HomeMy WebLinkAbout7B - City of PL Domestic Water Plan
16200 Eagle Creek Avenue S.E.
Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: JULY 17,2006
AGENDA #: 7B
PREPARED BY: STEVE ALBRECHT, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
AGENDA ITEM: CITY OF PRIOR LAKE WATER SYSTEM STATUS
DISCUSSION: Introduction
The purpose of this agenda item is to update the City Council on the status of the
Prior Lake Domestic Water System Plan.
Historv
The City, through its 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan has developed a four-part
domestic water plan which emphasizes: production, conservation, education and
communication. Since its adoption as part of the 2020 Vision, The City Council
and staff have worked to implement the four elements.
Current Circumstances
Production
Since 2002, the city has added four new municipal wells. Wells 6 and 7 are
actively pumping. Wells 8 and 9 are under development and will be online
within 30-45 days. These wells are important for the following reasons:
· When all of them are online, they will nearly double the City's daily
pumping capacity from 4.7 million gallons per day (MGD) prior to 2002 to
9.0 MGD.
· The new City wells have been located to protect the City's water supply
from spills or intentional damage.
· Wells 7, 8 and 9 are located such that they can be connected to the
proposed water treatment plant.
The Department of Natural Resources has also approved well 1 0 which is to
be located in the 39 acres purchased by the City in the Spring Lake Park area.
Well 10 will be a Jordan well like wells 6 and 8 which will provide the City with
the highest level of water production available in this area.
To serve Prior Lake's 2030 needs, we expect to add four to six more wells
depending on growth rates.
Conservation
The City of Prior Lake historically experiences peak demands during summer
months due to watering. The City's water use restrictions prohibit watering
from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Watering is permitted outside of those hours on an
odd-even address basis. During peak use periods City Staff actively patrols
neighborhoods for enforcement of the regulations. Currently the City
Ordinance has the following penalties for non-compliance:
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WWW.CIOpnOrae.com
Phone 952.447.4230 / Fax 952.447.4245
1 st Violation - Warning Tag
2nd Violation - $25 fine on water bill
3rd Violation - Water service shut off
Prior to 2006 the City has experienced peak water use weeks in July of every
year.
Month
Peak Day
al
5,980,000
5,663,000
4,789,000
5,991,000
Average Day
al
4,221,000
3,799,300
3,252,700
3,142,000
June 2006
Jul 2005
Jul 2004
Jul 2003
The City's average winter day use in 2005-2006 was 1,400,000 gallons per
day. Based on that use the City is seeing 4.27 the use on peak days due to
watering. Met Council and DNR guidelines look for a 3 or less peak day ratio.
In June of 2006 the City issued 336 warnings from June 4th through June 15th.
During that period 16 second warnings were issued and 3 homes had to be
warned 3 times or more.
This enforcement excludes town home associations which typically water
every day as they have addresses that are both odd and even in the
association and centralized irrigation systems. The current City ordinance
does not have provisions for centralized irrigation systems like these.
Education/Communication
We have been engaged in various efforts in this regard:
· Annual Water Report - in accordance with federal requirements, we
provide a written report mailed to all users regarding the testing and quality
of our water.
· Street Signs - we have added signage on streets as reminders to the public
regarding our even-odd restrictions.
· Articles and E-News - the Wavelength and our e-news distributions have
provided information about our current and future systems as well as
conservation tips.
· Cable Channel 15 - in addition to discussing important water matters at
City Council meetings, we have produced Inside City Hall shows regarding
various water topics.
ISSUES:
The City anticipates heavy irrigation use in July based on current conditions and
historical data. The City's water use regulations should be modified to better
address issues in the City. The City has never shut off water service due to non-
compliance with the water restriction ordinance after two or more warnings.
Water is a vital service and staff feels it is inappropriate to shut off water due to
watering. Staff would propose that a more aggressive fine system be installed to
better discourage multiple violations.
Additionally staff feels that town-home and residential associations which are not
subject to the odd-even restrictions due to centralized irrigation systems should
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be addressed. Because these associations have both odd and even residences
on one system they typically water daily. The current ordinance does not address
this issue. Previously the City has tried to address this issue on a voluntary basis
with very little success.
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
Water restriction enforcement is intended to be revenue neutral. Even though the
City does not track the hours spent on water restrictions it is very apparent based
on the number of violations and person hours expended, including weekend
overtime that this is not revenue neutral.
Additionally water infrastructure costs are not minimized if the system additions
need to consider excessive peak days.
RECOMMENDED Staff recommends that the Council provide direction on ordinance changes based
MOTION: on the above identified issues.
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