At a glance

• WHAT: Planning Commission meeting
  
  
• WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday
  
  
• WHERE: Council Chambers, City Hall, 1 Plaza Circle

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To prevent Patterson’s drinking water from vanishing, a plan to install a nonpotable water system will go to the Patterson Planning Commission on Thursday.

The system would allow lower quality water to be used for irrigating some of the city’s greenery. The phase of the project being proposed Thursday primarily focuses on western Patterson, but plans approved by the Patterson City Council have the nonpotable system being extended throughout the city.

The council has taken these actions in response to growing demand for Patterson’s groundwater caused by growth and to the increasing presence of nitrates, which lowers the water quality.

Close to 50 percent of water use in the city is for landscaping, city staff stated in a report to the commission.

Though the council has already green-lighted the project, additional approvals will be necessary prior to construction. Thursday, the commission will specifically review the installation of 12,000 feet of pipe, the building of a new well near Keystone Pacific Business Park and the reactivation of a well that had been shut down after water quality dropped below state drinking standards.

The commission will also review plans to open a transmission shop at 319 S. First St.