CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AGENDA PACKET

Page 2 of 4 On October 17, 2023, the City Council approved the following actions based on the findings and recommendations from the Brown and Caldwell 2023 Water Supply Alternatives Study report: • Proceed with the planning and development of new groundwater wells in the Bernal subbasin with the goal of recovering the use of its GPQ of 3,500 acre-feet per year, and • Evaluate the feasibility of conducting a joint project with Zone 7 to implement the new groundwater wells. In February 2024, Zone 7 and City staff completed a process outlining the collaboration terms to evaluate, plan, design, construct, and operate regional groundwater facilities in the Bernal subbasin. The terms of collaboration include the following elements: • Goals: Implement the project to increase Zone 7’s groundwater production capacity for the Tri-Valley region and recover the use of the City’s GPQ. The project should produce water supply that meets and exceeds all state and federal water quality standards, including regulations for PFAS. • Description: The project is envisioned to include new groundwater well(s) that are tied to Zone 7’s water supply system; an increase in capacity of Zone 7’s existing Hopyard Treatment Facility to treat groundwater from the new well(s); new pipelines to tie the new well(s) to the Hopyard Treatment Facility and Zone 7’s transmission system; and delivery of the City’s GPQ by Zone 7 through Zone 7’s transmission system to City turnouts. Additional improvements to the City’s distribution system will be required to receive its GPQ from turnouts as opposed to directly from City-operated wells. The City will evaluate and construct these improvements outside of the joint activities with Zone 7. • Implementation: The project will be broken into three phases. Phase I evaluates the feasibility and provides a basis for design. The target completion date for Phase I is Spring 2025. If the project is determined to be feasible, then the governing bodies of both parties will be required to provide authorization to proceed into Phase II and III. Phase II involves designing and constructing the project according to the basis of the design developed in Phase I. The target completion date for Phase II is the end of 2028. Phase III is for the O&M of the project. This phase would start after completion of Phase II and when required permits to operate are in place. • Roles: Zone 7 will be the lead agency in the project’s evaluation, permitting, design, construction, and O&M. The City will support Zone 7 by providing necessary land rights, participating in the project team, managing community outreach within the City, and sharing its fair share of costs. Zone 7 is scheduled to seek Zone 7’s Board of Directors approval at its July 17, 2024, Board Meeting. DISCUSSION A recommended agreement between the City and Zone 7 to perform Phase I of the project is provided as Attachment 1. Below is a summary of the agreement terms: • Scope of Work: The scope of work includes wells siting to identify the top three Page 169 of 248