Well #8 Project Description
Background / Analysis: Crestview Mutual Water was formed in March 1950. Since that time, Crestview has drilled 6 production wells. In 1985, Well #4, (located at 6 Alviso Drive) was drilled to a depth of 1,400 feet, and it quickly became the primary source of water for the district providing on average 62% of Crestview local water supply. In the spring of 2006, Crestview drilled Well #6 at 241 Crestview to a depth of 800 feet and Well #6 now produces approximately 74% of our local supply and over 55% of the company’s total supply.
Site, Neighbor and Landscape Considerations:
The site is located on Crestview Avenue (APN 152-0-380-185) within a residential neighborhood that is currently a vacant lot. The project location is within the City of Camarillo, and Crestview will be required to present a design to the City of Camarillo that will complement the neighborhood. Staff is working with our landscape architect, Lynn Johnson, to design a neighborhood-pleasing and drought-tolerant landscape that will be submitted for City approval as part of the application package that masks and hides the well house from street view.
Staff proposes to use the same Roll-Apart building design that is currently proposed for Well #7 due to the many visual, sound and design improvements that have been incorporated as a result of shareholder feedback. Additionally, the Roll-Apart building design has a proven to be low maintenance, durable and easy to operate as one has been in use at Well #6 since 2005.
A 2,000–gallon horizontal chemical storage tank, to hold 12.5% sodium hypochlorite (bleach), would be placed inside a vinyl lined, pre-cast vault that would be sized to hold 125% (2,500 gallons). Currently, Crestview receives 4,000 gallons bulk deliveries of Bleach every 4-weeks during peak operation with product being fully contained to prevent fumes, or odors as a result of off-gassing. Chemical deliveries would be incorporated into the normal delivery routine to minimize traffic disruption and/or noise. All deliveries would be during normal business hours of 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday – Thursday. The use of bleach is for disinfection of the groundwater and is required by the Department of Health Services.
An Edison 480 Volt electrical service is located on the southwest corner of Dominica Court and Crestview Ave, only 250 feet from the wellhead. An existing concrete drainage swale already exists on the east property line that drains to the barranca between La Marina and Sereno Place, thereby providing a location to discharge development water with no impacts.
Calleguas Reasons / Need for Well #8 - Disaster Contingency Study:
In 2017, Calleguas Municipal Water completed their Water Supply Alternatives Study (Study). The purpose of the Study was to identify water supply projects that would be available in the event of a catastrophic water system failure within the State Water Project, Metropolitan Water District or the Calleguas water systems, thereby leaving the entire Eastern and Central Ventura County region without a water supply such as a major earthquake in the Delta, or a collapse of the Santa Susana Tunnel. The Study identified that a locally produced well water was the most cost-efficient of identified projects to provide additional water supply in the event of an outage.
During an Emergency, Calleguas estimates they will need approximately 160 Acre-feet (Ac-ft) per day to meet water demands for the Ventura County Region for up to 6-months or approximately 29,000 Acre-feet. The Calleguas – Crestview partnership is a small but important project to Cities served.
Crestview Reasons / Need for Well #8:
Currently, each year between April and November, Crestview is solely dependent on two (2) local groundwater sources, Well #4 in Zone 3 and Well #6 in Zone 2. If either well experiences a failure during that time, Crestview would experience significant increases in production costs and/or imported water cost due to peaking charges for taking imported water during the summer season. The reason for the increased costs is Well #4, Well #6 or the future Well #7 by themselves do not have enough capacity to meet normal system demands during the summer months. Once construction is completed Crestview will own, operate and maintain the Well #8 facility.
Currently, Well #6 is the only local water supply located in Zone 2 which accounts for approximately 50% of the total system demands, requiring up to 800,000 gallons per day during peak summer demands. The ability to drop water from Zone 3 and Well #4, which is at its end of life, is restricted because the existing 10” water main on Valley Vista between Zone 3 and Zone 2 is too small to provide enough flow to meet all of Zone 2’s normal water demands, let alone meet fire flow demands.
Anticipated Method of Operation:
Thanks to large storage reservoirs, Crestview operates all of their pumping equipment during the day when electrical rates are at their lowest. Since Crestview does not have sufficient groundwater allocation to meet all of our demands, we take our State imported water from Calleguas during the winter months, and the wells are offline and in stand-by mode.
Since Well #7’s construction has been delayed, and all indications are that Well #4 is going “dry” in the near future, Crestview attempted to negotiate with Cal-American Water to wheel our Calleguas imported water into Zone #3 to replace the lost production from Well #4. Cal-American water rejected our request due to insufficient capacity to meet our normal water supply demands.
Assuming Well #4 does go dry and Well #7 is not completed, Well #6 would remain the lead operating well and Well #8 would be in lag position and allow maintenance to be completed on Well #6 when needed rather than waiting for favorable weather conditions and water system demands to decrease. Currently Well #6 produces 1,150 gallons-per-minute (gpm); Well #8 is anticipated to produce 1,300 gpm. Due to the close proximity of Well #6 and Well #8, it is estimated that a 10% - 15% reduction in well production will be realized if both wells are online at the same time due to interference and competing “cones of depression”. Another factor limiting both wells from operating at the same time is the restricted size of water mains on Crestview and Valley Vista being 10” in size and rated to only 1,250 gpm, or 5 feet per second.
Terms of the Contract:
Per the terms of the contract, Calleguas will reimburse Crestview for the cost to design, acquire right-of-way, permit, construct, own, operate, maintain and repair of the Well #8 facility and piping subject to a total cost cap of $2.1 million provided the project is completed within 5-years from date of contract signing. If Calleguas loses their supply, then Crestview is required provide at least 1,350 gpm continuously for up to 6-months (1,100 Acre-Feet) from any of our operational wells. All operational and treatment cost incurred to pump and deliver the water to Calleguas will be reimbursed. Failure to provide the water supply will result in a $315 Ac-Ft charge to Crestview for lost production. Once the emergency is over, Calleguas will return all water delivered on a 1:1 basis, free of charge.
Calleguas decided to not fund the installation of an Emergency Generator at the facility, thereby releasing Crestview from the requirement to produce if there is a power outage or if an “Act of God” prevents us from meeting all of our system demands during the Emergency.
If you would like more information, please contact the office by email at: www.crestviewwater.org or call 805-482-2001.