Kaiser to pay for Petaluma recycled water pipes

Kaiser Permanente will pay most of the cost to bring Petaluma’s recycled water irrigation system to its Lakeville Highway campus, an unprecedented public-private project.|

Kaiser Permanente will pay most of the cost to bring Petaluma’s recycled water irrigation system to its Lakeville Highway campus, an unprecedented public-private project that comes as the city makes a broader push to expand the drought-friendly technology.

The health care provider will pay two-thirds of the estimated $525,000 cost to bring the so-called “purple pipe” infrastructure to the Oakmead Business Park, where its medical offices are located. The pipeline delivers highly treated wastewater from Petaluma’s Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility, which can be used for irrigation.

A handful of private properties in and around Petaluma already use the treatment plant’s recycled water for irrigation, but do so as a result of a city-initiated agreement. Kaiser is the first private entity to solicit the city on its own accord, said Leah Walker, environmental services manager for the city of Petaluma.

“This is the first time that we’ve had someone in the urban area approach us and say, ‘We want recycled water coming to us,’” Walker said. “We said that wasn’t really in our plan right now, and they said, ‘What would it take?’”

Anticipated to wrap up in September, the project will allow Kaiser to switch from irrigating its grounds with drinkable water. Current costs for recycled water are about half that of potable water in Petaluma, meaning that Kaiser will save about $13,000 per year on its irrigation bill.

Kaiser’s capital projects team manager for Sonoma and Marin counties, Jodie Clay, said the project was part of a broader push by the health care provider to improve energy and water efficiency at its facilities.

The project at Petaluma fits nicely with our conservation goals for our campus there, and allows us to further the community goals of reducing domestic water use as well. Our philosophy is that a healthy environment helps the whole community, and we are proud to do our part,” said Clay, in an email.

The 2,250-foot-long pipeline extension will be able to serve up to six other private property owners in the area in addition to Kaiser, with the potential to replace up to 8.9 million gallons of drinkable water used for irrigation every year, according to information from the city.

Petaluma and many other cities in California have been pushing for recycled water use as a matter of policy, but the practice also came into the spotlight in a new way in recent years as California grappled with the impact of a multi-year drought. Recycled water sidestepped mandatory limits on watering with potable sources, allowing parks, golf courses, school campuses and other areas served by purple pipe to irrigate with relative impunity.

Petaluma’s system currently serves areas including Casa Grande High School, Adobe Creek Golf Course, Wiseman Park, the Petaluma Municipal Airport, Rooster Run Golf Course and Prince Park. Around 20 million gallons of highly treated wastewater go toward irrigation in Petaluma, offsetting that same amount in potable water use.

An expansion to the system planned in 2017 will extend the pipeline to Sonoma Mountain Road to serve areas including the Santa Rosa Junior College Petaluma Campus and Corona Creek Elementary School.

Both the Kaiser extension and the planned Sonoma Mountain extension are considered eligible for funding from a $7.6 billion bond for water projects that state voters approved in 2014. Walker said the city will be seeking that funding as a way to possibly offset its costs, but that the monetary reserves of the Ellis Creek operation were sufficient in the meantime to embark on the Kaiser project.

Credited with working to facilitate the agreement with Kaiser, Petaluma City Councilman Mike Healy lauded the project.

“I think it’s a great win-win for the community, and for Kaiser,” he said.

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @Eric_Reports.)

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