Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 07/22/1999The regular meeting of the Water Board was held in the Fort Collins Utilities Training Room at 700 Wood Street. MEMBERS PRESENT Paul Clopper, Chair; Bill Fischer, David Lauer, Robert Ward, Dave Frick, George Reed MEMBERS ABSENT Tom Sanders, Vice Chair, John Moms, Joe, Bergquist, Dave Rau, Tom Brown STAFF PRESENT Mike Smith, Dave Agee, Kevin Gertig, Wendy Williams, Dennis Bode, Owen Randall, Roger Buffington, Jim Hibbard, Heather Hoxeng, Molly Nortier GUESTS Dave Shupe and Rod Knox — Poudre Overlook Subdivision Gene Schleiger- Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Chair Paul Clopper opened the meeting. The following items were discussed: APPROVAL OF MINUTES David Lauer made a motion to approve the minutes of June 24, 1999. Robert Ward seconded the motion. It was pointed out on page 4, last paragraph that Dave Rau should be changed to David Lauer. The motion passed unanimously to approve the minutes as amended. Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 2 INTRODUCTION OF NEW WATER BOARD MEMBER Chair Paul Clopper introduced Bill Fischer, the new Water Board Member. He is a local water rights attorney and the son of a long time Water Board Chairman, the late Ward Fischer. Bill Fischer was appointed by the Council to complete Alison Adam's term. NORTHERN COLORADO WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT UPDATE Gene Schleiger stated that virtually all the reservoirs are full. Carter has 1 '/2 ft. before it is full, Horsetooth has about 4 '/2 ft. to go and Granby is at capacity. The problem this presents is that we are anticipating being able to deliver between 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet the rest ofthis year. With those three facilities full, a normal run-off (normal in the Upper Colorado being 220,000 acre-feet of water) there is a potential for a 70,000 — 90,000 acre-foot spill. The other option is a preemptive release that will have to be made on the system to allow the District to capture next year's flows. He said that they would much rather store that for a year when they are going to need every bit of it. The problem with Granby is that for the first time in many years, Northern has exercised its junior decree on the Big Thompson River. This means that we can catch water when it is at flood stage, and at that stage only. The Maximum we have taken out of the Big Thompson is 30,000 acre-feet at one time. We were right at 52,000 acre-feet that we have pulled out and stored this year already. While we were able to do this, we were filling the canal from Flat Iron to Horsetooth and pumping into Carter. That left no place to bring water over from the West Slope, so the tunnel was shut down at that time. We have had virtually no demand other than a little municipal. We are running 300 second -feet this morning out of Horsetooth. There is nothing running out of the South end. We anticipate that if the weather stays dry and no rains come, we may see a little bit of a pull next week. Mr. Schleiger also touched on some other issues they are dealing with at Northern right now. When Windy Gap was developed in the early 1980's, there was a 4'/2 mile, 108 inch, prestressed concrete cylinder pipe laid. With some of the breaks that Aurora and Denver have had with the same type of pipe, it has caused some concern. Studies have shown the pretension wire wrapped around these cylinders to be rusting, which causes loss ofpretension strength. Earlier this spring District employees walked the entire pipeline and there were no visual signs of deterioration. He said they have contracted out to a company to excavate sections of the pipe, cut them out and take them to a lab to be tested for signs of weakening in the pretension wire. It could get expensive if they have to repair or modify the pipe if signs of weakness are detected. Also, Mr. Schleiger commented on stories about the Windy Gap Project causing Whirling Disease in the trout population on the West Slope. He said it does have an effect, but that does not explain Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 3 why all but three of the hatcheries around the state are infected. Windy Gap has not had any effect on them. For the last four years the District has had contracts with the Colorado Division of Wildlife to study Windy Gap, and each year a different solution has been suggested for the situation. The latest was that they need to build a diversion to divert the flow of the Colorado and Fraser around the Windy Gap Reservoir all year long (except during pumping time). By doing this, spores from the disease would stay in the reservoir and not go down stream. The cost would be between three and four million dollars for that project. With the track record of recommendations changing every year they didn't want to make those changes. Two months ago, Trout Unlimited and Earth Justice thought it was a great idea and said they would come up with the money and plans. So, active work is in progress to come up with a design and cost analysis. The project could have the benefit of a natural river running around the dam for most of the year, allowing fish migration up and down it. Installation of a Southern Water Supply Pipeline to Fort Morgan was to have been completed this week. Testing is anticipated to be completed by the middle of August. As soon as Fort Morgan is ready to take water into their treatment facility, the line will be up and running. There is even a request from Erie and Broomfield to start immediate construction of another pipeline adjacent to the one that went to Broomfield. David Lauer asked how far Fraser is from Windy Gap. "It is about ten miles plus or minus a little bit," Mr. Schleiger answered. "So, you are talking about a ten mile stretch of diversion?" Mr. Lauer continued. Mr. Schleiger explained that what would be diverted is about 2,500 acre feet. The existing Colorado would bypass around the reservoir itself and be put back into the Colorado below the reservoir. "All we would be doing is going around the reservoir on the south side between the existing dam and the railroad." Mr. Lauer wondered why it would cost between two and five million dollars. The answer was that a channel would also have to be designed to handle 1500 cfs, and some structures would have to be built to regulate whether it goes around or into the reservoir during pumping. OUT -OF -CITY WATER AND SANITARY SEWER SERVICE REQUEST - POUDRE OVERLOOK SUBDIVISION Roger Buffington said that staff received a request for water and sanitary sewer service from the Poudre Overlook Subdivision on the east side of Overland Trail approximately 3/. mile north of Vine Drive. There are existing County subdivisions on the south, east and north sides ofthe proposed site. In terms of providing service to the development, he said we have existing water mains in Overland Trail, in the subdivision to the east, and large water mains across the site in the northwest/southeast direction. The existing sanitary sewer that would provide service is currently in the subdivision to the east ofthis proposed site. These facilities have adequate capacity for the additional development. Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 4 The subdivision, as proposed, is approximately 87 single-family lots. The County zoning in that area is farming (FA). In the City Structure Plan it is designated as urban estates. At the Planning and Zoning meeting last week the P& Z Board recommended that the City provide service. Utilities Staff also recommends providing service. Rod Knox, with the subdivision, said there has been one revision, that the zoning has been approved as "R." George Reed asked for the pros and cons of granting approval. Paul Clopper asked if there are any floodplain issues as there were in the last out -of -City service request. Mr. Buffington assured the Board the subdivision was not in a floodplain. David Lauer asked if the City is currently supplying the other three subdivisions? "Yes, we currently serve all three of those subdivisions." Mr. Buffington answered. "Does `R' mean rural or the zoning is rural?" Mr. Lauer wondered. Mr. Knox responded that "R" means residential. ACTION: Motion George Reed moved that the Board recommend approval of the out -of -City service request. Robert Ward seconded the motion. Chair Clopper asked if there was any further discussion. Mr. Lauer asked how 87 single family lots compares to LinMar or Stagecoach and Mr. Knox explained that it is about the same density as Solar Ridge. Stagecoach has a density of about 3 '/2 units per acre. "We are quite a bit less than they are by almost half." he said. LinMar averages almost one house to an acre, which places them right in-between. The County actually wanted more units than the Poudre Overlook Subdivision wanted to put there, because on one side there are four homes to an acre, and the other side there is only one to an acre. Because of the density, the County wanted between 2'/4 to 2'/2 units. Basically it is because in the original Urban Growth Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Fort Collins and Larimer County, it is in a zone that requires a density of at least 2 units per acre. Also, because of the density of the Stagecoach lots, they thought it would be more compatible if the density was more than two units per acre. In the meantime, the City has come up with a new zoning classification of Urban Estates, which has essentially two units per acre. "We are just a little bit over that, but considerably under the density to the north or to the east, and about double that of LinMar," Dave Shupe explained. "We also buffered this particular subdivision from all of the other subdivisions," Mr. Knox related, "from around 20 ft.on the north to around 40 ft. on the south and east." It is all walking and bicycle trails. Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 5 "Is there another water provider in this area?" Robert Ward inquired. Jim Hibbard replied that there is not. The ELCO water line is built adjacent to this property, but they do not serve the area. Mr. Hibbard went on to explain that it used to be West Fort Collins Water District (WFCWD) that served some of the properties, but the City traded customers in the middle of our service area with WFCWD and acquired these properties for the ones we gave up. ACTION: Vote Paul Clopper called for the question. The Board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the Poudre Overlook Subdivision out -of -City service request. UTILITIES SERVICES 2000-2001 BUDGET OVERVIEW Dave Agee began his presentation by stating that this is the first opportunity staff has had to present the Board with budget information since the merger of the Water and Light & Power Utilities. This year the budget will complement the way we are now organized. Starting with the rates, Mr. Agee said that we have some fairly significant increases, particularly in the Water Utility. Light & Power has not had an increase for many years because of continual growth in the system that has deferred the rate increases. Combined with relatively stable fixed costs, this has put increases off, but in terms of the other utilities, we are looking at some substantial increases, primarily driven by capital costs. In Water, for both 2000 and 2001, we are looking at a six percent average rate increase and it will continue at that rate through 2004. Six percent for each of the next five years sounds significant but when we adopted the Water Master Plan a "Phase in" approach was preferable to hitting the customers with a 30 percent increase up front. So, we have chosen to phase in the increase. He explained that we have engaged in a lot of borrowing. We borrowed $28 Million in 1998 and another $5 Million this year, so our debt/service costs are rising. In order to keep up with our debt service costs and keep our bond coverage where it needs to be, rate increases are necessary. In Wastewater, we are holding the rate increases to two percent a year for the next two years. Then it will be four percent for the next three years after that. This increase is capital driven also. We are expecting quite a bit of borrowing and some fairly significant projects in this department. For Stormwater, we just borrowed about $20 Million dollars and that basically trippled our debt -load in the Storm Drainage fund. In order to keep up with the debt, along with increasing demand for service, we are looking at a ten percent increase for the year 2000, eight percent for 2001. We anticipate a six percent increase for the years 2002-2004. Mr. Agee referred to the back page ofthe packet he handed out. Based on some assumptions, he said they looked at what the average customer bill looked like for a typical single family customer in 1998. Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 6 Then, based on actual rate increases for 1999 and proposed increases for 2000-2004, they determined what will happen to the overall bill and the components of that bill. For example, you can see it is increasing from about $80 a month in 1998, to $100 by the year 2004. That is a significant rise, and you can see on the graph how each component increases the bill accordingly. Going back to the first page, he began to talk about what we are going to gain from the rate increases. "There is obviously the capital construction and those needs, but there are also some other programs that we will be emphasizing in the 2000-2001 budget." Mr. Agee explained. Light and Power will continue in the undergrounding program and Wind Power Program. In the Water Department, the Metering Program (It has been allocated more resources in this budget than in the past to try to get it done.) and the Water Treatment Plant expansion will be emphasized. (Within this budget we will be finishing major portions ofthe treatment plant expansion and some of the plant will be coming on-line, which is reflected in the budget.) For Wastewater, we will continue our Industrial Surcharge Program. In Stormwater, in addition to things we were already doing, the flood brought on demands for the Flood Warning System and a Flood -proofing Program which provides grants to various citizens to flood -proof their properties. For basin improvements, we just borrowed $20 Million. We anticipate upon the expenditure of it, we will have a number of the problems we talked about a little over a year ago taken care of within the Canal Importation and Old Town Basins. In order to continue on and get those projects done in a 15-year time frame, there will be additional borrowing and accordingly, additional fee increases that will be necessary in the coming years. Mr. Agee continued by briefly discussing the organization of the budget. Since the merger of the Utilities, allocating costs that benefit each of the four utilities has been made difficult. (i.e. Finance, Customer Service, Information Technology and Mike Smith's office). How to charge all of that and make it equitable to each ofthe funds was the troublesome question. Consequently, beginning in the 2000 budget, there is a new fund called the Utility Customer Service and Administration Fund. It is where all ofthese costs will be located and paid for. This fund has a very substantial budget of almost $10 Million to cover everything for which we provide service. The Financial Operations Department conducted a mini cost of service study in order to be able to take those costs and properly allocate them to each of the four funds. "Administratively," Mr. Agee explained, "that makes it much easier for us." Right now, the budget he is charging time to and has expenses in, is being "hit" by six other departments within the Utilities. In essence, he doesn't have a budget and administratively, it is very difficult. This new fund will have all of the costs in one place, but he can equitably proportion those out to each of the four funds. "The overall budget, as a result of this, is not going up." Mr. Agee emphasized. "We are not adding any new positions or any hidden costs because of it. We're just organizing it in a slightly different way." In fact, The Utility Customer Service and Administration Fund has operating revenue that shows operating expenses in other funds. Essentially, the fund almost "washes out." Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 7 On the second page he showed an overview of the Operating and Capital Budget for the Utilities as a whole. In the year 2000, in total, he expects the operating budget to go up about 5.5 percent. Personnel services are going up fairly significantly because of the City's new pay plan. Also, contractual services are going up 8.4 percent. (A vast majority of this is due to bringing the T5 and T6 trains on line at the Water Treatment Facility (WTF), additional costs for leasing some COZ equipment there and utility costs because of the major addition.) Commodities will actually go down 6.8 percent because of the efficiency of the WTF's chlorine dioxide. (The chlorine dioxide budget is going down by about $200,000.) Purchased Power is estimated to go down 1.3 percent (A comparison of 1999 budget and year 2000). "We were anticipating higher energy costs in 1999 but because of Hewlett Packard's decision not to finish their new building, our power purchase is expected to go down," Mr. Agee related. "Transfers and Other" has the biggest item as being debt service. With the debt amounts that he discussed earlier, the debt services are going up significantly in the year 2000 resulting in a 17.9 percent increase. Overall the budget is expected to go up 5.5 percent in 2000 and five percent in 2001. In the capital budget, one of the things that is hard to explain in terms of Stormwater, is that we look like we are only spending $1.9 million in the year 2000. This is just for new projects, not for projects already started. That is also the case for the improvements at the Water Treatment Plant. We have already started the project, so we have already budgeted for it. Therefore, it will not show up on this budget. The highlights for Light and Power are the undergrounding program and subdivision construction, costing $1.6 million. Based on growth, we are assuming a significant amount of construction in the future also. In terms of Water, there are a couple of water lines to be constructed (Summit View Waterline and Pleasant Valley Pipeline). Wastewater has odor control, the new facilities at the Meadow Springs Ranch, and various other things. Customer Service & Administration has costs mostly related to the Utilities Service Center (i.e. personal computers, software, etc.). Additional personnel shows the largest gain in the Stormwater Fund. The major reason for that is people who were contractual are now permanent employees. "Our costs are not going up for seven new full-time employees; rather, it is because we are making those people permanent full-time. It is obvious those services are going to continue to be required in the future," Mr. Agee explained. The same is true in the Customer Service and Administration fund. "We are recognizing that these people are needed now as well as into the future." Mr. Agee said this was a "high overview" and on the third page of his report, he showed the magnitude of the dollars he had been talking about. "Although the dollars do mean something," he explained, "we think in terms ofyour role as a board, what you're probably more interested in is: Are the rates reasonable compared to what people are getting? Furthermore, are the outcomes as a result of paying those rates, what they ought to be?" He thought it was important, at the same time, for Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 8 Board members to see how much money was being discussed. With all of the funds together, the operating budget for all four utilities is about $100 million. Mr. Clopper asked if staff was looking for any recommendations from the Board, or if this is just a "sneak preview." Historically, the Legislative & Finance Committee usually gets more involved in the details than the full Board does. Mr. Clopper pointed out that some of the things helpful in the past, have been rate comparisons of other Front Range communities and their services. He asked Robert Ward for his input as chair of the Legislative & Finance Committee. Mr. Ward said the last time the L&F Committee met was about two years ago. He felt that the overview Mr. Agee gave to the Board was fine, but he too would like to see the rate comparisons as a part of the overview. "You typically go to council in October?" Mr. Clopper inquired. "Study sessions are in September." Mike Smith answered. "Keep in mind," Dave Agee added, "this is just the proposed City Manger's recommended budget. Then Council goes through study sessions. I noticed today that first readings will actually be in November." Mr. Ward said he didn't see anything in the packet that the Board had not already talked about and Mike Smith reiterated that there wasn't anything new. Mr. Agee emphasized that what they were trying to do was show the Hoard there were no surprises, and focus more on the outcomes than digging into the detailed numbers. He thinks it is staff job to determine how to pay for everything and keep the rates as reasonable as possible. It is the Council's and the Board's job to review the outcomes and the rates. Mike Smith and Dave Agee agreed that they haven't done an update on the rate comparisons and they would be glad to provide that for the Board at the next meeting. Mr. Clopper said he would like to wait until the next meeting to make any recommendations on the budget since all of the members of the Board were not present and they did not have the rate comparisons. Molly Nortier assured the Board that she would send copies of the budget packet to the five members who were absent. David Lauer recommended that it might be a good idea to have the L&F Committee look at the budget packet. Mr. Clopper suggested that Dave Agee and Robert Ward get together and decide if there was anything in the packet warranting the committee to meet before the next Water Board meeting. If they agree there is no reason to meet, that is fine also. George Reed asked if a water line is capital driven; does that mean development is not paying its way? Mike Smith replied that capital is called development. He explained how a lot of the capital is due to those things that everyone needs to pay for. "Upgrading the Treatment Plant and the pipeline from the Poudre to the Treatment Plant really isn't development related," Mr. Smith said. "It is related to system reliability. It will let us use water rights that we can't use right now and there is some growth potential in there. If we stopped growing today, we would still need that pipeline because we are at extreme risk if we don't." Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 9 "How much of these increases are due to new requirements for drinking water standards and reliability, versus how much is due to growth?" Robert Ward asked. Mr. Smith said the majority of the increases, more than half, are due to reliability and standards. "The Utilities service area for water and wastewater in the City is not growing very fast." Other districts surrounding us are growing in those areas, but the City, for those two utilities, is growing a lot slower than for the Stormwater or Light and Power Utilities. "Eventually, we will be landlocked and will just be maintaining existing systems." There were revisions made to the Water and Wastewater Plant Investment Fees about ten months ago W. Smith added. Now we are seeing the results because the impact fees are increasing, and some of those are fairly heavy increases. "We have budgeted $2 million in Plant Investment Fees for 1999 and we have already, to date, collected $1.7 million." Dave Agee added. "Have we looked at any other alternate fee structure for any kinds of special services?" David Lauer asked. The example he gave was of a time when a considerable amount ofthe customer service costs was due to turnover, and at that time, the Utilities did not have fees to initiate service or change of service. Rather than raising everyone's rates, the alternative was to charge a fee for initiating or changing of service. He was just wondering if there were any inquires into other ways of recouping some of these costs, i.e. a fee as mentioned above. Mr. Smith explained that all of the new people were not just for the Utility Billing office and some time ago we did have a fee for turn-off and turn -on. Now there is a fee for turning on and off service, but not for initiating paperwork. The majority of these are college students coming in and leaving. We haven't gone back to initiating that cost. Mr. Agee reminded the Board that we have a meter charge on the waterside and that is where those customer service costs are recovered. "Staffis very conscious of cost and being competitive." Mr. Smith stated. Mr. Clapper brought the discussion to a close with a request for information on the rate comparisons for the next meeting. David Lauer had one more question before the subject was closed. He was wondering what, under Wastewater, an industrial surcharge is. Mr. Agee explained it was decided some years ago that some industrial companies like breweries or restaurants have a stronger waste discharge into the system than a regular residential customer does. This industrial surcharge is an additional amount for their stronger waste discharge. Mike Smith added that it was actually started by the federal government years ago when there were EPA Grants. When the grant program was abolished, Wastewater continued the fee. There is a higher impact on the treatment plant because of industrial waste. They pay a certain rate per thousand gallons and some of those fees are fairly high. Mr. Agee said the challenge of the process is to monitor the charge and the customers who need to pay it. Robert Ward was curious about the pretreatment program that keeps out toxic waste. Mr. Smith explained how pretreatment was the next level up. If companies are discharging certain regulated chemicals, then they get put into the pretreatment program where they have to install a monitoring Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 10 manhole and are monitored on a daily basis. They not only have to pay surcharges, but have to comply with other regulations. Laundromats, photo developers, and restaurants are included in this surcharge category. "When we call this a service, is this an administrative service or is there some testing going on?" David Lauer asked Mr. Smith "There is testing." he answered. "We have to go out and take samples and keep administrative records of which company is discharging certain kinds of chemicals. Dave Agee conveyed to the Board how Dave Meyer and his Industrial Treatment staff spend considerable time with customers monitoring their operations and assessing what they are discharging and how to minimize that discharge. It is a cooperative effort to minimize impact on the system and to keep their charges as reasonable as possible. "In some cases there are two sets of sampling going on?" Mr. Lauer inquired; "one done by the industry itself and one done by the City?" "Only in the critical cases," Mr. Smith replied. Mr. Agee added, "What you will find often with this, is that the sample changes in strength minute by minute with the flow." He stated that the monitoring is to help minimize the impact on the system and gather data to make sure they are on the right track. It also helps to make sure the residential customers don't end up subsidizing the fees for the industries. Mike Smith believes that the system is very accurate and detailed. He explained to the Board if we had a slight upset, it could be tracked back through the wastewater system and pinpoint the person responsible. It can be tracked even to parts per trillion. STAFF REPORTS Treated Water Production Summary Dennis Bode referred to the monthly treated water production summary in the packets. He distributed a graph of the projected and actual treated water demand. In June, the City used 3,034 acre-feet of water. This was 88 percent of what had been projected for the average month. "For July, we are running at about 95 percent of what the projected use is," he said. He also referred to the graph showing our water use. Because ofthe rain last Friday, the usage was reduced by 15 million gallons a day. Mr. Lauer wondered if there is a statistical significance between the mean temperature for 1999 at 47.4 and the average for the years 1951-1990? He asked if we were to do a statistical test on it, would it vary significantly? It was not that he wanted the test to be done, he was just wondering if there is a test that could do that. His curiosity was based on the fact that the first three months of the year are supposed to be our coldest, but the water usage was not much different from April when the weather is supposedly warmer. "There is hardly any difference," he stressed. Robert Ward suggested Mr. Lauer talk to Nolan Doeskin, the Assistant State Climatologist at CSU. Mr. Doeskin might have the information Mr. Lauer is requesting. Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 11 Gravel Pit Update Dennis Bode also gave an update on the gravel pits. The subject was discussed in February. He said. LaFarge exercised their right to purchase the gravel pits on the east side and the west side of Taft Hill Rd. As part of the discussions with H. W. Rogers and Associates, the City purchased 26 shares of Arthur Ditch Company stock. Report on Water Quality Policy Annual Report Gale McGaha Miller was to have been present at today's meeting, but she had another meeting to attend. Molly Nortier said that Ms. McGaha Miller will be available at the next meeting to answer questions about the Water Quality Policy Annual Report. She asked Board members to bring the reports to the next meeting. Presentation on the Model of Water Treatment Facility (WTF) Master Plan Improvements; T5/T6 Complex Kevin Gertig and Owen Randall gave a presentation on the Water Treatment Facility (WTF) Master Plan. They used PowerPoint to update the Board on the construction progress, and brought a model of the structures for the Board to view afterwards. Mr. Randall began the presentation by reminding the Board that there were numerous projects in the Master Plan that were adopted, however, this is the largest of those improvements. The WTF improvements are the ones currently under construction and what he showed at the meeting. The title for the project is the T5/T6 Complex, which stands for Treatment Trains 5 and 6. The project includes a new raw water blending facility, two 23.5 Million Gallons a Day (MGD) flocculation/sedimentation basins, a chemical handling facility and numerous site improvements. He said the most exciting part of the project is it is not a typical design project where a set of plans and specs are put together and then the job is bid. Instead, a contractor was selected based on qualifications, not solely on price, about 30 percent of the way through the design. The method of delivery for the T5/T6 project is the Utilities' version of design/build. The contractor sat at the design table weekly with the City Operations people and our engineering staff and had input into constructability, materials and cost issues. The first phase of the project designed was everything below grade. The first construction contract was issued and the contractor went to work the first of January. While this phase of construction proceeded, they continued on with the rest of the design. It was very close to a true design/build project; the key being the final design contract was all negotiated, not bid. The first slide showed the existing plant looking south at the future area of T5/T6 and the Flow Blending Structure. It is on the property purchased from CSU a year ago. A new access road will be built to the plant and the existing roadway will be removed and replaced. Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 12 The uniqueness of this facility over all of the others that have been built before is that, except for one small portion of the flowblending complex, it is all structural slabs on grade, on structural fills. There were about 40,000 tons of materials brought in, in order to build the existing grade high enough (with 100 percent compaction) for the new complex to be built on. Because of the warm days and dry months during January and February, the contractor was able to place the entire required fill ahead of schedule. Besides all of this, the project required the relocation of numerous existing utilities. Water lines, sanitary sewer and a natural gas line all had to be moved. The flowblending structure has 27 piers (24" in diameter) drilled 10' into the bedrock for foundation. The size ofthe total complex required it be divided into numerous sectional concrete pours. The first slab section of the T5/T6 flocculation/sedimentation basins was shown in the presentation. The site and the size of the facility required every bit of the concrete (in excess of 10,000 yards) to be done with concrete pumpers. The largest pours have been in excess of400 yards. Forty-four wall sections and 32 slab sections will be poured in the T5/T6 complex alone. This does not include the chemical building or flowblending structure. A mobile track crane, brought in by the contractor, is being used instead of a tower crane like the one the contractor is using for construction of the new courthouse downtown The track crane is much cheaper and allows the contractor to move around the site as needed. There is also a large quantity of yard piping to go in. This will include the piping for the Pleasant Valley Pipeline, which will be in the ground within the next couple of months. The presentation included a picture of the 48" Rapid Mix Effluent Piping that splits into either one of the T5/T6's 22 million -gallon basins. The new flowblending structure at the facility will be where Poudre and Horsetooth waters are mixed. Some chemicals will be added and it will house the new pressure dissipation valves for the Pleasant Valley Pipeline, as well as our existing dissipation valves from the Poudre. Inside the T5/T6 complex where the water goes from the flocculation portion into the sedimentation portion of the basin, there are "holes" in the wall designed to evenly distribute flow and create consistent velocities. All of these "holes" were poured in place. Last week all of the La Melia Plate Settlers arrived from Sweden in good condition. They came on four huge shipping containers without any damage. A picture was even shown of a slab section with precast blockouts in place for the plate settlers to fit into. All large wall sections are being formed using the gang forms. The large sections of forms are set and removed without taking them apart. They are about 35' long and 25' high. When one is set in place, the iron workers set the rebar in place; the other panels are set up and then they are all tied together. This procedure makes production more efficient. • Water Board Minutes July 22, 1999 Page 13 Mr. Randall concluded his presentation with a progress, schedule and cost summary. He stated that as of July 16, a total of 7,120 cubic yards of concrete has been placed with an estimated 10,000 cubic yards in the entire project. Manpower on an average daily basis, including engineering personnel, is 65 full time people. "We are 30 percent into our time schedule and have spent 26 percent of the budget," he said. "The project is right on schedule and we plan to have the T5/T6 and Flowblending on line by May of 2000. The site work and less critical facilities will be completed in December of that same year." The total contract amount to Garrey Construction is $21,269,330. The total contract amount for the engineering services is $4,506,267. (This includes design for other Master Plan Improvements.) To date Garrey Construction has in place work valued at approximately $5,500,000. Kevin Gertig added that the model for the new complex would be in the Utilities Service Center front lobby for a couple of weeks. The layout is completely labeled with a legend; it is a view from the top and will give the viewer a sense of the architecture. COMMITTEE REPORTS There were no committee reports. OTHER BUSINESS No other business was brought up for discussion. ADJOURNMENT David Lauer moved to adjourn the meeting. Dave Frick seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m. m 9 e 4 �1e�� Water Board Secretary dN _� /_ mil.