Shaping Lincoln's water future

Some city council meetings are exciting, some are boring, and some are potentially transformational. The meeting of Jan. 27 falls in the latter category, as two very important issues were brought forward for overview presentations to the city council and the community: the discussion of the Water Master Plan, and options for heavy duty trucks routing around the downtown. Today's column talks about the Water Plan, followed shortly by the re-routing options. Lincoln is forecast to grow significantly over the next few decades, with our General Plan anticipating our current 55,000 residents increasing to 110,000 by 2050. My personal opinion is that Lincoln needs to keep expanding because 1) people want to live and work in Placer County and 2) we're at the northward push from Interstate 80. I believe we need to control the future development that will inevitably come our way so as to maintain the "community feel" of our city; that is, distinct villages centered around a vibrant downtown. If we don't control our Sphere of Influence, growth still will come and we will have no say in its development. It's axiomatic that growth can't occur without adequate water and sewer capacity. Our sewer plant has the expansion potential to handle our buildout, albeit with increased costs that will be borne by new residents. The City of Lincoln receives the vast majority of its drinking water from surface sources, primarily through the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), which supplies most – if not all – of our surface water at any given time. PCWA can supplement its raw water supplies with transfers from the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) when needed. In addition, the City draws up to 10 percent of its total supply from local groundwater wells tapping the aquifer beneath our city. PCWA has assured the city it has adequate supply potential to handle our growth, and this is borne out by a region-wide study called RiverArc, which notes that PCWA's Total Customer Demand is projected at 253,416 at buildout, with a supply capability of 297,800. Currently, we get our surface water from the American, Yuba, and Bear rivers, and various tributaries and creeks in West Placer County, which is treated at the Foothill Water Treatment Plant before being sent to Lincoln. Once the water leaves PCWA's reservoirs and reaches our city limit, however, Lincoln is responsible for operating, maintaining and constructing the necessary piping, water storage and pump station infrastructure to get it to our homes and businesses. Consider: The city has 279 miles of distribution and transmission pipelines, five ground wells, three large storage tanks and 10 regulating stations. As of early 2024, we had 23,500 metered water connections, 97 percent of which are for residential users. We use an average of 9 million gallons of water each day and we need capacity to absorb 17 million gallons of water a day during peak summer demands. By 2045, if development continues as projected, we will need 19 million gallons of water daily (36 mgd at peak demand) and at buildout, this increases to 35 mgd average and 67 mgd at peak demand. These are BIG numbers! Those big numbers, however, are dwarfed by the financial requirements to manage and accommodate the existing and future infrastructure. Over the next five years, the City of Lincoln will invest nearly $10 million in essential water infrastructure improvements, including storage facilities, pumping stations, pipelines and related upgrades to maintain reliable service and replace aging assets. These non-growth-related capital needs – focused on repairing and replacing existing infrastructure rather than supporting new development – will be fully funded through existing water rates, as recent rate adjustments have strengthened the utility's financial position and enabled dedicated funding for such ongoing reinvestment. And then there are the costs of new water piping and pumping construction for all the new areas we will assumedly be adding. Going out 20 years, we will need $210 million more in water infrastructure, plus another $322 million at full buildout funded through development impact fees. These costs will be borne by the new residents and businesses in Villages 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7. The report concludes with existing and future water system improvements, and next steps which includes preparing a capital improvement plan and a water rate study. Bottom line, water master plans aren't sexy, but they are critical to ensuring the City maintains a safe, reliable, resilient and sustainable drinking water system for current residents and future generations. Richard Pearl is a Lincoln resident and retired consultant to local governments. He is also the elected city councilperson from District 4 and was elected mayor by the city council for calendar 2026. This column represents only his personal, and not elected, opinions. The goal of the column is to present issues that impact City residents in an impartial and understandable format.