Woodland and West Sacramento will have to fight over Davis if they want it as a partner in their respective future surface water plans.

That’s because the Davis City Council decided Tuesday that the city will negotiate with each municipality on several deal points of each potential surface water project over the next two months with the hope that upon completion of those discussions, one project will emerge as the best option for Davis.

Last week, the Water Advisory Committee recommended to the council a motion with contrary direction, to adopt the Woodland-Davis project as the preferred surface water option and to offer a deal to West Sacramento for its surface water.

The idea, essentially, was to keep both options on the table.

“I think I get it, that the WAC wants us to look at both (options),” Mayor Joe Krovoza said. “(And) both are moving targets.”

The council then decided that it would base its negotiations on the additional recommendations the WAC made about what the city should ask for from Woodland and West Sacramento.

For the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency project — a scaled-back version of the original JPA project that would siphon water from the Sacramento River, treat it and pipe it into Davis and Woodland — the city will seek to gain more equitable cost-sharing from Woodland.

First, the city will negotiate to have Woodland share equally in paying for the pipeline that would transport treated water from the regional facility to each city’s boundary.

Under the current agreement between the two cities, Davis — which would have to transport its water a much longer distance than Woodland — would have to pay about $23 million, compared to Woodland’s $6 million.

Davis also will ask to change the costs to each city for the project as a whole to better reflect each city’s anticipated reliance on the treatment facility — or basically, on how much water each will use on a daily basis.

The new project proposal would serve Davis with a possible 12 million gallons of water per day, or 40 percent of the overall capacity, with 18 mgd going to Woodland (60 percent). The original proposal had Davis using 46 percent and Woodland 54 percent.

Dianna Jensen, the city’s principal civil engineer, has estimated the cost of the project at $163 million, including $46.7 million for future operation and maintenance. The actual capital cost for construction would be an estimated $116.3 million.

Herb Niederberger, the city’s general manager of utilities, development and operations, said earlier this week that Woodland has said it would be willing to discuss further cost-sharing.

For the West Sacramento alternative, where Davis would have to buy into the city’s existing intake facility on the Sacramento River and then pay annually as a wholesale customer, Davis will negotiate for a cheaper hookup fee than the $12 million city staff has projected.

The water committee suggested $6 million, or half of the original estimate.

Then, as Davis would not have an ownership stake in the West Sacramento plant and thus, less control than it would with the Woodland-Davis project, Davis will negotiate for a long-term contract with West Sacramento to ensure a clean drinking water supply.

The WAC recommended a 30-year deal with a 30-year renewal option at a fixed processing rate.

Jensen has estimated the cost of the West Sacramento alternative to Davis at about $142 million, including $44 million for future operation and maintenance. The actual capital costs would come to about $98 million.

The council also said Tuesday that before it makes its final choice between the two projects in October, the WAC should have at least one more opportunity to hear what the city was able to work out with Woodland and West Sacramento and provide input.

The negotiations must be completed by October in order to put a measure on a special ballot in March, as the council promised it would do. The council must finalize ballot language to forward to the county by Oct. 23.

“We really are kind of in a position now of knowing that we’ve got two options before us,” Krovoza said. “There may be a leaning one way or another, but until we get into the details we’re not going to know.”

While Krovoza and Councilman Brett Lee negotiate with West Sacramento and Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk and Councilwoman Rochelle Swanson host discussions with Woodland, the WAC will continue deliberating on the other two pieces of the project that must be included in the March ballot measure — the design-build-operate delivery method and the rate structure.

The WAC will discuss the DBO part of the project at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Community Chambers at City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd.

— Reach Tom Sakash at [email protected] or (530) 747-8057. Follow him on Twitter @TomSakash

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