 Good morning, everyone. We'll call the special meeting of the city council to order and Miss Gomez, would you announce the role, please? Let the record show that all council members are present with the exception of council members. So you're thank you and We'll start with public comment. Do we have any cards on that miss Gomez? No, we do not and they're limited to the items that's on the agenda Okay, so we'll have the presentation first and then if you want to Speak on these items, please see Joey up at the top get a yellow card so we can keep the Keep things moving Move on to our study session in item 3.1. Mr. McGlynn item 3.1 Update on water quality advisory for Fountain Grove area Ben Horenstein director of the water utility presenting Good morning, Mayor Corsi members of the council This item is to provide you an update on where we are with the water contamination issue as a result of the fire that We've been dealing with for the last number of months As you'll hear in the presentation Continues to be relatively positive news with the work. We're doing and The intent today is to provide an update and share with you the discussions We've had with our regulators in terms of the movement towards lifting the advisory and resolving this issue for our community Without I'll turn it over to deputy director Burke to walk through the presentation Good morning, Mayor Corsi and members of the council as director Horenstein said we're here today With some relatively good news to provide an update and the plan for lifting the advisory and the Fountain Grove area So we'll go through a little bit of background on how this all occurred We'll talk about the pathway for restoring water quality in this area we'll review the current data and Talk about the effectiveness of the water service line replacement that we've been doing in the area Then we'll go over the plan for lifting the advisory and talk about next steps So just as a reminder Once the mandatory evacuation area was lifted in this particular area there were 13 remaining homes out of 352 parcels and folks were allowed to go back into that area and one of the homeowners Called in an odor complaint a taste an odor complaint to the water department on November 8th We quickly dispatched water quality staff to go out and do some testing and try and see if there was something That was going on in the area and based on the testing. We found some volatile organic compounds in particular benzene In the water we quickly reached out to our state regulator Which is the division of drinking water and worked with them very closely to issue an advisory for this area and Then we also had some additional precautions on what you can do with the water that were issued on January 23rd based on the investigation that we were doing Once we realized that we had this issue our typical protocol is to Working with division of drinking water flesh. That's the typical protocol for any kind of contamination issue We quickly realized that that wasn't clearing this up We also reached out to what other water agencies to see if anyone had ever experienced this type of Contamination issue after a fire and couldn't find that any other agency had this issue So we quickly pulled together an expert team That consisted not only of local state and federal regulators But also forensic chemists toxicologists and some national water quality experts to help us figure out what occurred and help guide the investigation So this map is an outdated version of the map It's from June of this year, but this map shows the the very robust Sampling protocol that we put into place To date we have taken over 6,000 samples Most of those have been water samples and we used a GIS Map on our website to post those results so folks could stay informed and have Information on any of the results if they had any questions if they wanted to look at their particular address if they wanted to look at Results in a particular street or an area and not only did we test throughout the advisory area But we also tested throughout the entire burn area Yes, would you please give us the web address for that? Absolutely, so if folks would like to go on to the website. It is srcity.org WQ advisory and we'll have that information I think on our last slide as well so folks can see it in writing great. Thank you So not only did we test all the water samples But we also tested the soil to see if it could have been a soil contamination issue We tested pieces of our infrastructure whether it was valves mains Gaskets water services meters we tested a very robust sampling program And it really helped us understand the source so based on all that information and working with our expert team it led us to understand that the fire caused this issue and melting and burning of plastics both on Private side as well as in some of our system as well as smoke soot and ash We're able to get into our system and that either adhered to Copper service water lines and when I say water service lines I mean the line from the main to the meter So that line that goes from the main line to the home basically to the meter and Or absorbed into plastic components whether it was a water service lines or gaskets So based on this information and really understanding the source We started really trying to understand the extent as well as what we would need to do to restore water quality in this area As I mentioned before it's been a very methodical robust data-driven approach May I ask you a question can we go back one slide sure perhaps I didn't hear accurately Thank you Can you clarify? the the source location is this the line to the house is this the line inside the house is It the main itself that had damage Can you can you? You may have said it, but can you restate sure where in the system was the benzene created do we know? So what we know based on the data is that and based on looking at the Sort of all the constituents that were in the water samples is that melted plastics as well as potentially some smoke soot and ash Is where the benzene came from? It looks to be mostly consistent with PVC which would be on-site As well as we think some of the potential plastic components in the meters When we've looked at our service lines or the water system infrastructure, we really haven't found That there's been structural damage. That doesn't mean that there wasn't but that's really where we found it Does that answer the question? Yes, I just wanted to be clear where the system Where the plastics were causing the problem. Thank you So as I mentioned we we really wanted to understand the extent as well as what we would need to do to restore water quality And so based on the data and taking a very data driven approach We decided to develop a phased approach really targeting the areas where we knew we had the highest concentrations of contamination and through the investigation what we found was that the highest levels of Contamination were in the water service lines to burned properties that's where we found the highest levels of contamination and Based on that we had quickly gone through in January and February and Isolated those service lines so they were no longer connected to the rest of the water system and the water that was being provided to the 13 homes I'll talk about that a little bit more when we get to the data section so you can see what that actually Helped tell us Then we also wanted to look at whether or not we needed to do targeted replacement of some of the water system Infrastructure we were continuing to flush because again that helps get rid of contamination Sample and then continuing to monitor to see what the best path would be to restore the water service and One of the things we found when we tested all of the service lines throughout the burn area is that In addition to finding contamination in the water quality advisory area Was very different than in the rest of the burn area We tested all the service lines to the rest of the burn area and out of approximately 2,500 service lines we tested we found 150 had contamination those were 150 service lines to burned properties We didn't find it in the water source. We didn't find it in any of the other components But we found it in the service line. So once we determined that we either Initially quickly replace those or we isolated the valves and disconnected them and then have been replacing those and through that process we have found that that has been successful in Resolving the issue and restoring water quality outside the advisory area So we've we use that information to take a similar approach inside the advisory area So this map here shows you What we found initially is on the left. I think that's your left, too That is the initial results when we tested all the service lines and these are the service line data where we found high concentrations Of benzene contamination Since we've been replacing all the service lines We've resampled all the service lines and the graph on your right the map on your right Shows the results showing that once we've replaced the service line It's removed the contamination and all the results have come in underneath the regulatory limits Which is one part per billion for benzene and also talk about that a little bit more and we get to the data So that's really good news So Ms. Burke just to To make sure that we're real clear on that The first map before the water service lines were replaced there were occasional hits of Contamination above above the limit yes after the service line replaced zero correct none at all and When was this sampling done the second second round? So those have been occurring Throughout this month of August as we've been replacing them and I think these are through August 20th We're still sampling But that's to date all of the data that's come in and that sampling will continue That sampling will continue and we'll talk about that too and a little bit I think the map on the right is everything prior to mid-March Sorry the map on the left left. Yeah, sorry. I have left right problems. I apologize Yes, so So based on The data and the service line information We really started thinking about what the plan would be for lifting the advisory and working with the expert team and in particular division of drinking water to determine What the plan would be for lifting the advisory some of the goals that we had Or the requirements that we needed to meet were that the monitoring shows that the water quality meets all the standards for Drinking water over a certain period of time that we confirm that that water quality data is repeatable and consistent And that we would continue to monitor At a pretty frequent level to ensure that we weren't seeing any kind of issue reoccur So the process we've been evaluating all of the data and the data is looking very very good And we will walk through a number of graphs related to that We've been meeting Weekly now it's dropped to bi-weekly with our local State regulators, which is the division of drinking water as well as a representative from US EPA region 9 who's a toxicologist We're here today to inform the public as well as the council about what our findings are and our plan for going forward and if anyone has any questions or comments and then Once we sort of meet all the elements of the plan we would be lifting the advisory via a formal notification So now that we've Seen some of the past information I wanted to really walk you through some of the more recent data that has led us to develop a plan for lifting the advisory One of the things I just wanted to cover really quickly is what the requirements are in particular for benzene which The maximum contaminant level at a federal level is five parts per billion in California It's way more conservative and so the maximum contaminant level is one part per billion So anything that's underneath that meets all regulatory requirements one of the things that We get asked a lot is well, what does an MCL mean? And it's the maximum amount allowed under the Safe Drinking Water Act and it's derived Looking at a lifetime of exposure through ingestion inhalation and dermal absorption and When it's talked about a lifetime what it's looked at is over 70 years is considered a lifetime So 70 years of exposure So this graph here is data that is from the 13 Existing homes in the area We have been sampling those 13 homes weekly since January a little bit before and as I mentioned earlier Once we found that the contamination the highest levels was really and the water service lines We quickly isolated those service lines from the system and from the water that was being provided to those 13 homes You can see that prior to that occurring. We actually had Levels that were above the MCL of one part per billion once we did that all the water actually came within any kind of Came below the MCL the regulatory requirements and then over time as we continued to flush and address this issue We've seen those levels drop Significantly lower and since mid-May we have found no detects of benzene in the weekly sampling That's we're taking from the 13 homes. So this is all 13 homes all their data points All that sort of what looks like blue at the bottom. They're just all stacked together because there's just no detections of benzene So that's really good news. It shows us that that's one of the things that really by Concentrating on those service lines help us address and clear this issue This map here shows So in the water quality advisory area we have 65 hydrants throughout the area We have three sample stations Normally when you're looking for water quality and trying to understand the water quality that's coming into the system You take samples from sample stations. Well, we knew that three sampling points would not be enough So we decided to start taking samples from all 65 hydrants within the water quality advisory area We we since June we've been flushing as well as sampling on a weekly basis the map on the left is where we saw the highest results at the Fire hydrants, so in some cases we've seen results above five parts per billion at some of the fire hydrants And that was from earlier this year prior to June Since we've been flushing and sampling as well as doing our replacement of parts of the system The map on the right shows the most recent results where we're seeing all of the water quality and The testing for benzene is below the regulatory limit. Can you just clarify for us when you say testing and flushing? Do you test it then flush the system and retest it? How does that work? So we are So that's a great question and there's a couple different things that we're doing So we are flushing to just move water But when we're testing when we're testing fire hydrants We're actually flushing water through the hydrants and testing to see the source So we'd be flushing I think for approximately 10 minutes and then we're taking the sample We are also doing what's called first draw samples where we're taking a look to see are we seeing anything From the service lines or any of the other components So we look we use both of those methods to determine whether or not we're seeing any benzene results great So whether it was water that had been sitting there for a little while before you tested it or water that was moving You're still getting non to excuse me non-detects. Correct Well, we're getting below the regulatory limit so related to that All the 65 hydrants in the advisory area that we've been testing since June meet all the regulatory real limits 51 of the hydrants. We haven't seen any detectable amounts of benzene 11 of the hydrants whether it was a one time in like July or we've seen a couple But it's really been very sporadic and infrequent Have shown very minimal amounts below 0.5 part per billion usually on a one or two time basis three hydrants and those hydrants are at Fox tail court blue sage court and stony oak port stony oak court have shown minimal amounts on a pretty consistent basis of 0.5 part per billion So because of this and because we had the opportunity to Have a contractor that was already out replacing service lines We decided to go ahead and replace the mains on those three courts just because we're seeing something that is there So based on the data As I mentioned we've seen for a number of months now that all of the water quality results are below the regulation and we've been meeting with division of drinking water We developed a plan with We developed a plan and DDW has concurred with the plan and that is We need to show that the water quality is going to continue to be below the regulatory limits We are doing some targeted replacement the service lines. We've replaced all the blow-offs and the main segments on those three courts We have sampled all the service lines post replacement So that's done and as you saw that map earlier showed all the results below the regulatory limit We are doing 10 percent statistical re-sampling of all the service lines to confirm that that data is Holding and that is currently occurring And then we are going to be sampling the 65 hydrants on a weekly basis for four weeks To make sure that we're continuing to see the data hold if the data stays as we anticipate Then we would lift the advisory Potentially at the end of this month or the start of next month Ms. Burke on the on the three courts where the mains have been replaced has testing taken place Replacement I don't believe the testing has occurred quite yet. So it's been fairly recently It's very recent and I think they're current. I'm sorry Yeah, so I believe the the Construction will be completed by next week Some of those lines have been filled and they're being the initial testing and then we'll have some sampling that will occur Thank you So that is the plan And if all those we meet all those criteria and it holds we would lift the advisory Post lifting the advisory we will continue to flush test and monitor to ensure that there's not a reoccurrence We will be doing bi-weekly sampling for two months. So every two weeks will be sampling Following lifting of the advisory of all the hydrants We will do monthly sampling for months three through six Quarterly sampling for months six through 12 and then we will continue with quarterly sampling in the advisory area ongoing And we will continue to share this data both with the public and with our board and council and as well as our regulators And so this is just sort of another way of looking at the plan, which is we're working on those replacements Doing the construction. We're flushing and monitoring continues to occur and we're looking at the results and Assuming everything holds will be lifting the advisory like I said either later this month or the start of next month one of our biggest Commitments is to continue to communicate on this we know communication is is often a little difficult Just reaching all the audiences But we are going to continue to provide updates and information Not only with the council and BPU, but we have been doing Routine emails with the folks in the advisory area as well as our e-newsletter, which is a great way of folks haven't signed up It's a great communication tool that goes out every two weeks and gives updates on what's occurring We have a number of meetings that are coming up we will be Going to or we will be hosting a meeting on September 18th at 6 p.m At our utilities field office. It's a community meeting and information is posted on our website for any that wants to Listen to this information and hear any Have any questions sorry September 19th. Sorry. It's not that wrong. It's Wednesday, September 19th at 6 p.m at our utilities field office and then we'll also be having a meeting on September 20th at our Board of Public Utilities providing them an update on the plan as well as any information Two days ago. We had a meeting with all Those that were interested from the remaining homes so they came and we provided the information to them as well And we're happy to go to any other meetings if folks are interested having us come to talk about this and explain the plan We're happy to do that. We'll also be putting information out again through our newsletter our social media sites on our website as well as providing information to the press via press releases Do you want to mention where people can sign up for the newsletter? Yes So it's the same website where you can find the data and everything related to this project So folks would like to sign up for the e-newsletter. It's srcity.org WQ advisory Thank you so our next steps is we're going to continue to Communicate with Division of Drinking Water on this plan moving forward. We're going to continue to provide updates and communicate share the data We're going to continue to monitor and evaluate the system and make sure that we're on track and Like I said, if everything holds we'll be looking at lifting the advisory potentially at the end of this month or the start of October and As I mentioned our website srcity.org WQ advisory has all of the information on this project. It's where you can sign up for our e-newsletter The graphic on your right is a copy of what our e-newsletter looks like and the latest update went out Just I think that's last two weeks ago goes out about every two weeks You can also get information through this known accounting with covers org website and with that we're sorry I just wanted to briefly add one item to share with you that The water industry nationally has been closely following this issue and the activities of the city in response to it and they are now undertaking a considerable effort to develop a case study of What the city did how we did it how we communicated with the public how we followed a data-driven approach as a case model For others in the industry to utilize for similar events and obviously that speaks very highly for staff's work and director Burke's leadership shepherding this through over the last six eight months Particularly as she also did her day job. So I did want to share that with you And I'd like to take a moment to just emphasize that this is uncharted waters. I use that That that turn of art on purpose. This is new This is also leading to conversations Where we've requested just on the recent trip to DC that that FEMA In panel in panel a group to work on these issues We're not alone in this process moving forward As some of the council members experienced in a recent trip to San Diego is reiterated that this is getting into urban areas Even in San Diego County, the most recent fires are happening to the west of highway 15 where they traditionally happen to the east of highway 15 And I just want to take a moment to commend staff It's an incredible amount of labor That has gone into a space that hasn't had a lot of research or touchpoints for them they were exploring learning and Want to thank the community for the tremendous amount of patience they share they gave us in support They gave us during this process, but I can't speak highly enough of the team that was involved in this enterprise And where we sit today From where we came when we got the first Notices that there was this contamination back last November And mr. McGlynn it as you know, this has been a process and it's been an exploration at the beginning of this process And and I believe correctly the approach was very conservative and that was the the initial thought was we were gonna have to replace all the mains a 40 million dollar price tag through a lot of exploration a lot of investigation data Testing We haven't had to do that. We did replace all these service lines in a few mains. Can we Know the approximate cost that that this has reached at this point. I'm assuming it's somewhere short of 40 million dollars So rough estimates at this point is somewhere in the neighborhood of eight million dollars That's the Inclusive of the investigations if we were to compare the Construction we were looking at of 40 some million the construction cost was probably totaling maybe five million is that a fair For the service lines. Yeah, that's probably about Great Well done Council. Oh, I had one other question while I'm at it. I of those 13 surviving homes have we installed Filtration systems in any of those so we were looking at an exploring filtration systems for a number of months and It was quite difficult Because this is new and cutting edge So working with division of drinking water and trying to determine the regulations as well as settling on what it would be and Preparing the systems. We did not wind up installing any systems because at this point We would be probably installing them just about now and because the water since Since mid-May has had no Benzing in it. It didn't seem like the prudent approach to be able to install these just to have them be removed weeks later Okay So council are there questions before we take public comment. Yeah, mr. Yeah, thank you. I also want to echo my compliments because this has been an interesting process And I do appreciate the Enhanced outreach to the community because having attended some of those meetings where there were still some people unaware of all the efforts that we've now learned about today I do have another question about the filtration said the same question What impact has this process been or do we anticipate having on any of the rebuilding of some of the homes in the neighborhoods there? so We had Always put out that in order to ensure that folks could rebuild if they were at that point that they needed to connect And we were still under this issue. We'd install a filter at this point We have not heard of anyone that is ready to connect And so we're continuing to follow the building permit process closely But I think if everything holds true this will be lifted and it won't be an issue to add to that if I could we do understand that This water quality issue has been one of many that in the found grove area have Result in some folks stills maybe on the fence of the timing of rebuild and The accelerated process that we've been able to achieve to presumably resolve this issue Many believe will now Accelerate the rebuild process and give confidence in terms of the water quality And I know I'm not sure if water attends those but with some of the contractors meetings that occur on a I think a weekly basis That would had been a concern about water for the construction project. So Does this solution also eliminate the challenges that we're talking about going above ground and have a water available for construction? Does this also address that? We have actually already addressed that issue and so a few folks have connected in the advisory area for construction water Until the advisory is lifted if folks are interested in connecting for construction or irrigation water There are some signs that they'll need to put up and an agreement that they need to sign just to recognize that right now It's an advisory and it's only for irrigation and construction water and then we'll set their meter There's a number of other things they need to do in relation to connecting to the water system Such as looking at appropriate backflow if it's needed, etc But we do have a path forward and all that information Rebuild has all that information the signs the agreement etc. And they know the process for helping folks connect great Let's give my thanks. I I get the water quality advisories And I've also seen them in my neighborhood checking the waters and it is very comforting knowing the importance that we put in the length Of everything that we have done to make sure with the quality of the water returning into this community has been great So really I applaud your efforts today this comes I want to thank staff also We in some areas of the city we are struggling to develop that well of trust I think the water department the water agency has really acted commendably and I very much want to thank you for Doing this work It keeps the well of trust there for our community all of us have Take it from the tap water right here in front of us And I just want to confirm all of the water in our city is safe to drink meats or exceeds regulatory standards Yes, that is correct. I'm sure in the advisory area. We're good. Okay. Thank you. I have a couple of questions You mentioned that other agencies hadn't seen this issue or didn't have this issue Do you know had they been testing for benzene post fire or was that unique to us? That's a good question this was a new issue for the industry and We believe new means that folks just had never been aware of this as an issue So thank you for testing for the benzene and Finding the problem and we were alerted to it from the community and that was useful too from a taste and odor complaint that came in And now the regulators in California and beyond are also taking this as a lesson in a similar event They are looking to do the sort of analysis that would find this contamination So because because you were proactive in listening to what our residents were experiencing and needed We're now helping protect other communities as they have similar experiences I have a Question about one of the slides I think slide five If you can go to slide five Thank you slide five shows some areas outside of the green zone of the advisory area And then when we go to slide nine, we're only discussing the green zone What's going on? With the areas that we had a few samples test outside of the green zone Yeah, so of the 2,500 water service lines that we tested outside of the advisory area. We found a hundred and fifty that had Contamination these were a hundred and fifty service lines to burn properties We didn't find any issues with any of the service lines to any remaining homes throughout the area and We either replace those service lines quickly or as we were continuing to do the sampling and the investigation We isolated those off from the rest of the system and then We have been replacing those through a construction contract and as those have been replaced and let sit Resampled it has resolved the issue. So even in the areas where there were a handful or Even in the areas where there were Some indications outside of the advisory area those have been resolved and they continue to be tested Along with those in the advisory area So they they've either been resolved or are currently being resolved the construction should end at the end of this month And so and then as they're replaced and resampled We're confirming that the contamination has been resolved So the process for the areas the few homes outside of the advisory areas the same as the process for the homes within the advisory area Yes, it's a very similar process the water Contamination issue has acted very differently outside of the advisory area versus inside the advisory area We never saw any contamination when we sampled hydrants or sample stations or anything like that So it's been very different, but we also you know wanted to confirm we weren't seeing issues outside So we've been replacing those service lines Information was sent to all those homeowners when we found there was an issue We sent a letter we let them know that we'd be replacing their service line We also provided that information to rebuild in case we were unable to reach them by a mail or other means So this is all really good news, and I'm very grateful for the good news that you're bringing us today I do have a question though Do we have any policies about replacing the materials being used The affected materials being used as the rebuild goes forward or are we allowing a replacement with PVC onsite? Where we had problems with PVC onsite at it meters. Are we replacing with the same materials or are we? Doing anything to incentivize Replacing with upgraded materials so that we don't have this problem in a future fire I don't have a lot of information in terms of what the onsite requirements are What we are requiring from a water contamination issue is that if either are In the advisory area or if those areas in the burn area where we found contamination They are required to replace Their onsite plumbing because we think that it's contaminated and that's the source One of the things that we are doing with the construction contract to replace the service lines to help the homeowners with this is That not only are we replacing from the main to the meter But we're also replacing what we call from the meter to back of sidewalk for the homeowners So we're kind of dealing with that issue where sometimes that can be more expensive to bring it from the meter underneath the sidewalk I really appreciate that and thank you for providing that extension of a replacement because it can be very expensive My concern though has to do with the materials used in future fires And what not we're replacing like with what we already have experience this problem with or if we're replacing with an upgraded kind of material right, I understand the question and The predominant of Plastic in the water distribution system that as it burns does generate These toxic constituents that got into our water supply the bulk of that comes from Residences where there's it's not just in the piping but every single fixture as plastic gaskets washers valves and as a resident Burned down as we saw The plastic generated these contaminants I think we're really dealing with a very broad Issue a societal issue of the pervasive use of plastics, and I don't know that the city or That we have a good answer for that Because everyone will be rebuilding with these devices that do have plastics laden through them So I think it's a challenge for the industry To look at ways and you'll be hearing some of this in the next next presentation to prevent that Contamination of coming into the system so that doesn't contaminate your water supply and that will be one area We'll be looking at in the future. Thank you very much, and again. I really want to appreciate the steps that that are that you each have taken in order to Protect the whole city's water supply and to ensure safe drinking water for all our residents, so thank you very much Just to follow up on that last question are there backflow requirements That that help prevent what we've seen in this incident Yes, and that's happening as part of the rebuild where now of course Sprinklers are required and as part of that there are backflow requirements that come along with that So that will as redevelopment happens and homes are rebuilt That will be part of the solution to help prevent this in the future, and that's a building code requirement. Yes. Thank you Mr. Oliver's did you have a question? Yes, I do. Thank you mayor Thank you very much for the presentation that good news, and it was presented in a way that was for me very easy to understand We are talking about one of many many aspects related to our recovery efforts, and I want to focus on a communication piece And I would encourage staff to Be more proactive because this is a topic of a conversation not just within the advisory area Fountain Grove and Coffee Park community is talking about the water issues, and I think anything we can do to Inform them about this would be would be good So I wouldn't look at ways of perhaps I think there's a tough material here for us to develop some type of at least a one-page Public service analysis within the newspaper at least right to cover a lot of these aspects and also to help them Find the resource on where to get more information Not everybody's able to navigate all the layers that we have within our websites to identify this information So anything we can do to make it easy for them to do that by giving them Graphs charts whatever they need to be informed and and also to reach out to some of our local radio stations, too To instead of waiting to be asked let's let's in the immediate future Look to see how we can get out there and put out this valuable information and inform the public about what is happening So we can deal with rumors miscommunication misinformation that is out in the public Thank you great suggestions. Thank you Thank you, there are no more questions from the council will hear from the public Harold Duncan Can use one of the microphones at the top of either staircase Hello, my name is Harold Duncan, and I lost our we lost our home and on three five six nine four holocaust and fountain row and Thank you for the presentation today. It looks like you've done some great work Resolving these issues But my question actually pertains to water testing prefire and How often was testing done in the at least advisory area? Prefire and was benzene tested Prefire or any other what other carcinogens may have showed up prefire Mr. Duncan, we don't get into back and forth at this point in the meeting But after public comment is finished will ask staff to answer that question. Okay. Thank you So anyone else that wants to address the council on this issue? Thank you Can you address the question about prefire testing, please? Yes, so We are required by a regulation to test for volatile organic compounds BOC's at which benzene is a part of on a quarterly basis from our water system So we had I think results back for about 20 years looking for benzene and we did not have any Anything that was above the reporting limit, so all non-detects that we can find in our historical information and that reflects the Really great water supply that this community is so fortunate to have and we will be Re-invigorating our take it from the tap program in communications Because we certainly do not do not want this issue to be a long-term Kind of damage to the move away from bottled water and recognizing that with the quality of water we have Taking it from the tap is appropriate and is the most sustainable approach So we will have a very broad campaign going out as we resolve this issue to remind folks and reinforce that issue for them Great. Thank you Mr. Rogers Thank You mr. Mayor on that note too, and I think that that's one of the questions that I've heard from the community is Just in general trying to be sure that the cause that we've identified was the actual cause And if I remember correctly and remind me if I'm wrong when we did a previous Joint meeting with the Board of Public Utilities There was additions to this presentation that showed your ability to replicate the results in a lab That also help us to confirm that the fire is what has caused the benzene issue Is that information still available public on the website for folks to check out? Yes, so that's a great question and we had a lot of information and work with our forensic chemist team And one thing I will say with the forensic chemist team They basically say don't tell us what you think sorry don't tell us what you think we're gonna follow the data and tell you What we think caused this and they came to the same conclusion we did So that information the previous Presentation that was to the count the Joint Council and Board of Public Utilities meeting is on our water quality website There's a link to that there Plus the technical memorandum with Significant amounts of data and appendices is also on our website and folks can dig into that report if they would like to Look at that as well Thank you Seeing no other questions We will move on to item 3.2 and before we do mr. McGlynn. I just want to note that This is an issue that We've been moving toward for a long time We were trying to figure out a date when we could do this as a joint meeting between the City Council and the Board of Public Utilities Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a quorum at the Board of Public Utilities today But I do want to note that there are a couple of members of the of the BPU in the audience Dan Galvin and Dick Dowd And I'm sure that they'll be communicating whatever needs to be communicated to your colleagues Our newest member is here also Dave I'm sorry Dave what's your last name? Bannister, thank you very much. Thanks for being here and Feel free to chime in During the public comment time if if you want to Mr. McGlynn Item 3.2 evaluation of fountain grove water system function and operation during the Tubbs fire Ben Horenstein presenting Mayor Corsi member of the council Shortly after the Initiation of fire recovery activities The city recognized a need for an objective robust analysis of the water system in the fountain grove area The staff initially attempted to mine data from our damaged telemetry system the system that feeds us Data from our remote devices levels flows pressures from our system that was damaged very early in the fire We realized this was going to be a very difficult process and that the city could benefit From a team of experts to independently evaluate how the system performed and how staff responded to the event To ensure that we capture all areas that need improvement and items that could be built upon to provide Greater resiliency in future events The intent of the presentation today is to provide a review of this evaluation of the response the system and the staff response to this event and to Hear about the lessons learns and recommendations for the department in the city going forward. I Also wanted to briefly touch on two items that will not be Directly addressed in the presentations. The first is the time it's taken to prepare this report and I want to just share that for my view six months or so to investigate a system as Complex as a water system and how it responded and worked during this very unique incredible event that we went through is very quick to pull this together in the manner it was done in the robust effort and I also wanted to Reflect on an issue that arose that suggested staffs response during the event was not with a level of urgency and this came from a Quote of an ex-city official who had not been with the city for over 30 years and had no involvement in the response and But it was published in the reality and the facts that I'm sure you're aware of are completely opposite of that suggestion and that The staff that came in many after their homes burned their families evacuated their efforts were heroic and They were so far from a lack of urgency Completely the other side of the spectrum and I just wanted to share that with you that Once we realize that we were having These leaks in the system that was robbing the pressure staff went out Through the flames through the smoke and did everything possible as soon as humanly possible and even beyond that To bring the system back up. So with that I wanted to turn it over to deputy director Shivoni to lead us into the presentation. Thank you Good morning mayor Corsi members of the council We'll start with that The brief recap of the tubs fire Name for its origin near the tubs lane on the outskirts of Calistoga the fire started around 945 p.m. Sunday, October 8th 2017 and traveled at an accelerated rate towards Santa Rosa Fueled by ideal fire conditions it rapidly grew and intensified Reaching the Fountain Grove area of Santa Rosa by 1 a.m. On October 9th Due to the rapid growth of the fire evacuation of residents was the initial focus to protect life safety Although Santa Rosa water has prepared and had trained staff for an emergency operation for decades The magnitude of this fire was unprecedented and larger than could have been expected The water team was required to adapt their years of training that has mainly been focused on a large-scale earthquake event To a large-scale fire disaster After this event we determined an evaluation of our system was needed The city wanted a team of experts to objectively evaluate the performance of the water system and to analyze the data We were able to collect from our damaged telemetry communication system This analysis was the best way to obtain lessons learned and provide recommendations for continued improvement and system resilience We recognized our obligation to answer the question Did the water system do what it was designed to do and what are the opportunities to improve? Excuse me, although the city is responsible for both. Excuse me water distribution Excuse me and sewer collections and was working to maintain the operations for both systems during this event The nature of this disaster clearly demonstrated The need for further analysis of the impacted portion of our reservoir fed water distribution system The Fountain Grove area is in the wild land urban interface and consists of difficult hilly terrain and is susceptible to fire Due to the hilly terrain this portion of the system relies on pumps power and reservoirs to deliver water throughout our System and unlike the portion of our system that is simply fed and pressurized by the water agency aqueduct We recognized the loss of pressure within 24 hours of our initial response And the damage telemetry that helps us manage our and operate our water distribution system left us with some unanswered questions The damage in this area was devastating And we wanted to make sure we discovered every possible lesson learned So we could apply this knowledge to other areas of the city with similar terrain and water delivery systems To ensure we were able to have a complete robust and third party evaluation Santa Rosa water contracted with a global engineering consulting and construction company To evaluate our water systems functionality and resilience And provided a review of the city's response to the incident And now I would like to introduce a representative of black and beach karen burgey Karen will provide the highlights of this evaluation Hi, uh mayor and councilman I'm from black and beach. Uh, as joe just mentioned we're a global engineering consulting construction firm specializing in infrastructure related to water energy telecommunications I'm uh personally have been involved in hydraulic modeling of systems for over 20 years I'm primarily involved in long-term planning And I also get involved in numerous existing system evaluations including recent work with in colorado Investigating opportunities to improve system operations and mitigate risk related to the wildland urban interface We wanted to start, uh, I know that a lot of you probably don't know how your system exactly gets water to your house So I wanted to start with this schematic, which really shows The system that serves the fountain grove area The city's goal is to provide water customers pressure between 20 and are 40 and 120 pounds per square inch In order to provide these pressures to homes and businesses for every 175 feet of elevation gain Another pressure zone is needed. So on this schematic, uh, you can see the bars and those are really showing the Seven major pressure zones in the fountain grove area the The bars are the ground elevations that are served and you can see that some of those are more than 175 feet of elevation But what ends up happening is you have kind of reduced pressure zones that are served by pressure reducing valves off of that main system In Santa Rosa the aqueduct pressure system zone, which is the relatively flat area of the city and is Served by the dark black line shown on that schematic It's served directly from the Sonoma water aqueduct, which provides both the pressure and flow As you an increase in elevation into fountain grove the city provides a network of pumps and water reservoirs To provide water in sufficient quantity and at appropriate pressures for daily activities as well as fire flow So for example on this one you can see that there's the pump station s1 off of the Sonoma water aqueduct and that raises the Elevation the pressure it pumps to the reservoirs r1 and provides pressure to the service area called r1 And then at that at those tanks There's pump station 2 which pumps into pressure zone r2 and then pump station 5 pumps into pressure zone 5 So just to give you an overview of how the system actually works in that area Excellent This slide shows the data that we began with the existing hydraulic model Which was updated in the 2014 master plan gives us a starting point for the facilities in the demand The hydraulic model includes all pipes in the system as well as valves tanks and pump stations And the demand on the system and allows us to really understand what's going on without having to test every location in the system The model was updated with recent pipe changes so that it would reflect the conditions in october of 2017 The second item that we had available was SCADA data. If you're not familiar with that terminology, it's really the remote telemetry that allows the Facilities to tell the department operation center what's going on in the system and provide the ability for the water department to control what's going on Normally each facility collects data that collects level data at tanks and at pump stations it collects on off suction and discharge pressure and flow During the fire in many cases SCADA was not reporting to the department operation center And in reviewing the data there were some cases in which SCADA was recording but not reporting Or others where the SCADA data was not recording or it was reporting error values So the graph shown here is actually an example of what's happening in zone r 17 and The blue line, which is I know it's a little difficult to see. Let me see if I can use a mouse Or not there There it is So the the blue line is the tank level and you can see that early in the morning on the ninth It stopped reporting and didn't begin again until the 12th Nevertheless, we still know somewhat what's going on in the system because the yellow kind of dark yellow here Is showing the pump flow and you can see that that pump r 17 Was on basically all day on the ninth and then Sometime on the 10th it stopped reporting However, we still have the discharge pressure which tells us what's going on in the system And you can see that the pressure's got very low early on the 10th But then they were recovering and by Midnight or so in the 11th the system had returned to the pre fire pressures So as part of the study we did look at pre during and post fire data so we could really understand what was going on through the whole system Yes, is there a way you can clarify for us where r 17 is? Yes, um rough street area. It's actually going to be on a A slide coming up Yeah, I realized that you guys probably don't have all this memorized in your head It it took a little bit for me to get up to speed on it So yeah, I'm just kind of trying to provide some background here About the codes guides and what we did during the system review The city's fire code is based on california and international codes And the fire codes directed to specific structures Um, so uh, whether it's a resident or a business there's specific fire codes based on those construction But to support this fire code the water distribution system maintains a goal of 1500 gallons per minute At 20 pounds per square inch of pressure for at least two hours Wildland and urban interface areas are generally not addressed in the fire codes The system's adequacy was evaluated as part of the 2014 master plan There were some improvements that were recommended and those were actually implemented prior to october 17 october of 2017 In this evaluation, we actually looked at the flow conditions in october of 2017 So we updated from what was probably 2013 conditions to reflect current conditions And that evaluation did determine that the city system meets the city goals With the pressure and storage capacity to deliver the fire flow The system has a lot of resiliency Features in their pump stations and pipelines. The first is they provide emergency generator power at all booster pump stations There's pressure regulating valves between pressure zones. This allows water to bleed from the upper zones to supply the lower zones Storage provides extra capacity beyond what's required by the city fire goals And that's because storage is provided not just for normal and firefighting flow But also for other emergency operations such as an extended power outage or a pipe break The water quality considerations limit the amount of storage that could be available Extended time and storage will have a negative impact on water quality And finally the city has operating procedures to support emergency operations and that includes the ability to provide portable generators or pumping So the water system is sufficiently robust to allow for multiple operational combinations to provide flow into specific areas while maintaining overall water quality So this is some examples of what we looked at and here you can see Let's see if I can find the mouse again The station 17 is up here So the The one on the figure on the left is what we did to Show how the system responds as far as storage is concerned So this is tank r17 although all the tanks had adequate storage in them for the 1500 gpm for two hours So you can see here that the blue line is the normal operations the week before the fire For that tank and then the red is putting a two hour fire on at nine o'clock in the morning So what's showing here with the red it really is that the pump had already the pump's already on it's starting to refill the tank and that The fire the 1500 gpm is more than the the pump is providing But the storage really only drops to about 40 and then recovers within a couple hours And that's exactly what we would hope to see in a tank like this The figure on the right is really the other thing that we do in the height This is actually a figure of the hydraulic model Is we put 1500 gpm on each node in the system and then look at what the residual pressure is and the goal is to have at least 20 psi So anything shown in red here is less than 20 psi and there are some red places shown Almost always those will be at the base of tanks There's not usually homes right at the base of tanks and it's and that's normal within systems There are a few areas here That are dead ends or particularly high zones in the system that also have some red showing And the important thing to remember here is that again the criteria is actually applied to the individual structure So at the time of designing construction The builder is required to test and see if the system has adequate fire for fire protection And if it does not they're required to either change out materials or provide supplemental pumping to meet the fire requirements So now we're starting to actually move towards the fire and this is just what's going on in your system the week before This is called a diurnal curve This is from santa rosa's data, but it's very typical of any Primarily residential system. This looks very normal What we see here is the demand throughout the day and not unexpectedly Kind of first thing in the morning is the highest demand people get up shower Maybe do a load of laundry before they go to work and then you see a dip during the middle of the day And it rises again in the evening as People come home and do their normal things and from midnight to 3 a.m It's really the lowest portion and and when we normally would refill tanks The next slide shows the Operating levels in the tanks the week before and you can see that for most of them are operating at about an average of 75 This is actually normal in the system We're seeing a lot of communities lower than normal operating levels because conservation has decreased the water use And there's been a greater emphasis on water quality and so by keeping those tanks less than full you're better able to manage what's going on in that While still having adequate storage You can see that the tanks have varying levels over time This allows the tanks to support normal operations so that the pumps do not have to be on all the time And in addition to the storage the city's installed large volume pumps at its pump stations to provide additional capacity and resiliency For emergency operations and to help offset the reduced storage volumes R3 tank r3 was out of service at the time of the fire and so that's why it's not showing up there And in addition tank r5 is kept At about 30 of capacity because of seismic concerns R3 was actually in the midst of a seismic retrofit during the fire So during the fire as joe already indicated the fire was moving very quickly Price spread about 12 miles in the first three hours and was driven by single-digit humidity strong winds plentiful fuel So you can see in this at about 1 a.m Is when it enters fountain growth. So if you can switch to the next slide This is a little more zoomed in with the same data on how the fire moved through the system With the zones shown You can see the various pump stations and tanks on this graph So even before the fire entered the city widespread electrical power outages from down power lines Had created the need for several of the water facilities to require backup power generation station s2 Which is here Had a known generator issue and so the city distribution supervisor delivered a portable generator to the station Shortly after receiving an alert at 1 a.m. That power was out at the location At around 2 a.m. However the fire approached the pump station and staff had to flee with the backup generator booster station 3 Which is just a little Which is further north Became inoperable around 3 a.m. Because the water pressure in the pressure zone r2 became too low to provide section pressure The electrical power outages and infrastructure burned by the fire caused the skata system to freeze For several facilities and report incorrect or no data for others The operation staff uses the skata system as we discussed earlier to understand what is going on in system operations and control With incorrect or missing skata data and an unable to gain access to the fire zone until approximately mid-morning on the 9th Due to the active fire mandatory evacuations Operation staff members had to make decisions based on their experience professional judgment and requests from the field So really quick just to be clear so for station s2 That were staff delivered the portable generator Staff did not actually get to get the generator up and running because they they were able to run it for about an hour They were able to yes and the so station s2 pumps to Reservoir 2a and 2b which are You may or may not be able to see up here There's 2a and 2b and so normally what happens is that station comes on as needed to maintain that tank full And so even if there's a power outage, there's still time to get out there before the I mean That's why you have the tank there to help control that so they were able to get out there for about an hour before They had to flee the scene So then the demand The impact of the demand on the system So based on reports from the water department the fire department and usage data We know that the demand on the system skyrocketed during the early hours of the fire and continued for several hours causing the system to drain quickly You can see on the upper figure there that demand was About Actually the water usage the demand would have been higher if there had been more water Was about twice what you would normally see in the system The demand came from firefighting efforts Including by residents who were trying to protect their homes before they were evacuated And in addition when the water department was able to get into the burn area the next day They found water flowing freely from damaged lines Hoses left turned on and taps where homes and businesses had burned down So what happens is when the building burns entirely it says if It's not that every faucet in the home is open, but it says if it is so there's just water flowing out And you know in a typical residence that's a five eighths inch or three quarter inch tap But in some of these businesses they had fire lines of four to six inches in diameter And so that's a lot of water that's just going into the system Or going out onto the ground actually and pulling out of the system In most cases the pumps did continue to pump but couldn't maintain normal system pressures And although the water department staff began turning off water sources in the afternoon of the ninth When they were able to safely enter areas accompanied by firefighters Supply and pressures could not return to normal until freely flowing services could be identified and closed by water department staff so the The graphic on the lower there is the r1 zone, which is really just kind of to the Just to the east of The just as you start start up the hill on fountain grove And you can see there that again The the yellow is showing the pumping that was going on and so that pump is running basically all day on the ninth But you can also see that that green line is the Discharge pressure from the pumps and so the pumps were pumping But they were not able and pumping water into the system, but they weren't able to maintain Ideally we'd be kind of above that dotted black line. That's the bottom of the reservoir So you want to be at least that high and they weren't able to maintain that until or get back up to there until It looks like maybe five or six in the evening on the ninth So within 24 hours in zone one. They were able to get back up And have pressure in the system in that part of the system again. Excuse me on this graph there's a The legend has a blue line and the graph itself has a yellow line And i'm wondering if those are are the same Actually, the blue and red line are running The blue lines directly underneath the red line the yellow line is actually missing from the agenda the legend So that those two tanks are co-located at the same location. So they're always at exactly the same level Okay, and what does the yellow line represent the yellow line represents the flow that is entering the system through the pumps as recorded by the pump flow meters Thank you So again on this one you can see that on the 11th the skater was no longer recording, but we do have the green Discharge pressure which tells us what pressure the system was seeing So in our our conclusions the evaluation showed that the distribution system serving the fountain grove area was designed to maintain to city and industry standards And can provide sufficient and reliable fire protection under typical conditions The openly flowing service lines were the main cause of the tank's inability to fill during the first few hours of the fire And were the primary reason why system pressures and tank levels dropped dramatically The data shows there's nothing the city could have done to prevent the tanks from draining Due to the excessive strain that the openly openly flowing services created on the system And I guess my other personal conclusion is that the the city really did work hard to get us the data We needed and answer the questions and I know that you would have liked to have these results earlier but it does take time and is a little bit of a A learning process the I think we all learned during this and the results that we would have had in May are not what we would would have been the recommendations that we would have come back with at this point So finally, we do have some recommendations for the water distribution system On the distribution system side We recommend that they investigate ways to increase pumping reliability in the higher pressure zones Examine additional interconnections and pressure regulating valves between the zones Study technical solutions to prevent the openly flowing appurtences. So that would be Something that would shut down and keep that from happening You know, it's most likely to be technically feasible on some of the larger fire lines as opposed to individual homes Study the feasibility of providing offline storage. This would be a non potable solution that would only be there for the fires. So We're not We see this occasionally, but it's often a very expensive and difficult solution to implement in a city Um Study the feasibility of using larger diameter pipes or looping dead ends to provide better fire protection Evaluate improvements to increase the skater system reliability Perform a similar evaluation for the coffee park area And update the master plan to include lessons learned and then follow those recommendations Better additional recommendations related to the fire flow availability And that would be to evaluate the system with fire flow goals based on land use designations zoning And structure type currently the city uses the same goals for all areas Using a more refined fire flow based on land use may allow the city to better provide appropriate levels of protection for higher fire flow areas Without oversizing the system in areas with lower requirements Any recommendations would need to be evaluated for its impact to normal operations and water quality and rate payers to determine if the benefits outweigh the impacts And finally the emergency response considerations and I will say that I've been involved on Working with other utilities on responses to potential wildfire urban situations And these discussions do not result in a water system that can meet all the needs of the fire department But rather they help inform both parties as to how to better prepare and respond during a fire Um, so we would recommend that you formalize and document communication structure between the water department and fire department Not only during fires, but during red flag conditions Investigate and develop procedures that identify the available flows and pressures in various areas. So the fire department knows what to expect Have emergency operating plans for critical facilities that maintain the water Have communication protocols Mobilize and have mobilization plans during fire events to turn off openly flowing occurrences And with that i'm going to turn it back over to joe So as we move forward Information collected to prepare this report is extremely valuable for future emergency operations planning And this report is the first step in creating a roadmap that will help guide us to improve resiliency and better emergency response The detailed analysis provides us an objective overview For other agencies and for the community that we reserve we serve excuse me We have reviewed the evaluation and recognized the areas that would need to be improved And overall this report is a valuable tool for the department and the city as well as the community We've already made progress toward formalizing and documenting communication between the water and fire departments That form you see above is a simple method that santa rosa Fire and santa rosa water have developed to document communication regarding operational changes This form is not only this form not only documents the changes that can impact either department It's a communication tool that shares information to predetermine personnel Whenever a form is completed and saved When information is added or updated critical staff receive those updates electronically So it's a simple version in a form drop down menus. It allows us to quickly communicate Regardless of what the operational changes and this form can be completed either by fire personnel or Santa Rosa water staff and the data that's collected and it is saved We are also exploring the use of computer aided dispatch or CAD to increase emergency notification That includes water department staff when fires respond when fire responds to a large fire or natural disaster This will allow the dispatch center to contact a predetermined group With a simple request from the fire personnel that are on scene of a large-scale fire And this rapid notification will allow water staff to respond quickly and assist fire with their water needs Santa Rosa water is analyzing our standards to evaluate areas that will provide greater fire resilience Or excuse me fire resistance such as roofing materials and non-combustible items that will be incorporated into the construction and rebuilding of new water facilities We will also explore options for stopping the flow of water through burned or damaged service lines after a structure has been destroyed This could include technology that would be incorporated into our building standards We are also in the process of obtaining a grant that will update our backup power generators with diesel powered units This change provides a more reliable unit that is much easier to refuel during an extended similar event to the october fires And many of our water pump stations have dual fuel natural gas And propane generators that we experience difficulty getting propane delivered during this event And we hope to eliminate that problem with diesel fired units Our skater or telemetry tools are such an essential component of our operations That we would like to improve these systems by applying advancements in technology We are currently identifying a project that will add items such as solar power that will charge our backup batteries for our pump controllers wireless communication from individual stations to our department operation center And hardening and protecting the landlines that are an essential component of this computer communication tool We plan to complete additional modeling of our system to develop additional forms of resiliency As well as options to address a much greater demand on the water system during a large fire We are currently creating a request for proposal to contract with a consulting firm that will provide an in-depth analysis of our system And we plan to update our water master plan to include the lessons learned from this event Now if you have any questions we'd be glad to answer Thank you, mr. Shavoni, and I just want to note that This presentation is a summary of a lot of data a lot of research that's gone into this thing I I believe this report is now available on the home page of the water department, which is srcity dot org slash water If anybody wants to get into the to the hairy details of this thing, it's uh, it's in the report Also, I just feel like there's a uh an obvious question that hasn't been addressed and I and So i'll ask it and i'm glad our fire chief is sitting here chief costner We all know that this was a catastrophic event there were 14 1400 homes 1700 homes fountain grove Maybe it was 14. Anyway, a lot of homes in fountain grove that were lost I in your opinion Was the the lack of water supply Responsible for the loss of any homes or any lives On october 8th and 9th last year Now the lack of water supply really didn't affect us till the early mornings. We were focused on evacuations There we did have some isolated cases where we had to fight fire to defend lives and we had plenty of water to do that um And when the fire actually blew through fountain grove and where we stopped it in coffee park The difficulty we had with the water system came hours after that where we were doing tactical patrol We drive by one house it'd be fine You couldn't see more than a hundred yards because of the smoke you come back the house is on fire Because you were going to another fire and as far we developed Or understood that the water pressure was was much lower than we needed So we started sending water tenders up there once we got water tenders up there They're able to come down to the flats and And provide water for crews that were trying to put these fires out. So that that did work We generally don't use water tenders in the city, but this is one of those times where we did We use many water tenders in the fountain grove area We also lost a little bit of pressure in the coffee park area It didn't go down to zero, but it was low and it was because we had so much water flowing from The houses that were gone and the actual firefight trying to anchor and hold We were flowing thousands of gallons of water on top of the thousands that were that were running out of the the houses that were burned down So in my opinion, there really is I don't know how you build a system That's going to withstand what we listed and for longer than it did I mean you can make it go a little bit longer, but will it give us anything That's a hard question to answer any time we have More water available to fight fire the better But I will tell you that we weren't fighting fire when this came through we were evacuating fighting fire was a very small percentage of You know protecting Kaiser protecting Some senior facilities that had people in them. That's where the firefighting was going on And the rest was just water leaking out of burnt businesses and houses essentially there were three thousand Properties where the water was turned all the way on yep, because there wasn't anything stopping it from coming out. That's correct Thank you chief Other questions start Mr. Tibbets. Thank you, mr. Mayor So it seems pretty apparent to me that in a nutshell this is the result of of water freely running After the fire came through and destroyed the structure And so the question that I'd have is as the new building codes going to require reconstruction with fire sprinkler technology Which I am assuming is going to put more of a Demand on water In the event that the fire overcomes even those fire sprinklers because based on what I know of this fire The fire will overcome fire sprinklers in a house again Um, is that coming with a technology of some sort of sensor? How are we going to have create these valves that shut off to make sure that this that the system continues to remain pressurized in the future? I'll let somebody else speak to the valve because I don't have the Technical knowledge on that but I would tell you the sprinklers in houses It's still run off that same five eighths or three quarter inch line So if it all goes away it's still running out of that same line What the sprinklers are to do in the house is to save lives and keep the fire in in the building So when we get it there we can extinguish it it will not get into the neighborhood and into the wildland So having sprinklers inside the buildings will not affect the fire flow from this It will prevent fires from coming out of houses, but it will not stop what we experienced On as far as the shutoff valve We're actually we know that the technology exists There's of course the concern that it would somehow shut off when you still needed water in the house So it's a you know, we don't want to create a problem by solving one And this technology is generally used on larger Six or eight inch lines. So we are still and and that's actually part of the next portion of the study Whoever goes after that is to see what technology is available and what the What the pros and cons of that is and what the cost is to implement something like that? Okay, thanks Let's try them Thank you, miss mayor You might have already answered this chief, but um, I want to hear Karen say about the closer to the water towers There's a little pressure We happen we know we lost some homes and a fire station close to the a water tower Did I hear you correctly saying that that did not have lack of water pressure did not have an effect On the homes that were lost by the firehouse that we also lost there uh, well I'm not sure I quite understand your question So let me refer to what I heard from Karen saying that there was some on slide 13 There were some red triangles low water pressure. Correct. And you made the comment that a lot of houses aren't by Water towers will close our fire station is right next to it and there's homes surrounding it Correct would was the low pressure because of the relationship to the water tower and Have any impact whatsoever on our ability or inability to save those homes or the fire station Uh Again, we weren't firefighter firefighting in that area because we were doing evacuations. I can tell you that Santa Rosa the station five was built to the wildland urban interface and it was stood longer than all the other homes Um, but again, it did burn down. So I don't and we had a fire pump right on We had a very large fire pump to to power the sprinklers just like all the homes around there had to have their own fire pump due to pressure So It's a hard one to answer. It would have helped initially, but would have done anything appreciable Um, I don't think so not in this case. Okay. Thank you. And then on the There's about a page and a half of recommendations And this may be for the city manager would be helpful for me to see a prioritization of those recommendations So some would be you know for saying this is what you should start doing immediately And I would also and I think members of the public would be interested in seeing what are the the bigger priority ones And who's doing what by when because we get this reporting even some of the comments that joe had mentioned That's great information But it's hard to keep track of all this stuff and if we have specific dates about who's doing what by when So we and members of the public can see our progress in these recommendations So we alluded to this issue, but I want to be more specific that as a direct next step In fact, it's already in the works developing an rfp To take the recommendations and do just that in a rigorous way Look at each one assess the feasibility The cost benefit and come up with a prioritization and schedule for the implementation of the recommendations that Through that effort. We're recommending to move forward and bring that to the bpu and share it with the council So that is our specific next step in regards to this That's very helpful. Is there a timeline for when do when would you anticipate going before the bpu? We expect the rfp to go out in the next couple weeks. So I would say By the end of october or in november we would expect to be in contract negotiations great. It's very helpful. Thank you Chief I know that um You've talked about this many times before but I think it would be useful right now to Explain once again the decision that was made that night about fighting the fire versus About saving lives versus saving structures Could you just elaborate on that? Yeah, I was decided early on and really It was the fire started in calistoga right tubs lane And that was the direction from the incident commander from tubs lane was we're not fighting fire We're simply evacuating and we'll we just need to get people out of the way That was the fire was moving at such a fast rate. There was no way you could keep up with it And when it finally reached santa rosa, we were in the same boat with the exception of it was five miles wide So because it had 12 miles to travel it was much wider the winds we Before the fire it even came into town were nothing like what the winds that came into town I mean, I remember being on fountain ground going well, it's it's breezy, but it's not Terrible until a fire hit and then the winds were just phenomenal So the early on it was get everyone out of the way We will fight fire where we need to fire fire to save lives other natus evacuate everyone we can And we will anchor and hold where we can finally get this fire to stop And that was a product of the wind changing and that happened depending on Different scientists anywhere from three to six in the morning You can see the wind shift up and that's where we were able to anchor and hold right there in coffee park Every time we would try to anchor and hold in coffee park It would blow right past us and there'd be multiple houses on fire behind those units So the firefight really could not Make a difference till the wind pattern changed and once that did we were able to to really hold it there but To go back to your main point when a fire comes into a city like this That the only thing we can do really is get people out of the way and deal with the fire as an afterthought Because it's moving so fast We had so many people to move that there was just no other choice with the limited amount of resources that we had And a time frame that we were looking at Okay, thank you, miss combs Thank you and thank you for that clarification First I want to repeat something that I heard said earlier Which is that the water department staff were heroic And and I really want to thank the water department staff. I think Prior to this incident. I had not thought of the water department as a first responder But clearly the water department has a role with the fire department as part of our first response system and I really want to thank the brave souls who went out and kept a Pumping station going for an extra hour That moves me and I hope that we can express to the water department staff sufficient gratitude for their heroic work That's for me is a key lesson learned that that the water department has a substantial role in an event like this May see a obvious in hindsight, but Was not obvious leading up to to To this event Can we look at slide 20 and 21? Excuse me my system just This is where the recommendations are And I wonder if you can answer just a really basic question for me Why does keeping a tank? Full of water as opposed to just less than full Help maintain water quality Because one of the recommend one of the things we noted was that there's a tendency to keep a tank less than full to maintain water quality The entire industry is um nationally including the city balances water supply for fighter Fighting fires and water supply for water quality And fountain grove areas particularly challenging Because you don't have the density and the demand On one hand and on the other you have a tremendous firefighting need And if we were to for example size our tanks strictly from a firefighting standpoint We would not have the turnover of that water sufficient by any stretch to maintain Safe water quality on a day-to-day basis. So it is a balancing and challenging effort The recommendation is suggesting looking at offline storage And that's a creative way to say Perhaps let's just consider Tanks that are not part of the water distribution system. So you don't have that balancing challenge And we will be looking at that the One issue that will arise i'm sure in that evaluation is The scope the complexity and the cost because essentially You're going to a parallel entire storage and distribution system But that will be the action that we'll be looking at on that Thank you. So you have to basically the water has to turn over in order to keep good quality Yes, and specifically Tank that's full it doesn't turn over enough right you need to maintain a chlorine residual that does have a shelf life And as that gets exhausted you start to get Bacteriological growth and the potential for pathogens, right? So just wanted to be clear about that At the bottom of this slide There are recommendations to update the master plan um Is this the general plan or it's not clear to me which master plan we're referring to here So this is specifically our water distribution master plan that looks at All of these issues in different ways and the idea is to update it in context of the lessons learned from this event And bring that into the long-term planning efforts and projects for the city going forward Okay, then on slide 21 We're looking at land use designation zoning and structure types and i'm wondering we do have a general plan update coming up Where we would be looking at land use designation zoning and structure types possibly for this area Do you have specific recommendations or is this a more general recommendation? This is really a more general recommendation as part of the master plan update Currently the city has this 1500 gpm throughout the whole system but A lot of communities are starting to go to more of a Looking at residential and commercial and different land use types separately and what typical Fire flow demands can be for those and so it allows you to really direct your Improvements and recommendations to the kind of Like there really aren't a lot of large Commercial facilities at the very top of the fountain growth system. So there's no reason to provide fire flow that would be able to meet those We want to be able to provide that in areas where there actually are commercial facilities. So it's just a it's a more pointed and better management of The cost and risk associated with fire You you may know That I have a strong feeling With regard to increasing density in the high fire hazard area I I have some serious concerns about Increasing the number of people who are sleeping in this area Do the recommendations that are coming forward Include recognizing the projections of increasing density in this area No, that that's an issue that was not included in the review or recommendations at this point Okay, so neither the water nor the fire recommendations that we're looking at Recognize the possibility of having more people sleeping in this region The update to the master plan Certainly part of the master planning process does look at current and future projected demands So that that would be incorporated into things like the modeling of needed storage and flows But I was reflecting earlier that that issue was not part of a specific consideration in terms of Pro and con in context of the fire or water supply at this point of increasing the density in that area You leaned forward. I thought you might have wanted to answer So when we go into the next phase of this conversation when we go through the recommendations on the master planning to Mr. Hornstein's point we will be looking at things like this and in addition to our general planning process And I would really like us to be involving Both the water and the fire department Because Resources were stretched to evacuate people We just heard that the decision was made with limited resources that we were evacuating rather than fighting So I understand that that's I'm really grateful that that decision was made We needed to get people out the fire moved very rapidly Having there being more people stretches those resources even more and again That's some of the considerations actually even in conversations that we're having about You know sometimes these conversations unfortunately get fragmented on the location of the fire station as it relates to its current location Or whether the council gave us the opportunity to look at different locations To address exactly these types of conversations that we're having right now Okay, the the last item involves weighing the cost and water quality impacts of modifications to the system When we're talking costs there are we only talking dollar costs or are we looking at Maybe the more overarching also costs to the community as a whole Both We would be looking certainly at the hard dollar costs, but also Other costs and impacts for example Greater storage has the impact on water quality and there's other considerations. Similarly okay And and I would like to add my my two cents to the technical solutions to prevent opening openly flowing As being highly needed. Thank you Mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mr. Mayor First I want to thank miss burgey and your firm for doing this Really important work for us and really providing us with sort of a road map on how we can do things a little bit better I do think that there is a Question that the public can ask on whether or not they would have seen this report had the results not been so favorable And I do hope that we'll look at that in our sunshine ordinance That we are working on about how we approach this sort of level of analysis where we're weighing the interest of the city in terms of Potential lawsuits versus the vital information that's being provided as well I know that many of us up here in terms of how we manage the city are very happy to see the the finding that Things were run appropriately that the system was up to code, but i'm not sure that that's entirely going to Make many of our constituents feel better given that this sort of fire has happened before and is likely to happen again So in particular slide 20 that you were on where you have a bunch of recommendations I hope that we will follow those and actually for me I'd like to see us begin with the evaluation for the coffee park area Especially given the information that you provided about loss of pressure in that area as well and making sure that we're addressing that I did want to highlight two things that I heard One of them was it was from you chief You mentioned that we typically do not use water tenders in the city My question to you is should we and with a little bit of context When we are weighing the cost of updating the system to be able to address What is a call it a 50-year event? I understand that some of the public won't see it as a good investment to Rise our system to the level of that event, but to keep something similar Would adding tenders where we could use them in special circumstances Enhanced the system in a way that is cost-effective and allows us to address this sort of issue No, so we have one water tender in the city of santa rosa that we use we we rely on mutual aid For the rest of that that comes after the the main wave So while there's no water system that can withstand this you can also We got to attack in a different way. I know we're looking at at the water system And that's great, but there's going to be another fire you mentioned it And I'm going to say it again There will be another fire and we need to attack that through regional models with vegetation management construction practices and and every and community outreach and and everything else Aside from the water we have a phenomenal water system In the city of santa rosa from my perspective, you know, we had a structure fire a commercial two two years ago We probably flowed over 60 000 gallons of water without a hiccup And we simply contact our our dispatch to contact water to boost the pressures in areas And the system is set up to where it'll do that automatically when it senses that So we have a really good system This is just when you're talking about a water system in the hills That gets overrun by fire like it did with all the open Abundance water flowing out. It's different those tanks drain. The only the only thing you can do is put bigger tanks They're still going to drain. It's going to take a little bit longer. They're still going to drain So water tenders are not the solution. They are a tool that we employ And we did employ those And we also have water tanks on our fire engines That just means we got to go down the hill to get more water But when we're actively fighting fire, we want water tenders to bring us the water So we have a system to address that. I don't believe buying more water tenders for the city of San Rosa is the right solution Perfect. Thank you I also heard a little bit about some of the work that we are doing and in particular what caught my attention was You mentioned and sort of glossed over adding solar Can you talk a little bit more about that and in particular How that will help given we lost equipment in the fire and why wouldn't we just lose the solar panels as well? It is a possibility that solar panels could be lost if we would try to have A hardened system as or at least a hardened the system the solar system as much as possible Where it would help us is when There's power interruptions our pump controllers have backup battery systems and it does help us to maintain Both at least the data that's coming through and an operation through those controllers So having those solar backups Would help us from having to go in and replace those batteries on a regular basis if there is another issue with power it's just another method of trying to Maintain that SCADA system or telemetry system as much as possible. It's an extremely crucial tool for us Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you. And then I will also add my my voice to the pertinences It was preventing the openly flowing Seems to have been really the the root of the issue Is that the sort of thing that we look at from a systemic level or is that something where we'll have to work with individual homeowners? I think initially, I mean all this of course will be part of the next study that we'll be looking at these in detail I I believe this issue Maybe a combination So as you heard maybe large commercial installations that will be over time Integrated into the building code some sort of mechanism to shut that down in certain conditions perhaps remotely At homes fortuitously a separate initiative this underway as you're aware of is migrating to Automated meter reading and controls that we're doing for other purposes in the city as Many in the industry are moving towards And that does provide an opportunity We're going to be exploring in detail to have remote capability To identifying what properties are free flowing by looking at the flow real time And potentially having the ability remotely to secure that water. So it is potentially A fortuitous synergy that may be in place for us in a very important Ancillary benefit that we didn't anticipate at the time we were moving into that program But we are going to be looking at that in detail And I and I think this is an additional space where the reason that the city has requested that fema consider And callo. Yes consider bringing together these conversations is that there is clearly As I was having the opportunity to be driven through the aftermath of the redding fire You you can imagine it was a very similar circumstance of what you were witnessing in terms of Even days after that of water free flowing in those locations I'm not going to judge on what impact it had on the system But this is an issue especially for water systems in urban areas Needing to be able to tackle this issue moving forward Great. Thank you, and I do appreciate Especially after our trip down to san diego To seeing how they do things the importance of having interconnected departments Being able to make some of those decisions and I'm happy to see that we're already taking steps But let me emphasize it's not just interconnected to departments. I'm going to go back to the chiefs. It's an interconnected region Because departments can only go so far This is a fire that started outside of our city limits And we need regional solutions and regional monitoring and regional Information flows and a regional approach to managing this problem Otherwise, we're going to be susceptible as we were last october without that regional approach Thank you Any other questions, mr. Sawyer Thank you, mayor, and this speaks to the the comment that was just made by our city manager Is the county and other jurisdictions looking at what santa rosa is doing as far as responding To this devastation and planning for the future. Yes, there are lots of conversations ongoing around this topic and around regionalism You know It's not we can't delve too far off topic for today But that is part of the general conversation out there is how do we become a better region As we manage this and I think you've seen some evidence of that the joint application on cameras that the council supported Which gives which it will help us with situational awareness. There's now a For staff level conversations a situational briefing call every monday About what's what's coming up on the weather that the county is leading with all of the all the other jurisdictions participating So there's new there's new efforts underway To look at this regionally and I think we'll be coming forward with some conversations that some of the council members got to see First hand on what regionalism can the benefits it can it can bring you As you talk about prevention and situational awareness moving forward So so I There will be some more additional conversations about the reconnaissance that has taken place in san diego But we also made that reconnaissance with Two of the board of supervisors were in accompanying the the council members that went Thank you for that and I also want to thank you and your team for being willing to ask the tough questions Look for the solutions and and move forward with with those with the recommendations. Thank you Just to follow up on that besides the participation of sonoma county with us on the san diego trip last week Mr. McGlynn mentioned the trip to washington dc this week where we were accompanied by This county of sonoma and the county of napa so the the regional conversation and collaboration is is ongoing and Will continue to be ongoing Any other questions council? Mr. McGlynn, I would like to say one word There was some information in the press that I feel like I need to address Which which sort of asserted that there was a role to play for And I it's underlying the heroic quality of the work the water department was giving We were not going to put people back in harm's way Even in an early situation. There were down power lines. There was other incidents in the area that team performed and they performed really well We are going to protect life first And that's going to be the philosophy In these types of situations and I just want to make sure it was clear That that we will go back and address those issues around the infrastructure when it was safe for people to to go into those areas Thank you I don't have any cards from for public comment on this. Are there members of the of the public who'd like to address the council at this point? All right Oh Yes, please Please use the microphone up here So we can get it all recorded. Thank you Yes, my name is sue sonicson and what i'm trying to find out or determine is what's going to be done in the future to notify people in the fire zone Or affected areas Um to notify them that the fire is coming Because as far as I know all of my friends And everybody I know in our area in fountain grove Got themselves out by communicating with each other Which was difficult under the circumstances And I want to know what we're going to do in the future To notify people when they're in harm's way Thank you. Thanks for that question. And I I certainly understand and have heard the concerns about notification over the past nearly a year Um that's outside the The purposes of this meeting and this agenda today and the brown act prevents us from from discussing it with you in this meeting I can't tell you that there are going to be two Tests of an alert system next week there's a An ad in the newspaper this morning about it, but they'll be on monday and wednesday and if you don't If you haven't subscribed to soco alerts Please go to soco alerts calm and then you'll be part or you you potentially will be part of the Test next week and we'll be having further conversations about this, but we can't do it at this meeting Any other questions or comments from the public? All right, thank you very much really appreciate the the work on this Uh add my compliments to all of the staff that has been working on this that both the The night and week of the fires and since then well done We're adjourned