The Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency can now live up to its name as Davis officially partnered with Woodland on the Surface Water Project.

The Yolo County Elections Office posted the final results of Measure I — in which Davis constituents elected whether or not to go forward with the project — at 11:01 a.m., Wednesday.

The mail-only election ballots were due Tuesday, March 5.

The vote was close, with 54.1 percent, or 8,014, voting yes and 45.9 percent, or 6,802 voting no.

There was a decent turn out in responses, with 14,832 out of 37,643 registered voters who participated, or 39.4 percent.

“We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Davis as we work together to implement the surface water project,” said Woodland Councilman Bill Marble, who serves as the chairman of the agency. “As always, our commitment remains to deliver high quality water at the lowest possible cost and with the least impact to ratepayers.

“We will continue to aggressively pursue state and federal assistance to offset project costs as well as additional cost efficiencies and savings.”

The estimated cost to the city of Woodland is approximately $131 million, $113 million for Davis, for a total cost of around $245 million. The project is set to be complete by 2016.

The project will convert the cities” ground water to better quality surface water by siphoning it from the Sacramento River.

“Congratulations to all who have worked on this project since 1994,” wrote Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor on his Facebook page, applauding the sustainable water project and regional partnership.

“Remember that none of us would be celebrating this victory if not for the audacious actions of Jim Eagan, then director of the Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District,” replied Gary Sandy, former Woodland mayor.

Senator Lois Wolk also replied to the thread: ” … And every city council in Davis and Woodland since. In 1994 Jim Eagan came to Davis with Betsy Marchand and met with me and City Manager John Meyer as he said, ”I think we can get river water” for Woodland and Davis.”

The first construction milestone for the conversion of ground water to surface water took place in early September last year, which saw the new Regional Water Treatment Facility site, 42929 County Road 24 in Woodland, filled with compacted soil. The site, also known as “Ponds 1 and 2,” is located a half-mile east of CR-102, a quarter-mile south of Interstate 5 and directly southeast of Costco.

While water rate increases have been adopted and are in place for Woodland, that is the next step for Davis. On March 19 the Davis City Council will hold a public hearing to adopt the rate increases.

The original Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency Joint Powers Agreement was adopted in the latter part of 2009.

Woodland and Davis City Council members unanimously agreed to approve amendments to the Agreement last Tuesday to solidify changes prior to the final decision from Davis.

While supporters of the water project are cheering, not everyone is celebrating. A lawsuit filed by attorney Michael Harrington is pending, which alleges that the city of Davis has not been paying its share of the water bill.

Harrington leads the group Yolo Ratepayers for Affordable Public Utility Services.

According to Harrington, Davis officials have acknowledged not accounting for city water use, which is a violation of California”s Proposition 218.

Harrington”s group, established in early January, joined Yolo County Taxpayers Association president John Munn as plaintiffs in the suit against the city of Davis. Besides demanding a refund from the city to residents, their lawsuit alleges that the city”s proposal to increase water rates — a near-tripling over five years in order to pay for Davis” part of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency surface water project — also is in violation of Prop. 218.

That”s because Prop. 218, passed in 1996, states, “No fee or charge may be imposed for a service unless that service is actually used by, or immediately available to, the owner of the property in question.”

Follow Elizabeth Kalfsbeek at twitter.com/woodlandbeat