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REGIONAL GROUNDWATER FACILITIES PROJECT <br />FEASIBILITY STUDY <br /> <br /> 22 Zone 7 Water Agency <br />December, 2025 <br /> <br />4. PROJECT ALTERNATIVES EVALUATION <br />The purpose of this section of the Study is to present a structured and rational evaluation of the identified <br />alternatives. The evaluation provides a consistent basis for comparing options against both Zone 7 and <br />City objectives, recognizing that Zone 7 requires at least 7,000 AFY of reliable production during drought <br />years, while the City’s GPQ is 3,500 AFY. The evaluation framework combines pass/fail screening for <br />minimum production and groundwater sustainability with weighted scoring across six total qualitative <br />criteria. This evaluation approach enables Zone 7 and the City to compare the relative ranking of each <br />alternative in a transparent and repeatable manner, supporting the eventual selection of a preferred <br />project that can be considered by the Zone 7 Board and City Council for advancement into Phase II design <br />and construction. The evaluation criteria and their weightings overall were confirmed by the City and Zone <br />7 following the Initial Project Alternatives Workshop held on August 18, 2025. <br />4.1. Evaluation Overview <br />The project alternatives evaluation process involved three main steps: <br />A. Applying pass/fail screening for production capacity and groundwater sustainability, <br />B. Scoring project alternatives against weighted evaluation criteria, and <br />C. Combining results into a computed project score and overall ranking that reflects the perspectives <br />of both Zone 7 and the City. <br />Eight evaluation criteria were initially proposed by LSCE during the August 18, 2025, workshop. Following <br />internal deliberation, Zone 7 and the City agreed that two criteria - Production Capacity and Groundwater <br />Basin Sustainability - should be treated as pass/fail requirements rather than weighted into a project <br />score. The remaining six criteria form the scoring framework which ensure that the specific needs and <br />shared priorities of all parties are reflected in the final project score ranking. Specific weightings for each <br />project criteria were also deliberated between the City and Zone 7, representing the varying <br />importance/priority of each evaluation criteria to each agency. <br />4.1.1. Evaluation Criteria <br />All of the considerations and factors associated with each of the specific project evaluation criteria are <br />defined in detail below, including explanations of the scoring criteria associated with each category. <br />1. Water Production Capacity – (Pass/Fail) <br />This criterion assesses whether an alternative can reliably produce the volumes needed to meet Zone 7’s <br />drought-year target of 7,000 AFY, which includes the City’s GPQ of 3,500 AFY. Zone 7’s operating policy <br />applies a 75 percent reliability factor, meaning facilities are expected to run no more than 18 hours per day <br />on average, with 24-hour operation permissible during summer months coinciding with maximum water <br />demands. Alternatives meeting these thresholds are considered to pass; those that do not are screened out. <br />2. Groundwater Basin Sustainability – (Pass/Fail) <br />Groundwater basin sustainability is evaluated with respect to the Alt GSP. Project alternatives must <br />demonstrate that they will not cause undesirable results such as chronic lowering of groundwater levels <br />or long-term degradation of water quality. Alternatives that cannot meet these requirements are