Sutter Pointe water weighed

State utility officials on Wednesday laid out Golden State Water's plans to build the water system for the master-planned town envisioned for south Sutter County.

The San Dimas-based water company hopes to win approval for the plan from the state Public Utilities Commission. Golden State Water applied to the commission in June to create a water service district for Sutter Pointe.

At a forum in Yuba City, project manager Andrew Barnsdale outlined the plan, which would supply the future city using both groundwater and surface water from the Sacramento River.

Sutter Pointe, launched by voters' approval of Measure M in 2004, is envisioned to include retail and industrial zones as well as up to 17,000 homes if fully built out.

The first phase of the water project would involve building a treatment plant, storage tank, pipes and nine wells producing 1,800 gallons a minute, according to Barnsdale.

Plans for new wells drew a caution from Donald Kessel, who told the company to be wary of high groundwater arsenic levels like those that plagued Yuba City's old Hillcrest Water District. That area is in the middle of a conversion to the city's surface water network.

"That has to be looked at very carefully," said Kessel, a resident of the Hillcrest area. "It's cost us over ($18 million) to bring surface water to the area, and that's a lot for 4,000 (households) to pay for."

Arsenic removal already have been built into Golden State Water's cost estimates, said Roland Tanner, a company vice president, who said the network would cost about $487 million if Sutter Pointe grows to its maximum size.

The commission is slated to prepare draft and final environmental impact reports on the water system, and an administrative judge must approve the water rates, before the agency's five-member board can vote on the plan. Public comment on the draft environmental report is open through Feb. 12.