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Expedited Purified Water Program History

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The Expedited Purified Water Program (Program) is part of Valley Water's strategy to respond to the current drought and is consistent with Board direction to expand the County’s water supply. As currently conceived, the Program could provide up to 45,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) of purified water for indirect and/or direct potable reuse to supplement groundwater recharge from other existing sources, such as imported and locally-stored water supply. 

The Program consists of several key components:

1. Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center (SVAWPC) Expansion
2. Ford Recharge Ponds Indirect Potable Reuse Facility
3. Mid-Basin Injection Wells; 
4. Los Gatos Recharge Ponds
5. Westside Injection Wells (or central pipeline direct potable reuse as a future alternative)
6. Sunnyvale Indirect Potable Reuse.

The Program consists of several key components
Estimated Capacities and Costs (2014 dollars)

September 2017 Status Update on Expedited Purified Water Program

Since October 2016, several developments have occurred, including:

    1. The analysis for the 2017 District’s Water Supply Master Plan Update confirms the benefits of implementing 24,000 AFY of purified water by 2025 to meet supply reliability goals.
    2. The District Board has directed that the Program be divided into two phases: a $600M commitment to 24,000 AFY of potable reuse implementation by 2025, with the remainder to be implemented later.
    3. Another alternative under evaluation, with a potential to reduce Program infrastructure costs, is to blend purified water with the District’s raw water sources (e.g., the South Bay Aqueduct) prior to conventional surface water treatment at the District’s treatment plants. (a.k.a. direct potable reuse or DPR). State regulations for DPR are still under development.
    4. Questions have been raised about a) treated wastewater availability at the San Jose/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, b) the relative amounts of recycled and purified water that should be developed for the San Jose metropolitan area, c) the most appropriate method for managing RO concentrate, and d) potential impacts on tax-exempt bond status of a DPR alternative. An MOU with the City of San Jose will likely not be achieved until these issues are resolved.
    5. Current District activities include
      a. Ongoing collaboration with the City of San Jose to address the items noted in Item 4; 
      b. Partnerships with the City of Sunnyvale and the cities of Palo Alto/Mountain View for possible potable water reuse projects; 
      c. Evaluation of potential partnerships with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) to utilize surplus purified water capacity or to augment capacity in the future;
      d. Preliminary engineering feasibility of a direct potable reuse (DPR) option
      e. Preparation of a draft Private Letter Ruling request to the IRS to seek guidance on resolving the private activity issues related to DPR;
      f. Analysis of alternative methods to manage RO concentrate; and 
      g. Development of a countywide master plan addressing both potable and non-potable water reuse.

The outcomes of Item 5e, 5f, and 5g will support the resolution of the issues described in Item 4. These efforts are estimated to be complete by December 2018. 

Board of Directors' Activities

Since October 2016, the Board’s Recycled Water Committee (RW Committee), comprised of 3 of the 7 Board members, has held meetings on the following dates:

1. November 9, 2016
2. February 16, 2017
3. August 9, 2017

The agenda packages for these Recycled Water Committee meetings can be found at https://www.valleywater.org/board-committees.

The full Board held a special meeting on March 27, 2017 for a work study session on the Program and the dual track procurement. The Board heard presentations from four public agencies on their experiences with various project delivery methods, and considered staff’s analysis regarding the choice of Design/Build or P3 delivery method. The Board made no decision on a delivery method, but requested staff to arrange for the San Diego County Water Authority to attend a future Board meeting and make a presentation on their project delivery experiences. The Board also directed staff to prepare further information on the District’s financing capabilities; on meaningful cost comparisons between Design/Build and P3; and on the level of staff resources that would be required for a Design/Build versus a P3 effort.

Staff plans to provide responses to the Board’s requests at a Board meeting in fall 2017.

Financing Options

At the August 9, 2017 RW Committee Meeting, staff presented an analysis of various financing options for the Program that included tax-exempt bonds; Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA – a new federal credit program); State Revolving Fund (SRF); and private financing (i.e., could include a mix of private activity bonds, WIFIA, SRF and private funds). A summary chart was presented to the RW Committee.

The detailed backup calculations for each option can be found at the following links:

October 2016 Update: Design Build/P3 Dual Track Procurement Process for Expedited Purified Water Program (Program) 

As reflected in the individual sections below, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process was undertaken between January and June 2016. The list of respondents and final shortlists for two design-build RFQs and one P3 RFQ were posted in April and June, 2016, respectively.

The Board’s Recycled Water Committee (RW Committee), comprised of 3 of the 7 Board members, held meetings on the following dates in 2016:

1. March 1
2. May 12
3. July 9
4. July 19
5. September 7

Staff has provided Program development updates to the RW Committee at most of these meetings (click on dates above for Meeting Agendas and Minutes). At the May 12, 2016 RW Committee Meeting, staff recommended, and Committee members agreed, that one procurement track should be selected by the full Board before Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are published to the shortlisted entities.

At the September 7, 2016 RW Committee Meeting, staff presented both qualitative and quantitative evaluation and analyses of the Design Build and P3 delivery methods, and made a staff recommendation to choose the Progressive Design Build method. The Committee considered staff’s evaluation and recommendation, and directed staff to make the presentation to the full Board on September 20, 2016.

The full Board received staff’s presentation and heard from representatives of the two shortlisted P3 entities. The Board made no decision, but directed staff to return at a later date and to arrange for representatives of other water agencies who have used either a DB or P3 delivery method on one or more of their capital projects to attend this next Board meeting. The Board desires to hear directly from these agencies as to the motivators/circumstances/reasons for the choice(s) of delivery method they made and their experience with the project’s process and outcome.

Staff is in the process of arranging another special Board meeting, which will likely be held in early 2017. If the Board chooses a project delivery method in early 2017, release of the RFPs to the appropriate shortlist(s) will follow in 2 to 4 months.

Design Build and P3 Dual-Track Procurement Process

The District plans to solicit Statements of Qualification in parallel for both the progressive design-build (PDB) project delivery approach and for the public-private-partnership (P3) project delivery method.

To be placed on the Outreach List please fill out the form in the link below. To view the most up-to-date Outreach List please see the link below.

PDB Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center (SVAWPC) Expansion

PDB Purified Water Pipeline (SVAWPC to Los Gatos Recharge Ponds)

Public-Private Partnerships (P3)

Progressive Design-Build (PDB) Procurement Process

The District plans to solicit two Statements of Qualification (SOQ) for the following Program components using progressive design-build (PDB) project delivery: 

1. 91884009 – Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center (SVAWPC) Expansion 
2. 91384001 – Purified Water Pipeline – from SVAWPC to Los Gatos Recharge Ponds 

Soliciting two separate SOQs will enable selection of the most qualified teams for each Program component and will spread the design and construction work among various interested firms. The following components have been completed for the procurement process: 

1. Solicitation for PDB SOQs for two Program components – January 2016 
2. SOQ evaluations and final shortlisting of up to three qualifying entities for each Program component – June 2016 

Public-Private Partnership (P3) Procurement Process

In parallel with the above-described PDB procurement process, the District plans to solicit Statements of Qualification (SOQ) for a public-private partnership (P3) project delivery approach for the Program. 

The following components have been completed for the procurement process: 

1. Solicitation for P3 SOQs for the Program – January 2016 
2. SOQ evaluations and final shortlisting of up to three qualifying entities – June 2016 

Related Reports and Presentations

Related Board Agenda Memorandums

Contacts

District Plan Room ([email protected])
(408) 630-3088

Ken Wong ([email protected]),
Construction Procurement and Contracts Manager
(408) 630-2076