Knowing that Fontana Water Company is NOT a City Of Fontana identity, but a private service provider that has expressed opposition to the city starting a plan to use reclaimed water for the use of irrigation on the city parks and schools, has the city decided to follow through on this water conservation method and what is the estimated saving to the community on a yearly basis?
City Manager Response:
Thank you for the question regarding reclaimed water. The short answer is yes, the City has plans on making use of its reclaimed water resources by putting those irrigation sources to use throughout the City of Fontana. Typically the savings related to the use of reclaimed water is between 25% and 40% of the cost of normal drinking water. These savings are most often in the areas of landscape district areas, so the savings achieved through these efforts will ultimately be passed on to the rate payers in the districts and to the school district that are served with the water.
Two projects are being worked on currently. The first project is a partnership between the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Cucamonga Valley Water District and the City of Fontana. When completed in 2010, this project will begin making use of reclaimed water to irrigate parks, medians, schools and landscape areas in and around the Village of Heritage. Construction of the backbone infrastructure system will be completed by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. The Cucamonga Valley Water District (CVWD) will build the extension of this system into the Village of Heritage area and the City will provide a portion of its reclaimed water to CVWD for delivery.The second of the two projects will cover the south part of Fontana. It is planned that this project and system will be developed by a partnership between the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), Fontana Water and the City of Fontana. This project will serve landscape areas, schools, parks and medians in the Southridge area of Fontana.
The City has developed a conceptual plan for this system that has received support from both IEUA and Fontana Water and we are currently negotiating a service agreement/contract with Fontana Water. The plan is for IEUA to build the backbone infrastructure for this system and the City will build the water delivery system and then contract with Fontana Water for the delivery of the water. Once the service agreement/contract is finalized, the City plans on moving forward with the technical design and construction of the system immediately. It is our hope to be able to build this system with grant and state funding dollars.
The City has also developed a master plan for the development of a reclaimed water system to serve the entire community. The challenge for the larger system is getting water into storage areas at elevations that can supply the needs of Fontana.
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