Citizens' Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
March 17, 2005
CAC Members in Attendance: Roberta Simonton (Vice-Chair), Michael Buchenau, Russell Burton, Tim Flynn, Theresa Jehn-Dellaport, Larry Keesen, Jim Legas, and Rick Sackbauer
DW Staff: Marie Bassett, Dave Little and Joe Sloan
Agenda, Minutes & Opening Remarks
The Agenda and Minutes were approved as presented.
Comments from the Public
None.
DW Staff Update & Information on
Board Workshop of February 23, 2005 – Marie Bassett, Director of Public Affairs
Board Workshop – The 10-Year Plan, finance issues and long-term water issues where discussed at the recent Board workshop. A rate design study was also discussed at the workshop. If the Board decides to move forward with this study a workgroup will be formed to advise the Board. This workgroup would be made up of CAC members, distributors and other stakeholders.
Roberta stated at the March CAC meeting that a letter was distributed requesting the Board to begin a process that would study rate issues. The letter was tabled at the last CAC meeting. The distributors, or a group of distributors, sent a similar letter to the Board. As the Board is now beginning this process Roberta stated the letter was not necessary.
Marie stated the letter to the Board came from the TAC. If the Board decides to begin the rate study process they would work with the distributors. It would be up to the distributors to decide who would represent them, the TAC members, or those not a part of the TAC. Marie emphasized the Board first has to approve the process.
Summer Watering Program – Marie anticipates the Board will decide on the Summer Watering Program at the May 11, 2005 meeting. Customers will be given notice on the program by postcards. The program will be more limited than in the past and focus on where real water savings occur. The notification postcard will also include an offer to have meters read monthly for customers who use more than 130,000 gallons of water during the bi-monthly billing period. Customers will have to request this service. Customer Care has hired temporary staff to help field the calls once the program has been announced.
Roberta requested the CAC members who attend Board meetings be given a complete Board packet. She would also like to see handouts distributed to the public attending the meeting or displayed on the screen. Currently only those seated at the table are given the handouts. Joe stated the packets are available before the meeting in the Manager's office. He will also inform Stacey Renouf of the request. Agenda items (without attachments) are posted on the web site on the Friday prior to a Board meeting.
Budget Cuts – Marie reported that staff has cut $15 million from the capital plan for 2006. Larry asked if any cuts were made to the Conservation budget. Marie stated no cuts had been made to Conservation programs. There will be no rebate programs. Conservation is working with large residential customers and large multi-unit customers. Audits have been offered to these groups of customers. Some Conservation money may be used to encourage or thank these customers for participating in water audits. There was some discussion of the commercial and industrial water audit programs. Joe will send information on this program to the CAC.
Subcommittee Reports
Rates – Roberta restated there was no need to send a letter to the Board regarding rate issues. She attended the workshop and believes the Board will move ahead with a workgroup on rate issues. She requested the Board select the facilitator for the workgroup. Roberta would like to see the Board set the parameters or scope of the work for the workgroup and be involved in the selection of its members. Theresa asked how much authority the workgroup would have once the process is completed. Roberta responded the more the Board is involved in the set up of the workgroup, the more likely they will be to see the work product as credible.
Denver's Efforts to Develop New Water Supply
Dave Little, Manager of Water Resource Planning
Dave Little offered to explain any of the system refinement projects in detail or to cover only those of interest to the CAC. Jim stated his concern that many of the projects listed have a high costsper acre foot. The Recycled Water project also has a high cost to produce water compared to other water storage projects. It appears Denver Water does not want to build storage projects even though they are more cost effective.
Dave stated the system refinement projects will be done when they become cost effective. Referring to the list of projects he said those that are too costly will not be done until they can be justified. The list is only a suggestion of potential projects. The cost of an acre foot on the market, if you are able to find water for sale, is a minimum of $10,000 per acre foot. Theresa concurred and stated most water utilities are looking to buy water. Utilities are always looking at ways to increase their supply through efficiencies.
Dave explained that the Blue River Decree required DW to make a good faith effort to reuse water brought over from Dillon. The Recycled Water System is a large part of that good faith effort.
Jim stated that several water providers in Colorado are working on water storage projects that are cost effective and would like to see the Board proceed with new storage projects. Currently it appears new storage projects are on the bottom of the priority list. Dave responded DW has to have a credible system, which includes strong conservation efforts and system efficiencies, before entering the process to build new storage. If DW has done all it can to use its current resources efficiently then the regulatory process to build new storage facilities will be much smoother. If DW has not done all it can, there is a good chance the project will not be approved. Dave used examples from the Two Forks project to illustrate his point.
Denver Water is in the planning phase for new or additional storage on the north end of the collection system. The regulatory agency, The Corp of Engineers, began by requiring DW to look at 350 projects. DW pared those 350 down to 13 options which were submitted to the Corps of Engineers. However, all 350 had to be studied. Confounding the issue was the drought and how to measure flows during the drought. The goal of the north end supply project is to increase the firm annual yield by 18,000 acre feet. It has to be on the north end as there is an imbalance in where Denver draws water. The South Platte, including Dillon, makes up 90% of DW storage and 80% of the supply. The north end or Moffat system has 10% of DW's storage and 20% of the supply.
The goal is to have the 13 options down to 3 or 4 by the first of January. Then the EIS, public information, studies will begin. It could be 2 to 3 years before the final project is selected.
Dave explained that once the process becomes public (comment periods, public meetings, etc) it can become extremely complex. He used the example of a news article which recently appeared about the Fraser River. The article incorrectly reported the amount of water Denver diverts from the Fraser. The writer agreed to make corrections, but the damage was already done. It is difficult to manage information about a project once it is announced. Rick stated as he works with Eagle, Grand and Summit Counties, the issues in Grand (Fraser is in Grand County) are numerous. Grand County has Denver Water and Northern Colorado Conservancy District drawing from the rivers in that county. 36% of Grand County property taxes are paid by Denver Water customers. These people live in Denver's service area and have second homes or property in Grand County. As DW moves forward to increase its supply they will find Grand County full of complex water issues.
Dave offered to return to the CAC whenever he could be helpful. He also suggested the CAC tour take place on the northern end of the system.
CAC Business
Tours – Tour dates were discussed. Joe will contact members to see who is available on May 19, 2005. The suggestion was made to have the tour replace the May meeting.
Board Meetings – Jim Legas will attend the Board meeting on May 11, 2005.
Contact with Constituents – Due to time limitations, this item was tabled and will be done at the next meeting.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.