HomeMy WebLinkAbout12 Water Meter Project Agenda Item # 12
Public Utility District
WORKSHOP
To: Board of Directors
From: Neil Kaufman
Date: July 21, 2010
Subject: Water Meter Project Progress Report &Water Usage Trends
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
This item is informational. Board action is not required.
2. HISTORY
AB 2572 requires that the District begin reading the water meters installed since 1992
and commence billing on a volumetric basis by January 1, 2010. AB 2572 also
requires that all connections be equipped with water meters and billed on a volumetric
basis by January 1, 2025.
In the late Summer of 2008, the District issued a request for proposals for the
provision of an automated meter reading (AMR) system and the installation of water
meters. In response to that RFP, the District received five proposals, three for drive-
by systems and two for fixed-base systems.
The District determined that implementation of a fixed based system would best serve
its needs and the review was focused on those two proposals.
• A proposal from Measurement Control Systems (MCS) for a system utilizing
meters manufactured by Neptune and radios manufactured by Aclara.
• A proposal from Vulcan Construction for a system utilizing meters
manufactured by American Meter Company (AMCO) and radios manufactured
by Datamatic.
Eventually, the Board awarded a contract to MCS for implementation of a pilot
program consisting of about 400 meters. In May of 2009, the Board awarded a
contract to MCS to cover Phase 2 of the Water Meter Implementation program. This
Phase 2 contract covers the installation of about 6,750 meters in total. This existing
contract was structured to begin in May 2009 with the final installations to be
performed in June 2010.
The total value of the Phase 2 contract was $2,107,000 (not including sales tax). The
Board also established a 10% change order authorization for a total amount not to exceed
of$2,440,000 including sales tax.
In May 2010, the Board awarded a contract to MCS to cover Phase 3 of the Water Meter
Implementation program. This Phase 3 contract covers the installation of about 4,735
meters.
3. NEW INFORMATION
As of July 12, 2010, a total of 7,416 meters have been installed (625 commercial & 6,791
residential). The Water Department's current goal is for end of 2010 is 650 commercial and
11,150 residential meters for a total of 11,800 meters. This would represent about 95
percent of the water system customers.
In 2009, MCS encountered about 110 locations where a meter could not be installed. An
additional 20 locations where an installation could not be performed have been identified in
2010. This total is noticeably lower than originally anticipated. The main factors preventing
meter installation were:
• Meter box was buried and/or could not be located
• Meter box was located under a deck, large rocks, tree, fence or other obstruction
• No meter box, only a curb stop
• Meter box was too small, too deep or too damaged for a safe installation
• Excessive groundwater
• Broken/inoperable valves
In terms of water usage, the Water Department has experienced a significant drop in water
usage over the past few years while the overall number of customers has increased
slightly. There has also been a shift towards commercial water usage comprising a larger
percentage of the total usage. This data is summarized in Tables 1 and 2. It is expected
that the downward trend in overall water usage will continue until meters are installed on
all of the water system customers.
Table 1. Overall Water Usage, 2007 - 2010
Year Average Day Maximum Day Number of
Demand, m d Demand, mgd Customers
2003 6.05 11.50 11,205
2004 6.64 12.61 11,503
2005 6.11 12.66 11,917
2006 6.50 13.01 12,271
2007 6.67 14.84 12,442
2008 6.29 12.65 12,555
2009 5.71 12.71 12,586
Table 2. Breakdown of Water Usage by Customer Class, 2002 - 2010
Total Commercial Residential
Year Average Commercial Sales, Residential Sales,
Sales, m d Sales, mgd percentage Sales, mgd percentage
2003 6.05 0.95 15.7 5.10 84.3
2004 6.64 1.37 20.6 5.27 79.4
2005 6.11 1.48 24.2 4.63 75.8
2006 6.50 1.55 23.8 4.95 76.2
2007 6.67 1.89 28.3 4.78 71.7
2008 6.29 1.68 26.7 4.61 73.3
2009 5.63 1.56 27.7 4.07 72.3
With the implementation of AMR system, it is now possible to examine variations in water
usage between different parts of the service area. Table 3 shows the variation in average
winter and summer usage for the residential customers. Tables 4 & 5 show the ten largest
residential water users for Winter and Summer of 2010. Table 6 shows the ten largest
commercial water users for Summer of 2010. Most of the commercial customers were
converted to the new AMR system until the Spring of 2010, so Winter 2010 data is not
available.
Table 3. Seasonal Variation in Water Usage for Residential Customers
Current Average Average June
Meter Count January Usage, Usage,
Area gals/day als/day
Armstrong 74 99 196
Coyote Run 20 93 80
Donner Lake 17178 99 188
Downtown 60 59 239
Gateway 223 80 180
Glenshire 606 144 778
Gray's Crossing 46 66 244
Hirschdale 1 90 139
Martiswoods 29 112 773
Old Greenwood 148 88 334
Olympic Heights 32 105 466
Pine Forest 28 106 398
Pinyon Creek 40 21 36
Ponderosa Palisades 124 113 737
Prosser Heights 25 564 1,204
Prosser Lakeview 247 104 377
Sierra Meadows 249 113 507
Southside 150 104 219
Spring Creek 18 103 122
Tahoe Donner 3,427 78 175
Winter Creek 66 73 124
6,791 93 278
Table 4. Ten Largest Residential Water Users, January 2010
Rank Usage,
Location gals/day Notes
1 Prosser Heights 6,224 Constant Leak
2 Glenshire 4,399 Constant Leak from Jan 4 to Jan 25
3 Prosser Heights 2,893 Constant Leak
4 Prosser Heights 11721 Constant Leak
5 Glenshire 1,647 Intermittent Leak
6 Tahoe Donner 1,581 Constant Leak
7 Tahoe Donner 1,535 Constant Leak
8 Glenshire 1,312 Constant Leak
9 Donner Lake 1,207 Constant Leak from Jan 20 to Jan 23
10 Sierra Meadows 1,173 Constant Leak
Table 5. Ten Lar est Residential Water Users, June 2010
Rank Usage,
Location gals/day Notes
1 Prosser Heights 9,984 Constant Leak
2 Prosser Lakeview 9,677 Constant Leak
3 Prosser Heights 8,178 Constant Leak
4 Tahoe Donner 6,699 Constant Leak
5 Glenshire 6,445 Constant Leak
6 Donner Lake 6,292 Constant Leak from Jun 15 to Jun 25
7 Sierra Meadows 4,969 Constant Leak from Jun 1 to Jun 22
8 Ponderosa
Palisades 4,446 Intermittent Leak
9 Glenshire 4,212 No Leak
10 Glenshire 4,042 Constant Leak
Table 6. Ten Largest Commercial Water Users — Potable Water System, June 2010
Rank Usage,
Customer Type gals/day Notes
1 Park 66,367 No leak alarm — Likely leak/constant flow
2 School 35,869 Has leak/constant flow
3 Mobile Home Park 327777 Has leak/constant flow
4 Cemetery 29,833 Has leak/constant flow
5 School 22,882 Has leak/constant flow
6 HOA Common
Property 20,906 Has leak/constant flow
7 Park 16,104 Has leak/constant flow
8 School 14,071 Has leak/constant flow
4 9 Apartment Building 12,730 Has leak/constant flow
10 Commercial Business 12,001 Has leak/constant flow
The AMR system is equipped with automated leak detection capabilities. Currently about
755 customers appear to have a leak of some size. These leaks range from barely
detectable (20 — 30 gallons per day) up to seven gallons per minute (almost 10,000 gals
per day). It is estimated that between 500,000 and one million gallons per day is lost due
to leaks on customer-owned piping. The main areas of leakage are improper operation of
shutoff and stop and drain valves, and broken irrigation systems.
It should be noted that there has not yet been a rate impact (price signal) to most
customers associated with these leaks. For those residential customers where a meter
was installed in 2009, they are currently in the one year transition to volume-based billing.
Water usage by these customers appears on their bill along with a dual calculation of the
water bill. One calculation is based upon the flat rate structure and the second calculation
is based upon the metered rate structure. These customers are paying the flat rate for
calendar 2010 and will move to the metered rate in 2011. For those customers where a
meter is installed in 2010, this transition period will begin in January of 2011 and they will
move to the metered rate in 2012.
One unforeseen issue has arisen that has required significant staff effort. There are about
900 single-family residential accounts located in multi-unit buildings such as townhomes
and condominiums. It has been determined that the original builder/developer often
provided incorrect information to the District regarding which meter serves which unit in
these multi-unit buildings.
Using a four unit building as an example, there are four separate meters feeding into the
building. The meters are attached to a single supply manifold in a common meter box.
The developer may have told the District that the leftmost meter serves Unit 1, the next
meter to the right serves Unit 2, the next meter to the right serves Unit 3 and the rightmost
meter serves Unit 4. However, the physical reality can be quite different. Resolving this
issue involves lengthy telephone conversations with property owners and field verification.
It is likely that this verification effort will continue into 2011.
4. FISCAL IMPACT
As noted above, the Board awarded the Phase 3 contract to MCS in May 2010. The
overall project finances were reviewed at that time. Table 7 gives the overall costs as
discussed in May. Currently, the 2010 work is on schedule and on-budget.
Table 7. Cost Estimate for Metering Installation Project
MCS District Costs Outside Contracts Total
Phase 1 $232,000 $38,000 $0 $270,000
Phase 2 — $1,545,000 $296,000 $0 $1,841,000
2009
Phase 2 — $655,000 $205,000 $0 $860,000
2010
Phase 3 — $1,475,000 $185,000 $0 $1,660,000
2010
Phase 4 — $112,500 $112,500 $900,000 $1,125,000
2011
Phase 4 — $112,500 $112,500 $900,000 $1,125,000
2012
Phase 4 — $50,000 $50,000 $400,000 $500,000
2013
Total $4,182,000 $999,000 $2,200,000 $7,381,000
5. RECOMMENDATION:
Receive this report and provide comment.
Michael D. Holley, General Manager