Behind the Meter Water Utility Winter 2022 Newsletter

BEHIND THE

METER

O R O VA L L E Y W AT E R U T I L I TY N E W S L E T T E R

WINTER 2022

A MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR Our community’s sustainability depends on a safe, reliable and drought resilient supply of water.

Because of the Utility’s robust water quality testing and Capital re-investment programs, the safety and reliability of our public water system is assured. Having a drought resilient supply of water is more complicated and requires different strategies with longer forecasting horizons.

The Oro Valley Water Utility has been planning for water shortages for over 20-years. One of the Peter Abraham, P.E. Utility’s sources of water, the Colorado River, is currently in short supply due to persistent drought Water Utility Director and over allocation of the River System. The Utility receives Colorado River water supplies by way of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal. CAP water is important to Oro Valley as 30% of the Utility’s Colorado River water allocation is delivered to Oro Valley customers, 50% is used to replace groundwater pumped by the Utility and the remaining 20% is stored in nearby underground aquifer storage facilities where they become Long Term Storage Credit (LTSC) for future use if needed.

Under the Bureau of Reclamation’s current Drought Contingency Plan, designated lower priority CAP water users like agriculture have already lost nearly all of their CAP allocation as a result of the Bureau of Reclamations Tier 1 shortage declared in January of 2022. The Utility will not see reductions in CAP deliveries until a Tier 3 shortage is declared. The Utility is planning for a Tier 3 shortage that may begin as early as 2024. In the short term, a Tier 3 shortage will not impact the Utility since the Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA) will firm 100% of any CAP reduction that creates delivery shortfalls through the year 2026. The availability of firming water precludes the use of the Utility’s LTSC. Another challenge, as a result of a reduction in CAP water deliveries, is increased water resource costs for the remaining CAP customers. Because there is less water sold to fewer customers, the cost of CAP water per unit is expected to go up significantly. Unfortunately, increasing costs to the Utility are passed on to the customer since the funding of the Utility is solely dependent on rates and fees paid for by our customers. To ensure the financial stability of the Utility a water rates analysis is performed annually to ensure that the cost of providing water service to our customers is recovered through water rates and fees. Water Utility staff are currently performing this important analysis. The results of this work will be available to the public in April.

With the continued support of the community, Council, good stewardship of our resources, responsible rate setting, and continued forward thinking of solutions to assure continued drought resiliency the Utility will continue to meet the sustainability needs of the community.

Looking forward,

Peter Abraham

To view the current water rate analysis, go to http://bit.ly/

OVWURateAnalysis2022 or scan the QR code with your tablet or smartphone.

Peter A. Abraham, P.E. | Water Utility Director 1 1 0 0 0 N L A C A Ñ A DA D R I V E | 5 2 0 - 2 2 9 - 5 0 0 0 | OV W AT E R @ O R OVA L L E YAZ . G OV | W W W. O R OVA L L E YAZ . G OV

B E H I N D T H E M E T E R | O R O VA L L E Y W AT E R U T I L I TY N E W S L E T T E R

WINTER 2022

N E W T E C H N O LO G Y I N C R E A S E S W AT E R S YST E M R E L I A B I L I TY

A touchscreen handheld unit connects via Bluetooth and controls the valve actuator. It also collects data such as location, number of turns and torque required to open/close the valve.

Oro Valley Water places significant importance in the programs that protect and keep our water distribution system flowing smoothly. The Utility’s Operations staff recently implemented a Valve Maintenance Program that utilizes new automated technology to ensure valves within our distribution system operate properly when needed. Valves are located throughout the system and function similarly to the valves in your home’s plumbing such as the main supply valve into your home or the shut off valves to sinks and toilets. Periodically turning these valves on/off or exercising them helps to keep them operating.

In the past, system valve maintenance was performed manually by turning each valve. With the implementation of new technology, valves are operated using the equipment and the information is automatically transferred and stored in our operational database. This automation process decreases staff labor and data entry errors while allowing increased productivity for other tasks.

I T ’ S N E V E R T O O E A R LY T O P R O T E C T T H O S E P I P E S F R O M F R E E Z E

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Keep exposed Kepxosd piping, irrigation ping,rato valves and hose valesndho bibs covered to biscoverdt protect them from protechmf freeze frez

A little prevention can go a long way to reduce potential damage and water leaks from freezing temperatures. Freeze events may not happen often but every year we speak with customers that experience freeze damage to their home plumbing. Be sure to protect those exposed hose bibs and irrigation backflows with removable covers.

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