NEWPORT BEACH : City Leases School Land to Build Wells
The City Council this week approved a lease agreement with the Fountain Valley School District for a piece of land at an elementary school campus to be used by the city to build two water wells.
The 10-year lease, which can be extended to a 100-year term, will allow the city of Newport Beach to build two wells to tap into the underground aquifers, said Jeff Staneart, utilities director for the city. The city will pay $22,125 annually for use of the site at Hisamatsu Tamura Elementary School.
The agreement was approved 6-0 by the City Council on Monday. Council member John Hedges was absent.
Currently, Newport Beach buys all of its water from the Metropolitan Water District, which, in turn, imports its supply from the Colorado River and the state water project, Staneart said.
This is all part of a larger ground-water development project to build a total of four wells on two sites to be operational by 1995. It will save the city an estimated $2 million annually.
Staneart said it costs about $1 million to build each well and lay the piping to connect it to the city’s existing water system.
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