Board Members present: Mike Dyer, Jeff Osanka, and Susie Smith. Commissioners Anderson and Bishop were excused.
Others present: Randy Berggren, Tom Buckhouse, Mel Damewood, Marty Douglass, Cristina Evonuk, Dick Helgeson, Krista Hince, Garry Kunkel,Kris Middlewood, Brenda Sirois, and Ron Wilson, members of the EWEB staff; Gary Fiske, EWEB Consultant; Moshe Imerman, member of the public; and Kim Kunkel, Minutes Recorder.
President Smith called the meeting to order.
DRAFT WATER SUPPLY PLAN
Referring to a series of overhead displays outlining EWEB's Draft Water Supply Plan, copies of which were included in the meeting agenda packet, Project Manager Brenda Sirois noted that several errors had been identified in the version of the draft provided to the Board. EWEB Senior Engineer Ron Wilson distributed to Board Members:
Ms. Sirois briefly reviewed the agenda of the presentation.
Ms. Sirois stated that EWEB staff and Water Resources Working Group (comprised of nine residential and commercial customers, two EWEB Commissioners, and two EWEB managers) have developed a Water Supply Plan for future drinking water needs. A 40-year planning horizon was selected with the understanding that although many unknowns exist beyond the 5-year planning horizon and the future could look much different than currently anticipated, it is still very important to begin planning today for the distant future. This allows the community to set into motion the necessary systems to protect and secure future water resources while considering the many competing needs for these precious resources.
Ms. Sirois said staff and the Working Group grappled with many difficult issues over a 13-month planning period. Long discussions on the trade-offs between cost, water quality, reliability levels, environmental impacts, levels of water conservation and public acceptability ensued prior to the formulation of these recommendations. Citizen input was achieved through a number of forums conducted throughout the process.
Ms. Sirois explained that EWEB's need for a Water Supply Plan is based on the following:
She said the goals of the Water Supply Plan are, as follows:
Ms. Sirois said highlights of the Water Supply Plan include collaboration between the Water Supply Plan Working Group and staff, public involvement, technical rigor, and practical solutions. She noted that staff views the Water Supply Plan as a living document that will be revisited, as needed.
Referring to a series of overhead projections, EWEB Consultant Gary Fiske presented an overview of the 1997 water demand characteristics of EWEB's service area. With regard to seasonal demand differences, Mr. Fiske explained that daily and sub-daily demands are a critical issue for EWEB. He said staff has utilized ten years of historical data to estimate daily water demands as a function of weather and temperature. He said this analysis reveals that there is not sufficient storage in the system to meet multiple peak day events above 72 MGD.
Referring to a large display map, EWEB Senior Engineer Ron Wilson presented an overview of EWEB's Water System. He explained that a current constraint on EWEB's existing system is unbalanced flows going into the distribution system during peak demand periods. He said too much water is supplied to the central service area and not enough to the southwest. Efforts to push additional water to the west side of the system cause system pressures to exceed safe limits. Mr. Wilson said this limits the amount of water that can be pumped into the system from Hayden Bridge and reduces Hayden Bridge's output capacity below its rated capacity. He said extending the 45-inch transmission main from EWEB Headquarters area to Hawkins Reservoir solves this and would increase the capacity of the distribution system to accept additional source water.
Mr. Wilson said another major constraint on the system is the small clear well at Hayden Bridge. The limited capacity of the clear well limits plant output during peak periods. Without reservoir capacity to buffer plant production, the operators at Hayden Bridge must make multiple adjustments to maximize outputs. Installing additional storage capacity would provide storage to allow the plant to operate at full production even when the distribution system cannot immediately transport all the water being produced. Later, water can be pumped from the clear well when the system can take more water. Optimization of the existing system is assumed in all of the Water Supply Plan resource strategies.
Ms. Sirois presented a brief overview of the nine EWEB water conservation options evaluated by the Working Group and presented in the Water Supply Plan. She said that after a number of work sessions with the Working Group, members selected water conservation options 4 and 5 for further analysis. These are the most aggressive options, with Option 4 focused primarily on outdoor end uses and Option 5 focusing on both indoor and outdoor end uses. Ms. Sirois said staff modified Options 4 and 5 to make two even more aggressive options (4A and 5A) which realize more water savings. She said this was accomplished by increasing the participation rates and associated costs for each program component to their highest feasible levels. At these higher participation levels, informed judgements were made of the savings that could be achieved for these two new water conservation options.
Ms. Sirois said that after further discussion with the Working Group, it was decided to carry forth two water conservation options into the next phase of work (development of water resource strategies). These two options were:
She said both options involve voluntary measures and target all customer sectors.
Following a brief overview of the steps involved in EWEB's Water Resource Strategy development, Mr. Fiske reviewed the final recommended strategy, as follows:
Mr. Fiske explained that this strategy allows EWEB to take advantage of the perceived benefits of the Hayden Bridge and deep aquifer sources. Benefits include:
Mr. Fiske noted that the recommended strategy does not specify the supply source that will be developed in the long-term. He said this is appropriate as it is neither necessary nor prudent for EWEB to commit now to a supply addition that will be needed 25 or more years from now. However, it is recommended that EWEB continue to take whatever actions are necessary to preserve all of its long-term water supply and storage options.
Mr. Fiske explained that three long-term variants of the recommended strategy are, as follows:
Under scenario 3, no additional supply would be needed through the end of the planning period.
Mr. Wilson presented a brief overview of Water Supply Plan near- and medium-term budget items, and the Water Supply Plan Action Plan time line.
Noting the similarity between the recommendations included in the Working Group's Final Report and those reflected in the Draft Water Supply Plan, President Smith inquired as to whether staff experienced any professional divergence from the Working Group's recommended strategy. Ms. Sirois responded that in general, staff concurred wholeheartedly with the Working Group's recommendations. She speculated that this was due to how closely the two groups worked. Ms. Sirois one area of divergence is that staff would recommend seasonal rates due EWEB's research which suggests that incentives resulted in additional water conservation savings. She said another area of divergence was related to the Working Group's recommendation of a dual strategy. She said a rigorous analysis of the dual strategy revealed that it did not rate as high with respect to the various planning objectives. Based solely on the technical criteria, Ms. Sirois said staff would have recommended developing ground water as the primary source in the medium-term.
Mr. Wilson stated that although an incremental expansion of Hayden Bridge is simple and less expensive, it does not address reliability concerns surrounding a catastrophic event. He said ground water, therefore, plays an important role. Mr. Fiske said he is satisfied with and supports the Working Group's recommendation of a dual option.
Referring to EWEB's increasing water demands, Vice President Osanka inquired as to Hyundai's projected water use. Mr. Helgeson responded that Hyundai's current daily demand is 1.5 million gallons; however, it will grow to approximately 2 million gallons per day as their initial phase reaches full production..
Referring to EWEB's typical daily water demand for the "north sector," Vice President Osanka urged staff to consider what might be the cause of higher-than-average consumption in that area. He said identifying the cause may assist EWEB in such matters as developing alternatives to seasonal rates. He said it may be possible to implement a voluntary program specifically targeted at the north sector constituency. Additionally, Vice President Osanka suggested that in determining which reservoirs to expand, staff consider that a reservoir in the vicinity of the north sector may be an appropriate selection.
Vice President Osanka requested additional information regarding the environmental impacts of deep aquifers. Noting that staff's analysis suggests that deep aquifers have less environmental impacts that reservoirs, Vice President Osanka requested that staff provide him with the methodology by which that determination was made. He said concerns have been raised in the Midwest regarding the consequences of tapping into deep aquifers, given their benefit as an untapped resource. Ms. Sirois assured Vice President Osanka that staff would evaluate the environmental impacts of tapping deep aquifers after it receives Board direction to move forward with an initial environmental investigation.
Mr. Fiske explained that the attribute of less environmental impact that was bestowed upon deep aquifers is based on the fact that reliance upon wells results in a decreased need to build surface reservoirs to meet emergency water needs. He said that given the environmental impacts of surface reservoirs, the fewer built, the fewer the environmental impacts. In addition, assuming that deep wells are not connected hydraulically to surface water, drawing from deep wells would not deplete surface streams. He said this assumption needs to be confirmed.
Vice President Osanka inquired as to the definition of "emergency backup." Mr. Wilson explained that the deep aquifer would be used as a backup source in the event that Hayden Bridge goes off-line, or, due to unusually hot weather, demand for water exceeds the capacity of Hayden Bridge. He said the idea would be to use the deep aquifer as an occasional backup source, as needed. Vice President Osanka expressed concern that once the deep aquifers are tapped into, even on an occasional basis, decision-makers may find it easy to do so more frequently. Mr. Fiske explained that the aquifers would initially be used for emergency backup purposes only. He said they would not be used to accommodate peaking in the near-term; however, they may be used for that purpose in the future, depending on the will of the Board.
President Smith clarified that the decision to use the deep aquifers for emergency backup only was unrelated to environmental issues. She said the decision was made based on public acceptability of utilizing a well as a backup source for drinking water. President Smith suggested that detailed information regarding the Working Group's discussion concerning environmental issues would be useful to Vice President Osanka.
Vice President Osanka inquired as to how the addition of another Hyundai-sized company would impact EWEB's water demand projections. Mr. Helgeson explained that there are provisions in EWEB's contract with Hyundai that allow the EWEB Board to determine the utility's ability to meet the water demands of the company's future phases. In addition, EWEB's rate schedule allows the utility to limit service to customers that exceed a certain level of use. Vice President Osanka suggested that the aforementioned provisions be included in the Water Supply Plan, or attached as an addendum. He said noting these provisions may both protect EWEB against future litigation and address community members' questions.
President Smith recalled that several years ago, she had suggested that EWEB develop an interim water conservation policy which requires that a new industry or classes of heavy users over a certain volume submit to EWEB a conservation plan to demonstrate its commitment to practicing economical conservation measures as a condition of receiving service from EWEB. Noting that a decision was never made with regard to this suggestion, President Smith said she remains interested in considering such a policy. Vice President Osanka suggested that such a policy could be made available to all large companies considering locating their businesses in Eugene.
Ms. Sirois inquired as to whether the Board wanted such a policy included in the Water Supply Plan as it moves forward for adoption. President Smith said that given the absence of two Commissioners, she wished to flag the issue for future discussion. She said she would like EWEB to be able to say to those citizens opposed to participating in conservation programs based on the notion that industries are not held to the same standard, that EWEB, in fact, does require industrial customers to practice conservation.
In terms of next-steps, President Smith suggested that Vice President Osanka, and Commissioners Dyer and Anderson be provided the detailed work that was completed by the Working Group. Ms. Sirois indicated that she and Mr. Wilson could arrange to meet with Commissioners Bishop and Anderson to review that evening's presentation.
President Smith requested that staff include on the agenda of an upcoming meeting time for the Board to formally accept the Working Group's Final Report. She said that given the absence of Commissioners Bishop and Anderson, she was hesitant to provide any additional direction to staff.
Commissioner Dyer agreed that staff should meet with Commissioners Bishop and Anderson. He said the Board should take action on the plan as soon as possible. Commissioner Dyer said staff should anticipate scheduling a public hearing or comment period.
Mr. Helgeson suggested that staff proceed to
The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.