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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12 Water Meter Project Water usage Trends Agenda Item # 12 TRUCKEE DONNER WORKSHOP To: Board of Directors From: Neil Kaufman Date: January 19, 2011 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. In September 2008, 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 covered the installation of about 4,735 meters. The total value of the Phase 3 contract was $1,471,592.06 (not including sales tax). The Board also established a 10% change order authorization for a total amount not to exceed of$1,618,000. 3. NEW INFORMATION As of January 1, 2011, a total of 10,777 meters have been installed (651 commercial and 10,126 residential) encompassing about 86 percent of the customers. The Water Department currently has a total of 12,526 customers. To date, 1,637 locations have been identified where a meter could not be installed. This list of locations has been designated as the "Red Flag" list. The main factors preventing meter installation were: • Meter box was buried and/or could not be located • Meter box was paved over or located under a deck, large rocks, tree, fence or similar obstruction • No meter box, only a curb stop • Meter box was too small, too deep or damaged • Excessive groundwater • Broken/inoperable valves The table below gives a break of the Red Flag list by location. Area Quantity Armstrong/Gateway 122 Donner Lake 46 Downtown/Olympic Heights 155 Glenshire/Hirschdale 627 Prosser/Northeast 134 Sierra Meadows/Ponderosa Palisades 146 Tahoe Donner 388 Commercial (Various Locations) 19 Total 11637 Plan for 2011-2014 As noted above, there are 1,637 locations where a meter still needs to be installed. At almost all of these locations, excavation work will be necessary to install a new meter box or repair existing facilities. During the summer of 2011, the Water Department currently anticipates creatinga three-person meter box installation crew from its field st staff. It is expected that this crew will begin with the commercial meter locations and then proceed with work in 2 the Glenshire area. It is anticipated that this crew will able to accomplish 350 to 400 installations. At the end of 2011, the Water Department will be able to provide a more refined timeline for installation of the remaining meters. The Water Department is currently preparing a set of bid documents for procurement of the necessary meter boxes, piping materials and other hardware. After the bids have been received, they will be presented to the Board along with a recommendation for award of a materials purchase contract. Lessons Learned from Meter Installation Project The District has gained additional knowledge throughout the course of the metering project. Some of the major items are: • The Water Department was aware of about 400 customers that did not have a meter box. An additional 200 customers without meter boxes have been identified and there are an additional 125 locations where the meter box could not be located. This total is higher than anticipated. • There are about 800 locations where the meter box was inspected and the condition of the existing facilities (meter box and/or piping) prevented the installation of a meter. This total was also higher than anticipated. • About 10 percent of the customers had a leak somewhere after the meter box. Some leaks were'quite large and approached 10 gallons per minute (gpm). These leaks typically occurred in one of four locations: 1) Malfunctioning, damaged or improperly operated irrigation systems 2) Corroded or improperly operated stop and drain valves 3) Leaking toilets 4) Corroded customer-owned service laterals In some cases, these leaks had been occurring prior to the installation of the meter; however the District had no method to detect the leak and then informing the customer. In other cases, the leaks occurred at a later date. There is an ongoing problem related to the improper operation of stop and drain valves. Stop and drain valves have a 900 rotation and the valve can be in one of three positions: 1) Full open (0' position) 2) Full closed (900 position) 3) Partially open (anyplace between 00 and 900). A partially open valve will create a leak under a house of up to 5 gallons per minute. This leak is often not readily apparent to the occupant. There have also been situations where customers have turned on their irrigation systems in the winter, creating a "leak" of up to 10 gallons per minute. 3 Considerable staff time has been spent informing customers of these leaks and addressing customer concerns. Some customers do not have an appreciation of how much water they actually use and there have been some over-reactions to letters from the District regarding relatively small leaks. The Water Department has also developed a handout that addresses problems with stop & drain valves. A copy of the handout is included as Attachment 1.. • The new metering system has provided the District with the ability to be pro- active in regards to pipe breaks and large customer leaks. During the period of cold weather just before Thanksgiving, a few customers suffered from frozen pipes which then cracked. The District was able to identify these leaks the following work day and then notify the customer. Some of these leaks were as large as 16 gpm. There was one customer that had a pipe break in the ceiling of their first floor with a flow rate of about 11 T gpm. he customer was notified by telephone and was able to stop the flow of water the same day. In the past, these pipe breaks would often continue until the owner arrived at the property or another party (neighbor, deliveryman, etc) noticed a flow of water coming from the structure. Such a leak could have gone undetected for weeks. While the new system cannot prevent these leaks, it can detect them relatively quickly and help to minimize the damage that occurs. • The District has been able to correct some problems within its Customer Information System resulting from erroneous information provided b developers. As noted at a previous meeting, the Water D y Department identified a problem with the assignment of meters to the correct customer in multi-unit residential properties. The Water Department has spent significant effort investigating this problem and it is almost complete. A total of 198 mis- assigned meters have been identified out of the 687 that have been investigated. The District also identified some other billing information problems that have been corrected. • The Water Department identified about a dozen illegal irrigation connections. In these cases, the owner had made a connection to the District's system without paying the y p y g appropriate fees and was not paying a monthly bill for service. These situations have been corrected by either initiating a month) bill, or physically disconnecting the illegal connection. y • There has been a significant reduction in Winter-time water usage over the past few years. As shown in the table below, g water usage has dropped by about 25 percent since 2007. Year Jan — Feb Water Usage (m d) 2007 4.11 2008 3.57 2009 3.42 2010 3.08 4 This reduction can likely be attributed to two factors: 1) The District's pipeline replacement program removed about 54,500 feet of pipeline in poor condition from the distribution system. 2) The installation of water meters has allowed the District to identify and contact those customers with leaks on their side of the meter. For the most part, customers have been diligent in correcting these problems. 4. FISCAL IMPACT As noted above, the total value of the Phase 2 contract was about $2.11 million. To date a total of about $2.06 million has been spent under this contract. The total value of the Phase 3 contract was about $1.47 million. To date, a total of about $1.39 million has been spent under this contract. For 2011, a direct expenditure of about $880,000 is anticipated. This amount is based on a total of 400 installations at a cost of $2,200 per installation. This $2,200 includes District field labor and equipment, along with necessary parts and materials. There will be additional District labor costs associated with administrative, engineering and management functions for this work, for a total cost of about $1,000,000. Annual costs for the period of 2012 to 2014 are expected to be similar to 2011 at around $1,000,000 per year. The total cost for the project is currently estimated at about $7.5 million. To date, two funding sources have been identified for this project. 1) Reserve for Future Meters Fund - This fund had a balance of about $1.3 million at the start of the project. All of these funds have been spent. 2) Water Meter Surcharge — In 2008, the Board of Directors implemented a monthly surcharge of$5 on all customers (effective January 2009) to help fund the water meter project. This surcharge will expire at the end of 2013. To date, about $1.5 million has been collected by this surcharge. It is anticipated that an additional $2.3 million will be generated during the period of 2011 to 2013, for a total of$3.8 million. Based on a total project cost of $7.5 million, there is currently a funding shortfall of about $2.4 million. Potential funding sources to cover this remaining cost include rate monies and reserve funds. 5. RECOMMENDATION: Receive this report and provide comment. Michae D. Holle , General Manager/Water Utility Manager 5 Attachment 1 R THE GREAT MAJORITY OF LEAK CONDITIONS ARE CREATED BY THE IMPROPER OPERATION OF A MASTER SHUT-OFF VALVE. THE TYPICAL MASTER SHUT-OFF VALVE IS A "STOP & DRAIN"VALVE. THIS TYPE OF VALVE HAS THREE PORTS • ONE PORT IS THE INCOMING SUPPLY FROM THE METER BOX • ONE PORT IS THE OUTGOING FEED TO THE INTERIOR PIPING OF THE HOUSE • ONE PORT IS A DRAIN THAT ALLOWS FOR THE REMOVAL OF WATER FROM THE INTERIOR PIPING. THIS DRAIN PORT IS LOCATED ON THE SIDE OF THE VALVE THE TYPICAL VALVE IS BURIED ABOUT TWO FEET UNDERGROUND AND IS SURROUNDED WITH A POCKET OF GRAVEL. THE GRAVEL PROVIDES A PLACE FOR WATER TO GO WHEN THE PIPES ARE BEING DRAINED. THERE IS NORMALLY A LONG METAL HANDLE ATTACHED TO THE TOP OF THE VALVE. THE HANDLE IS MOST OFTEN LOCATED IN A CLOSET OR CABINET. TYPICAL SET-UP FOR A MASTER SHUTOFF VALVE DRAIN PORT LOCATION A STOP & DRAIN VALVE HAS A 900 ROTATION. THE VALVE CAN BE IN ONE OF THREE POSITIONS: 1) FULL OPEN (00 POSITION). THE INCOMING SUPPLY IS FULLY OPEN. THE OUTGOING FEED IS FULLY OPEN. THE DRAIN PORT IS FULLY CLOSED. 2) FULL CLOSED (900 POSITION). THE INCOMING SUPPLY IS FULLY CLOSED. THE OUTGOING FEED IS FULLY OPEN. THE DRAIN PORT IS FULLY OPEN. THIS POSITION WILL DRAIN THE INTERIOR PIPING OF THE HOUSE. 3) PARTIALLY OPEN (ANYPLACE BETWEEN 00 AND 900). ALL THREE PORTS ARE PARTIALLY OPEN. THIS WILL CREATE A LEAK CONDITION. WATER WILL ENTER THE HOUSE THROUGH METER AND GO OUT THE DRAIN PORT. SUCH A LEAK CAN BE AS LARGE AS 3 TO 5 GALLONS PER MINUTE AND MAY NOT BE VISIBLE AT THE GROUND SURFACE UNDER THE HOUSE DRAIN PORT IN CLOSED POSITION VALVE IS FULLY OPEN (00 POSITION) DRAIN PORT IN CLOSED POSITION DRAIN PORT IN OPEN POSITION VALVE IS FULLY CLOSED (900 POSITION) DRAIN PORT IN OPEN POSITION HOW CAN I TELL IF THE VALVE IS FULLY OPENED OR FULLY CLOSED ? THE BEST METHOD FOR CHECKING A STOP& DRAIN VALVE IS TO LISTEN FOR THE SOUND OF FLOWING WATER. 1) VERIFY THAT ALL SINKS, TOILETS, SHOWERS, ETC. ARE TURNED OFF 2) PLACE YOUR EAR AS CLOSE TO (OR ON)THE METAL HANDLE AS POSSIBLE 3) IF WATER IS FLOWING, YOU WILL HEAR A BUZZING/HISSING SOUND THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE OF PICTURES WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW A PARTIALLY OPEN STOP& DRAIN VALVE WILL CREATE A LEAK. STOP & DRAIN VALVE IN FULL OPEN POSITION 00 POSITION) VALVE IN 0° FAUCET IS POSITION TURNED ON STOP & DRAIN VALVE IN PARTIALLY OPEN POSITION 50 POSITION VALVE IN 50 POSITION FAUCET IS TURNED OFF FLOW OF WATER STOP & DRAIN VALVE IN PARTIALLY OPEN POSITION 450 POSITION VALVE IN 450 POSITION FAUCET IS FLOW OF TURNED OFF WATER STOP &DRAIN VALVE IN PARTIALLY OPEN POSITION 850 POSITION VALVE IN 850 POSITION FAUCET IS TURNED OFF FLOW OF WATER STOP & DRAIN VALVE IN FULLY CLOSED POSITION 900 POSITION VALVE IN 900 POSITION FAUCET IS TURNED OFF FLOW OF WATER HAS STOPPED