“It is challenging to educate the public that there are infrastructure and pollution issues associated with stormwater.”


– Matt Fabry,


San Mateo Countywide Water Pollu tion


Prevention Program


“It is challenging to educate the public that there are infrastructure and pollution issues associated with stormwater,” said Matt Fabry with the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollu- tion Prevention Program at the PPIC conference. “Local flooding sells better and infrastructure needs probably ex- ceed pollution needs, but perhaps with thoughtful use of green infrastructure approaches, we can start addressing both simultaneously and hopefully more cost-effectively than separately.” Parcel-based fees for stormwater (or special taxes) and flood management exist in Burlingame, Corte Madera, Ferndale, Palo Alto, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Clemente, Santa Clarita, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica.


Paying for the Delta Fix The state for several years has been laying the groundwork for the BDCP, including allocating the costs between the public and water contractors. According to legislative sources, the full scope of potential financial expo- sure for the public, including ratepay- ers, is unclear. The BDCP is centered on a Natural Communities Conserva- tion Plan (NCCP), which is prepared by one or more local agencies with land use jurisdiction to provide for orderly development in undeveloped areas.


A NCCP identifies those areas where development should occur and those areas where preservation is most advantageous for all of the imperiled species listed as covered by the plan. Fees on the development are used to implement the preservation actions and both sets of activities are supposed to stay roughly proportional.


NCCPs are used to avoid piece- meal habitat preservation and to provide Endangered Species Act assur- ances to participants, in the BDCP’s case, water contractors as it would provide a permit to operate the state and federal project export pumps. If the requirements of the NCCP are met, then no further money, water or land can be required of them. In addition, the greater conservation standard of an NCCP means that public funds, including state or federal funds, can also be invested. But the BDCP is not being prepared by the local jurisdictions where the plan will be located. None of the five counties impacted by the plan was or is a signatory to the planning agreement. PPIC’s report notes “there has been much public discussion and debate about the affordability of the tunnels,” and that the additional water supply cost of new conveyance, based on cur- rent cost estimates, is $302 to $408 per acre-foot.


The BDCP has sparked concerns that its sheer size will steer it into cost overruns.


“If this project goes forward, it is my feeling [that] megaprojects in this state have not been managed well,” Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Oakley, told the Antioch Kiwanis Club April 15. “The [Bay Bridge] went five to six times over the price it was originally intended.”


In a February report, Financing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, the state’s Legislative Analyst Office said the BDCP’s various cost assumptions for the tunnels, project management and its assumption of benefits and the costs of alternatives “appear reasonable,” though “certain cost assumptions could be improved.”


8 Western Water


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15