SR 03-14-2023 5C
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: March 14, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.C
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works, Water Resources
Subject: Adoption of Resolutions Authorizing the Application for Grant Funds from the
California State Department of Water Resources Urban Drought Relief Grant
and the United States and the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART: Water
Recycling and Desalination Planning Grant Program
Recommended Action
Staff Recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt the attached resolutions authorizing the application for grants funds in the
amount of $22.8 million with the California State Department of Water
Resources’ Urban Community Drought Relief Grant Program and $961,033 with
the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART: Water Recycling and
Desalination Planning Grant Program.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to apply for the
grant, accept the grant, if awarded, and accept all grant renewals, if awarded.
3. Adopt a finding of Categorical Exemption pursuant to Section 15262, Section
15302, Section 15303, Section 15304, and Section 15306 of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Summary
To continue the City’s efforts in securing a reliable and drought resilient water supply
while maintaining affordability of water, staff is seeking to apply for grant funding to
support local water supply projects and planning efforts with the California Department
of Water Resources and the United States Bureau of Reclamation. If successful, the
grants would help the City accelerate current budgeted water supply projects and
provide funding to accelerate future unfunded rehabilitation or resiliency projects for the
City’s water and wastewater infrastructure. For the Department of Water Resources’
Urban Community Drought Relief Grant Program, the City is requesting approximately
$22.8 million in grant funds to accelerate currently budgeted projects and provide a
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matching fund of approximately $7.6 million (25% matching contribution toward total
project cost) from projects that are already budgeted in the City’s Fiscal Year 2022-24
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget. For the United States Bureau of
Reclamation WaterSMART: Water Recycling and Desalination Planning grant
opportunity, the City is requesting $961,033 in grant funding to advance future,
unfunded planning efforts to maximize water recycling opportunities within the City and
provide a funding match of $961,033 (50% matching contribution toward total project
cost) from projects that are already budgeted in the City’s 2022-24 CIP budget. As part
of the grant application submittal, both DWR and USBR require the City’s governing
body to authorize the City Manager to file an application for funding, commit to matching
fund requirements, and to negotiate and enter into an agreement with the funding
agency, if awarded.
Discussion
The effects of Climate Change have impacted water supply availability, reliability, and
resiliency across the State of California and the Southwest United States as ongoing
drought conditions enter the 3rd year of a multi-year drought. To mitigate climate change
impacts on regional and local water supply reliability, Federal and State agencies have
released several funding opportunities that support the planning, development, and
implementation of water supply projects that bolster water supply reliability and
resiliency while maintaining accessibility and affordability of water. The California
Department of Water Resources was allocated an additional $545 million to award
grants for drought relief projects and up to $300 million is being solicited through the
Urban Community Drought Relief Grant Program. The United States Bureau of
Reclamation recently released the WaterSMART: Water Recycling and Desalination
Planning grant application aimed to assist and secure water supplies for future
generations as well as alleviate drought conditions across the Western United States.
Having a diverse, sustainable, and drought resilient local water supply, or Water Self-
Sufficiency, was one of three primary environmental sustainability goals established by
the City Council, along with Zero Waste and Carbon Neutrality, to advance the
outcomes in the Sustainable City Plan. The City adopted an update to the Sustainable
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Water Master Plan in 2018 (Attachment A) with the goal of achieving water self-
sufficiency by 2023. Climate change has created a volatile water cycle in California,
characterized by periods of record setting drought or intense heavy precipitation, that
has disrupted consistency in water availability and reliability across the region.
Becoming water self-sufficient as a city means long-term cost certainty for our residents,
equitable access to safe, high-quality drinking water throughout the community while
creating a diverse, sustainable, and drought-resilient local water supply to reduce the
City’s reliance on imported water supplies. The goal of achieving 99% locally sourced
water by 2023 has been impacted by the 2020 Regional Housing Needs Assessment,
the Covid-19 Pandemic, and increased climate change impacts on local water supplies.
As discussed in the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan (Attachment B) and
presented to Council at the June 8, 2021 City Council Meeting, the original goal may be
impacted by as much as 20%, but this impact could potentially be mitigated through
increased water conservation efforts (e.g., Smart Water meters to reduce water leaks)
to achieve 85-90% water self-sufficiency.
The Water Resources Division is seeking to apply for grant funds to continue the City’s
efforts to reduce our reliance on imported water supplies, promote water conservation to
permanently reduce water demand, and provide a reliable and drought resilient water
supply. As the Western United States continue to address severe drought conditions,
both State and Federal agencies have released funding packages to provide immediate
drought relief and secure reliable water supplies for future generations.
Through the California Department of Water Resources’ Urban Community Drought
Relief Grant program, staff is seeking funding support of up to $22.8 million for updating
planning documents to address future water needs, implement a groundwater recharge
well to replenish local groundwater aquifers with advanced treated recycled water from
the City’s Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) (as outlined in the
Groundwater Sustainability Plan, Attachment C), replacement of two aging groundwater
production wells at the Charnock Well Field, and implementation of smart water meters
in the City. The City is required to provide matching funds, approximately $7.8 million or
25% of the total project cost, for the requested grant amount. The required matching
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funds will be from projects that are currently budgeted in the City’s CIP. Receiving
outside funding for already budgeted projects would free up funding resources to
advance unfunded, future capital improvement or rehabilitation projects (e.g.,
rehabilitating the City’s four treated water storage reservoirs) for the City’s water and
wastewater infrastructure.
The United States Bureau of Reclamation released the WaterSMART: Water Recycling
and Desalination Planning grant application in December 2022 aimed to assist to
stretch and secure water supplies for future generations as well as alleviate drought
conditions across the Western United States. The WaterSMART program provides
financial assistance to water agencies for projects that seek to conserve and use water
more efficiently where water recycling and desalination are essential tools for stretching
the limited water supplies in the Western United States. These sources provide local
communities with a new source of clean water to increase water management flexibility
and reliability. Staff is applying for grant funding under WaterSMART Funding Group I
that provides up to $1 million in funding with a matching requirement of 50%, to assess
the feasibility of advancing the City’s desalination capacity and/or water recycling efforts
through direct potable reuse. Staff is applying for $961,033 in grant funding from the
WaterSMART program and a grant fund match amount of $961,033 (50% matching) will
be provided through the Groundwater Recharge Well SM-11i Project that is already
budgeted in the City’s CIP.
Environmental Review
Proposed updates to the City’s water supply master plan(s) and feasibility studies are
statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under Section
15262 which exempts feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions. A
complete CEQA review will be conducted for the identified projects in the master plan(s)
or feasibility studies if the project is selected to move forward for implementation.
Projects that are already budgeted through the City’s CIP and used as matching fund
requirements for the grant applications have already completed the necessary CEQA
requirements. These projects include Groundwater Recharge Well SM-11i and SM-12i,
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Groundwater Resiliency Well Improvements at Charnock Well Field, and the Smart
Water Metering Project. The potential environmental effects of the groundwater
recharge well (SM-11i and SM-12i) were previously analyzed in the Olympic Arcadia
Treatment Plant Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) (State
Clearinghouse No. 2020070129), adopted on November 24, 2020. As determined in
the previously adopted IS/MND, impacts would be less than significant with the
implementation of adopted mitigation measures.
The proposed five monitoring wells in the Santa Monica Basin are exempt from CEQA
pursuant to Section 15303 (Section 15303 (New Construction or Conversion of Small
Structures), Section 15304 (Class 4 – Minor Alterations to Land), and Section 15306
(information Collection) of the CEQA Guidelines.
• Section 15303 exempts the construction of new small facilities or structures,
including utility structures and extensions.
• Section 15304 exempts minor alterations to land, which do not involve removal
of mature or scenic trees. Activities include minor grading, trenching, and
backfilling
• Section 15306 exempts the basic data collection, research, experimental
management, and resource evaluation activities which do not result in a serious
or major disturbance to an environmental resource
The groundwater monitoring wells will be drilled up to depths between 400 to 800 feet
below the surface with minimal ground surface area disturbed. Upon completion, the
appearance of the monitoring wells will be largely confined to a small area with each
well covered by a concrete pad not larger than 4 by 4 feet. The monitoring wells will
provide information and data necessary to implement long-term sustainable
groundwater planning and management for the Basin. Therefore, the installation of the
monitoring wells qualifies for CEQA exemption pursuant to Sections 15303, 15304, and
15306 as they consist of the new construction of small structures, minor alteration to
land, and information collection activities. In addition, none of the exceptions specified
in Section 15300.2 of CEQA Guidelines would apply that would preclude the use of the
CEQA exemptions:
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• The project site is not located in a sensitive environment
• The project will not have a significant effect on the environment due to unusual
circumstances
• The project would not damage scenic resources
• The project would not be located on a hazardous waste site based on a review
of relevant databases
• The project would not cause a change to a historical resource as there are no
historic resources identified within the identified site locations
Replacement of the two groundwater productions wells at the Charnock Well Field is
exempt from CEQA as set forth in Section 15302 (Replacement/Reconstruction) of the
CEQA Guidelines which exempts replacement or reconstruction of existing structures
and facilities where the new structure will be located in the same site as the structure
replaced and will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structure
replaced because this project would replace existing groundwater productions wells that
are beyond its asset life.
The Smart Water Metering Project, or Automated Metering Infrastructure, is also
exempt from CEQA as set forth in Section 15302 (Replacement/Reconstruction) of the
CEQA Guidelines because this project would replace and upgrade existing water
meters and meter boxes.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
11/27/2018
(Attachment A)
City Council directs staff to proceed with an update to the
Sustainable Water Master Plan and the recommended pathway to
water self-sufficiency
6/8/2021
(Attachment B)
Public Hearing and Adoption of the City of Santa Monica’s 2020
Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency
Plan
12/7/2021
(Attachment C)
Approval of Final Santa Monica Basin GSP
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Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of
recommended action. For the Department of Water Resources’ Urban Community
Drought Relief Grant Program, Staff is requesting approximately $22.8 million in grant
funds to accelerate currently budgeted projects and provide a matching fund of
approximately $7.6 million (25% matching contribution toward total project cost). For
the United States Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART: Water Recycling and
Desalination Planning grant opportunity, Staff is requesting $961,033 in grant funding to
advance future, unfunded planning efforts to maximize water recycling opportunities
within the City and provide a funding match of $961,033 (50% matching contribution
toward total project cost) from projects that are already budgeted in the City’s 2022-24
CIP budget. Staff will return to Council with budget changes if the grant is awarded.
Prepared By: Chris Aguillon, Water Resources Protection Specialist
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. November 18, 2018 Staff Report for the Sustainable Water Master Plan Update
(Web Link)
B. June 8, 2021 Staff Report for the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan (Web
Link)
C. Decmeber 7, 2021 Staff Report for the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (Web
Link)
D. Resolution - Urban Community Drought Relief Grant
E. Resolution - WaterSMART Grant
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City Council Meeting: March 14, 2023 Santa Monica, California
RESOLUTION NUMBER (CCS)
(City Council Series)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR, NEGOTIATE, AND ENTER
INTO A CALIFORNIA STATE DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES URBAN
COMMUNITY DROUGHT RELIEF GRANT PROGRAM AGREEMENT FOR THE CITY
OF SANTA MONICA DROUGHT RELIEF PROJECT
WHEREAS, on January 25, 2011, the City Council directed staff to develop a plan
to achieve 100% self-sufficiency on local water resources; and
WHEREAS, the City recognizes that a sustainable and secure water future must
include the coordinated and conjunctive reuse of al locally available water resources
including traditionally non-potable sources such as brackish groundwater and
wastewater; and
WHEREAS, the City proposes to implement the City of Santa Monica Drought
Relief Project; and
WHEREAS, the City has the legal authority and is authorized to enter into a
funding agreement with the State of California; and
WHEREAS, the City intends to apply for grant funding from the California
Department of Water Resources for the City of Santa Monica Drought Relief Project.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES
HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Recitals above are incorporated herein by this reference.
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Packet Pg. 200 Attachment: Resolution - Urban Community Drought Relief Grant [Revision 1] (5541 : DWR and USBR Grant Applications for Drought Relief
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SECTION 2. That pursuant and subject to all of the terms and provisions of Budget
Act of 2021 (Stats. 2021, ch. 240, § 80) as amended (Stats. 2022, ch. 44, § 25), the City of
Santa Monica City Manager, or designee is hereby authorized and directed to prepare and
file an application for funding with the Department of Water Resources, and take such other
actions necessary or appropriate to obtain grant funding.
SECTION 3. The City of Santa Monica City Manager, or designee is hereby
authorized and directed to execute the funding agreement with the Department of Water
Resources and any amendments thereto.
SECTION 4. The City of Santa Monica City Manager, or designee is hereby
authorized and directed to submit any required documents, invoices, and reports
required to obtain grant funding.
SECTION 5. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution of the
City Council, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
DOUGLAS SLOAN
City Attorney
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Packet Pg. 201 Attachment: Resolution - Urban Community Drought Relief Grant [Revision 1] (5541 : DWR and USBR Grant Applications for Drought Relief
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City Council Meeting: March 14, 2023 Santa Monica, California
RESOLUTION NUMBER (CCS)
(City Council Series)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR GRANT FUNDS FOR A UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR BUREAU OF RECLAMATION WATERSMART:
WATER RECYCLING AND DESALINATION PLANNING GRANT, AND TO NEGOTIATE
AND ENTER INTO A GRANT AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF
RECLAMATION AND ANY AMENDMENTS THERETO
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation has
allocated approximately $30 million in grant funding for water recycling and desalination
planning projects pursuant to the WaterSMART: Water Recycling and Desalination
Planning Grant Program (“Grant Program”); and
WHEREAS, California’s Water Supply Strategy and the City’s Sustainable Water
Master Plan recognize that a sustainable and secure water future must include the use
of locally available water resources; and
WHEREAS, the City seeks to apply for grant funds in the amount of up to
$1,000,000 from the Grant Program to further the City’s sustainable water supply
objectives to improve drought resiliency, increase water supply, and enhance the
flexibility in the management of the City’s water resources;
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES
HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Recitals above are incorporated herein by this reference.
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Packet Pg. 202 Attachment: Resolution - WaterSMART Grant [Revision 1] (5541 : DWR and USBR Grant Applications for Drought Relief Projects)
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SECTION 2. The City of Santa Monica City Manager, or designee is hereby authorized
and directed to prepare and file an application for funding for the WaterSMART: Water
Recycling and Desalination Planning Grant Program to the United States Department of
Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, and take such other actions necessary or appropriate to
obtain grant funding.
SECTION 3. The City of Santa Monica City Manager, or designee is hereby
authorized and directed to execute the funding agreement with the United States Department
of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation and any amendments thereto.
SECTION 4. The City of Santa Monica City Manager, or designee is hereby
authorized and directed to submit any required documents, invoices, and reports
required to obtain grant funding.
SECTION 5. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution of the
City Council, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
DOUGLAS SLOAN
City Attorney
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Packet Pg. 203 Attachment: Resolution - WaterSMART Grant [Revision 1] (5541 : DWR and USBR Grant Applications for Drought Relief Projects)