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LF'd 09162019 OPS 1 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, September 16, 2019 3:30 p.m. Conference Room 1st Floor Present: Julie Ryan, John Thiel, Jim Jones, Nick Exline, Star Glaze, Shelly Thompsen Public: None TOPICS DISCUSSION 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS. None. 2. CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OPERATIONAL ISSUES a. General • Environmental Policy: Shelly has completed the initial draft of the Environmental Policy (formerly known as the Sustainability Plan) and is in the process of circulating it to John, Shannon and Julie for comments. • After the discussion from the previous meeting, Shelly has given the policy a more general focus: Goals, Energy Audit, Controls and Tracking. • Shelly will provide a more detailed draft to the Operations Committee prior to the next meeting for review and discussion. • Shelly has also procured the services of 2/3rd of an Americorps employee and 200 hours of time from Civic Sparks to assist in the collaborative. • Julie suggested that the Civic Spark person could help us identify opportunities for incentives or rebate programs that are available.. • Property Tax Revenues: John reported that Paul Hughes plans to bring forward an action item at the September 19, 2019, Board Meeting that will show the potential for redistribution of property tax revenues to bridge this year’s funding gap in the water budget caused by the annual rate increase being lower than the Prop 218 cap. b. Water System • Warr Road repairs nearing completion • The URW crew is in the process of replacing a segment of water line that has had multiple leaks and adjacent property owner concerns. • We are also evaluating how we are running the Glenwood Well to see if there are possible pressure issues contributing to the leak history. • Cross-connection risk with old toilets • Julie shared of photo of what happens when water from an old style toilet tank with a blue tablet siphons into plumbing during a water system shut-down. c. Sewer Collection System • Geronimo Way Sewer Emergency Repair Status (GB Construction) • The new main is in service. The old main has not been abandoned but will be done at the latter part of this week. • We are negotiating with the County on paving responsibilities in this area. Currently they have declined to enter into a reimbursement agreement so that we can pave the road and bill them for their portion due to the short turnaround time. The County has requested that we only do our side of the road and two cross patches, building up the centerline, and leaving a lip for the County to match grade later. This causes concerns from the District and the Contractor regarding potential safety hazards and public outreach if the County does not return timely. Discussions are ongoing. Update to follow. • Grounding rod at airport to be repaired late September • There is a grounding rod through our sewer trunk main at the airport. We have 2 been struggling with how extract it due to the location and the water table in the area. We have now identified a contractor with a robotic saw that will be able to come in and removed it. • We are also going to try to put a plug in to the line at that time to evaluate the flow into Upper Truckee Pump Station. We are seeing high I&I in this area and are hoping that this will give us an opportunity to evaluate it. d. Wastewater Treatment Plant • No report e. Export System/Recycled Water Facilities • John-provided a brief update on performance issues with the haying contractor at DVR. Update to follow in Closed Session at this Thursday’s Board Meeting. a.) Plant Emergency Generator Replacement (Cal Electro Inc.) • The load bank brought in to test the new emergency generator failed so they were unable to complete the testing and commissioning. They will bring it back once it is repaired but it is a critical path item for the contractor to complete the work in its entirety this season. The service transfer needs to take place before Winter for us to be able to utilize the new generator. • They are still trying to get the project done on schedule but the demo work may push to next season due to the underground work that is subject to the TRPA grading deadline. Update to follow. • We are going to keep the 6,000 gallon diesel tank that is being removed. One option for its use would be to relocate it to Luther Pass Pump Station to increase the reliability of that location by doubling the fuel storage at the site. The amount of fuel used depends on how many pumps are running at any given time, but we needed to receive deliveries daily in 2017. b.) Water Meters Phase 5A (Vinciguerra) • There are about 18 meters left to install but the Contractor has largely demobilized. • Expected completion date is 9/20. c.) Marlette Waterline (Thomas Haen Co) • The service line relocations are nearing completion. They have one difficult install left where they will have to use the abandoned main as conduit for the running new service. • Julie had some discussion with the Contractor on the current District contract language for the T&M work. We may revisit the T&M contract language for future projects. d.) 2018 Water and Sewer Systems Improvements (Thomas Haen Co) • There has been no change on the Pine Valley PRV controller. We are servicing the Pine Valley Zone without any instrumentation or controls, but we are making progress. The SIM card has been received and is currently being programmed so the modem can talk to our server. The Contractor will then install it in the field and we can hopefully move forward with programming the controls before Winter. e.) Rocky 2 Waterline Replacement Project (TBD) • Haen should be starting the Sky Meadows meter installation this week. • We are also having the Contractor install the vault at the Fallen Leaf Lake Main Station on a T&M basis under the Contract so that our crews can work there through the winter. • Trevor met with the head of the Fallen Leaf Lake Community Service about the extent of the pave back that we will be doing. They may be interested in additional paving. This would require a reimbursement agreement if we decide to do it. • Discussion was had regarding the status of the snow removal responsibilities at Fallen Leaf Lake. John will follow-up with Chris Stanley. Update to follow. f.) Heavenly Tank – Recoat and Site Improvements • The slope stabilization is looking really good. This was the alternative used to eliminate the new retaining wall in favor of rip rap top to bottom. • The Contractor is making progress on the interior coating but it is not moving as quickly as we had hoped. The weather has also been challenging. 3 3. PLANNING / DESIGN a.) Groundwater Management Planning • South Y Plume • The cost estimates are complete. The Feasibility study is in progress with input from the stakeholders. • Ivo recently had a meeting with the working group which included the Responsible Party and the Regional Board. • Groundwater Management Plan • Ivo has started the Well Survey effort but will delay the field outreach until peak season next Spring so that more homeowners will be available. The deadline for completion of the survey is in June. • Ivo is working on the Groundwater Management plan update that is due in January 2021. b.) Fallen Leaf Lake Sewer Improvements • See Rocky 2 Waterline Replacement Project discussion. c.) Big 5 Pump Stations • See Above. • The Sewer Flow Monitoring Program has revealed that the two mile stretch of 24” gravity main that goes from the Upper Truckee Pump Station to the South end of the airport has the second highest I&I in the system. The team has decided to put the design for the rehabilitation of the Pump Station on hold until we can evaluate what the best option will be. This will not have an impact on the 10 year plan or SRF Funding, if we decide to stick with the existing rehabilitation project. • By this time next year we will have the advanced condition assessment completed and can decide how to move forward. Update to follow. • Steve will be doing a staff report to the Board in the near future on both the Tahoe Keys and Upper Truckee Pump Stations. d.) Diamond Valley Ranch Improvement Projects • The Siphon repair and CIPP lining will be going out to bid this week. There is a possibility that the work will be done this Fall but it is more likely going to take place next Spring. • Sarah from TCPUD has cautioned Trevor against removing the additional testing requirements for large diameter CIPP. She has been a great resource on development of our CIPP standards. Our staff is looking at getting certified for inspection for CIPP since there are a limited number of qualified inspectors available in the area. This would be a good skill for us to have for sewer system rehabilitation. e.) Keller-Heavenly Improvements • We plan to advertise Phase 1 in mid-October. f.) Luther Pass Tanks, Valving and Fuel Tank • The tank project kicks off on Wednesday (9/18). We will have a four hour team meeting at the District and then will head out to the site. • The Consultant is going into Tank 2 and will be coordinating with Pumps to remove the vent from Tank 1 so that they can evaluate the rafters. • Brent is spearheading this project. g.) Apache Avenue Sewer Replacement & Force Main Bypass • We plan to replace about ½ mile of gravity sewer main just upstream of the Magnet School. We plan to advertise the project in late January, 2020. This schedule is being driven by the Complete Streets Project which will largely be complete in 2022. We want to get in and out before they do their road improvements. • During the Geronimo Way Emergency Sewer Repair project we utilized the Sante Fe Field Office Site for dewatering. TRPA contacted the District regarding a complaint on the use from the neighborhood. They have asked us to pull together a development plan that will accommodate the uses that we want to utilize on that site. They understood the 4 emergency nature of the site use. The improvements will be installed with the Apache Project. Julie is working with Brent to develop a conceptual plan for the site. He will then meet with Brent to discuss. h.) Meters Phase 5B • No change. Planning continues for around 250 residential meters and probably 13 large meters. i.) Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation Project • The Kick off meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. j.) Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Improvements Projects The Wastewater Treatment Plant Energy Audit • No change. Expect draft report in September. PRV Replacements Projects • 90% design package received and in review. • Received confirmation of BOR funding for Price Road. This will be a prototype for an above-ground station. It will be done with the Rocky I Project. The PRV will be above ground allowing our guys better access to work on it. There will be structure built to protect the PRV, similar to a backflow cabinet. Water Station Efficiency Improvements • 90% design package received and in review. • Julie has routed the PRV’s and Water Efficiency designs to the team together to review. Field Communications • We held a workshop last week to discuss options for streamlining field SCADA. After discussion it was determined that we should continue to use Wonderware’s package. The package contains features operations needs for the WWTP and Luther, and there is not benefit to using a different system in the field. District Metered Areas • We continue to make progress on the outlying the DMA’s for outlining areas. • We have Carollo starting on the prototype for submetering in the distribution system. k.) Well and Pump Monitoring Program • We had originally planned to do the next test of the program at the Valhalla Well but the installation of the new pump has delayed this. The Sunset Well has meggered low but if we are able to make the repair we can use it as a baseline for the performance test. Sunset will be pulled later this month to inspect. l.) Collection System Assessment • We have received the annual update from the consultant on the sewer monitoring system. They are making recommendations on where to move the flow meters. • We are going to use some of the meters to chase into “the burn” above Amacker Ranch where high I&I was identified. • We will be replacing the flow monitor batteries and rings when we relocate them. • We are evaluating how Carollo is using the data from the snow pack modeling done last year to see if it is worth pursuing again this year. • Carollo did make that recommendation that we install rain gages in the areas of snowpack monitoring. It is difficult for them to correlate how much precipitation was actually falling when the measurements were taken. • The team also had a call with a company called Abyss regarding deploying an AI system that could be tailored to the District and our cameras. It would basically evaluate first pass TV footage to determine if there was something worth looking at further without the delays that occur with trying to evaluate hundreds of feet of film. We will be sending them a full range of our films to run through their system and see how their results 5 compare to ours. Update to follow. m.) Future Water System Projects • Waterlines • No change: State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan Package in development. • Tanks backup power project • No change. Finalizing FEMA Funding. n.) Future Sewer System Projects • Recycled Water Master Plan • Request for Proposal (RFP) starting Fall 2019 or Spring 2020, depending on staff availability. • Blower upgrades and generator project • We received the FEMA grant for the blower portion of the project • Plan to advertise RFP for design in January 2020. 4. OTHER a.) Engineering Staffing • We are on track to do an in house AMA recruitment in October and then hopefully have them start by the end of the month. • John will be presenting an analysis on the Engineering Department’s staffing needs at the Finance Committee meeting scheduled for Thursday prior to the Board Meeting. He has been working with Julie to put together the background for the analysis. In looking at the 10 year plan from 5 years ago, we went from 96 to 134 projects. There was a 40% increase in projects (and 27% increase in spending) between the two CIP’s. This takes a lot of staff time. Over half of Ivo’s time is now spent on Groundwater Management and PCE. • John will hopefully bring the recommendation to hire to the full Board in early October. b.) Sierra Blvd. Project, City of South Lake Tahoe • In construction with periodic inspection by District staff. • Additional scope-Extra shutdowns, potholing, interties at Palmira, missing grade rings, shallow mains due to change in grade. c.) Diamond Valley Ranch (DVR) Irrigation/C-Hydro • Data compilation will commence this month for annual report. • Seasonal switch to C Hydro is expected in October. 5. ADJOURNMENT Next Ops Mtg. Next Operations Committee Meeting to be held on Monday, October 14, 2019, 3:30 pm.