Riverside City Council Talks Funding For New Water Treatment Facilities

The Riverside City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to set aside lawsuit settlement funds and further discuss new monthly water bill fees to pay for the construction and yearly maintenance cost of three new water treatment facilities. Councilmember Chuck Conder was absent.

The decision came as city officials work to decrease the amount of synthetic chemicals in the city’s water supply to comply with looming federal regulations. 

“The city has been doing everything we can to deal with this and hopefully try to scale this project completion time and push it out a little bit to give us more time to do this rate increase,” Councilmember Steven Robillard said at the October 28 meeting. “I think it is important that we do treat for these chemicals, but the cost of doing so is so high, and hopefully we get as much assistance as possible to offset those costs.”

The synthetic chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” or by the acronym PFAS. They have been widely used in everyday products, like cookware, since the chemical structure makes them resistant to heat, oil and water. The chemicals have also been found in the country’s food supply, detected in people’s blood and are found in almost half of the nation’s tap water. 

The city’s water supply is no exception.

More than 60% of the city’s wells have exceeded California’s notification levels for the synthetic chemical, Robin Glenney, the city’s assistant general manager of water, told the council. 

“However, because of our system’s unique setup and blending capacity, the water we deliver to our customers remains below these notification levels,” Glenney said. “So no public notification has been required so far.”

But new federal regulations slated to take effect in 2029 — with a possible two-year extension that Glenny said could be announced next year — would lower the limit of allowable PFAS in drinking water, placing the city at risk of being above that new threshold when demand for water reaches its peak in the summer.

To comply with the regulations, the city would need to build three new treatment plants. The city has already shared design plans for the first with the state for review. 

The construction of all three facilities is estimated to cost $97 million, with a projected total annual operation and maintenance of $19 million, according to Brian Seinturier, the city’s assistant general manager of finance and administration. He added that the Riverside Public Utilities department expects to receive about $39.5 million in settlements from polluters over the next eight years, which could be used to cover some of those costs.

“If we use a combination of the settlement proceeds and bond financing to fund those three treatment plants, we reduce that financing cost by over $32 million down to $58 million,” Seinturier said. “We’ll continue to pursue settlement proceeds from responsible parties, we’re looking for federal and state grant opportunities and also there’s other revenue opportunities, including the proceeds of surplus property sales.”

To pay for the annual costs, however, the city would also need to pass the cost through to the city’s residents, incrementally adding a fee over the next five years that would increase the average monthly bill from $71 to $103 by fiscal year 2032. 

The city council is scheduled to discuss the implementation of the surcharge next summer, according to Seinturier, followed by community meetings and public comment next fall. The city plans to implement the monthly fee by July 2027. 

“It’s going to require a tremendous amount of community outreach,” Councilmember Jim Perry said at the meeting. “We’re already accused of nickel-and-diming all of our residents and I think it’s probably going to be an ugly conversation.”