of the local Perchlorate Working Group, the District helped develop a corrective action plan that provided the framework for the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Cleanup and Abatement Order to Olin Corp., a responsible party which operated a safety flare production plant in the area for 40 years.
High-quality drinking water: Improving water treatment with ozonation
High-quality drinking water is a key customer requirement. Drinking water is highly regulated by federal and state authorities, and regulations are becoming increasingly stringent. Looking ahead to meet the growing challenge of stricter water quality standards, the District launched its Water Treatment Improvement Project (WTIP) in 1997. FY 2005-06 marked a significant milestone for the project: delivery of the first ozone-treated water from the Santa Teresa drinking water treatment plant.
With ozonation treatment, millions of ozone bubbles cleanse water of bacteria and other contaminants, resulting in a better-tasting product with less use of chlorine. At the Santa Teresa plant, chlorine use has been lowered by up to 75 percent, and the incidence of trihalomethanes—potentially unhealthful by-products of chlorine—will fall by about 40 percent. In FY 2006-07, ozonation at the District’s Penitencia plant is scheduled to go on-line in fall 2006. At the District’s Rinconada plant, ozonation, as well as plant improvements and expansion, is scheduled for completion in 2013.
Interest-based bargaining
The Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB) Process is currently being used at the District to negotiate the labor agreements between management and employee bargaining units. This open information-sharing process allows parties to negotiate together at a global table, and supports the District’s emphasis on collaboration.
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