To: Board of Directors, Sonoma County Water Agency and Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Sonoma County Water Agency and Permit and Resource Management Department
Staff Name and Phone Number: Ann DuBay, 524-8378 Marcus Trotta, 547-1978 Tennis Wick, 565-1925
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Services for Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Amended Agreements for Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
A) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager to execute the Third Amended Agreement for Grant Application and Management Services, Outreach and Communication Services, and Technical Services Related to Sustainable Groundwater Management Act with Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency to provide technical, outreach, and grant administration services for a new not-to-exceed agreement total of $2,206,500 and no change to end date of June 30, 2022.
B) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager to execute the Third Amended Agreement to Grant Application and Management Services, Outreach and Communication Services, and Technical Services Related to Sustainable Groundwater Management Act with the Petaluma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency to provide technical, outreach, and grant administration services for a new not-to-exceed agreement total of $2,191,500 and no change to end date of June 30, 2022.
C) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager to execute the Third Amended Agreement to Provide Grant Application and Management Services, Outreach and Communication Services, and Technical Services Related to Sustainable Groundwater Management Act with the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency to provide technical, outreach, and grant administration services for a new not-to-exceed agreement total of $2,291,500 and no change to end date of June 30, 2022.
Sub consultant Services Agreements
D) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager and County of Sonoma Permit and Resource Management Department’s Director to execute an agreement for management of groundwater information from January 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022, in the not-to-exceed amount of $345,000. Up to $150,000 of the agreement amount may be used to reimburse Permit Sonoma for grant-reimbursable time spent on this project since January 1, 2020.
E) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager to execute an agreement with GEI Consultants Inc. for groundwater monitoring well engineering and design from February 22, 2021, through June 30, 2022, in the not-to-exceed amount of $500,000.
F) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager to execute an agreement with Ramboll US Consulting, Inc., for electromagnetic groundwater mapping services through June 30, 2022, in the not-to-exceed amount of $70,000.
G) Authorize Sonoma County Water Agency’s General Manager to amend existing sub consultant agreements with Errol L. Montgomery & Associates (Agreement for Support Regarding Water Budget and Computer Modeling for Groundwater Sustainability Plans) and Parker Groundwater Technology, Innovation, Management, Inc. (Agreement for General Consultation for Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development) funded through The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 - Proposition 1 (Proposition 1) provided the cumulative agreement costs do not exceed $1,100,000.
H) Adopt a Resolution Authorizing Adjustment to the Board Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 for the Water Agency General Fund in the amount of $991,800 for Services for the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies.
(4/5th Vote Required)
end
Executive Summary:
In compliance with state law, three Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (Groundwater Sustainability Agencies) were created in June 2017. This item would authorize Sonoma Water County Water Agency (Sonoma Water) to continue to provide technical, outreach, and grant administration services for Sonoma Valley, Petaluma Valley, and Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agencies. Additional agreements will also be negotiated and executed with sub consultants, including County of Sonoma Permit and Resource Management Department (Permit Sonoma) to provide Sonoma Water with information management services and hydrogeologic technical support related to development of the groundwater sustainability plans under the amended agreements with the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies. These activities will be funded by $1 million grants awarded to each agency (for a total of $3 million countywide) through the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 - Proposition 68. In addition, this item would authorize amendments to existing consulting agreements previously authorized by Board action on December 4, 2018, and funded by prior $1 million grants awarded to each Groundwater Sustainability Agency through Proposition 1.
Discussion:
HISTORY OF ITEM/BACKGROUND
On April 25, 2017, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (County) and Sonoma Water Board of Directors authorized joint powers agreements for the formation of the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies. Staff from the eligible agencies, as defined by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Act), cooperated to develop a governance structure for these agencies. Each of the three basins have a separate Groundwater Sustainability Agency with a board made up of elected or appointed board members from the eligible agencies.
The Groundwater Sustainability Agencies are tasked with assessing the conditions in their basins and adopting locally-based groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022. Staffing for the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies was established through agreements with member entities or third parties. On April 25, 2017, the Sonoma Water Board of Directors approved one-year agreements for Sonoma Water to provide technical, monitoring, outreach, and grant administration services to the three Groundwater Sustainability Agencies.
In June 2018, all three Groundwater Sustainability Agency boards approved a no-cost extension of these agreements with Sonoma Water through October 31, 2018. The agreements were further amended to reflect the services associated with the receipt of $1 million grants in each basin (a total of $3 million for all three basins) received from California Department of Water Resource’s Sustainable Groundwater Planning Grant Program for Groundwater Sustainability Plans and Projects (The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 - Proposition 1) and to extend the term through June 30, 2022. Sonoma Water’s Board approved the amended agreements with the three GSAs in December 2018.
In March 2020, the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies were awarded an additional $1 million each through the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coast Protections and outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 (Proposition 68). The grant agreements between California Department of Water Resources and the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies were executed as amendments to the original Proposition 1 funded agreements in May 2020. The amended grant agreements anticipate Sonoma Water performing the technical and outreach work for the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies.
SERVICES TO BE PERFORMED BY SONOMA WATER
Technical, Outreach, and Grant Management Services Amended Agreements
Under these amended service agreements, Sonoma Water will continue to provide technical services, grant management, and outreach support and other services required to comply with state program and grant requirements for the groundwater basins. The majority of the scope and costs included in the proposed agreements will be funded through grant agreements with the California Department of Water Resources (via the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 - Proposition 68) totaling $3 million ($1 million in each basin), with remaining costs paid by the Petaluma Valley, Santa Rosa Plain, and Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agencies. The services to be included in the proposed amended agreements are related to groundwater sustainability plan development and monitoring in the three basins. The scope of services will be provided by a combination of Sonoma Water staff and sub consultants to be retained by Sonoma Water under the amended agreements, as described below. Additionally, services for construction of multilevel monitoring wells will be secured through a public bidding process and will be brought to the Board for approval at a later date.
The proposed amended agreements include two options for Sonoma Water to extend the amended agreements for a period of one year each by providing written notice to the other party thirty days in advance of the expiration date of the amended agreement and of the first extension option.
New Sub consultant Service Agreements
The Groundwater Sustainability Plans must be submitted by January 31, 2022, and the Proposition 68 grant tasks must be completed by April 30, 2022. In order to complete the scope of services included in the amended agreements with the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies within the timeframes required for compliance with both the Act and the grant agreements, Sonoma Water plans to retain sub consultants for specific services under the amended agreements. To meet this tight timeline, this item authorizes Sonoma Water’s General Manager to sign the agreements with the sub consultants for the following services:
Monitoring Network Enhancement:
1. Planning, design, and construction support services for the construction of 12 multi-level monitoring wells (four in each basin) in areas where data gaps exist. The wells will provide information on important features such as fault zones, basin boundaries, and/or proximity to areas of substantial groundwater pumping. Pending Board approval, the planning, design, and oversite of well installation and development will be conducted by GEI Consultants Inc. (GEI)
2. In Sonoma Valley and Petaluma Valley, conduct ground-based geophysical transects to test the feasibility of geophysical technology to map and monitor the distribution of brackish or saline groundwater in the southern portions of the basins. This task would be performed by Ramboll US Consulting, Inc., (Ramboll) which is doing similar work in groundwater basins statewide.
Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development
1. Assess previous water demand estimates for rural groundwater users (including both rural residential and agricultural water uses) and evaluate different methods for estimating rural groundwater demands. Methodologies will include evaluation of existing reported groundwater uses from public water supply systems located within the Basins/Sub basins for potential relevancy/correlation with similar unreported rural uses, use of data from the County’s parcel database, and the use of remote sensing technologies and aerial imagery. This work would be conducted by Permit Sonoma.
2. Improve the collection, compilation, and management of groundwater information by Permit Sonoma. Improvements include modifications to Permit Sonoma’s well permitting process and database, updates to Permit Sonoma’s existing Groundwater Monitoring Program, improvements to datasets for parcel-specific water supply and water use attributes, and development of protocols and tools to support a Groundwater User Information Data Exchange (GUIDE) program. The grant allows for reimbursements of costs starting on January 1, 2020, so this agreement will allow for Permit Sonoma to be reimbursed up to $150,000 of the total $345,000 contract amount for time spent on Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development since January 1, 2020.
The cost of services for each sub consultant agreement will be reimbursed to Sonoma Water by the Petaluma Valley, Santa Rosa Plain, and Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agencies.
The proposed agreements include two options for Sonoma Water to extend the agreements for a period of one year each by providing written notice to the other party thirty days in advance of the expiration date of the agreement and of the first extension option.
Existing Sub consultant Service Agreements
On December 4, 2018, Sonoma Water’s Board authorized Sonoma Water to negotiate and execute agreements and amendments with sub consultants to provide hydrogeologic services related to groundwater sustainability plan development and funded by the groundwater sustainability agencies through Proposition 1. The authorization limited the cumulative costs for sub consultant agreements funded by Proposition 1 to $850,000. Sonoma Water subsequently negotiated and executed sub consultant agreements and amendments funded through Proposition 1 with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Parker Groundwater Technology, Innovation, Management, Inc., (Parker) and Errol L. Montgomery & Associates (Montgomery) totaling $48,232, $109,000 and $692,313, respectively, and cumulatively totaling $849,575.
In order to complete development of the groundwater sustainability plans by the State-mandated deadline, additional support from Parker and Montgomery will be needed for drafting sections of the plans and computer modeling services. The costs for these additional services will continue to be funded by the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies through remaining Proposition 1 budget and are estimated to total $50,000 for Parker and $200,000 for Montgomery, resulting in a cumulative total cost for sub consultant services of approximately $1,100,000 under Proposition 1.
SELECTION PROCESS FOR NEW SUBCONSULTANT AGREEMENTS
Sub consultants retained for services were selected through Sonoma Water's competitive selection process. On March 28, 2018, Sonoma Water issued a Request for Statements of Qualifications for providing hydrogeological services to assist in the development of groundwater sustainability plans and the performance of hydrogeologic studies and related projects. The Request for Statements of Qualifications was also posted on the Sonoma Water and County of Sonoma Purchasing Department websites. Twenty-five firms submitted Statements of Qualifications. The following criteria were used to evaluate each firm: thoroughness of the Statement of Qualifications, professional qualifications and demonstrated ability to perform the work, and exceptions to standard terms in the sample agreement. Based on the evaluations, each of the following twenty-five respondents met the minimum qualifications and are included on the list of qualified consultants:
1. Amee Foster Wheeler, Environment and Infrastructure, Inc., Petaluma, CA
2. APTIM Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc., Sacramento, CA
3. Aquilogic, Costa Mesa, CA
4. Balance Hydrologies, Inc., Berkeley, CA
5. Dudek, Sacramento, CA
6. GEI Consultants Inc., Cordova, CA
7. Geoscience Support Services, Inc., La Verne, CA
8. GeoSystems Analysis, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA
9. GHD, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA
10. Hurvitz Environmental Services, Inc., Sebastopol, CA
11. INTERA, Inc., Torrance, CA
12. Kleinfelder, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA
13. Larry Walker Associates, Davis, CA
14. Luhdorff & Scalmanini, Consulting Engineers, Woodland, CA
15. Lytle Water Solutions, LLC, Highlands Ranch, CO
16. Montgomery & Associates (formerly HydroMetrics), Paso Robles, CA
17. O'Connor Environmental, Inc., Healdsburg, CA
18. Parker Groundwater, Sacramento, CA
19. PES Environmental, Inc., Novato, CA
20. Pueblo Water Resources, Inc., Ventura, CA
21. Ramboll US Consulting, Inc., Emeryville, CA
22. Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley, CA
23. Todd Groundwater, Alameda, CA
24. Wildermuth Environmental, Inc., Lake Forest, CA
25. Woodard & Curran, Walnut Creek, CA
Proposals for the above-described subconsultant services were solicited in consultation with Groundwater Sustainability Agency member staff through a subset of the firms listed above based on specific qualifications provided in the Statements of Qualifications.
GEI was selected for groundwater monitoring well engineering and design because GEI has considerable experience in this field, including managing recent monitoring well installation projects for other public agencies in California. GEI has the specialized staff needed for preparation of technical specifications and design documents, and for oversight of the drilling and construction activities.
Ramboll was selected to conduct geophysical studies because Ramboll has developed specialized methods and technology which Ramboll is using in similar groundwater basins in California to help assess seawater intrusion. Ramboll has unique expertise and experience in this field.
As the department that issues well construction permits countywide and that administers land use zoning for the County, Permit Sonoma has developed and maintains databases that include both well records and land-uses. This information places the department in a unique position to provide services to the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, which view Permit Sonoma as a key partner in implementing SGMA.
Sonoma Water may seek to amend or enter into subsequent agreement(s) with Board approval if required, relying upon this competitive selection process, after the preliminary or initial work is completed.
Prior Board Actions:
12/04/2018: Authorized the General Manager of Sonoma Water to enter into agreements with Sustainability Agencies to provide technical, outreach, and grant-writing services, and to negotiate and execute agreements with subconsultants for hydrogeologic support services.
04/25/2017: Approved the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies and authorized the General Manager of Sonoma Water to enter into agreements with each Sustainability Agency to provide technical, outreach, and grant-writing services.
Fiscal Summary
Expenditures |
FY 20-21 Adopted |
FY21-22 Projected |
FY 22-23 Projected |
Budgeted Expenses |
1,100,000 |
2,480,500 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
991,800 |
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$2,091,800 |
$2,480,500 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
930,500 |
|
State/Federal |
1,550,000 |
1,450,000 |
|
Fees/Other |
50,000 |
100,000 |
|
Use of Fund Balance |
491,800 |
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$2,091,800 |
$2,480,500 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Budgeted amount of $1,100,000 is available from FY 2020/2021 appropriations for the Sonoma Water General Fund. With Board approval of the attached Resolution, appropriations of $500,000 in state grant revenue and $491,800 from fund balance will be made in Sonoma Water’s General Fund, which is funded by property taxes. Additional appropriations of $991,800 are required to process this expense. A budgetary resolution has been submitted with this item.
Offsetting revenue in the amount of $1,550,000 from a Proposition 68 grant to fund subconsultant services agreements (Permit Sonoma for $345,000, GEI for $500,000, and Ramboll for $70,000) and Sonoma Water support for grant application and management services, outreach and communication services, and technical services ($635,000). Offsetting revenue from the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency, Petaluma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency, and Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency for administrative services totaling $50,000.
FY 2021/2022 appropriations will be budgeted in that fiscal year.
Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Attachment 1: Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None