SAN DIEGO, CA, NOV 1, 2019 -- San Diego will create California’s first “capacity bank” for water and sewer, allowing breweries and biotech firms to cheaply buy excess water and sewer capacity from former factories.
The City Council unanimously approved the capacity bank this week, calling it an innovative idea that will create jobs and help the city avoid expensive expansions of its sewer and water infrastructure.
The council also unanimously approved a companion proposal that geographically expands and softens the qualifications for the city’s “guaranteed water” program, which ensures local firms access to water during droughts or other kinds of shortages, the Union Tribune reported.
The city will buy millions of gallons of “stranded,” excess water and sewer capacity from manufacturing businesses that those businesses had purchased when they hooked up to the city’s water and sewer system over the years.
Then the city will place that excess capacity in a “bank” and sell it at discounted rates to biotech firms, breweries and other water-dependent businesses looking to expand or open new local facilities.
The city plans to use $750,000 in former federal Enterprise Zone money as the initial capital to buy stranded capacity to start the bank. The plan is to conduct a “request for offers” to see which businesses with stranded capacity are interested in selling it.
On the guaranteed water program, the proposal would expand it beyond a few industrial areas that are now eligible and make businesses all across the city eligible.
To be eligible, businesses must demonstrate a commitment to water conservation and agree to connect to the city’s reclaimed water pipeline, where sewage is treated so it’s clean enough for agricultural and industrial uses.
The proposal would eliminate that reclaimed water requirement, primarily because the city has abandoned plans to complete the reclaimed system in favor of creating Pure Water, which will recycle all treated sewage in the city into potable drinking water.
