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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 07/15/1983MINUTES Water Board July 15, 1983 MEMBERS PRESENT Ward Fischer, Henry Caulfield, Ray Glabach, Dave Stewart, Bernie Cain, Neil Grigg, Mort Bittinger (alt), Mary Lou Smith (alt) STAFF PRESENT Roger Krempel, Curt Miller, Keith Elmund, Andy Pineda, Assistant City Attorney Paul Eckman, Mike Ronayne (student intern) MEMBERS ABSENT Norm Evans, Ev RichardsonjTom Moore (excused) Minutes The minutes of June 17, 1983 were approved. Voting Mr. Fischer explained the voting procedure for alternates. Baller Contract Amendments The following is some background information on the Baller Water Acquisition in Meadow Creek Reservoir. By Resolution 82-156, adopted November 9, 1982, the City entered into an agreement with Baller Livestock Co. for the purchase of 1,200 acre-feet of decreed water rights and accompanying storage capacity in Meadow Creek Reservoir in Jackson County. By releasing this water from the reservoir to the Michigan River, the City will be allowed to increase its diversion from the Michigan Ditch by an estimated 754 acre-feet per year (based on hydrological studies). Capacity in Meadow Creek Reservoir was offered to the City at $1,100 per acre-foot of new yield, or $829,400. Ward Fischer reminded the Board that when they approved this contract in 1982, the City was getting what they paid for with a tremendous amount of potential as well. Mr. Fischer explained that, since that time, there were some considerations that have emerged as the City prepared for the closing, tentatively scheduled for July 17th, that require the Council to slightly modify the contract. He added that the Council would not want to consider the modifications without the Water Board's recommendation. These are the three considerations: 1) The agreement with Baller contained a number of conditions designed to assure the City that it would obtain the water rights it sought. The first two letters from the State Engineer did not, according to the City, satisfy the conditions of the contract. The last letter from the State Engineer was so close to what the contract requires that Mr. Baller could argue that it is compliance. Nevertheless, Roger Krempel and Mike Smith renegotiated the price down from $829,000 to $745,000 to take into account the possibility of having a reduced storage capacity for a time if the State Engineer should, at a future date, impose a restriction on the amount of water stored in the reservoir. I Page 2 Water Board Minutes July 15, 1983 2) The contract requires Mr. Baller to give the City an easement over his land so additional outlet works will have access to the Michigan River. To make the exchange an easement was needed on a small strip of land adjoining the River owned by the State Land Board. The Land Board will not grant an easement before they know what is going to be done there. The staff is willing to waive having an easement beforehand since they are confident that the City can apply for it later. 3) The City is to acquire all of Baller's discharge capacity in order to promote the necessary exchanges. The contract states that this capacity is 42.85%, whereas in fact it turns out to be 42.57%. These three minor modifications require that the Council authorize the manager to amend the contract in these areas. The staff recommends approval of the amended contract. Board members expressed some concerns about the contract and the reservoir itself. One particular concern which was discussed at length was the seepage problem. The question was asked, why does the staff feel comfortable with this now? Curt Miller, Senior Engineer, responded that the City related the concern about leakage at the Meadow Creek Dam to the State Engineer. Subsequently, this has been studied extensively and monitored the past year by Hydro -Triad, Ltd. Engineers. They have concluded: 1. From the water rights standpoint, the quantity of water loss from the reservoir is not of concern. 2. From the structural integrity of the dam standpoint, there has been no evidence of any immediate danger of failure of the embankment or abutments due to the seepage condition that now exists. 3. The moderate hazard rating placed on the dam assumes the possibility of property damage in case of failure (flooding of agricultural lands) but no loss of life would be envisioned. The latest letter from the State Engineer recommended to the owners that they continue with a monitoring program for a minimum of one year. After a few more points had been clarified, Henry Caulfield moved that the Water Board recommend approval of the current amended contract to the City Council. Following a second from Neil Grigg, the Board voted unanimous approval of the motion. Election Of Officers Henry Caulfield moved that the secretary be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for Ward Fischer as Chairman and Norm Evans as Vice Chairman. Chairman Fischer said that he would be unwilling to recognize the motion until nominations were accepted from the floor. Since there were no further nominations, Neil Grigg seconded Henry Caulfield's nomination with unanimous agreement from the Board. Page 3 Water Board Minutes July 15, 1983 Staff Reports Water Production Summary Water Board members received Treated Water Production Summaries prior to the meeting. Andy Pineda, Water Resources Engineer, related that City water use for the current water year was under 8,000 acre-feet which is below the projected use. Part of the reason for that was because of the above normal spring precipitation beginning in March. Through the month of June, the total precipitation was 13.77 inches, about 95% of the average amount for a year. A Board member inquired about the peak day so far this year. Mr. Pineda replied that the peak day in June was 35 MG. So far in July, the peak day has been 38.4 million gallons. The record peak day was 40.1 MG. Mr. Pineda said that with the present hot weather, he wouldn't be surprised to see the use approach the record. Mr. Pineda also responded to some questions about water treatment plant capacity. Curt Miller explained that the operators at Plant No. 2 at Soldier Canyon have been busy since January performing the various tasks necessary to expand the plant to an additional 10 MGD. This expansion will bring the capacity up to 44 MGD. Mr. Miller added that only a few more tasks remain to be completed and these probably will be accomplished during a cool rainy period. Henry Caulfield asked if the Board wasn't still under the injunction from the City Council to look at the in -lieu -of water rights rate. He remembered that it had been several months (November 1982) since the Water Board had made a recommendation of $1,300. Roger Krempel explained that the Council had just recently approved that recommendation and hadn't acted on it before because they thought lowering the amount at the time would have been politically inadvisable due to negotiations with Anheuser-Busch. The Board hopes to review the rate at the August Board meeting. Committee Reports Henry Caulfield reminded the Board that he is Chairman of the Committee to produce a report relative to the responsibilities of the Council, the Staff, and the Board. This committee was formed as a result of a seminar attended by Board and Commission members and City staff held in February of this year. Mr. Caulfield hopes to have a draft report on this subject soon for the Board's review. New Business Assistant City Attorney Paul Eckman, at the Board's request, drafted an amendment to the raw water requirement for the City. Ward Fischer explained the reason for the revision of the ordinance. Section 112-66 of the City provides for the furnishing of raw water to the City by developers. The raw water requirement as contained in that section is an elective one of 4.5 acre- feet per acre to be served or, in the alternative, 3 acre-feet per acre including streets, rights of way, common areas and parks. A few months ago, Page 4 Water Board Minutes July 15, 1983 the City recognized that this requirement would be inadequate when an industrial user such as Anheuser-Busch plans to locate in Fort Collins. Furthermore, when the furnishing of raw water requirement was being investigated, it was discovered that several Fort Collins establishments exceed the 3 acre-feet per acre requirement. Hence, Paul Eckman was instructed to draft an amendment to this requirement which follows: "Notwithstanding the requirements as provided in the (A) and (B) in Section 112-66 of the Code, in the event that the Director of Water Utilities shall determine that said requirements are inadequate to compensate the City for actual water usage of a development requiring water service, then the said Director shall determine the volume of raw water that shall be necessary to compensate the City for the actual water usage of such developments, and require the furnishing thereof." Following considerable discussion regarding what would happen should a plant decide to increase the capacity of their plant, Henry Caulfield moved that the phrase "or will at any time be" be inserted between "are" and "inadequate" in the fourth line of the amendment to the raw water requirement. After a second from Tom Sanders and further discussion, this amendment passed. Ray Glabach offered a second amendment which would insert the words "upon the approval of the Water Board" between "and" and "require" in the second line from the bottom. He feels strongly that the Water Board should be involved before actual commitments are made by the City, with industries that are high water users. Following a second from Tom Sanders and further discussion, this amendment was defeated. The Board then voted on the proposed amendment to the Raw Water Requirement Ordinance as amended. All members except Ray Glabach voted in favor. Roger Krempel informed the Board that the 3 acre-feet per acre requirement has worked well; other cities have adopted it, he said. He added that the staff is concerned about the high density requirements and is in the process of doing an analysis in an attempt to adjust to the districts' requirements, in order to become more uniform. Once the larger user requirement has been satisfied, the staff will come to the Board with results on the high density study. Other Business Roger Krempel announced that the Council had approved the Sludge Farm acquisition on first reading. The second reading will be Tuesday, July 19th. The City Manager has asked Water Utilities to provide more information on water in the City and he recommended that this be accomplished by a videotape presentation. Consequently, a 12 minute videotape is being produced that will be narrated by John DeHaes. Page 5 Water Board Minutes July 15, 1983 The City Manager also has requested that Roger Krempel prepare a report on the City's needs for water storage over the next 20 to 30 years. When Mr. Krempel finishes the memo, he will distribute it to the Water Board for their perusal. Henry Caulfield requested that there be a statement in the memo indicating that the Water Board agrees that the City needs to thoroughly study this question and furthermore, it should be made clear that the City will not be committed to any particular project at this point. Roger Krempel related that there was a question, apparently from a Council person, as to the possibility of tapping the aquifer under downtown; perhaps as a source for a fountain or two. With the help of a consultant an answer should be forthcoming. Mr. Krempel showed the Board.some interesting numbers provided by River Commissioner Jack Neutze reflecting the amount of water that was "lost" to the basin during the recent high runoff from the Poudre. Tom Sanders asked if there has been a final agreement with Anheuser-Busch. Roger Krempel responded that the City has a contract with Busch which requires them to provide 4200 acre-feet of water. The City has about five categories of water that would satisfy the agreement. Busch is currently working on a new water development project that looks very good. Policies Since there was very little time left before the 5:00 adjournment time, it was decided that the next Board meeting will begin at 2:00 allowing the members about an hour for discussion of the policies before the regular business session. Since there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m. Water Board Secretary