DSRSD Receives $1.13 Million Recycled Water Grant

By Sue Stephenson

Dublin San Ramon Services District received a $1.13 million grant for the Central Dublin Recycled Water project from the California Department of Water Resources Proposition 84 Integrated Regional Water Management Implementation Grant Program.

The $4.6 million project will bring recycled water to irrigate Dublin’s oldest neighborhoods, providing a rationing-resistant water supply for schools, parks, and other valuable public landscaping.

New distribution pipelines in Central Dublin will connect to existing recycled water infrastructure that already serves other parts of the city.

The project will reduce potable water demand, as well as the volume of treated wastewater discharged to the San Francisco Bay, by more than 70 million gallons per year (approximately 215 acre feet). Expected to be shovel-ready in the summer of 2012, construction could support 91 to 138 jobs.

The $1.13 million state grant funds almost 25 percent of the total cost of the project. The District is currently applying for a federal grant to cover another 25 percent, and the remaining cost of the project will be paid by the District’s Water Replacement Fund (from both ratepayers and developers).

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation funded the project’s feasibility study through a $253,400 WaterSmart Grant, received August 1, 2011.

This grant is one of 18 that DWR awarded to 13 members of the San Francisco Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA), for a total of $30,093,592. BACWA’s members are public utilities that collect and treat wastewater in the nine counties that surround the San Francisco Bay.

“BACWA provides an effective regional voice for the clean water agencies who are working together to protect the bay,” said the DSRSD Project Manager and Principal Engineer Rhodora Biagtan. “In developing this grant proposal, we worked closely with Central San and East Bay MUD. It was a very cooperative process, and I commend the East Bay agencies for working so well together,” she said.

Working regionally on water issues is critical to receive state and federal funding. The IRWM Grant Program specifically requires integrated regional water management to ensure sustainable water uses, reliable water supplies, better water quality, environmental stewardship, efficient urban development, protection of agriculture, and a strong economy.

About DSRSD

Founded in 1953, Dublin San Ramon Services District serves 145,000 people, providing potable and recycled water service to Dublin and the Dougherty Valley area of San Ramon, wastewater collection and treatment to Dublin and south San Ramon, and wastewater treatment to Pleasanton (by contract). More information about the District can be obtained at www.dsrsd.com.