Title
Agreement: Source Water Protection Regulatory Support Services Fiscal Years 2024/25 and 2025/26
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FileID
File ID: 2024-01236
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Location
Location: Citywide
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Recommendation
Recommendation: Pass a Motion authorizing the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Starr Consulting to provide consultation services for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024/25 and FY2025/26 for the Sacramento and American Rivers Source Water Protection programs, and updates to the City of Sacramento’s (City) Drinking Water Quality Incident Response Plan for an amount not-to-exceed $450,000.
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Contact
Contact: Karen Newton, Project Manager, knewton@cityofsacramento.org, (916) 808-1449; Lisa Moretti, Supervising Engineer, lmoretti@cityofsacramento.org, (916) 808-5390; Sherill Huun, Engineering & Water Resources Division Manager, shuun@cityofsacramento.org, (916) 808-1455; Pravani Vandeyar, Director, pvandeyar@cityofsacramento.org, (918) 808-2765; Department of Utilities
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Presenter
Presenter: None
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Attachments
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Agreement
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Additional Description/Analysis
IssueDetail
Issue Detail: Staff recommends Council approve a professional services agreement with Starr Consulting to provide expert support on various subjects including several regional projects in partnership with other water utilities. The project goals are to protect the Lower American River and Sacramento River drinking water source quality for the City and its partners. This work addresses several topics, including Aerojet discharges in the lower American River watershed, programs to help ensure protection of the water supply from spills to the rivers and their tributary streams, and agricultural discharges to the Sacramento River.
The proposed agreement includes source water protection consultation services for expert support tracking special topics, collecting and evaluating data/information, preparing technical memoranda and reports, assisting in networking with and gathering information from other stakeholders in the watershed, preparing comment letters, and conducting meetings.
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PolicyConsiderations
Policy Considerations: City Council approval is required for professional service agreements of $250,000 or more per City Code 3.64.020.
This project is also consistent with the 2040 General Plan Policy ERC-1.2 to continue ongoing Sacramento and American River source water protection efforts.
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EconomicImpacts
Economic Impacts: None.
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EnvironmentalConsiderations
Environmental Considerations: It has been determined that the proposed activity is not a project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378(b)(2 and 4). The activities described in this report are continuing administrative or maintenance activities, such as purchases or personnel-related activities, and government fiscal activities and are not subject to CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c)(3).
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Sustainability
Sustainability: Conducting the American River and Sacramento River source water protection work is consistent with the City's 2040 General Plan by supporting the policy to “continue ongoing Sacramento and American River source water protection efforts (e.g., Pups in the Park, Keep Our Waters Clean), based on watershed sanitary survey recommendations, in partnership with private watershed organizations and local, State, and federal agencies” (Goal ERC-1.2).
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Commission/Committee Action
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
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RationaleforRecommendation
Rationale for Recommendation: On March 26, 2024, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) (Q24141311031) was advertised and issued on PlanetBids for Source Water Protection Consultation Services for two subject areas: Subject Area 1 Sacramento River and Lower American River Source Water Protection Efforts and Subject Area 2 Pesticides Advisor. On April 4, 2024, one Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) was received for Subject Area 1 from Starr Consulting. Staff reviewed the SOQ and based on Starr Consulting’s knowledge, expertise, and experience; it was selected to provide the requested services.
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FinancialConsiderations
Financial Considerations: There is sufficient funding in the Sacramento River Source Water Program (I14520300), American River Source Water Program (I14520400) and the proposed FY 2024/25 DOU Operating Budget. Funding for future fiscal years shall be subject to funding availability in the adopted budgets for the applicable fiscal year in an amount not to exceed $450,000 over the two-year term. A portion of the source water program work will be shared with the other participating water utilities according to cost-sharing Memorandums of Understanding (City Agreement No. 2019-1723 and City Agreement No. 2022-0963) for the American River and Sacramento River Source Water Protection Programs.
There are no General Funds allocated or planned for this project.
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LocalBusinessEnterprise
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Starr Consulting is not an LBE, but has partnered with an LBE, Rincon Consultants, Inc., for this contract to meet the minimum LBE participation requirement. Rincon will provide environmental consulting services on various tasks.
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Background
Background: The City has three water sources for its municipal supply: the American River, the Sacramento River, and groundwater. The rivers provide approximately 80 percent of the City’s supply, while groundwater provides approximately 20 percent. The City operates two water treatment plants: the E.A. Fairbairn Water Treatment Plant (EAFWTP) and the Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant (SRWTP). EAFWTP takes American River water just downstream of the Howe Avenue Bridge, and SRWTP takes a blend of American and Sacramento River water just downstream at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers.
The City partners with the following water utilities to implement proactive source water protection programs to help protect the quality of their Sacramento and Lower American River water supplies: City of West Sacramento, Sacramento County Water Agency (SCWA), East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (WDCWA), and Carmichael Water District (CWD). City staff manages these programs with participation from other water utilities on the Sacramento and Lower American Rivers. Through these programs, the water utilities are involved as stakeholders in the Sacramento River watershed on various issues related to source water quality. The programs also include conducting or supporting activities to reduce the risk of potential pollutants to the water supply. Expert support is utilized to conduct this work, and much of the work is cost-shared with the partner agencies. Partnering with other local water agencies for some of this work provides efficiency and a regional approach to protecting Lower American River and Sacramento River drinking water quality.
Key activities include: the Sacramento River and Lower American River voluntary spill notification programs, in which the water utilities receive notification from upstream agencies of hazardous material spills that have potential to impact the drinking water supply; and information tracking and expert support on topics such as Aerojet discharges in the Lower American River watershed and the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program. These activities are conducted as follow-up to the American River and Sacramento River Watershed Sanitary Surveys. The City-only services include expert support for protection of the City’s American River and Sacramento River source water quality including technical support on Delta issues and updates to the City’s water quality incident response plan, which provides enhanced water quality protection of the City’s water supply from potential contamination threats.
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