SAN DIEGO OFFERS $33M FOR WATER RECYCLING PIPELINE DEAL

San Diego’s top brass offered on Thursday to pony up more than $33 million to resolve a hotly disputed pipeline deal between the city and East County concerning two large water recycling projects.

The move comes as the parties inch closer to what could become a protracted legal battle, with serious implications for the East County Advanced Water Purification Project and the city’s massive $5 billion Pure Water sewage recycling venture.

The so-called brine line would connect the envisioned $950 million East County recycling project to San Diego’s primary wastewater system, bypassing the Pure Water system, now under construction.

The city — which sought the eight-mile line to avoid possible contamination issues with its recycling project — had agreed last year to fund the entire pipeline, estimated to cost between $35 million and $40 million. Then officials backpedaled on the deal, arguing that its original plan to fund the pipeline with sewer rate increases would violate Prop. 218, a state law that prohibits raising water or sewer rates for services not directly benefiting customers.

Officials with the East County water recycling project said the city was trying to pressure them into picking up the tab for the pipeline. As leverage, they said the city was refusing to transfer ownership of a pump station needed to complete their project, which would provide up to 30 percent of East County’s drinking-water supply by 2026.

“I’m incredibly disappointed in this whole thing,” said Allen Carlisle, CEO and general manager of Padre Dam Municipal Water District and administrator for the East County recycling project. “They’re attempting to shift the responsibility for these assets that they agreed to fund to half a million East County residents. It’s just simply not right.”

On Thursday, the governing board for the East County project voted unanimously to authorize taking the East Mission Gorge Pump Station in Santee by eminent domain. The project’s agency would still need to file legal paperwork to pursue that option.

East County officials said ownership of the pump station is all they need to proceed and have questioned whether discharge from their recycling project would have any impact on Pure Water, which is expected to provide more than 40 percent of the city’s water supply by 2035.

But during the public hearing, San Diego ostensibly offered a way out. The city’s chief operating officer, Jay Goldstone, told the three-person board that Mayor Todd Gloria was now willing to pay for the lion’s share of the pipeline. He said they’ve worked out a way to fund the line that doesn’t violate state law using a separate water fund.

“I’m speaking on behalf of the mayor, and so yes, where we are right now is what staff is willing to recommend to the City Council,” Goldstone explained to the board. “I would not envision any problems.”

The two parties signaled a willingness to thrash out the details of a funding strategy for the pipeline in coming days. If a deal cannot be reached and East County moves forward with its attempts to take the pump station, the city has signaled that it will fight the move in court.