FOR: Water Subcommittee Meeting [May 29, 2024]
TO: Honorable Water Subcommittee Members
APPROVAL: Tanya Williams, Assistant City Manager
...Title
Request the Water Subcommittee authorize the City Manager and the City Attorney to Enter Into Negotiations for Agreement to Pursue PFAS Settlement Funds for the Baseline Feeder System. (ACTION)
...Body
BACKGROUND
The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (District) proposes a joint agreement among the City of Rialto (City), the Riverside Highland Water Company (RHWC), and the West Valley Water District (West Valley) (jointly, the Parties) to pursue a claim from the national PFAS litigation settlement fund to address potential future discoveries of PFAS contamination in the Baseline Feeder System, which provides water supplies to the Parties. We recommend that the Subcommittee authorize the City Attorney to enter into negotiations for the proposed joint agreement.
A. THE BASELINE FEEDER SYSTEM
The Baseline Feeder System (Baseline Feeder) is a facility that delivers water from the southern and central part of the San Bernardino Basin to various users. The Baseline Feeder, which was originally built in around 1990 and was extended deeper into the City between 1991 and 1992, is comprised of pipelines and related facilities. The District financed the construction of the Baseline Feeder through bonds and loans, and the other three Parties have been making annual payments to the District since July 2012 in renumeration of these bonds and loans. The City has paid about $173,000 annually in reimbursement costs, pursuant to the May 2012 Baseline Feeder System Agreement (2012 Agreement) between the Parties that formalized their respective obligations. At these rates, the City will pay off its share of the Baseline Feeder's capital reimbursement costs in July 2041. The 2012 Agreement also calculated each party's monthly costs for the water supply provided by the Baseline Feeder using calculations of annual u...
Click here for full text