Sep 26, 2022 Public Utilities Board on 2022-09-26 9:00 AM

- Okay, it is nine o'clock and we do have a quorum. So I'll call to order the Public Utilities Board for the City of Denton on Monday, September 26th, 2020. Before we get started, we're gonna move the work session between presentations from the public and consent agenda. So presentations from members of the public. Does anyone in the public wish to speak? I see none, so we'll go on to the work session. Let's see, receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding one water master plan overview. Morning. - Good morning, I hope I can do this. Good morning, Public Utilities Board members. My name is Val Jambard and I'm the Water Utilities Asset Management and Infrastructure Division Manager. I know it's a long title, but my boss and I are working on that for sure. So today it's a pleasure to be able to come here and talk to you, honestly have a conversation about our one water master plan. Am I doing this, okay. All right, so this is my first time here, so I'm a little bit excited, okay? And I wore my Sunday best today, sorry. So our agenda today, we'll talk about our water supply, its treatment, the distribution system, and the collection system, the existing wastewater treatment system, as well as the existing reclaimed water system. And then I'll turn it over to our director who will introduce the concept of one water, and then talk about the components of a one water master plan. And then lastly, tell us about the next step and why it is so important. - All right, our water supply, as you can see, is supported by two large reservoirs. So the Lake Ray Robert at the north, and then Lake Louisville at the south. Now within those lakes, we have firm yields. Firm yields is the maximum capacity that is allowed to be taken from the lake during the worst of drought. So we have 19.76 MGD at Lake Ray Roberts, and we have 4.34 MGD at Lake Louisville. Now when the lake is above the conservation pool, right, there's a specific layer within the reservoir. Once it's within, once it's above that conservation pool, we have up to 185 MGD at Lake Ray Roberts, that's million gallons per day, and then 93.4 MGD at Lake Louisville. So if we convert that to year amount, that's 8.8 billion gallons per year above the conservation pool, at the conservation pool, and then 102 billion gallons per year when the reservoirs are spilling. We treat our water at two treatment plants here within the city, right? So we have Lake Louisville Water Treatment Plant, which is located off of Spencer Road. That plant was built in 1957 and started with an initial capacity of four MGD, and right now it's rated at 30 MGD. That plant is completely built out, and there are no potential of expanding that plant, all right? But Lake Ray Roberts, that's a different story. There's a lot of space. As you can see on the picture on your left, there's a lot of space there to grow. That plant was built in 2003, and it has a current capacity of 20 MGDs, and it is planned for expansions up to 100 MGDs. This is possibly the slide that I like the most out of all the slides. Is the water safe? I think also through this slide, there's the word accountability bleeds throughout this slide for sure. So our water quality is regulated by TCQ, so that is the first accountability step there. We also treat water with ozone to reduce pathogens and improve taste for sure. Our annual water quality report shows that Denton is well within the standards for sure in terms of meeting our limits that are set. We are also partners with the AWWA Partnership for Safe Drinking Water. That partnership is made out of six major organizations. The EPA, the Water Research Foundation, and that organization, the whole point of being part of that organization is to be able to find ways of improving our water treatment as well as improving, well optimizing our water distribution system. Denton has won about several awards in terms of taste, so we won in 2008, in 2013, in 2018 as well. All right, so another accountability that's not on the slide is the work that everyday people do here. There are people working on the lines, people treating the water, people working at the lab, the engineers and so on. Everyone here, we hold ourselves accountable in order to get the water clean and safe to you. How does it get there and how do we collect it, right? So our water distribution system, as you can see, has about 645 miles of water mains that we don't see. Now, it's important to talk about the city boundary, right? So we have about 98 square miles, but our CCN, our certificate of convenience in necessity allows us to serve 143 squares miles. So we also have booster pumps and storage facilities and thousands of valves and thousands of fire hydrants for sure. Our wastewater collection system, on the other hand, covers quite a bit of an area as well. It's about 159 square miles. We are the regional provider for Crum, for Lake Cities, Corinth and Argyle. On that side, you have about 554 miles of pipe. That's a lot of pipes, y'all. And also that includes lift stations as well. Our wastewater is treated at the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Facility and that's a plant that's currently permitted for 21MGD. So wastewater is carefully treated and returned to the environment to meet the TCEQ permit. And just as the same way that we have the AWWA partnership for safe water on the water side, on this side we have the AWWA partnership for clean water. That's holding us accountable as well, all right? And then we also dispose of our biosolids through our compost program and that program is seeing a lot of growth. So sales are trending upward and we are anticipating more growth to come. Lastly, our reclaimed water system. The city of Denton has been at the forefront of reclaimed water since 1971, providing service to the DME steam power plant. So in terms of the cities I've worked for, the city of Denton is at the forefront with reclaimed water for sure. The system expanded in 2002 and currently we have about 11 users on the system. The Oakmont Golf Course, which is a pretty nice golf course, is the largest user with almost 10 million gallons per month use of reclaimed water. Our reclaimed water permit allows us to serve almost up to 12.05MGD. And lastly, reclaimed water for sure is a viable tool in the water portfolio that we must keep in mind at all times. Next is, sorry. - Yes, go ahead, Mr. Beck. - Define reclaimed water. - Reclaimed water is wastewater that has been treated to TCEQ levels that can be reused. - Comes from where, generally? - It comes from the wastewater that is passed through the plant. So it is treated through the plant, the pit concrete water reclamation facility. - Okay, doesn't come from any one source, it's a-- - So if we go back to the collection system, so we can collect our wastewater, so we have manholes, we have lift station, and all that conveys, collects the water literally to the water reclamation facility. There, it goes through the processes that it needs to go to for liquids, as well for solids. So our solids goes to dyno dirt, which is that process of common posting, is treated, and then our wastewater is treated as well to meet TCEQ standard in order for it to be reused. - Right, thank you. - All right. Lastly, I would like to leave y'all with a little bit of thought. If we think about all those 645 miles of pipe, those 554 miles of pipe, you know, the reclamation facility, it is estimated at a replacement cost of $4 billion. All right, so that's a lot to maintain, and I think you'll see how this supports what Stephen is going to talk about in terms of a one water master plan. All right. - Thank you. - Well, good morning. I'm Stephen Gay, Director of Water Utilities. $4 billion, that's a lot, a lot of zeroes, right? And if you guys haven't been out to any of our facilities, I'd like to invite you to work with Kim and get on a schedule. We'd love to show you the treatment facilities. We'd love to take you out to some of our construction projects, and love to show you some of the maintenance that we're performing out in the field. So Val did a really good job of explaining to you, sharing with you what we own today, right? But the wastewater, the one water master plan not only looks at what we own today and how we take care of it, but how do we plan for growth and expansion? So before you today, you have an item called the one water master plan, one water master plan. So if you guys, I think you've heard of master plans before, like the water master plan, the wastewater master plan, the mobility plan. Well, we thought we were gonna be really cool, and we're gonna say, wait, we've got all these different plans, and they're all interdependent, right? They depend on one another. They build off of each other. So why don't we bundle them into a single plan, and we call it the one water master plan. Well, the Water Research Foundation got ahead of us, and they kind of coined the principle of one water master planning, and so it burst our bubble. But anyway, it is from, this is from the Research Foundation. It is an integrated plan, it integrates planning and implementation approaches. The principle of one water master planning helps manage finite water resources for long-term resilience and reliability, and it extends and protects the water supply. So, let me see. So how do we start the master plan? So we need to know where we're going first. And as you're aware, the city council recently approved the comprehensive land use plan or the comprehensive plan. I think that was in March of this year. And what that does is it really identifies what type of development is gonna go where, and then based off of our growth pattern, when it's gonna get there. And as you can imagine, we as a utility wanna have services available to support that growth, whether it be residential, commercial, or industrial, well before the development needs it, right? So the planning process, it drives capacity. It drives, do we need to make improvements to our existing facilities? Do we need to build new facilities? And it also helps us identify what type of resources. You saw that slide with regards to our firm capacity and our conservation pool, big difference, right? And so just to put that in reference, this year we had over, I wasn't gonna say, over a month and a half of 38 MGD in consumption every single day, right? So if you look at that 24 million gallons as a conservation pool, that limits us. So we need to start doing some planning and identifying different resources so we can ensure that reliable source of resource for our community. So what does the Master Plan do? So One Water Master Plan answers the following questions. So it answers, what supplies of water do we need and when do we need them? What are we gonna need in 50 years from now? What type of treatment are we gonna need? What type of distribution, collection, wastewater treatment? And then talking about that reclaimed water, right? How can we best leverage that resource that we actually have access to to maybe reduce our demand on our potable water supply? So it helps us build what I like to say is, when we look at that conservation piece of drought management and conservation piece, building a more climate resilient water portfolio. So if you look back, look what's going on in Las Vegas, on the West Coast. Who would have thought Lake Mead was gonna be down to the levels that it's down to today? Right now Denton's, it's primary water supplier, those two lakes. Those lakes are very independent or very dependent on the environment. So through the One Water Master Plan, we look at it very holistically. We look at how do we take care of what we currently have and how do we plan for the future, not just from an infrastructure perspective. So here's a list of all the different components of the One Water Master Plan. And again, we thought we were gonna be really creative when we came up with this idea. It's like, yeah, oh, Research Foundation. Okay, bunch of smart guys. Well, individuals I'd say. But we're also rounding the corner on our Wastewater Master Plan. And we'll be bringing a presentation to you guys within the next several weeks to give you an update on that Wastewater Master Plan. But we'll be folding the results of that Wastewater Master Plan into the One Water Master Plan. And so I guess, you know, why does it matter? By doing this comprehensive planning effort or this approach to planning, we create a list of capital projects, not just for new construction, but how do we improve what we already own? What capacity do we need to add in our pipes in the ground or to our plants above ground? And we use asset management to inform those decisions. So we look at, you know, consequence of failure, we look at probability of failure, and obviously the impact to the community. And then we take all this data and that helps us build the financial models we need to say how are we gonna fund it. So if we need to be this big in 50 years, how do we start today to build up the revenues that we need to pay for those improvements? And then, so the next steps are, we'll be bringing this to City Council on 10-18 for their consideration. And hopefully, if you guys have any questions, I'm here to answer them. - Questions? Go ahead, Mr. Taylor. - Mr. Taylor. - Thank you. I really had just a few questions about the overview of our system. So you were talking about the, was it 8MGD from, Ray Roberts and 5MGD from Lewisville, is that what the slide said? - I can go back to-- - In firm yield? - Let me see, that's right there. - I think it was almost the first slide. - Almost the first slide, so. Right there. - Okay. So I've got 19 and four, I'm sorry, I don't know how I got eight. So are those, is that anytime it's below conservation or do we have also an annual storage and-- - We don't have storage in those reservoirs and that's based off of our operational agreement with Dallas, so we own the water rights with Dallas in both Ray Roberts and Lake Lewisville. - Okay, so that's not necessarily in the water right, it's in an agreement with Dallas. - That's in our operational agreement with, yeah. Our actual water right, the TCEQ, it is listed in there and that is our firm yield. The 19.7 and the 4.34, those are listed in our TCEQ permits as a firm yield. - Okay, and do you, in water accounting, usually that's done at the end of the year, for the total of the year, are there any safe yields? Consumption below conservation other than that 19 and that four? - No. - No. - No, and you will be seeing, in the near future, we'll be bringing an initiative to you. We're gonna modernize our water rights permits to hopefully integrate some safe yield into those permits. - Yeah, I do notice there's actually a item E on the consent agenda, talking about, is that the modernization or is that something else? - Is that for the resolution for the permit? - Yes. - Yes, sir. That's it. - Okay. - So that's to authorize the city manager and/or designee to apply to TCEQ for the modernization of our water rights permits and then we're also increasing our capacity of concrete and so we wanna go after our bed and banks permit to add additional, I guess, yield from our reuse that we can reclaim. - And does our current, so we have the ability to produce, I believe it was 20 or 30 MGD of reclaimed water? - Well, we're at 21 MGD is the current treatment capacity but our bed and banks only allows us that 12.05 MGD to divert but we also have a permit for, we're permitted for indirect potable reuse of six MGD and we're not nearly touching that and that's part of that 12.05. - Okay, and that's reuse out of Lake Louisville. Wastewater treatment puts it in, the water treatment plant pulls it out, comes from a different pot of water. - Correct and typically what we do is, I don't wanna get too far down in the weeds but we typically sell that to Upper Trinity so that's the first that we sell them so of that 12.05 in our raw water contract, that's what we sell them first is that 12.05 'cause we wanna use it first. - Okay, all right. Yes, I think those were all my questions. Thank you. - Okay, thank you. - Any other questions? - Okay. - All right. Thank you. - Thanks everyone. Do you want me to? - All right, the next item is our consent agenda. Does any board member wish to pull any items from A through E? - I just need a clarification on D. - D, okay. We'll pull D. - Can I pull A? - A. Mr. Taylor, no, you're good, all right. So, do we have a motion to approve B, C, and E? - I move. - Okay. - Second. - And seconded. All in favor say aye. - Aye. - Carries. Okay, we'll do item A first. Oh, sorry. (laughing) Item A. - Yeah, I guess who's ever. - Nervous about the presentation. - Nervous about the other agenda items. (laughing) - All right, so my only question really is just why have someone else do this instead of staff? What's the, I'm assuming it's cost. What's the difference there? - For, okay, so it's really complicated and we really don't have the resources. And we've actually been leveraging consulting services to build some of our other master plans. So they're very familiar with it. So there's an economy of scale by utilizing the outside contractors. - Okay, that's all I have. - Awesome. - All right, do we have a motion to approve item A? - So moved. - Then moves. Okay, Mr. Taylor seconds. All in favor say aye. - Aye. - Carries. Now item D, sorry. (laughing) - Good morning, Jerry Looper, DIP municipal electorate. - Hey Jerry, thanks. In the statement here, it says, it's recommended that utility customers upgrade to utility network based platform by January, 2024. I'm just, can you flesh that out for me a little bit? Is this action DME is doing independent of its utility customers or are we gonna be notified and-- - No, we've already got our notification. We got that in 2020 that the Esri product, that geospatial network is going end of life in 2024. - Okay. - So where do we need to upgrade to utility network? That's the next available product by 2024. So I need to start that process now. - So the individual customer doesn't have to do anything? - No, we're not talking about the Denton individual, it's talking about the Esri customers, DME, all the rest of us that use it. - It's all I needed, thank you, sir. - Yes, sir. - All right, do we have a motion to approve item D? Mr. Beck motions. - Okay, all in favor say aye. - Aye. - Carries. Next item is consider approval of the September 12th minutes. Are there any changes or corrections? All right, do we have a motion to approve the minutes? Okay, Mr. Taylor moves. And Mr. Beck seconds, all in favor say aye. - Aye. - All right, item B. Budget amendment for the 2021-2022 year. 63 million. - Good morning, CUB members. Danielle Stanford, budget manager. And I have an electric budget amendment request for you this morning for 63 million dollars. It'll increase expenditure authority from 240.7 million to 303.7 million. The main primary drivers of this request are insurance premiums, purchase power costs, and the debt service payment requirement. We do have a table here that breaks that out for you. The top four rows are the insurance costs. Those total about 1.5 million of the 63 million dollar request, purchase power makes up 58 million of that request, the debt service payment three million, and the inter-fund transfer, an increased amount of 300,000. So, don't have a slide for this. We do have the pro forma to look at. But this request is offset by additional revenue from the deck running. The deck is expected to bring in roughly 40 million of additional revenue, and then the base rate revenue is about 15.5 million. So it's only an impact to fund balance of about 10 million dollars. And so I do have a pro forma here if we wanna look at it in that regard. Go ahead, Mr. Vick. - Thank you, Chair. Just curious, did we make an insurance claim during Winter Storm URI, and if so, how much? - Terry, we did not. Terry's shaking his head no. - The answer to that is no, we did not. - We didn't need to? - No, it wasn't covered beyond our deductibles for the regular commercial insurance. At the time, we did not have any outage insurance for the winter months. - Okay, but we're good for this winter, right? - Yes, sir, we learned that lesson. - Thanks, Tony. - Other questions? All right, do we have a motion to approve the budget change? Mr. Beck is moving. Mr. Jumper's seconding, all in favor say aye. - Aye. - Carries. - Thank you, management reports. - Madam Chair, we just have our standard items. We do have listed on the future agenda items, the Greensense program. I will tell you that there's a possibility we may slip that back to November. We're not gonna go back to the Sustainability Committee until October, so again, depending on what that timing is, we'll either leave it on the 24th or we'll bring it back on the 14th, but that is something that we contain a work on. And on the new business action items, the two items are related to the Greensense program. We'll be addressing that for you when that comes to you. So with that, that's all we have on these two items. Happy to answer any questions or if there's some other item you'd like to see. - All right, that brings us to concluding items. Does any board member wish to have a future item added or have any comments to make? Nope, all right, 9/27, we are adjourned.