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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 10/26/2000FORT COLLINS WATER BOARD MINUTES October 26, 2000 12 — 4:55 p.m. Fort Collins Utilities Training Room 700 Wood Street City Council Liaison Water Board Chairman Water Board Vice Chair Chuck Wanner (not present) Tom Sanders — 491-5448 John Morris — 491-0185 Staff Liaison Molly Nortier — 221-6700 ROLL CALL Members Present (A quorum was present) Tom Sanders, Chair, Joe Bergquist, George Reed, Paul Clopper, Dave Frick, Bill Fischer, Robert Ward, David Lauer Members Absent (All excused) Tom Brown, John Morris, Dave Rau STAFF Mike Smith, Wendy Williams, Dennis Bode, Jim Hibbard, Dave Agee, Gale McGaha-Miller, Bob Smith, Ben Alexander, Lori Clements -Grote, Dennis Sumner, Susan Hayes, Sue Paquette, Molly Nortier GUESTS Gene Schleiger, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Greg Koch, Anderson Consulting Engineers Ben Ruder, Kurt Kionka, Jennifer Regel — All CSU Civil Engineering Students MEETING OPENED Chair Tom Sanders opened the meeting. The following items were discussed: MINUTES Paul Clopper moved that the minutes of August 24, 2000 be approved as distributed. Joe Bergquist seconded the motion. Joe Bergquist noted that Robert Ward's name was left off the members present list. Tom Sanders pointed out some minor grammatical errors on pp. 2, 3 and 7. The minutes were approved unanimously with those corrections. Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 2 NORTHERN COLORADO WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT UPDATE Gene Schleiger began by thanking the Water Board for recently voting to support the current District method of selecting their Board of directors by appointment, instead of supporting an election process. Pipeline Problems He went on to say that a few months ago the District became aware that Denver and Dallas and a number of areas around the country have constructed pipelines in the same era when the NCWCD built Windy Gap. All of these pipelines were constructed with pre -tensioned concrete pipe, and some had failures. "We wanted to be certain that the District wasn't in the same situation, so we hired a firm out of Houston that has developed a new technology in which they pull through a pipeline, a machine that creates a magnetic field." This technique determines if there are breaks in the pre -tension wire. There are about 1700 sections in the District's pipeline. The consultant found breaks in about 265 of them. About 17 of those sections have been excavated in order to examine them. To replace them will cost about $33-35,000 per section. "Have you found the broken wires and verified the results?" George Reed asked. "Yes, there were broken wires," Mr. Schleiger replied. He explained that when the District excavated those sections of the pipeline they had to also uncover some sections of pipeline adjoining the damaged pipe to get to those sections and replace them. During the installation of the pipeline, when the material around the pipe was compacted, it appears in places 30-40 feet long, that the blade of the bulldozer penetrated the concrete covering on the outside of the pipe, and cut down to the pre -tension wires. Those wires didn't show up as being damaged in the test. "Now we are not certain how much we have that is buried or was damaged during installation," he said. "We are not sure where we go from here," he acknowledged. "At $33,000 a section, you can do a lot of repairs, but if you just do a few each year you never know which ones you are missing." One of the things the District Board is going to have to consider very strongly is the possibility of replacing the entire pipeline. "We have discovered a significant number of adjoining pipes that did not show damage with the magnetic field test, but when they were uncovered we found damage. The wire is not actually cut all the way through, but it has been exposed and there is major rusting and corrosion. There is no way the District can put water into that pipeline until we get a definitive idea of what's there. If you put 600 cfs with 600 feet of head in that pipeline, there is a problem. Gene Schleiger said it cost $12 million to install the pipeline 20+ years ago. The pipe manufacturer is now out of business. The contractor who installed it basically said: "If you have a problem, sue us." Paul Clopper asked what they replaced the defective sections with. "We replaced them with two twenty foot sections of pipes that were manufactured with steel sleeves," he replied. When you look back at when that system was bid, it was bid with the option of either going with an all steel pipeline or the pretension concrete reinforced. At that time the pretension seemed to be the new wave and perhaps $1000 cheaper than the all steel. Looking back 20 years, it probably would have been great to use all steel. "Is it correct to say that the pretension option was used because of the extreme head?" Paul asked. "Yes, when you get 600 feet of head in that 9 foot diameter pipe, there is a lot of pressure in the pipeline. "Is it fatigue failure?" Joe Fort Collins Water Boymiinutes October 26, 2000 Page 3 Bergquist asked. "We're not sure. What the labs are telling us now is there appeared to be a quality control issue during the manufacture of the pretension wire that was used. The manufacturer has learned a lot since our pipeline was installed. The technology was the best they knew of at the time, almost like we are currently seeing with Horsetooth Dam," Gene Schleiger explained. Update on Horsetooth Gene thought it would be best to open up this portion of his report with questions, rather than going over information that the Board and staff already know. Bill Fischer asked how the funding from the federal government is coming. "We don't have it, but we hope it's imminent," Gene said. The president vetoed legislation the first time because there was an amendment attached that he and the Corps of Engineers didn't support. The two chambers have worked out legislation where the amendment has been removed, and the president said he will sign it, but there are still some obstacles to overcome. He went on to say that the Bureau is going ahead assuming that they will have funding. They would like to begin construction shortly after the first of the year. Tom Sanders asked him prior to the meeting how the sink hole problem is going. Several months ago the District retained a firm to do side scan sonar to look at the bottom of the reservoir and try to find anything that might be causing seepage. They saw a couple of abnormalities on the scan, but at that time, there was still 75 ft. of water and the clarity of the imaging wasn't the best. They thought it could be sediment deposits. Then a few weeks ago, the first seep hole occurred on the west side of the dam. "We now have the water level down beyond that point. Within the last few days, we put five semi truckloads of cement and water slurry in there, and as of yesterday we have that area sealed off. The intent is to put a concrete cap over the top of that and then put a 10-15 foot layer of compacted clay over the top of it. Once this site was found, the firm that did the sonar scan realized that they had seen something similar to this site on the east side of the dam when they looked at the scan. Last week divers were sent down and they had difficulty seeing more than 18 inches in front of them, but they could see ]edging settlements, and it appeared, if there was any sediment stirred up, they would draw into those areas. They were reluctant to get very close to it because at that point they didn't know what the velocities, etc. were. They didn't want to take the chance of anyone being drawn into one of those. He said they are going to lower the reservoir to dead storage to get those areas uncovered. There are three sink holes, to the best of their knowledge, that are currently along the toe of the dam. Tom S. also asked Gene about the District's ability to get water over for the City's domestic use if this becomes a long-term issue. He said the District is comfortable in saying that they don't see it as a major issue to get water to the treatment facility. If the District has to, they can put a coffer dam across the channel that connects the north pond, and block that off, allowing water to come in so the City could continue to operate. He acknowledged that it may not be an ideal situation, but it is a method that could be used. The District hopes that when they get the Reservoir pulled down --they will run about 150 feet out of it tomorrow --and at that flow, they are hoping to have the reservoir down to dead storage by between the 3'a and 5th of November. "We hope, at that point, we will be able to do what we did at the hole on the west side of the dam. We would put Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 4 concrete slurry in there and seal the holes enough to where we can bring water back up into the operating range that we have been talking about (5320 ft.—5360ft.)," he explained. "We will be down to 5295," he added. Bill Fischer said the following comment was personal, not as a Board member: "If you're working on the reservoir, you might as well fix everything," he said. "We've got to," Gene responded. Much of the information that is being gathered now is going to be used to determine what kind of concrete curtain is going to be placed in the dam, whether it has to be constructed differently than what was envisioned, or stay with what has been proposed. "The current thinking hasn't changed as to how the repairs must take place. It could change, e.g. do you go 150 ft. or 300 ft. below the foundation of the dam to seal this thing in?" He acknowledged that they don't know those answers at this time. Perhaps within another 10 days they will have some of those answers. Joe Bergquist asked if the other dams are okay. "Yes, with the other dams we have never seen any increased seepage, and they have been monitored since they were built. When you get a full head pressure in a reservoir, you see an increase." he said. He added that there is a very minimal concern about those three dams, but they will still do the work that was proposed for them --in other words, modernizing them and making them safer, he assured the Board. Joe also asked if there was any further discussion on the intake. "That's one thing I didn't check," Gene replied. He knows, however, that there has been considerable discussion. He asked Ben Alexander to comment on that. Ben said staff has been working on it. Their next meeting will be the Monday following Thanksgiving. The individual entities that were considering participating have been doing their own evaluations. "We have commissioned a report as to what the ideal location would be if we were to place a new outlet works elevation -wise and north and south along the reservoir. That report will be coming in the mail from ERA Consultants at UC Davis," he said. "We'll be ready for the meeting," he added. Gene's understanding, at this point, is that everyone is "in a go mode" to put that in, unless there are costs or other elements that change, but the interest is still there. "I think we'll find that out at the meeting," Ben concluded. Gene confirmed with Ben that the Bureau is doing aerial photography at the reservoir, so that information and data will be available. Paul Clopper said when the divers were down they apparently saw evidence of sediment moving into these things. "Has anyone looked at putting dye into these things? Presumably, if it's going in like that, it's coming out at the downstream side somewhere. This would allow you to see, not only where it's coming out, but the time travel," he suggested. "There has been a lot of discussion on that, but I can't speak to whether the Bureau has chosen to do that," Gene answered. "From some of the comments I have been aware of, they felt if routine dyes were used, until they filtered through the dam itself, there would probably be a lot of the dye material attaching to the sediment that is already in there. That would be difficult to track," he explained. He went on to say that the District has been looking at and monitoring seepage sites some Fort Collins Water Boolmnutes • October 26, 2000 Page 5 distances down, "and they have seen decreases in the volume as the reservoir has come down over the summer. "Now that we've uncovered the hole on the west side, at least on the surface hole, there was no water going into it. We have not seen any decrease in any of the sites down stream. There has been some discussion of using isotope materials that could track whether they surfaced or not. At this point we don't know whether they are coming down at the river or whether they are going far beyond." Gene mentioned also that there appears to be a threat of litigation from the West Slope on the operations of the CBT. They would like at least a 50,000 ac-ft reduction in diversions that they presume we are wasting; e.g. allowing water to flow to Nebraska and using water to mitigate the endangered species in Nebraska. They are most likely going to take this process through the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) attacking the Endangered Species Act. They have commissioned a two-year study with a Denver firm on the CBT operations. "They never called the Northern District offices to talk to anybody about how we operate," he asserted. George Reed asked if the Tri-district's outlet is at the same elevation as the City's. "Yes," was the answer. "So a single tower would serve both needs," George said. "I was hearing in the community that going down to 5295 ft. for very long, would give Fort Collins problems as far as cost of water treatment because of turbidity and other issues. Is that true?" "We are aware of that, and it is an issue," Gene replied. "There have been meetings, which I have not been a part of, where City, Northern District and Bureau staff have discussed it," he said. He continued by saying the District is going to install a monitoring station on the inlet canal. He understands the City is putting some buoys around in the reservoir to monitor. "We will provide some communications networking, or whatever is necessary to help," he said. Ben Alexander doesn't think the City will be able to get those installed because of the recent drawing down of the reservoir. Logistically it isn't possible to place monitoring devices. "We are at the point where we are going to have to deal with the water quality problems whatever they are, in order to keep enough supply coming," Ben stressed. George has also heard, as the worst case scenario, that if this went on into next summer, we would be forced into water rationing. It was pointed out that at this time of year, we have the lowest supplies and the lowest demand. "I don't expect it will continue that long," Ben responded. "We are going to meet with the Northern District and the Bureau tomorrow and lay out an operating plan to get us through in times of extremely low levels while they make the interim repairs to the sink holes on the north dam. We will have to do that by continuously bringing water in from the inlet canal and letting it come over to our outlet. We'll try to maintain a flow level that will be sufficient to keep their contract dry but keep us supplied. Our outlet elevation is 5272 ft. They may need to go down to 5280-85 ft. in order to get to that sink hole. Over a period of maybe six weeks or two months, they should be able to get those repairs made, and then they intend to bring the reservoir up to the original fall time target of about 5330 ft. At this time, we have passed the point of no return. The timing is difficult because the Poudre is prone to freeze back and have low flows, so our best bet is try to use Horsetooth as much as we can, and bring that water in, as was mentioned earlier," Ben concluded Fort Collins Water Board ham. -.lutes October 26, 2000 Page 6 George Reed said it wouldn't surprise him if the local newspapers continue with alarmist type articles on this subject, e.g. water quality and water rationing. "Certainly from our standpoint, we want to work with the City in every way we can," Gene responded. The District runs into operational problems during the winter months trying to match inflows and outflows. "What we find with that section of canal from the Big Thompson to the inlet, if we don't keep 100 cfs in it in cold weather, it freezes up on us. The City is going to be in situations where it probably isn't going to be producing those kinds of flows." Ben said the City will try to keep a steady flow on our demands (implied) from Horsetooth. "It will not be at 100 cfs; it will be closer to 50 cfs or less. We are going to have to deal with the potential impacts of freezing. The choice is going to have to be between the Northern District and the Bureau whether they incur frost damage to the canal or whether they submerge the dam again. We can't do anything more than what we are doing to keep the City supplied," he stressed. "We will probably switch from a supply on the Poudre to maximize our use through Horsetooth in order to keep the flow in the canals as high as we can to help the District with its freezing problems. We will do everything we can to monitor the temperature at Flatiron and on this end so we can anticipate freezing conditions. The District may have to adjust its flow rate if the weather forecast is for extreme cold, or switch to a warmer source such as Carter," Ben explained. Gene said these are all things the District is looking at. "I understand there is about a 1500 ac-ft pool that we can operate with for the City's releases," Gene pointed out. "It may be that the District will operate and the City will pull what they need, and then we go off and on with the 100 cfs to take that pool where it's operational for you, and help alleviate some of the freezing," Gene related. City staff has been in a tough position because there are not many alternatives for them, he acknowledged, and the district doesn't have a lot of alternatives either. He emphasized that the District will try to go out of its way to minimize as many of the negative effects that it can. CANAL IMPORTATION MASTER DRAINAGEWAY PLAN Background According to the memorandum included in Board packets, staff has been working for over a year to revise and update the Canal Importation Basin Master Drainageway plan. This highly urbanized basin, located in the west central part of Fort Collins, is subject to widespread flooding. The original plan was created in 1980, and some of the improvements identified then, have been constructed. 1997 Flood The July 1997 storm caused severe flash flooding and significant property damage in this basin. Since the flood, the City revised the stormwater fee structure and increased the design rainfall. Tom Sanders said that Susan Hayes presented this to the Engineering Committee last week. He asked her to provide a summary of that for the Board. The Board received executive summaries in their packets. Susan Hayes, the project manager for the Canal Importation Basin update, introduced Greg Koch, a consultant with Anderson Consulting Engineering. Fort Collins Water Bo*Minutes • October 26, 2000 Page 7 Location of Basin Susan began her presentation by pointing out the location of the Canal Importation Basin. It is located in the west central part of town, generally bounded by Mulberry on the north, Drake on the south, the foothills on the west and Shields on the east. She indicated the major flow paths that have been defined. She reiterated that it's a highly urbanized basin, so typically as you drive through, you are not going to see major drainage channels. There is the Mulberry flow path, Plum Channel, Clearview Channel, Canal Importation/Fairbrooke Channel, (a portion of it has already been constructed), and a very urban basin to the south that drains directly to Spring Creek, which is called the Manchester/Scarborough flow path. Master Plan Update The revised Master Plan will: • Revise the system for higher rainfall • Improve riparian habitat along drainageways • Include a more detailed study of local drainageways • Revise cost estimates to construct proposed projects General Flooding Problems In general, flooding problems can be summarized as too much water and too little space to move it in. There are three irrigation canals that run through this basin: Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal, the New Mercer Ditch and Larimer No. 2. All of these capture stormwater runoff, which is trying to go from west to east. The ditches are going north to south. The ditches pick up the water and move it in a variety of ways, overtop and spill through the neighborhoods and down into streams. Another element very typical of this basin, is that the vast majority of it was developed prior to drainage criteria being in place in the early 1980s. As a result, there is development encroaching in the floodplains and there are streets built over low points, which cause streets and intersections to flood. There are also undersized detention ponds, which are now overflowing and exacerbating flooding problems. Most of this was painfully obvious in the 1997 flood. Susan then showed a picture of the floodplain. As the water comes down the Mulberry Corridor, it is picked up by Larimer No. 2 and literally pushed to the north and overflows onto Mountain and Oak. In the Plum Channel Corridor, water is spilling from the PV&L on the west. In addition, local flows contribute to flooding on Elizabeth. In the Clearview Channel, there is a big spill on the PV&L that comes down the channel, combines with local flows. It then hits the New Mercer Canal, spreads out and overtops, goes over Larimer No. 2 and eventually down to Elizabeth to the CSU Campus. "We know the floodplain continues on to CSU, but we haven't mapped it," she explained. The detailed mapping stopped at Shields. In the southern part of the basin, the Canal Importation Channel, because so much of it had already been constructed with the original 1980 master plan, has very few structures in this corridor that are flooded. However, detention ponds are being inundated, and there is a local Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 8 problem upstream of the PV&L Canal. At Manchester and Scarborough, major street flooding is caused by spillage on the PV&L, Canal and local runoff. Flood Damages She went on to say that there are over 700 structures in the floodplain. In just a 100-year event, there would be over $25 million in property damage. Average annual damages were calculated using standardized methods to calculate property damage, and a 50-year project life at a 5% interest rate. If you took those average annual damages and brought them back to a present worth value, you have almost $123 million worth of damage in today's dollars. That means if we did nothing over the next 50 years, the damage value in 2000 dollars would be $123 million. So we have significant damage in the basin. Again, going by the 1997 flood, which is far greater than a 100-year, there was major damage in the basin and at CSU. Given the fact that we have such high damages, we strive to reach a 100-year level of protection in a cost effective manner, but also meeting other City goals and objectives for water quality, open corridors, etc. We start at the 100-year level. If we can't meet that, we evaluate other alternatives, which provide less protection. Project Alternatives: 1. Do nothing. We know what the results of that would be. 2. Flood proof only. We eliminated this as a stand alone alternative because some of the flood depths were so deep that it was impractical to flood proof all homes or businesses. 3. Maximize regional detention. This means we could take nearly every undeveloped piece of land in the basin and build a detention pond on it, and connect it with pipes and channels. 4. Limit detention to land the City already owns, such as the Canal Importation Basin. The proposed plan proposes maximizing regional detention. Susan went on to say that staff solicited input from other City staff. They went to the Parks & Recreation, Golf and Natural Resources Boards. They also met with citizens at two open houses to get feedback on the proposed alternatives. Objectives Considered When Evaluating Projects • Protect lives • Limit property damage • Control ditch overflows • Eliminate as many uncontrolled spills as possible • Maintain and enhance riparian habitat for water quality purposes • Incorporate other City policies and goals • Work with CSU to reduce campus damage along with their own efforts • Strive to be cost effective Next she referred to Figures 4 and 5 in the Executive Summary. Since Canal Importation is such an urban basin, these are very urban solutions. This would not be typical of a more natural Fort Collins Water Bod' mutes • October 26, 2000 Page 9 system, such as Fossil Creek, Spring Creek, Cooper Slough and Boxelder. You will be seeing a number of detention ponds, pipes and straighter channels than we would typically design. She stressed that there are limited opportunities for improvements in this basin. In the Mulberry Corridor, staff added more detention, and built channels and pipes to connect them. Along the Mulberry Corridor, Sheldon Lake and City Park Nine Golf Course are for detention. To control ditch overflows, they are doing some ditch improvements and radial gates to force the water into these ponds. With Plum Channel, there are ponds and pipes and open channels to connect them to reduce flows downstream on Elizabeth and on campus. The City had already done some work on the Clearview Channel, but as they looked at improvements, they found there were some physical limitations that already exist. They have cut back on what they are proposing on Clearview. There are a couple of large culvert upsizings. The New Mercer Canal is probably one of the most controversial areas. The figure shows reconfiguring essentially the whole canal, and putting the irrigation flows in a big box culvert, and making the rest of the open channel as big as it can possibly be. This will mean there will be vertical concrete side walls in some areas, and a grass lined bottom. Staff has been working with the neighborhood to make sure they are well aware of this project and to address concerns they may have. At Springfield it looks like both sides are going to have to be vertical concrete walls. Compared to the 1980 master plan, we have been able to reduce the impact to the ditches to just the New Mercer from Elizabeth down to the Canal Importation Channel. That has been well received by the Natural Resources Dept. and the Natural Resources Advisory Board, particularly since we don't have to touch Larimer No. 2. Bill Fischer pointed out that the water that goes into Sheldon Lake typically keeps it full most of the time anyway. Is there some freeboard in there? "We are going to dredge the lake and lower the water surface, so we have flood storage on top," Susan replied. "How is the water removed from that lake in times of a big storm to have a controlled flow out, to make room for the flows that would be coming?" Bill asked. He knows there is a headgate on the southwest. "We don't typically have enough time to do that," Susan answered. "We will have to dredge it to have a standard operating level. It actually will be draining back into Larimer No. 2, but at a very reduced rate so the ditch can handle it," she explained. "If it overtops, where would the water from the lake go," Bill continued. "The lowest point right now is at the southeast corner down towards Mulberry," Greg Koch replied. "The northeast corner is also low. It wouldn't take much additional water in there to go over, but that comer has been improved," he said. "We need to upsize the ponds along the Canal Importation Channel. This will allow us to bring the water down from the New Mercer Channel," Susan explained. We will be adding some detention to the north Pleasant Valley & Lake Canal system. Property was just purchased at Overland and Prospect. We will bring the outfall pipe down Prospect and Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 10 discharge into and eventually dump into the PV&L Channel. Again, additional volume in the Canal Importation Channel is needed in order to do this. There is a parallel channel system proposed along the west side of the PV&L Cannel in order to pick up the water coming from the west to eliminate the overflow that goes down Manchester and Scarborough. This flow eventually goes to Spring Creek. Results of the Plan We have shown we can provide generally 100-year protection in the vast majority of the areas in the basin with a benefit/cost ratio of 2.2, which is quite phenomenal for this kind of project. We have reduced the number of structures damaged from 700 to 64, and we have reduced one time 100-year damages from approximately $26 million down to $2.4 million. Annualized damages would be reduced from $123 million to $14 million (the present worth of the annualized damages). Susan explained that staff did some sensitivity analyses. She said it didn't make much difference if you changed the number of years or the interest rate. We still have a benefit/cost ratio that is very high. If we brought the benefit/cost ratio down to a 1, we would have to be assuming interest rates of about 13%. Other Results of the Plan • Creates opportunities for additional wetlands in the ponds and channels being proposed "We hope, eventually, to make this master plan a wetland permit that can be used by our capital projects group for tradeoff. When they have to eliminate wetlands in a project, they can use these wetlands to meet permit requirements," Susan explained. • Incorporates features into the channels that promote movement offish and other aquatic species. • Reduces impact of Canals to what staff considers a minimum, and therefore, Larimer No. 2 can remain untouched Residual Floodplains Susan displayed a residual floodplain map. The dark blue is where the floodplain will be after all the improvements are in place, superimposed over the old floodplains. Along the Mulberry Corridor, they have eliminated the spills from Larimer No. 2 and most of the floodplain on Mulberry. This leaves a mobile home park in the floodplain west of Taft Hill. Plum Channel has been completely removed from the 100-year floodplain. She added that there is still water there; it just means there is no damage to structures. The flows coming down into the New Mercer have been reduced, thereby reducing the spills that occur in this area. It also reduces the flows onto campus. She went on to say that Elizabeth will remain in the floodplain. It's the low point of the basin. We can't turn all the water into other directions, but the water level has been reduced to the point Fort Collins Water Boar3Minutes • October 26, 2000 Page 11 that buildings could be more practically flood proofed. At Clearview Channel there are still some structures left in the floodplain, but depths have been reduced to a point where they can be flood proofed. At Canal Importation we essentially have a residual floodplain remaining along the channel. All structures are pretty much eliminated from the floodplain. In the Manchester/Scarborough area there is still a residual floodplain in the area of Drake and Taft. Again there are some remaining structures, but it wasn't cost effective to try to pipe these flows down to Spring Creek. It didn't offset the damages we would be reducing. Summary of Costs The cost of the plan is estimated to be $49.3 million. That is substantial due to the highly urban nature of the basin. This is most likely our most expensive basin master plan. In 1998, when the Water Board considered the fees, there was information presented about how much money we had scheduled to spend in this basin. At that time it was $22.3 million, which was based on the projects that had been identified up to that point. Two things have changed since then: the rainfall has been updated and more projects have been added to the basin based on the revised master plan and floodplain. Of the $27 million increase, about half it is additional projects, such as the Mulberry Corridor, or additional projects along Plum. The other half of it is largely due to higher rainfall. That meant going back and re -designing or rebuilding projects that had already been proposed, that now need to be bigger. How Fees Will be Impacted The options are to either raise the fees or extend the construction time frame. Floodplain Regulations • Properties in the adopted floodplain will be subject to current floodplain regulations. This will be a "no -rise" floodplain. • When the Old Town and West Vine Master Plans are complete, floodplain regulations for these three "urban floodplains" will be reviewed and revised. This floodplain will be adopted with the master plan. All 700 properties will be subject to our current floodplain regulations. Staff is in the process of notifying those property owners to inform them of the new regulations. "We have already been telling them, as properties come in under land transactions, that they are in a flood prone area and that they will be subject to these regulations," she explained. She reiterated that it will be a "no rise" floodplain. All new projects have to do a hydraulic analysis to prove that their project won't push the water up on a neighbor. She repeated that these floodplain regulations will be revised when Old Town and West Vine master plans are updated. Questions from the Board Tom Sanders asked if staff is going to Council with this. "Yes," Susan replied. Right now we are making the round of boards and commissions, and staff plans to go to Council January 23, 2001 for a work session. She is hoping to get feedback from various boards that are impacted by Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 12 the plan, to see if it will be necessary to do more work prior to going to Council. Tom also asked if staff wants any action from the Board today. "Not today," Susan said. She would like to get feedback to see if there is additional work staff needs to do or if the Board feels comfortable making a recommendation at the meeting on December 7th to pass on to Council in January. However, if the Board thinks we need to be looking at other alternatives, staff would like to work on that prior to the next meeting and bring it back to the Board for consideration. Bill Fischer asked if you would be pushing more water on the Canal Importation Channel. "No," Susan replied. "In fact in the Canal Importation Channel, with the proposed projects, we will be ending up with larger flows than exist in the current system, but we won't be impacting any structures. That is a key requirement. We can't transfer a problem from one part of the basin to another." Joe Bergquist asked if staff was going to have people vote on the fees in each basin or are they going to be shared among all the basins? "We'll probably look at that in the normal budget process," rim Hibbard replied. "When we begin our next 2-year budget cycle, we will look at fees, construction schedules, etc. as part of the budget process. Of course, Water Board and City Council will be participating in that as well. Right now, essentially, we are going to continue to build priority projects throughout the City with the money we have available. When we complete more of the master plans, we will have more information to look at. Do we continue to increase fees? Do we extend the schedule for projects out longer? That will have to be determined as part of the budget process as opposed to a master planning process. There is no way you can look at that on a basin by basin basis. All the capital projects, and the costs associated with them, continue to change as we update the rest of the master plans, and that dictates how much money we will need," Jim explained. Joe also asked if the fees that were made city-wide, cover both capital fees as well as operation and maintenance fees. Jim replied, yes. Mike Smith related that the issues for Council will be the impact of raising the rainfall standard and the update of the master plans. Costs have gone up. "We will try to get all of this done in the time frame we talked about before; increase fees at a faster rate, or have fee schedules going up at the same rate and stretch out the construction time. "Do you have an idea what that length of time will be?" Robert Ward asked. "No, we don't," Mike replied. Canal Importation will probably be the most expensive of the basins at $49 million, Tom Sanders said. "Since we are going to be creating wetlands and enhancing fish and other aquatic habitat, is there any chance we could get some lottery money?" he asked. Susan didn't know. "We are limited in what we can accept in terms of being a utility," she said. "We haven't pursued that option. It's probably worth looking into." Tom Sanders thanked Susan for the presentation and said the Board will make a recommendation on this at the Board meeting in the first week of December. Susan said if the Engineering Committee would like to meet again before then, she would be happy to do that, particularly if they want staff to evaluate other options that would cost less but provide less protection. Fort Collins Water BosMinutes • October 26, 2000 Page 13 Bob Smith mentioned that the Engineering Committee suggested a field trip of the Canal Importation Basin. Susan said she would work with Molly Nortier to come up with some dates and times. Molly will check with Board members on their preferences and schedule a time prior to the next Board meeting. David Lauer asked if there could be a roughly 30% rate increase over the next five years the way things are structured currently. "Right now our budget contemplates 6-8% per year out ten years," Dave Agee responded. "So that's actually more than 30%," David said. Mike Smith pointed out that it would double. Dave Agee said there is the potential for $50 million worth of borrowing. "If we build just these improvements, we would have enough money to do that based on those rate increases, but nothing else." "You're saying that the 6-8% a year rate increase would only take care of this and nothing else?" Tom asked. "Nothing else anywhere in the City," Dave replied. "Council is going to have to wrestle with fees and priorities," he added. Joe asked if the Council would want the Water Board to address the priorities. "We will have to suggest the priorities," Mike Smith stated. Joe Bergquist asked if there is a total backlash to buying up property in the controversial New Mercer Canal area, which would require concrete walls. Is the general feeling that it is too political an issue? "The problem is, there is no defined channel downstream," Susan replied. She guesses that you could buy up enough houses to create a channel to get the water over to Elizabeth St., but it's physically challenging to get a flow path through there. "You could build a smaller structure and have a larger residual floodplain and provide less protection and not buy up structures. There are different things you can look at. Because we were able to meet a 100-year, we didn't necessarily look at other alternatives." She reiterated that she would be willing to meet with the Engineering Committee again if they wished to discuss alternatives. "We are moving so much water around in the basin, once you choose not to do something, it doesn't just affect that local area, it increases flows elsewhere." She acknowledged that once people look at the cost, they are uncomfortable with it and ask if we can do it cheaper. Yes, we can do it cheaper. We could reduce the level of protection, but what would be the policy? Would we do it basin -wide or in just one area? George Reed asked if the prioritization process for Stormwater projects has changed from the criteria we looked at in the past, using a matrix. Susan didn't know if capital projects is using that process now. With Canal Importation we prioritized based on how the projects had to be built sequentially, because there is a very definite sequence you have to use there, and because Canal Importation and Old Town have been the top priority basins. When you add in all of the other master plans, she doesn't know how the rest of the City is going to prioritize. "Suffice it to say, it becomes more than just a technical exercise," Jim Hibbard remarked. There are contractual obligations, ditch companies and other entities that bring in the political aspects of the exercise. "Development is also a driver," Susan added. "Compared to this, what does Old Town look in terms of dollars?" David Lauer asked. Dave Agee said the 8% he is talking about is city-wide because the fee is uniform city-wide. Certainly Old Town will be competing with these projects just as Dry Creek and Taft Hill and all the Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 14 projects are, in essence, competing for the same dollars. "Is this a more expensive project than Old Town the way it is framed now?" David continued. "Yes," Susan replied, "even if you take into account the projects we already have going in Old Town." She expects Old Town to be significantly less. Jim Hibbard said it's been a challenging year for master planning for capital projects, for all of us. David Lauer asked what rate of interest they had for borrowing. "It was 6%," Dave Agee said, "although the last bonds, were closer to 4%, which was an excellent rate." Susan ended by saying that a field trip will be planned and the Water Board will make a recommendation on this for Council in December. Jim Hibbard announced that the Locust Street Project is underway. It uses a 108 inch reinforced concrete pipe, along with a 10 ft. bore under Riverside and the railroad tracks. He said anyone interested in seeing that project can contact project manager Owen Randall at the Service Center. HALLIGAN RESERVOIR AGREEMENT Dennis Bode said the Water Supply Committee and Utilities staff have met several times during recent months to discuss various options the City has regarding the Halligan Reservoir Agreement with North Poudre Imgation Company (NPIC). Staff is now seeking concurrence from the full Water Board to extend the option period for two years. Potential Conflict of Interest Prior to discussion of this item, Bill Fischer related that he assumed Dennis Bode was going to talk about the option the Board has open to recommend extending the option on Halligan for two years. Perhaps intertwined in the decision, is an implicit decision on how to approach diligence filing. "As you know," he said, "whenever you have a conditional decree, you have six years to prove diligence. I think Dennis is going to suggest that the diligence filing is due in November of this year and the decision on the Halligan contract may or may not impact diligence filing by the City. I represent, and my law firm represents, various water users in the Poudre River who will have a chance to object to that diligence filing. I think, as many of my clients know, that Fort Collins hasn't made the diligence filing yet, and it hasn't been in the resume. I suspect, since none of my clients have reviewed that, that I should probably excuse myself from the discussion to insure there will not be a conflict of interest," he concluded. He then left the room. Dennis went on to say that Board members received a memo with background information on this item in their packets. The City of Fort Collins and NPIC entered into the Halligan Reservoir Agreement in November of 1993. The purpose of the agreement is to give the City the option of pursuing the enlargement of Halligan Reservoir, which is currently owned by NPIC. If the City exercises the option, the property would be conveyed to the City and it could then proceed with the design, permitting and construction of the facility. The City also has the option of terminating the agreement or asking NPIC to extend the agreement for two more years. The latter option would allow additional time to study the project before making a final determination whether to Fort Collins Water Boar3Minutes • October 26, 2000 Page 15 exercise the option. Under the Halligan Agreement, the City needs to determine which of three options it wants to pursue at this time. Dennis highlighted the three options: 1. Exercise Option to Purchase the Halligan Reservoir Site. 2. Extend Option Until December 31, 2002. 3. Terminate Option with NPIC Discussion The enlargement of Halligan Reservoir was identified 10-15 years ago as an attractive project to increase the City's storage capacity and the reliability of its water supply system. Recent studies of the City's water supply system have reinforced the belief that additional storage capacity is needed to effectively manage the City's water rights portfolio and increase the efficiency of using the City's water supplies. The enlargement of Halligan Reservoir could be a key component in meeting the future water supply needs of the residents in the Fort Collins area. Because of this, it is desirable to take actions that will continue to protect the conditional water rights associated with the enlargement of Halligan Reservoir. Several regional issues are under study that may affect the feasibility and timing of the Halligan Project. These issues include the development of the Platte River recovery program to address endangered species issues, the effects of the Prebles Meadow Jumping Mouse on the Halligan Project, the development of other proposed projects in the Poudre Basin, and further review of the City's water supply policy. During the next year or two, additional progress regarding these issues will provide more certainty in the development of the Halligan Project. An extension to the option period would provide the City with additional time to consider this information before it makes a final decision. The annual payment at the end of this year to NPIC would be the same for either exercising the option or extending the option period. Conclusion Considering the above information, staff and the Water Supply Committee have concluded that extending the option an additional two years is the most appropriate action to pursue at this time. Dennis emphasized that to terminate the option with North Poudre would be shortsighted. He thinks everyone agrees that we want to maintain that conditional decree at this time. To exercise the option would kick in some transactions as far as the transfer of land from North Poudre to the City. It would also mean that the City has some liabilities for the site up there. It may also mean that the City would have to start operating the existing facility or arrange some agreement with NPIC. He said there is merit in extending the option because it would provide time for a few more pieces to fall into place during the next year or two. "Not that we would have all the answers by then, but more information is desirable," he said. He mentioned, for example, what may happen with the Platte River Recovery Program, and the Prebles Jumping mouse. There may also be some progress in other projects in the Poudre basin that could enter into that final decision. Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 16 Furthermore, we are still looking at some water supply policy issues that need to be better defined. He said, after looking at those issues, the Committee concluded that the City should take advantage of the provision in the agreement that allows us to extend the option period for two years. He asked Water Supply Committee members if they had anything to add. Dave Frick said the Committee concluded that the extension is the best option at this point. He said they had considerable discussion about how to proceed with the option because the City is investing so much money into it. The Committee agreed that it is in our long- term interest to preserve the Halligan Project because it appears to be the most viable option we have for long- term storage. We decided it would be better to extend the option because there are enough issues out there related to environmental considerations, etc. that we didn't want to proceed at this point to exercise the option to purchase the Halligan Reservoir Site. The Committee spent two meetings discussing these issues at length. David Lauer added that a number of the Committee members thought that, instead of waiting for two years, the Board should consider the possibility of concluding some kind of a transfer of the property by next November. He doesn't see how it is going to be much different even in two years regarding the issues that Dennis mentioned. "I remember one of the Committee members asking if the Platte River recovery program, the jumping mouse or water supply issues are going to be closer to conclusion in two years than they are now. The only thing that may give us a little more control over that is our water supply policy," David stated. Dave Frick said another thing the Committee talked about was the fact that we could do some studies next summer to determine whether we have a jumping mouse problem. If it looked like that wasn't going to be an issue, it would take one of the potential road blocks out of the way. Robert Ward said it appears there is additional work that needs to be done in order to get ready to make a decision. Tom Sanders asked if it is realistic to try to aim for a year from now as kind of a critical point for making a decision, keeping in mind that we have another year to fall back on. "I think so," Dennis replied. He thinks a lot of progress can be made in that year, and we may be in a position to exercise the option agreement in a year. The cost is the same whether we extend it or exercise it in terms of the options. George Reed said he believes in the philosophy of making decisions as late as you can, because you generally have better or more information. "What is the down side of waiting two years?" he asked. "There may not be a down side," Dennis acknowledged. "Why are you trying to target it for a year?" George asked. "One reason is at the two-year point, we basically may not be able to have another extension. "The North Poudre agreement would have to be re -structured," Paul Clopper noted. "And it will take several months just to process the data, even if we decide," Dave Frick added. Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 17 David Lauer pointed out another consideration. "The City is in a position, with the Conservancy District and other players, for other options that will make it easier for those other players, including the District, to know in what direction we are going if we decide to go ahead with the enlargement of Halligan. If we wait two years, that means all the other entities will be up in the air for a longer period. Dennis said, as we progress, we will need to be talking with the Northern District just because of the way some of these projects may or may not fit together. "We need to have good communication with them as we go forward." Dave Frick said the other issue is, by the time we say "go" on the project, we could be facing at least ten years before we have a project in place. "We must plan ahead for our own demands at that point." Paul Clopper asked if staff wants a recommendation from the Board. Mike Smith said staff just needs a confirmation. "This doesn't go to Council because there is no action for the Council to take on this item." ACTION: Confirmation of Water Supply Committee Recommendation Chair Tom Sanders asked for all the Board members who were in favor of confirming the recommendation of the Water Supply Committee to extend the option until December 31, 2002, to please say aye. There was unanimous agreement. STAFF REPORTS Treated Water Production Summary Dennis Bode reported that, for September, the City ended up using only 92% of what was projected. "We finally had more precip. than normal for September," he said. The City used 2,965 acre feet of treated water. So far, in the month of October, we are running between 80-85% of what was projected, primarily because of the snow we had early in the month," he concluded. November and December Meetings Molly Nortier related that because the November meeting falls on Thanksgiving and the December meeting is close to Christmas, she suggested combining the two meetings on Thursday December 7, 2000. The Board agreed to meet then. COMMITTEE REPORTS Water Supply Committee Committee Chair Tom Brown was not present, so Dave Frick gave the report. He mentioned that since the last Board meeting, the Water Supply Committee had met twice. Both times there were two items on the agenda, one was the Halligan option extension, which we talked about earlier, and the other was the idea presented to the Board by John Bartholow regarding preferential treatment for rental water. Prior to the September meeting, the Committee met with the Larimer County Ag. Advisory Board. They are the ones proposing the preferential treatment for rental water. "I don't know that we made a lot of progress with them," he stated. At the last meeting of Fort Collins Water Board Minutes October 26, 2000 Page 18 the Committee, they actually talked about some options of how that might be approached. The Ag. Committee proposed a point scheme. Their proposal seemed to give high preference to land that is kept in agricultural production, but not guaranteed in perpetuity. That was one issue on which the Committee had consensus. They would like to see some sort of long-term commitment. Some of the other issues the Committee discussed dealt with where we should give preferential treatment compared to location, and to what locations we would give preferential treatment. The Committee came to the conclusion that the Water Board would be setting land use policy in the County when trying to do this. "We don't feel that is our position." The Committee talked about other schemes, such as bidding for water, figuring that the agricultural users that had the highest value production, which was one of the issues talked about, could pay the most for water, and therefore, could automatically be given preferential treatment. Another option discussed was just leaving it as is. They also talked about what had been done previously, where the City leased water to people who continued to lease it year to year, and basically give preferemce to previous year users. "We moved away from that because of potential legal problems," he said. The Committee debated all of those options, and eventually decided that the Utilities shouldn't be setting land use policy. They concluded that they might look at some of the proposals brought forth, but those proposals should come from other entities, and be passed to us by the City Council. Another conclusion they reached was that setting preferential rental rates would really dictate land use in the County anyway. Chair Tom Sanders asked if they were ready to bring the preferential treatment proposal to the Board at this time. Dave Frick responded that the Committee has not yet had anything formal brought to them. So far, only the idea has been discussed and the Committee has discussed the options that he mentioned before. He reiterated that the Committee thought it was best to have an outside source that looks at land use planning on a regional basis, not just the City or Larimer County necessarily. "We concluded that it is a much bigger issue than we should be tackling." "At this point is the City of Fort Collins the only water -owning entity that they are having discussions with on the preferential treatment issue?" George Reed asked. "Larimer County is bigger than just the City of Fort Collins," he added. "I know they aren't having discussions with the other water districts," Dave replied. He knows, however, that they have had discussions with the City's Natural Resources Advisory Board. He isn't aware if they have approached any other entities. David Lauer thinks the three water districts ought to be involved through whatever regional approach is taken. Dave F. asked the County Ag. Board if they had any discussions with the Districts. "It seems that the Districts are the ones who are providing water for land development in the County areas, and they probably have more control over where they serve water than the City does by renting water," Dave explained. David Lauer added that probably North Poudre and ELCO would be more involved in those kinds of transfers and those kinds of rentals if and when the City starts moving further with this kind of policy. He suggested that it would be valuable to have the minutes of this part of the meeting sent to those involved. Robert Ward said it sounds like, without that guidance, the bottom line is that we continue the policy we now have. "That's right, until we get a recommendation to consider something else," Dave Frick answered. Fort Collins Water Board Minutes • October 26, 2000 Page 19 None of the other committees had reports. The Engineering Committee had met on the Canal Importation Master Drainageway Plan, which was discussed earlier. 2001 WATER BOARD WORK PLAN The Board had received copies of the 2000 Work Plan. The strike -through items were ones that staff suggested be deleted. The gray shaded items were ones that staff suggested be changed, moved or added. Tom Sanders went through each section asking for deletions, corrections and additions. David Lauer, chair of the Water Conservation and Public Education Committee, wants to meet with staff and his committee to discuss some further items, and come back with those to the December meeting when the Board approves the Work Plan. George Reed, chair of the Liaison Issues Committee, said the Committee has not met this year. "There was a thought at one time of combining the Liaison Issues in the future with either Legislative and Finance or Engineering." He asked the Board to keep that in mind for the December discussion. Tom Sanders suggested that the Water Supply and Conservation and Public Education committees include items that relate to the implications of the Horsetooth project. Under conservation, the worst case scenario might include the possibility of restrictions. "Shouldn't we start thinking about what we are going to do? He thinks we need to do that in terms of water supply as well. Bill Fischer agreed. "We must think about planning for it now if we have to stay at dead storage through next summer," Tom stressed. Bill also suggested that perhaps the City, to be on the safe side, needs to tell people that we are not going to lease out any water until very late in the season to ensure that our own domestic supply is taken care of. Bill suggested calling it the Horsetooth Contingency Plan. Robert Ward added "implications of contingencies too." He said we need to determine the scenarios we envision and try to inform people about the impacts of those. Under Engineering, Tom Sanders suggested adding something about our future wastewater treatment plant near Ptarmigan. "The last time we went through all the information in the master planning for wastewater treatment, the conclusion was that we don't need it," Mike Smith pointed out. Paul Clopper added that it part of the Wastewater Treatment Master Plan. The Work Plan will be discussed and approved at the December 7a' meeting. None ADJOURNMENT Since there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:58 p.m.