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C. 8

To:	Contra Costa County Flood Control District Board of Supervisors
From:	Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Date:	July 28, 2020

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Agreement to form a local partnership to develop a long-term Implementation Agreement for the Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information System.

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 07/28/2020

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Mark Boucher, (925) 313-2274
cc:	Allison Knapp, Deputy Chief Engineer Tim Jensen, Flood Control Mark Boucher, Flood Control Catherine Windham, Flood Control

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: July 28, 2020
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

As the governing body of the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (FC District), APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Chief Engineer, or designee, to execute the “Planning Agreement to form the San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Quantification Precipitation Information System Project Local Partner Agencies Committee” (Planning Agreement) with Sonoma County Water Agency, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Santa Clara Valley Water District, East Bay Municipal Utility District, East Bay Dischargers Authority, Alameda County Water District, and Alameda County Flood Control & Water Conservation District.

FISCAL IMPACT:

FC District staff time, up to $10,000 during the duration of the agreement, is covered by FC District Funds. (Project No. 7505-6F8173)

BACKGROUND:

In 2002, Senate Bill 1672 created the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Act to encourage local agencies to work cooperatively to manage local and imported water supply quality, quantity, and reliability.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

In November 2002 and November 2006, California voters passed propositions for water bonds, namely Proposition 50 and Proposition 84, respectively. These combined water bond acts provided $1,500,000,000 for IRWM project planning and implementation.

The Bay Area IRWM Planning Group consists of a consensus based decision-making group of representatives from Bay Area water resource agencies who plan, prioritize, and implement projects that are all or partially funded through IRWM grants from the State of California, Department of Water Resources (DWR). The FC District has been involved in the Bay Area IRWM Planning Group from its inception.

In 2016, the Bay Area IRWM Planning Group, represented by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, received a grant from DWR for the “San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information System” Project amounting to $19.84 million in Prop 84 grant funds. Later, Sonoma County Water Agency, now Sonoma Water, contracted with DWR and now manages the grant for the Bay Area IRWM Planning Group.

The Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information (AQPI) Project will create the AQPI System that will provide early notification of more precise rainfall location, intensity, and amounts. The AQPI Project will accomplish this by installing four (4) X-band radars and one (1) C-band radar in the region, as well as developing standard and customizable data delivery systems accessible to participating agencies. The AQPI System will allow for better situational awareness, the improved operations of combined sewer and wastewater systems, the improved operations of flood protection facilities, better management of water supply reservoirs, improved emergency response, and a myriad of other benefits to transportation and other business sectors for the entire Bay Area. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a project proponent that is heavily involved in the project, will be the first recipient of the AQPI System data, and will process and disperse the data to the Bay Area agencies as it incorporates the data into their nationwide models and forecasting systems. NOAA is working with local water resource agencies to tailor the data products to their needs.

In 2017, the FC District, in conjunction with Sonoma Water and other East Bay water resource agencies, began collaborating on the installation of an X-band radar unit in the East Bay through a separate agreement with an anticipated execution timeframe of early 2020. On March 10, 2020, the Board approved and authorized the execution of a “Cooperative Agreement to Provide Funding for Shared Temporary Deployment of Precipitation Forecasting System” with Sonoma Water and other East Bay water resource agencies.

The anticipated location of the East Bay radar is on Rocky Ridge, west of the Danville area, above Bollinger Canyon Road. Sonoma Water has been working with the leaseholder at the proposed radar site and is finalizing details of the installation. FC District staff has been a liaison between Sonoma Water and the Contra Costa County Department of Information Technology to examine possible power and data connections for the radar.

Ideal radar coverage for the Bay Area would include additional X-Band radars. Accordingly, some portions of the Bay Area have less than ideal coverage. To address the desired additional coverage and long-term needs, efforts are underway to find other funding sources to add additional X-Band radars in the region. While these efforts would provide many benefits to the AQPI System, they are currently separate projects. If these efforts are successfully implemented, they could be added to the AQPI System. Additional projects that could be brought into the AQPI System include additional X-Band radars in Santa Cruz and Marin counties and use of the radars to detect fires in the region.

This Planning Agreement formally forms a Local Partner Agencies Committee (LPAC) and does not assign future costs for implementation of the AQPI Project. A separate implementation agreement as described below (Implementation Agreement) will be developed for that purpose in the future. Any party to the Planning Agreement is not obligated to make financial contributions or participate in a future Implementation Agreement.

The Planning Agreement commits the parties to meet periodically and develop an Implementation Agreement among relevant and willing parties. The Implementation Agreement is expected to include both a cost allocation structure for installation of the C-band radar and an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Plan. The O&M Plan will consider long-term funding for operations, maintenance, refurbishment, and enhancement of the AQPI System. This separate Implementation Agreement may be amended as needed based upon LPAC membership changes, needed system updates, and/or other changes in status.

Representatives of anticipated parties to the Planning Agreement are already working together to inform others of the benefits of the AQPI System, prepare case studies to best communicate how past storm-related situations or emergencies might be better managed with an AQPI System, and garner legislative support for long-term funding of the AQPI System’s ongoing costs. The Planning Agreement will solidify the current ad-hoc structure and voice of the LPAC as it makes decisions and communicates the regional benefits of the AQPI System.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

If the Board does not approve and authorize the execution of the Planning Agreement, the FC District would not have a formal voice in the decisions made by the LPAC and would not have as much influence on the future direction of the AQPI System's operation and maintenance.