WATER SUPPLY PLANNING COMMITTEE
ITEM:		PROGRESS REPORTS
5.	UPDATE ON MONTERRA RANCH PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY
Meeting Date:			April 9, 2012	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			David J. Stoldt	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: The District had discussions on March 21, 2012 with representatives of Carmel Development Corp (CDC) regarding the potential for land or right-of-way acquisition in the Monterra development for purposes of locating a future pipeline capable of delivering additional Carmel River water to the ASR facilities. CDC exerts control over all relevant parcels other than those presently owned by two banks. Hence negotiation with CDC might result in an easy solution to securing such right-of-way. Some portion of the properties will shortly be remapped and deeded to the Monterra homeowners association.

However, on January 25, 2012 and more recently on March 16, 2012 District staff met with representatives of Cal-Am to discuss ASR. At both meetings, the Cal-Am staff stated that once the Cal-Am-only facilities from their Regional Desalination Project application are constructed, there will be no need for additional transmission capacity from the Crest Tank to Route 68.

RECOMMENDATION: The District should cease or defer any activities related to securing right-of-way for additional pipeline capacity through the Monterra Ranch subdivision.

BACKGROUND: A pipeline project that would increase delivery of water to Water Projects 1 and 2 (and possibly a Phase 3 ASR) is to increase the capacity of only the pipeline from the Crest Tank north to Highway 68. This could be done through either upsizing the existing 16” pipe to 30” or 36”, or by installing a new parallel pipeline. Current capacity of the Cal-Am pipe is stated to be 5,800 gpm (a May 2010 test indicated maximum flow of approximately 6,000 gpm.) In August 2011, Cal-Am indicated that a parallel pipe could raise capacity to approximately 6,500. This is a 12% increase.

The capacity appears to be constrained by the limitations of the Tehama-side facilities. There is high cost and complexity of building on the Tehama side. The existing corridor through the Tehama subdivision is narrow and includes existing Cal-Am pipeline, sewer, storm drain pipelines, and electrical and telephone conduits. The Canada Segunda road is narrow, steep, and at times the two lanes split to protect heritage trees. In many locations the existing road does not overlay the existing Cal-Am easement. As the road approaches the crest of the hill near it becomes very steep and narrow. It is not expected that any work can be done to increase pipeline capacity on the Tehama portion, hence the increase in capacity in the Monterra portion is limited.

Assuming only a 12% increase in capacity, the resulting additional ASR capacity might equate to 120 to 180 AFY. At a potential cost of $12 to $15 million, the cost per additional AF of ASR capacity is too high. In this example, assuming $12 million and 180 AFY and 30-year amortization at 5%, the cost per acre-foot is over $4,300. Hence, to bring the unit cost down to a reasonable range, it appears closer to 1,000 AFY of new capacity would be required. This does not appear to be possible.

EXHIBITS

5-A Map of affected area showing parcels

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