PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT - Request for Proposal for Water System Master Plan Update (DISREGARD SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS - NO SUBMITTAL)

THIS IS A PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT OF AN UPCOMING RFP FOR THE WATER SYSTEM MASTER PLAN UPDATE.

NO SUBMISSION AND NO PROPOSALS WILL BE ACCEPTED DURING THIS PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT PROCESS.

AN RFP FOR THE WATER SYSTEM MASTER PLAN WILL BE ISSUED IN MAY OF THIS YEAR

The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) Department is advertising a Pre-Announcement (PA) for Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Water System Master Plan Update ( WSMP, “Project”). The purpose of the PA is to provide prospective consultant bidders with experience in municipal water master planning an opportunity to meet with CPAU water engineering staff to discuss the Project to understand CPAUs needs, and for CPAU to understand prospective consultant bidders’ views on water system master planning.

The CPAU anticipates that the PA for RFP for the WSMP should be advertised for approximately six weeks. RFP is anticipated to be available for approximately three months following the closing date of this announcement. Given the typical communications blackout during an RFP process, we encourage prospective consultant bidders to take advantage of this opportunity and schedule an in-person or MS-teams meeting with CPAU water engineering staff to discuss the Project. Please contact Patrick LaBruzzo Patrick.labruzzo@paloalto.gov or (650) 566-4527 to schedule a pre-announcement process meeting. Pre-announcement meeting attendance is not mandatory, nor will participation impact a prospective consultant bidder’s opportunity to bid on the RFP.

This PA includes an overview of the City’s water system, a list of key issues, a list of key objectives for the Project, and related background and reference documents.

THERE IS NO SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT NOTICE.

Water System Overview

The CPAU owns, operates, and maintains a potable water transmission, distribution and storage system consisting of five water supply connections to San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC), seven reservoirs, seven booster pumping stations, six pressure regulating stations, seven interties, eight groundwater wells, transmission mains, distribution mains, and metered services connections in nine pressure zones. The City purchases 100% of the normal drinking water demand from SFPUC for an Average Daily Demand (ADD) of 9 million gallons per day.

All eight of the groundwater wells are located within Pressure Zone 1 and 2. Out of eight wells, seven are permitted for standby/emergency use, and one well is permitted as a production well. Under normal circumstances, none of the groundwater wells are used to meet system demands. Five of the City’s seven water reservoirs are in the foothills area of the potable water distribution system known as the Foothill Water Storage System (FWSS), serving pressure Zones 4 through 9, as shown in Figure 1. Three of the five FWSS reservoirs have been seismically retrofitted. The FWSS in this area was constructed to service newly annexed land; however, after construction of the FWSS reservoirs, the City dedicated the land to natural preservation, which resulted in lower than anticipated demands and high water age. To avoid water quality problems, the CPAU currently employs a weekly flush down/pumping program which affects overall operational efficiency and reliability of the City’s water system.

The remaining two City reservoirs are located outside of the City’s foothills area, in pressure Zones 1 and 2. The two reservoirs, along with the five SFPUC turnouts, provide potable water for customers in Pressure Zone 1, 2, and 3. The City’s potable water system includes approximately 231 miles of water transmission and distribution pipelines, and approximately 24,000 service connections.

Key Issues

• • Comprehensive evaluation of the existing water system
  • Reliability of SFPUC supply over the planning horizon
  • Reliability of local ground water and cost effectiveness of well production
  • Update to the WaterCAD hydraulic model with recent main replacements, current system demand information, and proposed new developments. Evaluation of water age in the FWSS and recommendation of storage and operational changes and system improvements
  • Evaluation of system wide and pressure zone storage capacity (average day demand, maximum day demand, peak hour demand, emergency supply, and fire flow storage)

• Review and recommendation of current utility rate studies and new development fees

• • Evaluation of water allocations to individual services and recommendation for will serve water accounting and water supply and capacity fees for new developments
  • Evaluation of sustainability and climate change
  • Assessment and potential impact of emergency contaminants and future regulations

• Identify needed improvements and recommend an adequate CIP Plan for five, 10, and 20 year projections
• Summary of alternative funding programs and recommendation of alternative funding for CIP projects

Objective

The overall objective of the Water System Master Plan is to evaluate the existing drinking water system on a 20-year time horizon, identify deficiencies, identify needed improvements, and recommend adequate CIP plan for 5-, 10-, and 20-year projections. For the supply-related tasks and evaluations, a planning horizon of 20 years will be employed. The evaluation will include water system configuration, system operation, vulnerabilities, water demands (current and future), water supply (current and alternative), hydraulic modeling, capacity, redundancy, emergency supply resiliency, and financial analysis of the proposed CIP plan.