Yolo city engineers want to tap river

Turn on the tap in Davis, and what comes out is like a poor cousin to Perrier without the fizz.

"If we bottled our water here, we'd have to label it as mineral water," said Bob Schoech, senior water engineer for the city of Davis.

The water in Davis and Woodland is extremely hard, meaning it's chock-full of calcium, magnesium and sodium. It tastes salty and chalky, and it coats faucets and dishwashers with scaly deposits.

City engineers in Davis and Woodland are on a mission to pipe in surface water from the Sacramento River.

The plan could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and has raised concern among elected officials. But the river water is soft and pure compared with the current supply, the engineers insist.

"It's all about the water quality," said Doug Baxter, chief water engineer for the city of Woodland. "People from other places know what they're missing. People from here might not understand."

Sacramento and West Sacramento already rely on river water. But for decades, the water in Davis and Woodland has been drawn from dozens of wells scattered throughout the cities, many of them in residential neighborhoods.

The water flows nearly untreated, with just a dash of chlorine, from the ground into homes.

A number of the cities' aging wells have been shut down because of high levels of nitrates, which can pose a health danger, especially to pregnant women and infants.

The nitrates are likely from the agricultural runoff that flows from west to east, through the same porous gravel layers tapped by the city wells.

Davis also has high levels of chromium 6, the cancer-causing substance that was the basis of the movie "Erin Brockovich," Schoech said.

Another benefit of using river water, according to the engineers, is that it would reduce the amount of salts in the cities' wastewater.

That's important because the state is already concerned about excessive salinity in the Central Valley and may impose strict limits, they contend.

Having to install reverse osmosis systems to filter out the salt could cost a great deal more than piping in river water, they say.

"If we get rid of salts at the drinking-water end, then we also solve the problem at the wastewater end," said Jacques DeBra, utilities manager for the city of Davis.

The proposed project would include an intake upriver from West Sacramento north of Interstate 5, a central treatment plant near Woodland and a pipeline system supplying water to Woodland, Davis and UC Davis.

The plant would pump out 52 million gallons of treated water a day, according to city engineers.

Under the current proposal, Woodland would use about 52 percent of the river water, Davis would get 44.5 percent and UC Davis would take 3.5 percent.

The estimated cost of the project is $300 million to $400 million – and would result in an increase in residential water rates.

Baxter said the average rates in Woodland would more than double, from $24 a month to $54 a month.

But he argued that would be offset significantly by the savings from having softer water. Household appliances and plumbing fixtures would last longer. Water softeners and extra detergent no longer would be needed. And landscaping plants would do better without the presence of harmful minerals in the water.

However, studies have shown that most people who drink bottled water now would continue to do so even with a different water supply, he said.

Replacing dozens of wells, some nearly 50 years old, could cost nearly as much and still result in poor water quality, Baxter said.

Bringing in surface water is a better solution, he said. "That way, you've got something to show for it."

The engineers insist that now is the time to move forward with the project, which wouldn't be completed until 2016. One reason, they say, is that cities have water rights they may lose if they don't act soon.

But civic leaders, including the mayors of Davis and Woodland, aren't convinced.

With Yolo County's slow growth rate and an ample supply of water for now, they question whether the hugely expensive project is needed as quickly as the engineers contend.

Davis Mayor Sue Greenwald said the city should pay first for a $160 million project to rebuild its wastewater treatment plant.

She proposes phasing in the water supply project in another 25 or 30 years so that ratepayers don't have to pay for both projects at once.

Greenwald said she worries that lower income residents and seniors couldn't afford the increased fees.

The water in Davis is safe to drink, she said, because newer wells – some as deep as 1,800 feet – have been drilled to tap into the purer waters of a deep aquifer below much of Yolo County.

That water still has a high level of natural minerals, but not the dangerous level of nitrates found in shallower wells, she said.

"The deep aquifer levels are healthy, and a lot of people pay extra for mineral water anyway," Greenwald said.

Woodland Mayor David Flory said city leaders there support the plan in concept but are concerned about the huge price tag.

Most likely the project won't be approved for years, he said.

"It's still in its infancy as far as the City Council making a commitment," he said.

Voters ultimately may get a say on the issue through a ballot measure, Flory said.

"The bottom line is going to be that the investment has to be weighed against the return," he said. "There might be other solutions that get us to where we want to be."

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