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LF'd 11182019 OPS 1 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, November 18, 2019 3:30 p.m. Conference Room 1st Floor Present: John Thiel, Shannon Cotulla, Jim Jones, Nick Exline, Star Glaze, Shelly Thomsen Public: None TOPICS DISCUSSION 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS. None. 2. CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OPERATIONAL ISSUES a. General • Solar Feasibility Assessment • The Board approved District site locations to be included in the Collaborative Solar Procurement at the last Board Meeting (11/7). • Shelly, Julie and Shannon met with Jennifer Guenther from Liberty Utilities (Liberty). They discussed the global solar effort that is taking place and asked if there was an opportunity to increase the 1MG cap on renewable energy to offset energy use. Jennifer said no, the District’s cap is non-negotiable due to the effect it would have on other ratepayers. • The group discussed the potential opportunity for the District to partner with Liberty to build solar facilities at the Waste Water Treatment Plant or DVR in the future. Liberty is currently 30% toward their goal of being carbon free by 2025. The goal of the first meeting with Liberty was to open lines of communication for future solar collaboration. • Nick met with a group from TRPA including, Joanne Marchetta, regarding the challenges and restrictions that limit the ability to deploy solar. They will be drafting a policy of prohibition but the effort is ongoing. • Nick told the group that he would mention that TRPA would like to go with a collaborative plan with the water purveyors down the road. They also discussed modeling that they are doing through DRI including forecasts that they would like to reach out to the District for input on a regional water capacity scale. • Sustainability Planning Efforts • There are three parallel efforts occurring that include: the Climate Adaptation Plan that Kennedy Jenks did for us to be able to meet the new requirements for the State Revolving Fund; the Civic Spark Fellows development of a tracking mechanism for the Capital Improvement Plan implementation and O&M efficiencies; and the Sustainability Plan/Environmental Policy that Shelly has been outlining. • Jennifer at Liberty will provide our bills in an electronic format that will allow the fellows to utilize the energy data to see when efficiencies are gained. • John asked Nick if he might be able to join staff with meeting with the Civic Spark fellows. • Nick said that he is not happy with the Climate Action Plan draft. He does not feel that it is a substantive plan. He would like to see a Climate Action Plan that in the broadest terms shows where we are today; where we want to be; and the path to get there. • John said that Kennedy Jenks has put the Climate Action Plan draft together to check the box for clean water SRF funding requirements due this year. • Shelly has met with Ivo on the Environmental Policy for the District; he has been involved with the CTC plan. • Nick would like to see the goals for the District’s efforts come from the people not 2 the Board. A public workshop to get input from the public might be helpful. • Shelly asked Nick for an example of a successful Sustainability Plan implementation. Nick will provide one. • John said that we will finish with this iteration of the Climate Action Plan and pass the next draft of the Sustainability Plan onto the Operations Committee for review. • Public Safety Power Shut-Downs (PSPS) • Senior staff will meet with Liberty to discuss and identify the priority stations that will have to have power during any PSPS. We will revisit the backup power supply at our insular facilities. • Shannon said that we are planning to look at a water model to determine what an approximation of normal day demand and maximum day demand look like during an extended power outage. Other water purveyors have had serious problems during the PSPS’s this season due to issues that they could not account for prior to. We want to be prepared. • Julie said that our sense of our system resilience is that we are in pretty good shape but we want analysis to back it up on the water side, and to make a plan for any sewer stations that don’t have generator hookups. • Shannon said that FEMA will only pay for installed not portable generators. We will keep the committee posted as things move forward. b. Water System • No report. c. Sewer Collection System • The Bijou 12” Force Main clogging – Considering alternatives for maintenance • There are two lines that run parallel from the Bijou Station, one 12” and one 16”, but the 12” flows tend to dive over time despite an accelerated maintenance schedule. There is not currently ways to access the 12” ports without dismantling the pipe, and the bypass project is several years out. • We are considering “ice pigging” of the pipe in which we will pump freezing slurry into the pipe to scour it out. This is a complicated process that will take about a week and only one company can perform the service but we need to do it in order to establish proper use of the pipe. The valves that are available are in such poor shape that we will need to do some rehabilitation prior to. Update to follow. d. Wastewater Treatment Plant • No report. e. Export System/Recycled Water Facilities • No report. a.) Plant Emergency Generator Replacement (Cal Electro Inc.) • The new generator is online and ready for Winter outages. The old generator is gone. • The Building Construction is nearing completion. • The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) testing and training is ongoing. • The Emergency Pump Station final alignment and testing is scheduled for this month. • The Contractor is still on site and doing underground work because we have a grading exemption through 11/29. This includes the clean-up of the old diesel spill in the underground tank removal area. Julie just heard today that Lahontan and El Dorado County have signed off on the mitigation work done on site. The Contractor can now begin to do the backfill but will still have to return next season to complete the work on the old generator site. • We are in discussions with the Contractor on the 6,000 gallon tank that we have decided to retain for additional fuel storage. They say that they had a buyer for the tank and now want to charge the District for keeping it. We have requested documentation substantiating the bid price. Update to follow. 3 b.) Water Meters Phase 5A (Vinciguerra) • No change. Project in closeout. c.) Marlette Waterline (Thomas Haen Co) • No change. Project in closeout. d.) 2018 Water and Sewer Systems Improvements (Thomas Haen Co) • No change. The Pine Valley Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) is in service without a controller. e.) Rocky 2 Waterline Replacement Project (TBD) • Haen Constructors (Haen) has been doing work out at the Fallen Leaf Lake Main Station. We have a new vault with new coating, and the underground work is complete. • We are working with our patch paving contractor, G.B. General Engineering to see when they can pave the parking lot in and around the station. • The Sky Meadows meter was installed on Friday (11/15). The piping supports still need to be installed because they changed the depth of the vault. • Haen will still mobilize over to the Larch and Shephards area this season to complete the potholing required by our funding to break ground in 2019. No TRPA exemption is required. f.) Heavenly Tank – Recoat and Site Improvements • The tank is back in service and available to Heavenly for snow making. • We need to negotiate with Haen about the terms to extend the contract. They will be returning in 2020 to do the tank exterior. We are open to it but we want no cost to the District for their inability to perform in a timely manner. 3. PLANNING / DESIGN a.) Groundwater Management Planning • South Y Plume • The groundwater Model is complete. • The Feasibility Study TAC was held on October 21, 2019 with three remedial alternatives to be carried through. • Ivo has requested an extension for completion of the Feasibility Study, including the 35% design of recommended alternatives. • Groundwater Management Plan • There is a SAG meeting scheduled for November 22, 2019 that will focus on planning for the five year update due in January 2022. b.) Fallen Leaf Lake Sewer Improvements • District crews will be working throughout the Winter to install pumps and the electrical now that vault is installed. c.) Big 5 Pump Stations • Tahoe Keys Pump Station • The design is due on December 15, 2019. • We are opening the discussion with the City regarding closure of Tahoe Keys Blvd. during the construction (North of Venice). • Dewatering will be a challenge for the project. We will be going through the liquefiable layer and bedding on more solid material at approximately 20’. • We are also working out how to bid the possibility that the dewatering will pull some of the PCE. A treatment facility will need to be installed if we do. Discharge would go to the WWTP for disposal so costs will be our responsibility. Jim asked if there was an opportunity to pass on those costs to the RPs. • Upper Truckee Pump Station • The condition assessment on the Upper Truckee gravity main is partially complete. The remainder if to be performed once the portable TV and large camera have been purchased. 4 d.) Diamond Valley Ranch Improvement Projects • There were no bids received for the Cast in Place Pipe (CIPP) Siphon Repair. The feedback we are getting is that the contractor was very concerned about getting the equipment to the site so they did not bid. • We are going to look into opening the bid up to Spray in Place Pipe (SIPP) as an alternative. This is a new technology that may be more compatible with back country placement. Update to follow. e.) Keller-Heavenly Improvements • We had the Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting on 10/31 with 15 contractors in attendance. • The Bid Opening is scheduled for December 12, 2019. f.) Luther Pass Tanks, Valving and Fuel Tank • We are revisiting the hydraulic conditions on the B-line as part of the work for the tanks and as part of the preparation to make sure we have the right configuration at the station. • The B-line inspection is scheduled for November 20, 2019. • The draft Alternatives Evaluation for what Tank 2 is expected in mid-December. The Consultant is committed to getting us a 90% drawing in January so that we can be on schedule for a February 2020 bid. • Shannon said that there are two 1,000 and two 700 pumps at the station. Both 700’s have mechanical issues. We are planning on buying two new 700 pumps and using the existing pumps to build an extra to have on the shelf in case of emergency. The new pumps will be sole sourced from the original manufacturer. g.) Apache Avenue Sewer Replacement & Force Main Bypass, Sante Fe Yard • The in-house design is in progress. • The Authorization to Bid will be brought to the Board on January 2, 2020. We will advertise on January 6, 2020. h.) Meters Phase 5B • The in-house design is in progress. • There are approximately 13 large meters included in the project. One of the large meters will pair out to multiple small meters approx. 18 (Bavarian Village). • The Engineering department is working in conjunction with the Customer Service Department to get the project ready to go. • The Authorization to Bid will be brought to the Board on December 19, 2020. We will advertise on January 13, 2020 i.) Secondary Clarifiers Rehabilitation Project • There have been changes since the Agenda was put in place. We had planned to come to the next Board Meeting to request permission to pre-purchase the first mechanism, but we will not be doing that now. • After we gave the Consultant our preferred rehabilitation alternative, which was selected for full flexibility going into the future and the RAS set up, they came back with a schedule that would push construction into December or January of 2021. This would not work for the Plant. We have decided to construct one Clarifier in 2021; one Clarifier in 2022; and one clarifier in 2023. Steve is recalibrating the schedule. • On the upside we will not need to pre purchase the mechanism because we will have plenty time to include it in the Bid Package. This will decrease staff time. • We will also have the opportunity to apply for FEMA funding allowable due to the seismic upgrade. • We will also not need to hire a consulting inspector for 2020, since construction is delayed. j.) Wastewater Treatment Plant Fuels Reduction • We just completed the Pre-Qualification for Harvesters. There were five harvesters who submitted. The project will start next Summer and go into Summer of 2021. • Before the January bid, we will decide whether to bid the hand work, or to find a way to 5 Project hire CCC directly. • We have received a grant for up to approximately $325,000.00 from the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) for the project. k.) Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Improvements Projects The Wastewater Treatment Plant Energy Audit • We have received and reviewed the Energy Audit. Lynn has sent it to the State for comments. We will need to submit the final to the State by December. PRV Replacements Projects • No change. The 90% design for Price Road and Susquehanna have been received and are in review. Water Station Efficiency Improvements • No change. The 90% design package was received and is in review. Field Communications • Tom Swick (Thunderbird) has been out with Jared the last couple of weeks replacing and re programming the radios at Fallen Leaf Lake. We are close to getting the first step of the upgrade done. District Metered Areas • We are starting to get results on the first 3 District Metered Areas (DMA): Christmas Valley, Heavenly-Keller, and Flagpole. • The kickoff for the Stateline DMA design is scheduled for December. l.) Well and Pump Monitoring Program • Ivo is heading this up with the Pumps Department. They have completed five of the twelve wells that he wanted to get done by the end of the year but there have been scheduling conflicts with the Pumps crew. • Ivo wants to retest the Al Tahoe well but in general has been happy with the results. • Engineering will evaluate the results once all twelve baseline tests are complete. m.) Collection System Assessment • Jason Brand will provide an annual update of the Sewer Flow Monitoring Program to the Board in December. The Goal for the upcoming season is to hone in on I&I in the burn area. He will show where the flow meters were moved to and what we are planning out there. • The Request for Qualifications for the CCTV coding is almost ready to hit the street. We have a substantial backlog of footage (all of 2019). • We are looking to buy another IBAK pan and tilt system camera and portable reel to do the larger diameter sewer lines. We will be able to install the camera onto the tool cat to reach hard to access areas. • We received an entire hard drive from Southwest Gas of CCTV footage that they took during their installs but are not sure how helpful it will be until we can have it evaluated. We may run it through the Abyss program so that the computer can read it first. n.) Future Water System Projects • Waterlines • No change. State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan Package in development. • Tanks backup power project • No change. Finalizing FEMA funding. • Waterline Prioritization Tool • Staff had a meeting today on the water line prioritization tool. • Jim Kelly is seeking proposals from three vendors for the Artificial Intelligence software service. o.) Future Sewer System Projects • Recycled Water Master Plan • Request for Proposal (RFP) starting Spring 2020 • Blower upgrades and generator project • Plan to advertise RFP for design in January 2020 • WWTP Condition Assessment • Plan to advertise RFP for consulting services for structural, electrical and 6 underground piping assessments in February 2020. 4. OTHER a.) Engineering Staffing • Asset Management Analysis • Ryan Lee started November 14 • New Senior / Associate Engineer • We do have this re-advertised. The next two candidates on the eligibility list had situations change and they both declined. • 2020 Intern • Blue Ribbon recruitment in progress. • Contract Helper • Shannon reported that we are considering a documentation contractor to help with the archival of all departments. Melonie is working on contact that we have through Laserfiche. This needs to be a priority in light of the new Records Retention Policy established by the District. • Julie reported that the Contracts Administrator is looking at an unprecedented amount of work load for next season. b.) Diamond Valley Ranch (DVR) Irrigation /C Hydro • Irrigation season is over. We are compiling the data and preparing the annual report. • The remaining contract work, adding screens to SCADA for irrigation, is scheduled for next Spring. 5. ADJOURNMENT Next Ops Mtg. Next Operations Committee Meeting to be held on Monday, December 13, 2020, 3:30 pm.