Approve an application for Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) Water Conservation Fund Grant (WCFG).

ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 2023-2327 AUTHORIZING THE SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION FOR FY 2023-2024 WATER CONSERVATION GRANT FUND (WCGF) TO WATER INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE AUTHORITY (WIFA) AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO SAID APPLICATIONS, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A GRANT AGREEMENT (IF GRANT FUNDS ARE AWARDED), AND AUTHORIZING REQUIRED BUDGET TRANSFER (IF GRANT FUNDS ARE AWARDED). (Barbara Chappell, Water Services Director)

The grant request is for $3,000,000 with a 25% match required. The match will be provided through a combination of in-kind services and equipment costs to be donated by the manufacturer. There will be no financial contribution required of the city.

Historically all of the brine concentrate produced from our reverse osmosis groundwater treatment facilities has been disposed of via the city’s sewer system and passed through the Goodyear Water Reclamation Facility (GWRF). This practice poses a few challenges: 1) it takes up capacity in the GWRF that could be used for development; 2) the quality of the concentrate does not meet the city’s Pretreatment Program’s local limits; 3) the constituents in the concentrate may impact the biology and compliance status of the GWRF.

In 2019, the City completed a Brine Management Study to explore options for disposal/treatment of the concentrate. The study resulted in two paths forward:

1. Install centralized treatment of the concentrate adjacent to the GWRF where the treatment would dewater the concentrate to a zero liquid discharge and could be disposed of in a landfill. This option would be close to $100 million and have an ongoing cost of $8 million annually for operations and maintenance (O&M). A phased approach was chosen and a project created to treat only the concentrate produced at Bullard Water Campus for $60 million and an ongoing O&M budget of $5 million.

2. Collaborate with the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS) and develop an Agreement to discharge concentrate into the water reclamation supply system pipeline, which conveys discharges from the 91st Avenue Water Reclamation Facility to PVNGS, which is located on the south side of the GWRF. The city would fund infrastructure needed to mitigate impacts of the brine to their water treatment facilities and annual operation and maintenance costs to treat the brine.

In July 2020, the city entered a Memorandum of Understanding with PVNGS to study the impacts of the concentrate to the operations of the power plant. The study identified a need for future study and Agreement to better define the solution to mitigate the impacts.

On July 18, 2022, Council approved a Multi-Party Agreement Regarding Collaborative Efforts to Accept Municipal Brackish Water into the Water Reclamation Supply System Pipeline. The agreement provides for an enhanced evaporation pilot test and associated analysis using equipment from two different manufacturers, the development of designs that identify the equipment and sizing of infrastructure needed to allow Goodyear and Buckeye to deliver brackish water to PVNGS while mitigating the impacts of the introduction of the brackish water and cost estimates for purchase and installation of equipment and the construction of infrastructure improvements needed to implement the agreed upon design.

The further consideration of brine concentration to recover water have not been considered due to large capital and ongoing operational costs.

Since embarking on the latest pilot with PVNGS, brine concentration equipment has evolved and there is now a product on the market that utilizes solar to further concentrate the brine. The benefit of the new equipment is water resource recovery at a lower capital and ongoing operational cost.

The project team consists of:

• City of Goodyear – Applicant
• City of Buckeye – Co-applicant
• Arizona Public Service (PVNGS) – Host and Operations/Monitoring of Pilot
• Water Works Engineering – Engineering Services
• EcoVap – Equipment Manufacturer

The match funds will come from a combination of equipment (donated by manufacturer) and in-kind services from the partners including operations and monitoring by APS, and engineering services by Water Works Engineering.