11. Plant F13
SGV refurbished Well F13A in 2008. It plans to refurbish Well F13B in 2011 due to declining efficiency that makes it more expensive to operate.
Reservoirs at the site receive water from the Sandhill Water Treatment Plant (Sandhill). The increased capacity at Sandhill, due to the Sandhill additions discussed later in this decision, means that additional water will be sent to the reservoirs. SGV plans to install a new booster pump and related equipment. SGV states that the additional booster pump capacity is necessary to transfer the resulting additional water from the reservoirs to the Highland Pressure Zone and higher elevations.7
The proposed expenditures are $215,000 in 2008, $945,000 in 2009, $300,000 in 2010 and $40,000 in 2011.
The settlement uses SGV's proposal.
11.1. Positions of Parties
Prior to the settlement, DRA recommended that these facilities be deferred and not constructed during this GRC cycle.8
COF does not oppose refurbishing the wells. COF states other improvements at Plant F13 facilities are related to Sandhill and are not needed because the upgrades to Sandhill are not needed.
FUSD recommends that Wells F13A and F13B should not be refurbished because they may not be usable due to groundwater pumping restrictions. FUSD also recommends that the new booster pumps be deferred to the next GRC cycle because they are intended to pump water to the Highland Pressure Zone to serve future growth and no growth is predicted during this GRC cycle.
SGV argues that, while the booster station will sometimes pump water from Sandhill, it will also pump water produced at Plant F10 and other wells to higher elevations in SGV's service area to meet customer demands. SGV also argues that there are no groundwater pumping restrictions that would prohibit it from using Wells F13A and F13B.
11.2. Discussion
Contrary to the representations of FUSD, the record does not demonstrate that there are groundwater pumping restrictions that would prohibit SGV from using Wells F13A and F13B. The Plant F13 reservoirs will receive additional water due to the Sandhill project which will cause the large F13 reservoir to be full most of the time. The proposed booster pumps will pump water from the F13 reservoirs to serve customers at higher elevations. Thus, the settlement amount is reasonable.
7 SGV's Fontana Division service area is divided into five pressure zones. The pressure zone boundaries are established to maintain acceptable system pressures.
8 The GRC cycle includes the test year and the years leading to the next GRC test year. The test year runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. This GRC cycle includes test year 2009/2010, and years 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.
