Turlock, Ceres, south Modesto take key step toward water plant

A vote Thursday secured the raw water supply for a treatment plant proposed for Turlock, Ceres and south Modesto.

Their representatives voted 3-0 for the 50-year deal with the Turlock Irrigation District, which would provide some of its Tuolumne River water to the plant. The long-delayed project would reduce reliance on wells, as has happened for 20 years with a similar plant for the rest of Modesto.

Customers can expect major rate increases if the cities go through with the new plant – expected to cost $150 million to $200 million – but leaders said it is worth pursuing.

“I think this is a very important step for all of us,” Ceres Mayor Chris Vierra said. “Now we get to really dive in and start the process.”

The water purchase agreement also won support from Turlock Mayor Gary Soiseth and Modesto Councilman Bill Zoslocki. The TID board approved the agreement July 14 but will have to vote again Tuesday because it was changed slightly.

The cities, acting as the Stanislaus Regional Water Authority, already have spent about $8 million on the project, General Manager Steve Stroud said. It could be completed by 2020 if the environmental study, design and construction proceed steadily, he said.

TID would sell up to 30,000 acre-feet a year from the river. The district has provided its farmers with more than 500,000 acre-feet in better times, but drought has cut that by nearly two-thirds.

The cities would pay TID at the highest rate tier for farm users, currently $20 per acre-foot. They would be subject to the same dry-year cutbacks as the irrigators.

The Modesto Irrigation District built the plant that supplies the parts of Modesto north of the Tuolumne, a project credited with helping the aquifer under the city recharge. Wells also are at risk of shutdown if they exceed health standards.

The project that advanced Thursday has been discussed off and on since 1987, but the cost and other concerns have hobbled it. At various times, the planning included Denair, Keyes, Hilmar and Delhi, and they can get back in if they pay their share of the costs.

The plant would be built close to where the river crosses Geer Road. TID installed intake pipes in the streambed in 2001, when it was planning to build the plant itself.

The project would reduce the amount of water TID diverts for farmers about 25 miles upstream, allowing more to flow to the plant site and improving fish habitat along the way. Backers cite this benefit, as well as the need for local entities to work together to fend off state and federal efforts to reduce their water supplies.

“I think it’s a victory not only for our cities, but for our farmers and our environment,” Soiseth said.

Stroud said the partners now need to update TID’s environmental impact report on the project over the next year. They also have to get state approval for a change in water rights allowing the diversion near Geer, which could take up to two years.

At that point, Stroud said, the cities would have to commit to detailed design and construction and to the rate increases likely to be needed. Officials in Turlock, for example, have said they might need to redouble rates that already are doubling over five years – to a monthly average of $47.10 by 2019 for a typical home – just to keep up the groundwater-fed system.

As part of the water-sale deal, TID will get some of the recycled wastewater that Turlock and Modesto have been planning to sell to farmers in the Del Puerto Water District on the West Side. This will amount to just 2,000 acre-feet in years with ample rain and snow. The replacement supply could be as much as 15,000 acre-feet in other years, but the cities could provide nonpotable groundwater as well as the recycled water.

Zoslocki had balked last week at approving the agreement out of concern that it would interfere with the Del Puerto project. The draft was rewritten to address his concern.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Turlock, Ceres, south Modesto take key step toward water plant."