Agendas and Minutes

City Council (View All)

Study Session

Agenda
Monday, June 14, 2010

MINUTES FOR CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION

Monday, June 14, 2010

Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way

 

 

Mayor Stromberg called the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m. in the Siskiyou Room.

 

Councilor Silbiger, Voisin, Chapman, Lemhouse and Jackson were present.  Councilor Navickas arrived at 5:51 p.m.   

 

1.     Look Ahead Review

City Administrator Martha Bennett reviewed the items on the Council Look Ahead.

 

2.     Does the Council have any questions about the draft of the City Council Values and Vision Statement that will be proposed for adoption on June 29, 2010?  

City Administrator Martha Bennett explained Council Values received overwhelming public support, and described the challenges with some of the negative comments received from public input regarding Free Expression, Independence and Personal Well Being.  For Council Vision Statements, she removed adjectives per public request, replaced language for the Economic Development Strategy Vision and kept the overall focus positive.

 

3.   Does the Council have questions about the Water Conservation and Reuse Study and Comprehensive Water Master Plan presentation aimed at providing a project update, program overview and next steps?  

Public Works Director Mike Faught noted a member correction to the Ashland Water Advisory Committee (AWAC) that replaced Vanya Sloan with Don Morris.  He introduced Project Manager David Kraska from Carollo Engineers and Richard Whitley from The Real Life Training Group and Chair of the AWAC.

 

Mr. Kraska explained the approach the City was taking for the project was unique.  The typical approach is Decide, Announce and Defend and can lose credibility.  One of the goals for the Water Master Plan was starting the public process early and understanding the goals of the community.

 

He provided a presentation that included:

Water Conservation & Reuse Study (WCRS) & Comprehensive Water Master Plan (CWMP)

·         Project Overview:

a.       Ashland’s water supply systems, its challenges, and identified options

b.       Scope and schedule of the study

·         Community Involvement:

a.       Explain how the public will be involved

b.       Discuss the concept and progress on Level of Service (LOS) Goals

·         Ashland Water Supply System – Arial of System

·         Raw water from both sources is treated at the Ashland WTP

·         Potable water flows from the WTP to the distribution system

·         The Ashland Creek/Reeder Reservoir supply is vulnerable

·         Reeder Reservoir is vulnerable to drought

a.       Led to voluntary and mandatory curtailments in 2009

b.       May be vulnerable to climate change

·         TID supply adds reliability but is still dependent on the same WTP

1.       When the WTP is not in service, there is not potable supply to the City

2.       WTP is vulnerable to landslides, floods, forest fires

3.       In 1997, mudslide led to a water shortage for 2 weeks

4.       In 1974, it was out for around a month

·         In the future, these challenges may become worse

1.       Climate change

2.       Future demands

3.       Aging infrastructure

4.       More stringent environmental standards

·         Comprehensive Study

·         Two Plans are being prepared to provide the comprehensive study

1.       Comprehensive Water Master Plan (CWMP) and the Water Conservation and reuse Study (WCRS)

a.       Demand projections to 2058

b.       Climate change

c.       Security and redundancy

d.       Watershed and stream health

e.       Conservation and reuse

f.        Evaluate supply alternatives, defining the:

-Capacity and cost of development

-Environmental, economic, political, and public perception issues

-Climate change impacts

·         The Comprehensive Water master Plan will implement the preferred solutions

·         This Study will consider an array of supply options

1.       Conservation

2.       Recycled Water

3.       Talent Irrigation District

4.       Increasing raw water storage

5.       Groundwater

6.       Talent Ashland Phoenix (TAP) Pipeline

7.       Second WTP

8.       Other Ideas

·         The AWAC will assist Council decision making – Organizational Chart

·         The AWAC’s Level of Service (LOS) goals will form the foundation of the water supply plan:  Water Supply Capacity, Redundancy, Reliability, Regulatory

1.       AWAC – Establish Level of Service (LOS) Goals

2.       Consultants – Identify Water Supply Alternatives that Meet the LOS Goals

3.       AWAC – Evaluate Packages According to the Criteria (Environmental, Life-cycle costs, Community impacts and values)

4.       City Council – Select AWAC’s Preferred Water Supply Plan

·         Progress Made to Date

1.       Held three AWAC meetings (one open house)

2.       Initiated selection of LOS Goals and received initial direction from the AWAC

a.       Capacity – consider 5%-15% conservation levels

Staff clarified the 5%-15% capacity was in addition to current conservation levels.  Mr. Kraska explained in traditional water master planning historical water demands are studied to determine gallons per capita per day and how it trends.  Currently the annual average water use in Ashland is approximately 154 gallons per capita per day.  During peak use, it is 174 gallons per capita per day.  Results from studying trends in water use assist in establishing additional conservation levels that are realistic.  To achieve saving water, conservation efforts need to occur during summer months. 

 

b.       Reliability – 45% curtailment

Staff confirmed the percentage was 45% normal usage at the time of curtailment during summer.    

 

c.       Redundancy – provide redundancy

Staff added ground water supply extended to Mt. Ashland, surrounding Cascades and the TID pipeline for emergency sources of water as well as researching Well Logs.

 

d.       Regulatory – meet regulations

3.       Completed initial work tasks:  Gap analysis and Demand Analysis and Projections

a.       Gap Analysis

b.       Demand analysis and projections

4.       Initiated work on the evaluation of the individual supplies

5.       Initiated valuable discussion on important topics

·         Upcoming Work Tasks

1.       Evaluate the potential capacity and cost of individual water supplies

2.       Evaluate the impact of climate change on water supplies

3.      Begin the analysis of the City’s distribution system (pipes, pump stations and reservoirs)

·         The project will be complete in early 2011 and there are many opportunities for involvement

·         Questions - From the Mayor: 

a.       How much conservation does the City want?

b.       What amounts of redundancy does the City want?

 

Staff will use the data gathered from previous studies for the Master Plan.  The current study will include climate change and Level of Service goals.  Staff explained the Master Plan would incorporate life cycle replacement for the system and the staffing required for maintenance.

 

Mr. Kraska continued with a brief presentation on the Potential Level of Service Goals - Water System Redundancy:

·         Maintain the current level of water supply risk – no readily available backup supply, potential supply outage of weeks with related risks

·         Implement redundant supply project to restore fire protection and supply for indoor water use shortly after a treatment plant outage

·         The two raw water sources provide supply redundancy – Arial  of Water Sources

·         Multiple reservoirs, pump stations and pipelines:  distribution redundancy Strawberry Reservoir, granite Street Reservoir, Crowson Reservoir, TID Creek, Alsing Reservoir

·         The single treatment plant limits overall water supply redundancy

·         The WTP is vulnerable to shutdowns from several risks

o        Earthquakes, landslides from the adjacent hillsides

o        Rising water/floods from the adjacent creek

o        Water quality changes leading to treatment disruption

·         With the treatment plant offline, only tanks supply water to the system

·         Overall, the reservoirs store enough water to meet demands for less than one day (excluding fire storage) – Supply Duration (hours) form Storage chart

·         As the tanks drain, water system pressure drops – draining the reservoirs completely can lead to a lack of protection for the potable water supply

Staff further explained that in an emergency, the City would turn off the valves to the reservoir and notify the public cease water use but the water already in the system would drain out.

 

Mr. Kraska described normal water loss through the system from leaking pipes and other means for the City was less than 10%, and not worth the expense to improve the loss.  He went on to explain that TAP water did not need to go through the WTP and in an emergency could be distributed through the system by connecting a hose to a lower elevation hydrant and using an engine driven pump to a hydrant in a higher elevation.

 

Meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,                                   

Dana Smith

Assistant to the City Recorder

 

 

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