Dos Palos Water Treatment Facility

Location
Dos Palos, Merced County, California

Problem
Aging water treatment infrastructure and limited financial resources often prevent small communities from maintaining water quality standards and meeting the daily demands of their residents.

Solution
RCAC provides financial assistance so that small communities can upgrade their water treatment facilities, ensuring reliable and safe water supplies.

Dos Palos is a city located in southern Merced County, California, approximately 27 miles south-southwest of Merced and five miles from state Highway 152, which connects Los Banos and Chowchilla. The city covers an area of 6.52 square miles and has a population of 5,798, according to the U.S. Decennial Census.

The City of Dos Palos Water Treatment Facility was originally constructed in 1969, drawing water from the Cross Colony Canal. Over time, the aging facility has become increasingly inadequate, with significant issues such as the need to use chlorination to comply with disinfection byproduct (DBP) limits. The facility’s aging infrastructure, including an old storage tank that fails to meet California seismic standards, and outdated electrical and mechanical systems, further exacerbate the problem.

Moreover, the facility struggles with high levels of total organic carbon (TOC) due to algae growth in the water supply, which leads to high DBP levels in the finished water. This, coupled with the facility’s inability to meet the daily water demands of its users, has resulted in frequent water quality issues.

To address these critical issues, the city of Dos Palos will replace the existing Dos Palos Water Treatment Plant with a new facility designed to meet current water quality standards. The new plant will include a pretreatment facility equipped with coagulant and powdered activated carbon feeding systems, which will effectively remove TOC from the source water, ensuring that the community receives safe drinking water.

In March 2024, the city of Dos Palos secured a loan line of credit from Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) to pay contractors and engineers based on invoices submitted to the California State Water Resources Control Board. After accounting for loan fees and interest reserves, $5,585,750 will be available for revolving cash flow, allowing the city to make timely payments while awaiting state disbursements. The project is expected to be completed by October 2025.

The financial assistance from RCAC is crucial in enabling Dos Palos to build a modern water treatment facility that meets the needs of its residents and ensures the community’s long-term access to safe drinking water.