County to issue RFPs for water quality protection programs

The County of San Diego will issue requests for proposals for three separate projects to meet runoff-related water quality requirements.

The Board of Supervisors vote March 2 authorizes the request for proposals and three subsequent contracts. The director of the county’s Department of Purchasing and Contracting was also authorized to amend the contracts as needed to reflect changes to services and funding contingent upon the approval of the director of the county’s Department of Public Works or the DPW director’s designee.

The county’s Discharge of Urban Runoff from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems permit requires water quality monitoring and an effectiveness assessment. The three contracts will be for wet weather monitoring, effectiveness assessment, and dry-weather analytical monitoring. The county will execute and manage the consultant contracts and the cost for the contracts will be shared between the County of San Diego, the 18 incorporated cities in the county, the Port of San Diego, and the San Diego Regional Airport Authority.

The wet weather monitoring contract will include urban stream bioassessment monitoring, long-term mass loading monitoring, and ambient bay, lagoon, and costal receiving water monitoring. The estimated value of that contract is $7.5 million over five years, and the County of San Diego’s share of that contract is estimated at $2,251,500.

The effectiveness assessment contract will provide a review of basic program implementation data with a focus on improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness while better defining and tracking meaningful programmatic outcomes. The consultant’s work will include reviewing inception-to-date receiving waters monitoring and assessment results and examining the relationship of program implementation to water quality. The maximum approved amount for that contract is $127,405, equating to a County of San Diego share of $38,247.

The dry-weather analytical monitoring contract will help the county detect and eliminate illegal discharges and illegal connections to county-owned stormwater conveyances. The contract will also provide analytical testing of water samples. The contract will also cover the analytical analysis of surface water samples in Rainbow Creek as part of a grant for nutrient reduction in Rainbow Creek. The estimated total cost for the dry-weather analytical monitoring contract is $469,600.