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Home My WebLink About7/2/2024 Item Public Comment, Chartrand Don Chartrand < To:E-mail Council Website Cc:Aleks Wydzga; Steph Wald; Karen Worcester Subject:Public comment for City Council consideration at July 2 meeting Attachments:Purple Water LOI 06212024.pdf This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Greetings, During the San Luis Obispo City Council meeting scheduled for July 2, please consider the attached letter, from Creek Lands Conservation to the City Council, regarding our interest in purchasing reclaimed water from the City. We will be present at the meeting to discuss the matter. Please advise if there are further steps we should take to ensure this matter receives timely consideration. Thank you, Don Chartrand Executive Director Creek Lands Conservation 1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Karen Worcester President Los Osos Kevin Shaw Vice President San Luis Obispo Lew Leichter Treasurer Orcutt Jude Fledderman Secretary Arroyo Grande John Steinbeck Board Member San Luis Obispo Neeraj Kumar Board Member San Luis Obispo Sierra Emrick Board Member Morro Bay June 21, 2024 To: City of San Luis Obispo City Council Members Re: City of San Luis Obispo Reclaimed Water Transaction Dear Council Members, Creek Lands Conservation is a local nonprofit organization whose purpose is conserving and restoring freshwater and near shore marine ecosystems throughout California’s Central Coast. With funding from the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust, we are collaborating with community stakeholders to develop a “San Luis Obispo Creek Resiliency and Rewilding Action Plan.” The Action Plan integrates the latest scientific understanding of the habitat needs of local fish and wildlife with the needs for human water supply, and it evaluates watershed-wide opportunities for education and creek access. As part of the process, Creek Lands Conservation has studied the City’s water management work. We are writing to express our interest in purchasing City surplus recycled water as described in the 2022 Recycled Water Maximization Study. According to the Study, SLO WRRF is obligated to release a minimum discharge of 1,800 acre-feet per year (AFY) into San Luis Obispo Creek. As we understand the situation, SLO WRRF produces about 1,400 AFY above the minimum that must be released to the Creek or put to other uses consistent with City policies. After accounting for existing recycled water delivery commitments and projected commitments through 2030 and beyond, the City estimates that there may still be a surplus available for purchase. SLO WRRF reclaimed water releases support existing downstream agricultural, community and environmental uses.The beneficial impacts of the discharge to downstream steelhead habitat were recently described by Stillwater Sciences in the SLO Creek Steelhead Restoration Action Plan (draft 2024), a component of the previously mentioned Resiliency and Rewilding Action Plan. Furthermore, surface flow in SLO Creek is hydrologically connected to groundwater and serves de facto human water uses. Historically, the City has not been acknowledged or compensated for supporting downstream uses, including but not limited to our local steelhead trout population. Creek Lands Conservation is currently conducting due diligence and exploring funding mechanisms to support acquiring the uncommitted surplus water that is available for sale and leaving it instream, if such a transaction is found to be consistent with the City’s General Plan. Our understanding is that keeping reclaimed water in the basin conforms with the Land Use Element of the City’s General Plan. Furthermore, leaving the water instream could reduce costs associated with transporting the water out of basin and could minimize environmental impacts and potential subsequent mitigation costs that could be incurred when long-standing treated effluent is eliminated from instream flow. We have enjoyed a collaborative relationship with City staff over the past two decades working on fish passage, stormwater, and most recently the SLO Creek Resiliency and Rewilding Action Plan. With this interest letter, we look forward to the prospect of continuing beneficial projects with the City of San Luis Obispo. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Don Chartrand Executive Director Creek Lands Conservation don@creeklands.org 229 Stanley Avenue Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 CreekLands.org Office (805) 473-8221 Mobile (805) 294-2575