Municipal Water Leader September 2017

Volume 3 Issue 8

Building Water Industry Expertise Barry Gullet of Charlotte Water

September 2017

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Municipal Water Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by Water Strategies LLC 4 E Street SE Washington, DC 20003 STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief John Crotty, Senior Writer Matthew Dermody, Writer Julia Terbrock, Graphic Designer Capital Copyediting LLC, Copyeditor

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BUILDING WATER INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: BARRY GULLET OF CHARLOTTE WATER

Contents

September 2017 Volume 3, Issue 8

5 Building Industry Expertise and the Public Trust

by Kris Polly 6 Building Water Industry Expertise: Barry Gullet of Charlotte Water 12 Creating a Conservation Ethic in the City of Yakima

by Dave Brown 14 Remediating Contaminated Water Supplies at the West Valley Water District

by Matthew H. Litchfield

AGENCY PROFILE 20 United Water Conservation District

by Mauricio Guardado 4

MANAGER PROFILE 26 Steve Drew, Director of Water Resources for Greensboro, North Carolina

ASSOCIATION PROFILE 30 Association of State Dam Safety Officials

THE INNOVATORS 34 TruePoint Solutions Brings Interactive Solutions to Municipal Water Accounting

SUBMISSIONS: Municipal Water Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact John Crotty at (202) 698-0690 or John.Crotty@waterstrategies.com.

ADVERTISING: Municipal Water Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Municipal Water Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors.

Please send address corrections or additions to Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright Š 2017 Water Strategies LLC. Municipal Water Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Municipal Water Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Municipal Water Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Municipal Water Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

MuniWaterLeader

COVER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: Charlotte Water Executive Director Barry Gullet.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Building Industry Expertise and the Public Trust

By Kris Polly

I

n business, expertise builds confidence, and confidence builds trust. For water providers, building public trust in water systems is a requirement of the job. Despite some recent and prominent breaches of that trust in public water systems, a majority of water providers are dedicated to ensuring the quality and safety of their water and wastewater systems. This issue of Municipal Water Leader highlights managers who exemplify that dedication through their practices and programs.

“There is a tremendous amount of expertise in the water industry.” In this month’s cover interview, we speak with Charlotte Water Executive Director Barry Gullet about the value of expertise in the water industry and how knowledgeable, engaged, and competent staff lay the groundwork for safe, clean drinking water. A 40-year veteran of the water and wastewater industries who now oversees more than 900 water professionals, Mr. Gullet benefitted from and invested in creating job development opportunities for his employees. Over that time, he learned to “[p]rovide employees with the support and resources they need and then get out of the way and let them do their jobs.”

For Matthew Litchfield of the West Valley Water District (WVWD), building trust means adopting the latest technologies to remediate contaminated groundwater. Mr. Litchfield and WVWD have had to find effective and successful treatments that are cost effective for customers. “Water agencies often are leery of implementing new technologies that have not yet been tested or permitted with the state. In this case, WVWD has completed the hard work of pioneering tests of new technologies to improve treatment efficiency in the water industry, enabling others to benefit from this technology.”

To build trust, good managers set high standards for operations. Mauricio Guardado of the United

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Water Conservation District has done just that, to ensure the health of the district’s groundwater basins and to stretch its water supplies in drought-stricken times. That is a tall order: The district provides water to agricultural and municipal water providers serving upward of 400,000 people in Southern California. For Mr. Guardado, “Our goal is to maintain these systems to provide the highest-quality service to the public we serve, ensure that our infrastructure is sustainable even in drought conditions, and work collaboratively with all stakeholders to resolve the challenges we all face.”

Preserving trust requires preparation. Steve Drew of the Greensboro, North Carolina, Water Department has made sure his water department is prepared. He has led the department in establishing emergency plans and facilitated cooperation and coordination with neighboring water departments regarding the exchange of water resources. That preparation has translated into community buy-in: “Our strength in Greensboro, both as a community and as a utility, is our culture of progressiveness and a willingness to prepare for the challenges that might be forthcoming for our community.”

Managers like Barry Gullet, Matthew Litchfield, Mauricio Guardado, and Steve Drew are committed to operational expertise, which earns them the support and confidence of the residents within their respective service areas. They deserve recognition for that commitment, and we are honored to provide that. M Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

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Building Water Industry Expertise Barry Gullet of Charlotte Water

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Leading the way for Charlotte Water’s 900 employees is Director Barry Gullet, PE, who began his career with the utility in 1978 as an entry-level engineer. He knows the system in and out, having worked his way up to assistant chief engineer, then to deputy director, when he served as both water and wastewater treatment superintendent.

Mr. Gullet is set to retire on January 1, 2018.

Municipal Water Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, spoke with Mr. Gullet about the challenges facing Charlotte Water, his management philosophy, and the importance of investing in the people who help deliver safe, reliable drinking water.

Kris Polly: What are some of the biggest challenges facing Charlotte Water?

Barry Gullet: One of our biggest challenges is long-term water supply. Charlotte is dependent on the MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE WATER.

Charlotte Water is a regional water utility that provides drinking water and wastewater utility services to Charlotte, North Carolina, and surrounding Mecklenburg County. The utility serves a population of 990,000 and covers a service area of 550 square miles. The city is projected to grow to 1.5 million people by 2035. Its sole source of drinking water is the Catawba River, which it shares with 17 other water utilities and Duke Energy.

With an annual operating budget of $400 million, Charlotte Water owns and operates three drinking water treatment plants, five wastewater treatment plants, and an extensive system of delivery and drainage infrastructure: 4,314 miles of water mains, 4,288 miles of sewer pipes, 82 wastewater lift stations, and 280,000 active service connections. The regional utility’s 5-year, $946 million capital improvement plan guides the expansion, rehabilitation, and replacement of that infrastructure.

The Charlotte skyline from the roof of Charlotte Water’s Vest Water Treatment Plant.

Built in 1924, the plant is still operational and is considered a historic landmark by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.

The recommendations of the water supply master plan are basic at their core. In general, the plan recommends a 20 percent reduction in water use over the next 20–30 years. The group is building a toolbox of different actions each utility can take to meet that goal. Another goal of the plan is to identify options and actions that are achievable with today’s technology and that would not negatively affect quality of life, the environment, or economic growth. Several other recommendations revolve around regional drought response and changes in infrastructure, so we can access more of the water that is stored in the reservoirs.

Finally, the plan recommends some operational changes Duke Energy is working to implement that would change the operating curve for managing the water levels in the reservoirs.

The plan is a process more than an event—the group is committed to updating the plan periodically.

The group watches the trends—we all report our water use and growth to make sure our projections are on track. We are working hard to understand the things that influence the river and lakes, such as reservoir sedimentation rates, climate change, land use, and water quality trends.

Kris Polly: How is population growth affecting water supply and infrastructure?

Catawba River as its main source of supply. . . . There aren’t a whole lot of options available. The Catawba is a hard-working river: Duke Energy uses 11 man-made reservoirs for power generation along the river, all of which are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Ten years ago, the FERC relicensing process led to the establishment of the Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group, a nonprofit made up of the 18 public water supply utilities that rely on the Catawba; Duke Energy; and several federal, North Carolina, and South Carolina stakeholder agencies. During that process, we determined that the region would reach the capacity of the river to support new growth by the middle of this century. The group, of which Charlotte Water is a member, has developed a Water Supply Master Planning Process to extend the capacity of the river out past 2100.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Barry Gullet: Charlotte is the 17th-largest city in the country and has grown 15 percent since 2010. Although we have been a growing city for decades, recent growth over the last 6–8 years has been focused more on infill and higher-density development than outward sprawl. The challenge is that our infrastructure was developed for one type of development and has not reached the end of its life expectancy, but the increased intensity of land use is stressing the capacity of that existing infrastructure.

We have a capacity assurance program on the wastewater side. For every new development, we certify that there is capacity all the way from where the customer’s discharge enters the public system through the treatment plant system. We are finding that some areas have capacity issues that we need to address. Doing that in a way that meets schedules for supporting economic development is challenging us right now. To meet those challenges, we restructured the approval and funding process and the project delivery options.

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Kris Polly: Does aging infrastructure affect utility operations?

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achieved this decline by improving our cleaning programs and our rehabilitation and replacement programs.

Although we do not have many issues with wet-weather capacity in our system, we have been plagued by blockages caused by oils and grease, especially when coupled with tree roots. Charlotte Water places a large emphasis on its fats, oils, and grease public education program, which we call FlowFree. We focus on the multifamily complexes, working with the property managers and the plumbers who serve those customers —those who are closest to the source of the issue.

In the past, we would go into neighborhoods and clean each sewer pipe. However, not all of them needed to be cleaned. So, we

began working with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to develop an acoustic screening method that determines whether there are blockages in pipes. The technology developed through that partnership has helped us become more time and cost efficient with our cleaning resources by providing a quick and inexpensive screening tool. The professors started up their own company, InfoSense, and their Sewer Line Rapid Assessment Tool (SL-RAT®) is now marketed all over the world.

Kris Polly: How do you get buy-in from the community for Charlotte Water’s projects?

Barry Gullet: We are always working on outreach and maintaining customer confidence MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE WATER.

Barry Gullet: Our system started in the late 1800s, but most of its growth took place in the last 30–40 years. While 75 percent of our system is less than 30 years old, we are still dealing with the older parts. We dedicate $12 million each year for water and an additional $12 million for sewer line replacement and rehabilitation as part of our capital improvement program. In the last few years, we have focused on replacing smaller, galvanized pipes that were causing a lot of our leakage issues.

We are working to upgrade our meter reading technology.

Charlotte Water has had an AMR [automated meter reading] system in place since 2003, but we want to be moving in the direction of AMI [advanced metering infrastructure].

We want to be careful to invest in that technology in a way that recognizes that it is still growing and changing. We want to take advantage of advancements in the technology as they happen. We are trying to form partnerships with vendors from the technology and data management side as well as the hardware side. It’s important to our customers that we have a good business case for making AMI investments.

Charlotte Water also has been addressing sanitary sewer overflows proactively for many years. We negotiated an administrative order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that was in place from 2007 through 2012.

Today, our sewer overflows per 100 miles is down to four—our target is zero. We have been on a steady decline in the number and volume of spills since 2007; we

are really at odds with each other on transit issues but that continue to work cooperatively on water.

Keeping political relationships and issues separate from water operations is key.

We also try to stay in touch with elected officials from all the jurisdictions we serve. We want them to ask questions and raise issues before they grow into bigger questions and issues. We have an advisory committee that advises our local officials on water and wastewater issues. We use the committee as a sounding board to help us understand diverse perspectives and to help prepare for public presentations.

Kris Polly: What are some of the key lessons you have learned as you have moved regional projects forward?

Charlotte Water Executive Director Barry Gullet speaking at a pop-up public meeting.

in the services we provide. We have set up a web portal for our customers to communicate with us to make payments and request services. We also have a social media presence—we use Twitter and Facebook—because our customers use social media. For us, it’s about establishing conversations with customers.

We are doing more pop-up meetings to communicate about our work. Prior to going into a neighborhood to do a project, we’ll show up in the afternoon and set up a tent with our logo on it on a convenient street corner in the neighborhood. People stop by or come out to talk to us about the project, what it will mean for the neighborhood, and what they should expect. They share their stories with us and visit with MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

each other. It has been a good tool for talking about our work and a positive experience for the neighborhood.

Our communications plan targets our multigenerational audience. On the one hand, Charlotte has become a millennial magnet, but on the other hand, we have quite a few people who are retired. Our communications have to continuously adapt to reach all those groups.

Kris Polly: What are some of the challenges and issues associated with being a regional water entity?

Barry Gullet: One challenge is keeping water and wastewater operations from getting tangled up in other issues. For example, we have cities and counties that

Barry Gullet: We really have to get to know and trust each other at many levels. Building trust and effective working relationships between partners at the staff level is the key. Stay in touch, communicate, and take every opportunity to find win-win situations and mutual gains. You have to look at issues from an interest perspective rather than a positional perspective.

Kris Polly: Where would you like to see Charlotte Water moving to in the future?

Barry Gullet: I think it is a real advantage for our county to have a single water and wastewater treatment provider with the resources and ability to support continued great customer service, economic development, and environmental protection. I am proud that regionally, Charlotte 9

Water can provide a level of leadership and support for water utilities around us that helps make us all successful. I hope to see that continue and to see these regional working relationships get even stronger for the benefit of the environment and all our residents.

Kris Polly: What has been your management philosophy over the years?

Barry Gullet: I have been fortunate to have had opportunities to do many things here, and I have tried to create and provide opportunities for others so they can grow personally and professionally.

Charlotte Water has a lot of great employees, both long-term staff and new rising stars. Over the years, I learned that I need to provide employees with the support

and resources they need and then get out of the way and let them do their jobs.

Charlotte Water adopted guiding principles a few years ago that we remember through the acronym HECK—honesty, effort and energy, caring, and knowledge.

I meet with all our new employees during their new employee orientation to discuss each element.

We expect our employees to be honest with themselves, each other, our customers, and our organization; to bring positive energy to the workplace while they put forth their best effort toward satisfying our mission; to care about their own reputation, our customers, the work, the equipment, and the facilities; and to apply, share, and increase the knowledge they have as employees.

Kris Polly: Finally, what is your message to Congress about municipal water delivery and wastewater treatment?

Barry Gullet: There is a tremendous amount of expertise in the water industry. Congress and the regulators need to leverage that knowledge into customer confidence. It concerns me that the vast amount of publicity about public utilities and water supply over the last several years has been negative. Most cities have a great water supply system providing clean and safe drinking water.

There needs to be an emphasis on rebuilding and maintaining the confidence in water infrastructure.

You can’t do that without investing in the infrastructure itself and in the people maintaining and operating that infrastructure. M

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Orange Flowering Quince

Creating a Conservation Ethic in the City of Yakima

By Dave Brown

F

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Chanticleer Flowering Pear

Snow-In-Summer

photos and garden information on its website. The city is currently working on a design at a downtown site for installation in 2018.

An Evolving Conservation Framework

Back in 2003, the Washington State legislature passed what is known in the state as the Municipal Water Law to address increasing water demands. The law requires municipal water suppliers to use water efficiently in order to provide system flexibility and sustain rights to water use. Yakima instituted and implemented a plan to comply with the law.

Then, in 2009, Yakima partnered with Reclamation, Ecology,

and other Yakima River basin stakeholders to develop the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan (Integrated Plan) to address the basin’s water resource problems and ecosystem restoration needs.

A critical component of that plan is municipal water conservation.

As part of this effort, the city has partnered with other municipalities and agencies in the basin to identify best management practices for water conservation and develop basinwide resources that promote municipal water conservation.

The Integrated Plan designates 50,000 acre-feet specifically for municipal and industrial use for MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JULIA TERBROCK.

or the city of Yakima, Washington, the best opportunity to conserve water is in the city’s irrigation water—the water used for residential backyards and business and public green space.

For many residents in the arid West, including those here in central Washington State, having a big green yard is an inalienable right. And for municipalities, the once-popular boulevard model is no longer sustainable. A wide strip of grass in the middle of the road requires a lot of water to sustain and fuel to mow. Our goal is to change those mindsets over time.

In 2016, the city of Yakima received a grant from the Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to design and install low-water-use demonstration gardens in their city to begin educating our residents about their water savings potential. The goal is convert grass lawns and high-water-use plants into lowwater-use landscaping. Project activities include clearing existing landscaping, retrofitting existing irrigation systems with water saving technology, adding rock, and planting low-water-use plants.

The first garden site will include signage to educate residents about low-water-use landscapes.

In addition, the city will post

Karl Foster Feather Reed Grass

Pink Lady Flowering Quince Red Heart Hibiscus

Red Day Lilly

Munstead Lavender Some plants that will be featured in the low-water-use demonstration gardens in Yakima.

Dwarf Crimson Pigmy Barberry future growth. To access that water through the plan, communities must demonstrate that they are efficiently using their water.

Low-Water-Use Demonstration Gardens

That framework brought the city of Yakima around to the idea of installing a low-wateruse garden. The city decided to install a demonstration garden to show residents and businesses an alternative to grass and high-wateruse plants.

Initially, the project started as a xeriscape, but we wanted to ensure that the transition away from green lawns would be doable for residents. The public perception MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

of xeriscape is cactus and rocks, but the concept is broader. We are showing that low-wateruse gardens can be beautiful.

So, instead, we have focused on planting native, low-water-use species that are aesthetically pleasing.

We live in the desert. We have to go back to the plants that have adapted to that environment.

The Big Picture in the Basin

The municipal subgroup of the Yakima Basin Working Group is working toward developing municipal water conservation goals that are both meaningful and measurable. We are also looking at

borrowing ideas that have worked for others in Washington State.

For example, the working group is hiring a conservation group from Benton County, just south of Yakima, to develop a heritage garden program that would apply to the entire Integrated Plan region. By applying that concept planwide, we can foster a conservation ethic with businesses, residents, and planning groups in all our communities. M Dave Brown is the water/irrigation division manager for the city of Yakima. You can reach him at david.brown@yakimawa.gov.

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Remediating Contaminated Water Supplies at the West Valley Water District

By Matthew H. Litchfield, PE

T

Adopting the Latest in Treatment Technology WVWD’s perchlorate issue is in the Rialto-Colton groundwater basin. The two major sources of contamination are prior agricultural, industrial, and military pollutants and the 160-acre 14

Rockets, Fireworks, and Flares Superfund site, formerly known as the B.F. Goodrich site. Those sources generated extremely high concentrations of perchlorate in the area’s groundwater. Typical treatment methods, such as ion exchange, were economically infeasible due to the frequency of changing out resin and the associated costs of that type of treatment. Given the high costs, WVWD explored other treatment technologies.

In 2011, WVWD and Envirogen Technologies, Inc., initiated a pilot project that would be the only plant in the United States that used fluidized bed reactor technology to treat perchlorate and directly discharge into a potable water system. The fluidized bed reactor project was fully permitted in 2016 and produces an additional 2.9 million gallons per day from a previously contaminated source.

It was not your standard public works contract, which made it challenging for WVWD to get funding partners for the project.

WVWD, in conjunction with the city of Rialto, pursued various grants and funding sources from the mid-2000s through 2014 to construct the project. Funding partners for the construction of the project include the U.S. Department of Defense, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Santa Ana Regional Water

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WEST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT.

he West Valley Water District (WVWD) provides drinking water to approximately 82,000 customers in several communities in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, located east of Los Angeles in Southern California. WVWD operates six water treatment plants, including the 14-million-gallon-a-day Oliver P. Roemer Water Filtration Facility, which treats water from Lytle Creek as well as imported State Water Project water, to provide clean drinking water to its customers. Groundwater from five local basins accounts for nearly 50 percent of the district's water supply.

WVWD has been dealing with perchlorate and nitrate contamination since 1998 when WVWD and the city of Rialto were forced to shut down several wells due to perchlorate detection.

A water supply enhancement program has since been implemented to systematically remediate contaminated supplies to enhance the district’s overall supply portfolio.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

LEFT: Raw water storage tank in WVWD's fluidized bed reactor.

ABOVE: Inside the Oliver P. Roemer Water Filtration Facility.

TOP: Filtration flush is a critical step in the fluidized bed reactor treatment process.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Roemer Filtration Facility and additional supplies at the Bunkerhill Groundwater basin are also currently being pursued.

For example, in the Chino MIH Water Treatment, Inc., basin, WVWD has partnered with provides biological treatment MIH Water Treatment, Inc., on technology to water purveyors pilot studies to address the basin’s across the nation. Its nitrate contamination. Currently, patented Hall Reactor System WVWD has the right to extract cost effectively removes approximately 900 acre-feet of nitrates, selenium, perchlorate, water a year from the basin that and hexavalent chromium it is not able to take advantage of from affected groundwater due to extremely high nitrates— sources while producing no typically two times the maximum contaminated waste. contamination level, or about 90 parts per million (ppm).

1999: Hall Reactor Treatment Due to the high concentration of System patented. nitrates in the basin, ion exchange treatment is not economically 2000: First system installed at feasible. To use this existing Lessons Learned Shedd Aquarium in Illinois for water supply, WVWD worked For other water districts nitrate cleanup. with MIH to test its patented considering perchlorate treatment, biological remediation system to standard technologies such as 2007: Successful pilot pump, treat, and discharge the ion exchange do not typically performed for the U.S. nitrate-laden groundwater into a pan out economically for levels Environmental Protection Agency drain. Following the pilot studies, of 200–300 parts per billion. For Superfund Innovate Technology WVWD and the state conducted those circumstances, alternative Evaluation Program in Kansas. rigorous tests that showed that technologies can help agencies MIH’s system successfully reduced address the contamination in a more 2014: Conditional acceptance nitrate concentrations from 90 ppm cost-effective way. WVWD invites acquired from the California to 2 ppm, well below the industry agencies considering this approach State Water Resources Control maximum contamination level to tour the project to assist with Board Division of Drinking Water. standard. reviewing the potential application For WVWD, technologies like of fluidized bed reactor technology MIH’s Hall Reactor system could in other systems. allow for better use of a stranded resource, increasing Water agencies often are leery of implementing the local water supply and enhancing WVWD’s new technologies that have not yet been tested or service reliability. M permitted with the state. In this case, WVWD has completed the hard work of pioneering tests of new technologies to improve treatment efficiency in the water industry, enabling others to benefit from this technology.

Quality Control Board, and the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority. More recently, WVWD announced an agreement with United Technologies Corporation, which is a “potentially responsible party” under the Superfund program, to fully fund the operation of the fluidized bed reactor project.

In September 2016, WVWD began delivering water directly into the distribution system. Although it is functioning as designed, as with all new technologies there have been a few lessons learned in the first year of operation. In partnership with Envirogen, WVWD has been able to continue to deliver potable water through this project.

About MIH Water Treatment, Inc.

Adding to the Portfolio WVWD’s long-term plan for enhancing its water supply portfolio is to develop wells outside the Rialto-Colton basin and bring the Chino basin and the North Riverside basin, both of which are contaminated by nitrates, back online. WVWD is also pursuing additional treatment expansion at the 16

Matthew Litchfield is the general manager of the West Valley Water District.

You can reach him at mlitchfield@wvwd.org.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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AGENCY PROFILE

United Water Conservation District

By Mauricio Guardado

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

AGENCY PROFILE

Constructed in 1991, the Freeman Diversion Facility diverts water from the Santa Clara River to recharge local groundwater supplies.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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AGENCY PROFILE

Established in 1927, the United Water Conservation District serves a population of 400,000 and covers a 335-square-mile area in Ventura County, California.

The district’s service area includes several cities, townships, and large agricultural users that depend on the water the district provides.

Meeting the needs of such diverse and important interests requires a variety of complex water storage, conveyance, and groundwater recharge systems. Our goal is to maintain these systems to provide the highest-quality service to the public we serve, ensure that our infrastructure is sustainable even in drought conditions, and work collaboratively with all stakeholders to resolve the challenges we all face.

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diversion and recharge basins were carefully located based on precise geological analysis in order to capitalize on highly effective groundwater percolation rates to maximize groundwater recharge.

Basins can accommodate up to 12–14 feet per day, maximizing the environmental benefit of mitigating seawater intrusion from the coastal areas, which allows for continued agricultural and municipal operations on the Oxnard Plain.

The district actively manages a total of eight interconnected groundwater basins. Our network of channels, canals, basins, and large pipelines facilitates the transport of this water to where and when it is

needed. For example, the district’s El Rio facility is the source of wholesale water for the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme and for Naval Base Ventura County. We extract groundwater from a well field at the site, treat the water, and then deliver it to the cities in order to minimize coastal groundwater pumping.

Seeking Solutions Meeting the needs of our customers requires us to overcome many obstacles. One of our primary challenges is drought.

Our operation relies heavily on the capture and recharge of regional stormwater, so the lack MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN CARMAN.

Recharge and Diversion The district stores water behind the Santa Felicia Dam, which accommodates 82,000 acre-feet of water at full capacity in Lake Piru. The dam is a critical element of our operation, enabling the district to store water in high flow conditions and release it into Piru Creek, recharging downstream groundwater basins used by both municipal and agricultural users.

Another essential component of the district’s operations is the Freeman diversion, which was built in 1991 to improve the capability of diverting water from the Santa Clara River during large storms, aiding groundwater recharge and reducing seawater intrusion. Diverted water is sent through a desilting basin and then spread across 700 acres of groundwater recharge basins. The

AGENCY PROFILE

Mauricio Guardado at the Santa Felicia Dam.

of rainfall over the past several years has caused us to look for other sources to enhance our water supply. Further complicating our operations are increasing regulatory restrictions that affect the pace of drought recovery.

The fish ladder at the Freeman diversion provides passage for endangered steelhead migrating up or down the Santa Clara River under a range of conditions. Years after the design and construction of the diversion, the federal government listed the Southern California steelhead under the Endangered Species Act. After the listing, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

concluded that the district’s Freeman diversion and its operation jeopardizes the survival of the species. Using the best available science, the district has added environmental experts to its staff and spent many years developing and proposing improvement alternatives in coordination with NMFS engineers and biologists.

In the interim, NMFS directed the district to operate the Freeman diversion in a way that reduces the diversions by one-third of our historical diversion average, in an effort to provide more water for steelhead recovery. The loss of diverted water has had a negative affect on the district’s efforts to

recover from drought and combat seawater intrusion.

To comply with the Endangered Species Act and improve the fish passage the district currently provides, we may be required to construct a $60 million fish passage structure. Some parties even believe we should construct a $200 million infiltration gallery. Implementing either of these projects would be an extraordinary investment on a river that is dry 8 months of the year and, when flowing, carries high levels of sediment and debris.

Designing fish passage facilities that can function reliably in the Santa Clara River has presented a real conundrum for the designers of the proposed passage. We are working with regulators to devise a plan that can ensure improved safe passage of steelhead through a variety of flow conditions while also helping to regain the loss of a third of our diversion capability, which is critical for regional water sustainability. If we cannot find an alternative that will allow us to divert water both for groundwater recharge and seawater intrusion purposes, there will be substantial socioeconomic effects for the region.

No adult steelhead have been observed migrating up the Santa Clara River since 2012. Steelhead are native to the Santa Clara River watershed; however, no scientifically based historical population or migration data are known to exist. Understandably, the public we serve questions the cost and practicality of this level of investment.

As an environmental steward, the district seeks to protect endangered species. We believe this can be done in a reasonable and practical way, based on current science.

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AGENCY PROFILE

24

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNITED WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT.

The district has invested heavily in scientific studies of steelhead migration and has incorporated that science into devising possible solutions.

Navigating federal requirements and finding regulatory flexibility with design options, however, remains a challenge.

Other challenges facing the district include the need for significant public safety improvements to the Santa Felicia Dam— specifically, a $60 million spillway expansion and Lake Piru was created in 1955 with the construction of the Santa Felicia Dam. Santa Felicia Dam can store up to outlet works replacement— 88,000 acre-feet of winter runoff from the Piru Creek watershed. and dealing with the newsletters and community presentations. infestation of quagga Our efforts have won the support of a number of mussels in Lake Piru. Regarding quagga, the district’s key stakeholders, including state legislators and our staff believes it has found a solution to combatting congressional delegation. If all parties are working the invasive species. We have been testing several chemicals to see which are most effective at eradicating toward the same goal, there is less conflict and a higher likelihood of success. Collaboration is vital, particularly the quagga mussels while not harming downstream on projects that will benefit multiple users, to increase fish. We believe we have now found a bio-friendly the overall reliability of the system and to save both chemical that can be used in multiple doses over time time and money. to eradicate the mussel without harming fish.

We are fortunate: Many organizations in Ventura County are interested in water issues, providing us Reaching Out As the financial burden of new water infrastructure with numerous opportunities to tell our story and garner support from both key stakeholders and projects increases, finding alternative ways to fund these projects continues to be one of our top priorities. the general public. This outreach has resulted in other entities reaching out to us as well, including We need some substantial help with grant funding municipalities whose support we need to move if we are going to complete these major projects, forward. The district is active in the community in and we have been actively working with our elected general, believing that collaboration is what will officials, locally and in Washington, DC, to take ultimately make us all successful. M advantage of a number of proposed infrastructure bills and grant funding as it becomes available. Given the large amount of money we will need to complete our projects, we are leaving no stone unturned in our Mauricio Guardado has search for funds. We have a team dedicated solely to served as the general searching out grant opportunities. manager of the United Outreach and communication with the public and Water Conservation other stakeholders is another key to moving projects District since August 2015. forward. The interconnected nature of groundwater He is a registered engineer basins is such that we need a variety of stakeholders to in the state of California. come together to support our infrastructure projects.

You can reach him at To that end, we have improved our social media and mauriciog@unitedwater.org. public outreach strategy, which now includes regular

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MANAGER PROFILE

Steve Drew Steve Drew in the Mitchell Water Plant.

Director of Water Resources for Greensboro, North Carolina

26

downstream neighbors.

In the 1990s, when record droughts plagued the eastern seaboard, the water resources department made connections with its neighbors. We established interlocal agreements to use the excess capacity of the other cities, which helped us get through those severe droughts.

John Crotty: Besides periodic drought, what are some other ongoing challenges facing Greensboro?

Steve Drew: Water reclamation and wastewater treatment are some of the biggest issues we are dealing with. We operate a 56-millionMUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GREENSBORO WATER RESOURCES.

With a population John Crotty, about of approximately the importance Greensboro 290,000, of regional Greensboro is the coordination third-largest city with other water NORTH CAROLINA in North Carolina. agencies in central The city’s water resources department North Carolina, the draws from a relatively small, evolution of emergency preparation 105-square-mile watershed to serve and response plans to address threats, about 114,000 customers. Given and the need to consider a wide its size and its responsibilities, the variety of factors when planning for department has prioritized resiliency the long term. and responsiveness to emergency situations, both natural and manJohn Crotty: Please describe the made, that may compromise its water structure of the water resources and wastewater systems. Greensboro department. has established detailed emergency plans as well as interconnections with Steve Drew: Greensboro owns neighboring city water agencies to its water utility, and its water facilitate cooperation, coordination, resources department is set up as an and the exchange of water resources enterprise that includes drinking during disaster situations. water, wastewater treatment, Director of Water Resources Steve and a separate stormwater Drew has concentrated on these enterprise. There is a separate forward-thinking policies during stormwater enterprise as well. That his 38 years with the department, organizational structure is actually and he understands that doing so advantageous for us, given our will help carry the city forward. Mr. geographical location in North Drew recently spoke with Municipal Carolina and the stewardship Water Leader’s senior writer, responsibilities we have to our

MANAGER PROFILE

Lake Townsend Dam is the largest of Greensboro’s municipal reservoirs, with a capacity to supply 30 million gallons of water per day.

gallon-per-day (MGD) wastewater treatment plant; plant capacity was formerly 40 MGD. We decided to decommission a 16 MGD treatment facility dating back to 1938 and invest in the larger, younger plant. That four-phase project has cost $120 million over the past several years, covering the capacity expansion, additional equalization storage, and biological nutrient removal upgrades under a NPDES [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System] permit with a 2021 compliance deadline.

Steve Drew: Our excess capacity is certainly helpful for economic development. The city has partnered with Randolph County to the south to develop a 1,500acre megasite that will have one of the largest economic development zones in the state. In addition, we have multiple other economic development areas, all of which help draw manufacturing or industrial entities to set up shop locally. We are not aggressively marketing ourselves to sell great quantities of water; we are aware how precious a resource it is.

John Crotty: Have you seen any issues with expanded development or urbanization?

John Crotty: What accomplishment are you most proud of over the course of your career?

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Steve Drew: I am most proud of the efforts of our city and past leadership to establish interconnections with the other cities. It was a great example of communities stepping up and working together. Our city council was supportive of the effort, and our citizens understood the importance of water resources to the city.

In addition, keeping our wastewater treatment plants operational and modern has been a great success. I am proud of the culture we have developed while working with our regulators and water research scientists to study emerging contaminants or unregulated compounds. Proactive 27

MANAGER PROFILE engagement with other stakeholders has been beneficial and allowed us to have plans in place to remove contaminants at the source as soon as possible, even before we are required to.

John Crotty: Where do you want to see the utility go in the future? What are some long-term goals?

we can run for at least 1 month with no power from the grid.

John Crotty: What steps has the department taken to operate the utility for that long without power?

Steve Drew: Diesel fuel storage is a vital component, but the fuel has to be treated and recirculated because Steve Drew: Within 5 years, we will reach an it deteriorates. A high level of commitment is required infrastructure replacement rate of 1 percent annually. to install the storage tanks in the first place. The most That will give us more time to evaluate the materials difficult aspect of preparation for powerless operation and processes we are using. Rehabilitating our system is actually chemical storage. Both water will remain an aggressive priority for us as “Our strength in and wastewater facilities require a long as we continue to have the funding variety of different chemicals, and they and support from our council. We are a Greensboro, both do not all have the same shelf life. It is fiscally sound utility even though we have as a community difficult to keep large quantities of some the second-lowest water rates of the state’s and as a utility, chemicals on hand at all times. We have 15 largest utilities. We want to maintain examined those factors and determined those competitive rates and the quality is our culture of the maximum amount of each chemical customer service we have been providing, progressiveness we can store safely and effectively. We and I am confident we will be able to do so. and a willingness also maintain enough spare parts and Resiliency and reliability will continue components on hand in case supply to be priorities for us, both in terms of to prepare for chains are disrupted. repairing and maintaining our water

the challenges

infrastructure and also in terms of the John Crotty: Are there significant parts of that might be national power grid in the wake of disasters. We have created a computer forthcoming for your system that are automated or reliant on power from the grid? model of a 1,000-year flood and used our community.” it to assess how we should manage our Steve Drew: Yes, and that was discussed —STEVE DREW reservoirs and water storage infrastructure during the vulnerability assessment. We and how we should respond to a variety of have stationary generators throughout our systems, contingencies that such an event could trigger. and we have mobile generators that can be moved Hurricanes and natural disasters are not the around as needed. Our utility also has cooperative only threat to our water systems. I was part of a agreements with local fuel suppliers and the city group of utility leaders that was selected to meet government, which has fuel supplies set aside for with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency its needs as well. We work with them to ensure and other federal agencies last summer to discuss that our needs are a high priority and are met while how to update guidance meant to prepare utilities maintaining as much self-sufficiency as possible. for disasters that was developed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The guidance focused primarily on natural disasters; it did not address other John Crotty: What should our readership know about threats that need to be considered as well, especially Greensboro? cyberthreats. The updated review sought to look at a wider range of issues and made cyberattacks a top Steve Drew: Our strength in Greensboro, both priority. as a community and as a utility, is our culture of Another issue raised during the review sessions was progressiveness and a willingness to prepare for that water and wastewater utilities were unprepared the challenges that might be forthcoming for our for power outages lasting longer than a few days. community. It is important for any water utility to Hurricanes regularly knock out power for several understand what the expectations of the community days in North Carolina, and small water systems at large are for things like service, resiliency, reliability, are especially vulnerable. But Greensboro’s fuel and affordability, and economic development. Utilities need storage tanks are at or near full storage capacity, and to recognize that and act accordingly. M 28

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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ASSOCIATION PROFILE

Association of State Dam Safety Officials

D

Dam Safety 2016 participants at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

30

ASDSO formed to allow dam safety knowledge to be shared across state lines. States would be able to gather information, share knowledge and best practices, and put forth a unified effort to increase dam safety.

Today, the association still works to improve the condition and safety of dams. ASDSO now has more than 3,000 members that include federal dam safety professionals, dam owners and operators, engineering consultants, emergency managers, manufacturers, suppliers, academia, contractors, and others interested in improving dam safety.

State Programs One of the key aspects of ASDSO’s work has been helping to create state-level dam safety programs. The association’s Model State Dam Safety Program, first MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ASSOCIATION OF STATE DAM SAFETY OFFICIALS.

uring the late 1970s, there were multiple catastrophic dam failures across the United States, and the need for improved dam safety practices was becoming clear. The death of 39 people in 1977 from the Kelly Barnes Dam failure in Toccoa Falls, Georgia, was the tipping point that spurred the federal government to study and coordinate proper dam safety procedures across the country.

President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order directing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to inspect dams nationwide. The first phase of these inspections revealed deficiencies in the great majority of nonfederal dams. Later inspections revealed the inadequacy of state dam safety laws and programs.

The National Dam Safety Program arose from these findings and subsequently gave rise to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) in 1983.

ASSOCIATION PROFILE developed in 1987 along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been the template for many state dam safety programs that came into existence in the wake of ASDSO’s founding. Today, 49 of the 50 states and Puerto Rico have their own programs.

Dam safety oversight needs vary from state to state according to dam numbers, hazard potential, dam types, and other factors. However, there are many common elements that apply to all states. Through ASDSO, dam safety officials can share guidance on how to improve programs and states can compare regulations.

ASDSO also works closely with federal agencies.

Some states share jurisdiction over dams with the federal government, so ASDSO works with the federal agencies on developing guidelines for the National Dam Safety Program. Federal agency representatives are active members on committees and advise ASDSO on a host of different issues.

In addition, ASDSO helps state and local authorities develop and implement emergency action plans (EAPs) to respond to dam failures or other crises. EAPs are vital in keeping communities safe and mitigating or minimizing damage and loss of life during emergencies. ASDSO strongly advocates for states to require EAPs for dams whose failure would likely result in the loss of life.

Although the association’s education efforts focus primarily on training members, dam owner education programs are becoming increasingly popular. Many states host dam owner workshops at which owners can learn about best practices, how to inspect and examine dams for signs of damage or failures, and how to properly maintain or upgrade their facilities.

In addition, ASDSO works to educate the public on both safety-of-dams issues and safety-at-dams issues. ASDSO worked with the National Dam Safety Program to develop a two-part Living With Dams series of educational booklets: Know Your Risks and Extreme Rainfall Events, both available at livingneardams.org.

Making Dams a Priority The need for dam rehabilitation across the United States is a key issue for the dam safety community.

Without proper operation and maintenance, the benefits of dams cannot be obtained and the risk significantly increases.

It is important for policymakers to understand that there are over 15,000 dams in the United States that are classified as high hazard, and every state has them.

Dams are classified as high hazard if a failure at the dam would likely result in the loss of life. ASDSO estimates that to rehabilitate just the high-hazard dams in our nation would cost $22 billion.

Education and Training Funding for upkeep and maintenance is a big ASDSO has evolved from an organization issue for many owners, especially private owners. exclusively for state officials to one that welcomes Rehabilitation is necessary as dams age, and technical members involved with dam or levee safety on any level. Further, the scope of its education has expanded. standards, surrounding landscape, surrounding population, and weather patterns all continue to In addition to assisting state dam safety programs, change; however, many owners cannot finance projects.

ASDSO trains state dam safety officials and others There is a federal program for the upgrade of who work on dams to spot potential problems, make necessary repairs, and design dams with safety in mind. high-hazard, nonfederal dams called the National Dam Rehabilitation Program. That program has ASDSO strives to provide members with a been authorized, but Congress has not allocated any constant supply of education and training to help appropriations. ASDSO urges Congress to support them become more effective stewards of dam safety. that specific program as well as the National Dam The annual national conference, held in different Safety Program overall. Adequate resources and locations across the United States, now attracts scrupulous attention to dam safety are essential to roughly 1,000 attendees. The conference agenda preventing loss of life, destruction of property, and focuses on dam safety issues and other issues of national interest, as well as the history of the host area. disruption of essential lifeline services that result from dam failures. M The 2017 conference was held September 11–14 in San Antonio, Texas, with a keynote address on lessons learned from this year’s Oroville Dam spillway failure. For more information about the Association of Dam Safety Officials, please contact Katelyn Riley, communications ASDSO also provides regional conferences that manager, at kriley@damsafety.org or Mark Ogden, are smaller in scope, as well as in-person and online technical specialist, at mogden@damsafety.org. training classes throughout the year.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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THE INNOVATORS

TruePoint Solutions Brings Interactive Solutions to Municipal Water Accounting

The city of Palmdale with the San Gabriel Mountains.

34

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KENT JOHNSON AND WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

One of the newer, more innovative ways we do this is with tools like Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), or screen pop technology.

This function pops a screen onto the computer information system clerk’s account management window to automatically load all appropriate customer information based on caller ID. Municipal customers also can use cloud-based software solutions that are operated and maintained by a third party. In a software-as-a-service model, TruePoint Solutions Founder and CEO the municipality pays for a subscription Kent Johnson. to the software and for the contractor to maintain the system for them, rather than having Kris Polly: What can you tell us about TruePoint and to buy and manage the physical server, the operating the services you provide? system, and the database. This model reduces the amount of time, space, and cost the municipality must Kent Johnson: Since 2005, we have provided targeted software solutions for the water industry. Our software invest in its information management or accounting solutions allow customers to track the delivery, service, systems. A hosted model is similar, but the software license and implementation costs are paid up front and and consumption of the water they provide, as well the support and hosting service costs are spread out as the billing and accounting status for each of their over time. customer’s accounts.

TruePoint Solutions provides data management tools to help municipalities automate processes, enhance conservation, reduce costs, and better serve their customers. TruePoint Chief Executive Officer Kent Johnson recently spoke with Municipal Water Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, about how municipalities have taken cues from the irrigation and agriculture industries; the ways municipal and government entities have contributed to innovative water software solutions; and how the company strives to provide effective, tailored solutions and service to its customers.

THE INNOVATORS Kris Polly: What is the municipal application of the integrated water accounting products that TruePoint offers?

Kent Johnson: The products have a great deal of utility for municipal water agencies. We recently went live with our first municipal client, the Palmdale Water District in California, which is capitalizing on our agricultural water–based experience. Palmdale is one of the first water utility districts to follow the agriculture and irrigation model of water management.

Agriculture commonly refers to the model as allocation management; for Palmdale, it is referred to as budget billing. We see this as one of the biggest market shifts regarding conservation efforts and related billing practices.

Municipalities are beginning to examine how much water supply they have, how they are going to track it, how they are going to quantify the costs, and how water can be managed in a way that encourages conservation of a limited resource. Irrigation districts have been operating this way for a long time, and we are glad to see municipal entities like Palmdale doing the same.

Kris Polly: How many accounts does the city of Palmdale have, and how long have you been working with the district?

Kent Johnson: Palmdale has approximately 30,000 accounts, and it went live with our system about 1 month ago. The solution is not just water billing, it’s water management with CIMIS [California Irrigation Management Information System] integration.

TrueBill contains tools that connect with the entire California CIMIS weather station network to acquire evapotranspiration data, manage exceptions, and provide reporting. These tools have had many years of maturity, and they interface with any of the nearly 250 managed stations in the CIMIS network.

Using these tools, data are automatically acquired in the background on a daily basis. This information is then used by TrueBill modules to perform advanced analysis, water budgeting, and water use predictions.

TrueBill maintains full weather history for the monitored stations. The advantage here is that these data can be used for reporting and analysis.

Kris Polly: What kind of customer information did the Palmdale Water District want to have available on its computer screens when someone calls the district with a question or concern?

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Kent Johnson: The first priority is the customer’s contact information, accounting information, and payment history and any outstanding invoices and open or completed service requests. In addition to standard customer information, we have designed the system to show data indicating how well customers conserve water. This allows Palmdale to focus its efforts on rewarding customers who do a good job of conserving water and identifying those who could be conserving water better. We are also undertaking a lot more GIS [geographic information systems] data integration with the Environmental Systems Research Institute, which has been used extensively by municipalities for some time now.

Kris Polly: How has the municipal sector been a driving force in the advancements in cloud-based technology that you mentioned?

Kent Johnson: The federal government was really the first to push cloud technology and its use because it is more sustainable and allows access to data from different locations. We have seen that filter down to the municipal level over the last 6 to 7 years, and today, it is one of the preferred delivery solutions.

Kris Polly: What should every municipality know about TruePoint Solutions?

Kent Johnson: We approach problems from a different perspective than other financial management providers. We have an operations-focused approach with our products. Asset management integration, GIS, meter management, and backflow management are core components of our offering. Linking those components together with current browser-based technology gives our customer the full picture of their entire operation, so we focus on making that as easy as possible. We allow the municipal employees to instantly see everything going on with a customer, a meter, or any other part of their infrastructure, which in turn allows them to operate their water systems more efficiently and better respond to the needs of their customers. Finally, we took an accountabilityusability approach to the design of the user interface by incorporating user-friendly process wizards into most of the critical business processes. Some of these processes include transfer of payments and receivables, account move in/move out, bill production, and meter change out, just to name a few. M 35

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Upcoming Events

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September 5-8

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Northwest Hydroelectric Association, 2017 Fall Workshop & Tour, Bellevue, WA

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National Waterways Conference, 2017 Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO

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National Water Research Institute, 2017 Clarke Prize Award Ceremony & Conference, Irvine, CA

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January 31–February 1, 2018 Irrigation Leader Magazine’s 6th Annual Operations and Management Workshop, Phoenix, AZ February 17–24, 2018

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