 It's fine look at this Yes, I agree with that afternoon I'd like to call the meeting of the Board of Public Utilities for the city of Santa Rosa to order if we may have a roll call, please Secretary Ledesma chair Gavin here vice chair Ernoni Board Member Baden for it here board member Bartholome here board member Walsh here Board Member Watts Board Member right here Let the record reflect all board members are present with Board Member Watts absent Thank you again. Good afternoon Couple of things, please make sure you mute your microphones when you're not speaking Make sure we have all our cell phones and personal computers put away Also, we're going to adjust the agenda a little bit. We're going to move item 5.4 to the front of the staff briefing section. So with that We'll go ahead and go to item number two so any statements of abstention by board members Hearing none. We'll move to item three, which is a study session of which we have none Item four is the minutes approval We'll now take public comment on item four if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand. If you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary Ledesma We have no public comments From email or voicemail and no one is approaching the podium at the chambers Very good. Then the minutes for May 18th 2023 will be admitted and We'll now move to item 5.4 director Burke Thank You chair Galvin and members of the board. I am very pleased to introduce item 5.4 Which is the California Water Environment Association Supervisor of the Year award, which is going to our very own Robert Wilson and Here to present him with the award. We have Sean McNeill our deputy director of Environmental services and we also have Brittany Whirland who is the vice president of CWE a welcome Welcome to both of you Good afternoon chair Galvin members of the board are just getting the this thing set up. We'll be ready to start it Looks like it's already I'd like to say this is my first time doing this, but that's not true Apologize rusty so Just want to reiterate director Burke's comment that I to am also very excited to be here for this item today and I'd like to start off by Having Brittany Whirland speak a little bit about the CWE a in which this We got this award Yes, so thank you for having me I am the vice president for the Redwood Empire section of CWA and CWA is a statewide Organization that has over 10,000 members And we all support wastewater professionals throughout the entire state Within the state CWA there are 17 different Local sections and this is the Redwood Empire section And there are over 620 members just in the Redwood Empire section alone that we do these awards for CWA offers education training certifications and various other support to Wastewater individuals throughout the state Some of the certifications you can receive through CWA is the environmental compliance inspector maintenance Certifications analysts and certifications. So all these are different certifications You can receive all different grade levels based on experience going from journeymen to supervisors and New grads as well CWA offers a variety of awards So as you can see these are different subsections of awards these awards can be both through an individual or a program so you can have a Plant that wins an award But then you can also have individuals earning awards to a pre-treatment Program and a pre-treatment individual or a lab individual in the program So there are lots of different programs that you can earn awards for throughout the state they offer it through the Sections first so you win a section award and then as you win that you go up to the state level and then you win at a State level, which is how you can win two different awards So I'd like to just talk a little bit about this year supervisor of the year award winner Robert Wilson spent over 15 years in the wastewater industry went to college to be In the wastewater industry and currently does teach at the Santa Rosa, Jr. College Helping others who want to join this industry. He's currently the lab supervisor for the Laguna Environmental Lab And One of the things that really stood out in his application and to be honest being you know working with him Is that he's a thoughtful and caring caring leader He's got highly skilled listening techniques that I think really help him when he's mediating disagreements between staff or auditors and staff and Able to really focus on the issue and remove the personalities from the equation so that we can come up with a solution that solves the problems He supports his staff to continue professional development so that they Continue to grow in their careers and keep abreast of the current and changing requirements that our industry is Frought with maybe I could say but but but there's a lot of things that change and especially right now in the lab Environmental labs across the state. There's a huge change with the new standards coming in and Really important is that he leads by example, so he does continuous education for himself. He supports his staff He's a very empathetic leader And He's also a team player He supports our wastewater operations participating in their weekly meetings to make sure that all the Services that the lab offers are available to them and that they know as they're making decisions on this Decision or that decision How his team could support their efforts? He supports our water quality team and stormwater and creeks as well He's also not just focused on the city He's also been a part for a long time He's been a co-chair of the Bay Area Pollution Prevention group And this is just another example of how he's taken his knowledge base and his excellence and really Expanded that throughout our entire community and right now He's one of our lead members on our PFOS task force Looking at different ways that we in the city might be able to respond to any upcoming regulations But better understand the role of PFOS in our our wastewater streams and so with that, you know Robert did win the The CWA award for supervisor of the year for our local chapter Which I feel very proud to to be a partner with him and that and that I nominated him But then he got the supervisor of the year award statewide from his own interview He was interviewed Amongst the different 17 different candidates across the state who won in their individual chapters and on the strength of that interview He received that award so that concludes our presentation and Happy to entertain any questions or Facilitate a photo. Thank you Any board member questions or comments? Obviously much congratulations to you mr. Wilson job well done and To be recognized not just by your local peers, but by the state Association is quite a quite a tribute. So congratulations You would like to invite Robert and his family to come down if they would We'd like to have you take a picture with the board of public utilities Also some pictures of you receiving your award And then we'd like to invite lab staff to come down and be in the picture as well and then if we could have If we could have lab staff come down and with the board as well Lab staff with the board And Robert Robert We didn't know if you want an opportunity to say anything to the board or your colleagues. It's up to you Nope, no pressure Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak just want to push the button push the button It's on I just need to get closer I'll thank them when they all get back in I'll start off with the leadership here It's just been an honor to boot work for Sean and Jennifer Work with the city of Santa Rosa sorry just Trying to get them in here, too. I Grew up in Santa Rosa. I was went to Montgomery high So it's awesome to work for the city that I grew up in and I really couldn't have done it without the team Who's now on here they all really helped me in the last three years It's actually today is my anniversary three-year anniversary of working for the city so I'm really excited to you know be up here and get this award and Address you all so thank you very much for this time great. Well done Thank you and your team again for all your hard work At this time will open it up for public comment on item 5.4 if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you dial in and via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary Ledesma We did not have anyone at the podium wishing to make a public comment There's no hands raised in zoom and there were no voicemails or emails Great, that'll take care of item 5.4. We'll now move to item 5.1 director Burke Thank You chair Galvin and members of the board item 5.1 is our water supply update and making the presentation Will be Peter Martin our deputy director of water resources and Colin close our senior water resources planner I good afternoon chair Galvin members of the board very pleased before you with a water supply update today As we continue to see very plentiful water supplies this summer What goes the next slide here just a couple updates on Lake Pillsbury and the Potter Valley project operations Just a reminder to the board Due to some seismic concerns PG&E did Not open dark excuse me close the slide gates this year allowing them to store additional water Per their typical regime this time of year Thus, they did not have the opportunity to store about an additional 20,000 acre feet of water Which would have increased the storage over the spring And so the ultimate outcome of that is that they didn't they have to Manage their water supplies a little bit differently this year On May they did file with FERC a request for a variance from those flows Those have not been put in place yet as of now they are operating under normal conditions, which means Into the east fork of the Russian River flows are about a hundred and thirty cubic feet per second that combined flow is 75 cubic feet per second, which is for fish flows About 50 cubic feet per second, which is for their contractual obligations to the Potter Valley irrigation district And about five or so that's a buffer And so if they are granted the variance for their flows that could be reduced 75 cubic feet per second down to About 25 cubic feet per second, so they would only be providing very minimal Releases for their fish flow requirements and also of course to meet their contractual obligations The remainder of the irrigation season for Potter Valley irrigation district Obviously these the variance is related specifically to their concerns around temperature As the lake gets drawn down there becomes more temperature concerns for releases and cold water to support the fisheries Downstream in the eel river in terms of Lake Mendocino storage As of today storage is at about 99 thousand seventy-five acre feet or about 89 percent of their water supply capacity for this time of year this is Very good as of last week actually storage was continuing to gain was about flat so There's obviously still quite a bit of runoff and the upper watershed As you are aware some water continues to make releases According to schedule And their storage has been higher than the past few years, so No shortages concerns this year even with the conditions and the likely possibility of reduced flows coming in from the Potter Valley project later in the year And as of today storage in Lake Sonoma is about is that two hundred fifty seven thousand eight hundred acre feet With about ninety five cubic feet per second releases It's Relatively flat storage has been reduced at about a hundred a clip about a hundred fifty acre feet per day The noticeable thing you'll see there is that due to the allowance for the Additional storage of water above the flow control pool this year The Army Corps of Engineers is still in flow control operations as they typically are above that gray dotted line Sonoma water did tell us last week that they don't anticipate the handover to Sonoma water for decisions until August so based upon the slow drawdown of water supplies The Army Corps is still continues to operate under flow control conditions and then Some other news is that as I had told the board and my last water supply update Sonoma water was planning on filing a temporary change order Temporacy change petition specifically to comply with the flow regimes outlined in 2008 Russian River biological opinion Just to note the fish flows are inconsistent with their water rights So when they are in normal conditions, they do file this During this time frame so they can reduce the flows to come be able to meet the objectives of the biological opinion That petition was granted in a order was issued by the state water board on May 19th The term of that Conditions under that order are from May through October of this year. So that means that the upper Russian River And stream flows will be reduced from 185 cubic feet per second to 125 cubic feet per second And the objectives for the lower Russian River reduced from 125 cubic feet per second to 70 cubic feet per second and also just notably similar did inflate the dam At further usual operations this year and are managing it for the purposes of the Aqueduct operations as well And then I just wanted to give a preview of the several work products That the Sonoma rinse a water partnership is working on Santa Rosa water staff for very engaged in this effort usually It's the first year in the last few years where we haven't been singularly focused on drought But the team is working on a campaign this summer that's focused on staying water smart there will be several Work products including right now. They're running a campaign Making sure the folks irrigation systems are in tip-top shape the sprinkler spruce up Also working on an irrigation scheduling tool very similar to the water smart yard page that Santa Rosa water operates As well as the water smart garden maintenance manual and a promotion of the water smart plant picker as well And several events we're going to be out in a bow quite a bit in the next few months Don't miss the water smart expo coming up on June 28th at the Wednesday night market We'll have several booths there and participation From water staff very excited about this. We get to host this annually It's very exciting and then we'll be at some of the music events at the summer on the square as well as live at Juilliard as well with the Hydration station and also providing some other water related Activities as well and outreach So with that I'm going to hand it over to mr. Collin close And he will take it from here Thank you very much deputy director Martin good afternoon chair Galvin and members of the board you May recall or you might not last year. There was a new regulation that the state said That water suppliers have to report to them whether they anticipate they're going to have a water shortage in the upcoming year And this was one of those regulations that followed after the drought So there were a series of different kinds of regulations So this is a new reporting requirement And what the state requires is that by July 1st of each year We look at our water supplies and our expected demands We assume what would happen if we had a really dry year in the upcoming year And we let them know if we think we'd have enough water for normal supply If the upcoming year were dry So this is our second year going through this process and of course we work closely with Sonoma water They have to do quite a bit of modeling to help us understand what they can provide. So this takes a few months It's not a very difficult process ultimately, but it does take a few months to put all this data together So we assess our unconstrained demands. That's normal demands when there's no water shortage What we would anticipate typical water used to be Look at what our water supplies would be if they were dry compare them and then submit tables to the state So again that first step is looking at our unconstrained demand again demand if there were no restrictions in place And the state provides a little bit of methodology But they really do rely on us to sort of clarify how we're going to go about this So what we decided to do was to assume there would be some Moderate population growth. In fact, we've seen population declines in 2021 2022 and 2023 But to be conservative we projected a slight increase in population so we can look at Assuming there would be more water demand than less and we looked at what the per capita use was in 2020 just before this last route and We looked at all of our water uses Firefighting all the water that we sold water that we might have lost from main breaks. We add all that up We divided it by the population in 2020 and that was our gallons per person per day We use that number rather than our recent drought numbers We want to be again conservative. We want to assume we would have more demand than we would have in a drought So we did that to figure out what we would estimate our demand would be if there were no drought in sight And there were no constraints To look at our water supplies again We rely on Sonoma water because they provide about 93 percent of our water supply. So they did a modeling exercise They looked at existing conditions today And then they modeled is if we had the same hydrology the same rainfall patterns that we'd had in our driest year on record And they assessed if they'd have sufficient supplies and they said they would and they were talking to not just Santa Rosa but all of the water contractors and Then we looked at our well production and we looked at a recycled water use and from what we've seen They have performed very well in the last three droughts as well. So even if we had a very dry year coming up We anticipate we'd have our average amount of well water and our average amount of recycled water for the urban setting I'm just a reminder the recycled water and the urban setting is less than 1% of what's produced So we ask for very little recycled water So that's how we assessed our water supplies was assuming a dry year how much water would we have available and then we compared So our portal pullable demand that we projected if population grew a little bit And if people were using as much water as they did before the drought we came up with 19251 acre feet Our water supplies provide that that's potable. That's our drinking water And then we assumed 140 acre feet of demand for recycled we actually see about a hundred and ten But again, we want to be a little conservative assume more than less And we see that we would have enough recycled water to meet that demand So I'm sure you're not surprised to see we're projecting we will not have a water shortage in the coming year To report to the state I won't spend much time on these slides But just to give you in the public a sense of what these worksheets look like I'll go through them very quickly These will be posted to the state's website and then they're available to the public or if anybody wanted to reach out to us We're happy to provide it to them as well. This will be submitted before July 1st to the state We're gonna do one last quality assurance check on these data sheets. Just make sure but we're basically ready to submit So the first one is just contact information and A few details about the fact that we're using acre feet as our measure of water that sort of thing The second table looks at what we project as demand and the state now requires that we break it down by the kind of classification of water use so single family multifamily, etc One that might not be clear on First glance is that one that says other potable Those are all the water uses that are not through regular customer sales So that might be construction meters, which are temporary meters Or it might be firefighting or it might be flushing our mains So that's where those other potable uses are the losses are how much water We expect that we'll lose from things like main brakes and small background leaks in our system and I'll just say that Because our operators are so careful in operating our system and do proactive leak detection and because our asset management team is So proactive as well our losses are some of the lowest in the state in terms of the percentage of our water supply and also in terms of the gallons per day per connection So while there are some losses, we're performing very very high compared to in terms of very well in terms of other agencies So that's our demands and then of course the supply we show what we have heard from Sonoma water They can provide we know our wells can provide water and we've got recycled water And then we just compare those against each other and of course we see the Shortage level is zero for both potable and for recycled water. So again, no surprises If we were anticipating a shortage, we would need to fill out this worksheet and say all of the actions that we would be taking to address That shortage we don't have a shortage There are no actions that we're going to need to take over and above our normal process of water waste enforcement Water conservation programs are actively detection program for our own system. All those are ongoing, but there's no additional shortage measures So lastly, we'll submit this by July 1st. I believe that's a Sunday, so they're probably maybe on the Thursday before that So that's it for the presentation on that annual water shortage assessment report And I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any Thank you to both of you for the presentation. I'll open it up now for any board member questions or comments board member, right? Some slightly related questions one I'll just say them both Are our wells online? Are we resting this year first thing and what is our gallons per day per connection right? Now approximately Terrific questions. The wells did go back online April 1st. So those are functioning very well. They went artesian early We got plenty of rain. So they are functioning at the rates. We would anticipate for them It's about 2.2 million gallons per day on our well production right now And then in terms of the gallons per capita per day before the drought it was about 90 I'm sorry. I don't have it right off the top of my head But I think it was 97 and I think during the drought we went down to about 85 I haven't checked for this year yet because typically we like to do it on an annual basis to include the summer irrigation But probably somewhere in the neighborhood if not too far off from last year because water sales have not increased With this very mild weather Thank you Any other board member questions or comments? All right, we'll now open it up for public comment on item 5.1 You wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary the Desma we have no one wishing to make public comment in chambers No hands are raised in zoom and no voicemails or emails are received Very good. That'll take care of item 5.1. We'll now move to item 5.2, which is the annual water quality report director Burke Thank You chair Galvin and members of the board as mentioned item 5.2 is our water quality report and Tony Yamas our water quality Supervisor will be making the presentation Good afternoon. Mr. Lamas Unlike deputy director McNeil. This is my first time. So bear with me. Hopefully everything's up correctly Good afternoon director Burke. I mean, excuse me. Good afternoon chairman Galvin members of the board My name is Tony. I'm us on the water quality supervisor Today I'm presenting the 2022 water quality customer Consumer confidence report which in turn was made available to the public on our website and other outlets this past week Additionally targeted outreach to our customers and the community. We're also rolled out early this week We have also provided you with a copy of a paper copy as a reference for this Presentation and first of all, I'd like to say that although I am presenting the report today This was a group effort consisting of the water quality team and the outreach team With a special. Thank you to Nicole Dorotinsky, Katie Oseguera and Alex Burns They work together and gathering the information to put this together make sure it was distributed it properly and on time We are required to monitor our system monthly and at the end of the year We are required by the division of drinking water to provide a detailed report to our customers We test the system weekly under the total coliform rule and under as well as the disinfection byproducts rule on a quarterly basis We also test for lead and copper which is every three years, and it was just completed in 2022 Because of our production wells on farmers lane, we must also comply with the groundwater rule Along with that our cross-connection control program ensures the safety of our water supply as well The water quality report provides information required by law But we also use it as an outreach tool to educate our customers about where our water come from our water system Water saving tips and the numerous tests we conduct to ensure our water quality meets and exceeds all regulatory requirements Current legislation allows us to use other outlets to advertise and share the water quality report We must no longer supply a hard copy to every customer as in years past This year we'll use announcements on Facebook email and e-newsletters, and then we'll provide hard copies to customers that still request them As will run in the press Democrat at the end of the month on June 25th the 27th 28th and 30th We supply copies to various public places throughout the city and our sampling van also carries copies on hand For any customers that may request one Prior to 2021 our 10-year average of water quality supply was a roughly 94% From Sonoma water and 6% from our farmers lane production wells, but since then This has been around 93% to 7% respectively This is a picture of our water system here in Santa Rosa Because of the extreme and hydraulic gradients due to topography in Santa Rosa It is broken up into many different pressures on so we make sure to have at least one sample Station in every reduced zone or every zone excuse me Currently we have 144 sample stations throughout the city to ensure we are getting an accurate representation of the drinking water throughout the system This is a picture of so some Sonoma waters infrastructure. It is complex as well with over 90 miles of pipe in the upper left hand corner, you'll see the Rainy collectors the six rainy collectors located at Mirabelle and roller and at the lower left hand corner You'll see the Katari intertide and they do have standby wells there as well to supplement the system if need be Here are just a couple pictures of our sample stations These are used to test the water according to the total coliform rule as well as our quarterly and annual sampling You'll see the one on the right is just the standard our standard sample station The one on the left is the pedestal style We continue to upgrade The standard ones to the pedestal style wherever feasible to eliminate the sample from any possible contamination This is our farmer's lane treatment plant The facility normally operates from April to November and is currently operating at about 1600 gallons per minute This picture shows our green sound from green sand filtration system that we've used to filter for iron and magazines We also disinfect it and then blend it into the system When in operation we test for iron and manganese weekly and also perform monthly and annual tests as well Because we receive almost all of our water from Sonoma water They test for over 100 constituents annually and then they provide us with this data This is an example of one of the sheets that they provide It contains the constituent the maximum contaminant level and the detectable limit for reporting And they provide this data for their six caissons as well as their reservoirs and production wells This is the 2022 water quality sampling results page Um, we are required to include anything over the reporting limit in the report At the top right you'll see that the columns are separated between Sonoma water and water provided through our production wells This is the top half of that report which contains primary drinking water standards Which are those that do have health concerns This this bottom half is These are secondary standards, which are aesthetics such as clarity taste and odor Um, again the state recommends that we include the results from our production wells on this report We're required to include information regarding lead and drinking water in the report But this year we have added some additional language regarding lead and copper This topic is continued to be one of the top focus areas with many water suppliers regarding lead service lines Um, since the new revisions were released just this past year On a positive note, uh, santa rosa water does not have any known service lines serving any properties And lead sampling results have continued to show lead levels in water and water far below um action levels Furthermore, I'd like to state that santa rosa water has remained compliant with both state and federal regulations And will continue to set the standard to provide the highest quality of drinking water to our customers And this concludes my presentation And hopefully I can answer any questions Thank you, mr. Lamas. Uh board member questions or comments Just go ahead I want to thank you, mr. Lamas for the wonderful report. It's very extensive and walking you through the The walking me through it helps a lot to tell me what to pay pay attention to Probably most people go right to that table We set the limits and And then compares the, you know, snub of water to santa rosa. It looks like we're doing pretty good I want to thank you for putting it together in the very good presentation and uh Trust my water more because of you and your you and your crew and uh Somebody asked me in a restaurant what I want to drink say santa rosa water 2023 tap Thank you Thank you board member walsh any other board member questions or comments Very well, we'll open it up to public comments on item number 5.2 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand. I see mr. DeWitt. Do we have anybody online or We do not have any raised hands in zoom, but we do have a public comment in the chamber If you don't mind refraining from starting a public comment till the timer's up, please Well, hello, my name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from roseland From the area that was annexed by the city of santa rosa six years ago Along sabastopol road water was contaminated the underground aquifer Co mingled plume of contaminants petroleum distillates trichlorothylene other type situations The underground sanitary sewer system leaked It was the responsibility of the county of sonoma at the time to repair that and One of the ways that it was handled Working with the city of santa rosa at the time They declared the area along macmillan avenue at spaspol road to the south a Red zone area contaminated water had gone down there And they required all of the people in that red zone to take santa rosa water And to go off of their wells The situation since is that we notice there's still the monitoring wells in place And we wonder who actually is doing the monitoring now And does the city of santa rosa Work with the county of sonoma and the north coast regional water quality control board to make sure That the Water in that area is of the highest standards together So that People who don't necessarily uh have to go on to santa rosa city water And want to use wells still Could do that There's some uncertainty out there on the part of many homeowners who still have their wells Some of them did not go for testing And have just continued to use their wells When the city of santa rosa acquired property at 1370 burbank avenue Which had not been tested for pollutions as far as we know And 10 27 macmillan avenue, which had not been tested The first thing the city staff did was tear out The Water apparatus that was there on site at both of those places Those people had wells The um infrastructure for that is now gone and The city has some plans out there to perhaps do some Connection to city water in the future I've been on a number of boards and committees and different advisory groups over the years and we haven't really heard what this is all going to entail in terms of Water service and the board of public utilities Having community involvement from those folks who were in the red zone Which essentially was redlining at the time And now everyone is just basically still waiting to find out. Are we out from under that cloud? Thank you Thank you, mr. DeWitt Dr. Burke, did you want to respond to a couple of his questions? Sure, I can respond to a few of the questions Thank you, mr. DeWitt for your questions I can't speak specifically to the properties you mentioned on burbank avenue or on McMinn, but happy to research further You are correct that there was a in essence a superfund site for groundwater contamination in that area And sites were connected to city water Those that are on city water have the water quality that we provide that information was just provided in this report and in the Report the copy of which if you would like you're welcome to have it's also available on our website for those that have decided to maintain private wells Those are private wells and those are their responsibility and so they can get them tested from private laboratories And get those results We do not have jurisdiction over private wells as the utility system In terms of monitoring I'd have to get back to you on that, but typically that is the responsibility of Whoever was responsible for the contamination and working with the regional board So that information is typically available from the regional board and their database for groundwater And so we can help you navigate towards that if you would like and I'm happy to have Staff follow-up with you directly on those questions Thank you any other public comments? We did not receive any voicemails or emails either All right, that'll take care of item 5.2. We'll now move on to item 5.3 director Burke Thank you chair galvin and members of the board item 5.3 is our update on our phosphorus compliance And Sean McNeil our deputy director of environmental services will be making the presentation Good afternoon chair galvin members of the board. I'm excited Oh, I thought you did sorry boy. I can't train me on this There we go Good afternoon chair galvin members of the board Here to just kind of give you an update with where we are on our phosphorus compliance. It was a Busy year. I think most wastewater treatment plants would say will we discharge all the time. What's the big deal? For us, this was a big deal. So we did discharge this year. So there is something to report to you on So I want to just I know that a number of you on the board have been involved in our phosphorus regulations for a long time But not everybody has so I just want to kind of go a little bit back into history kind of give it A primer on why we have a phosphorus program So in 2006 Our our discharge permit had a zero net loading for nitrogen and phosphorus in it working with the regional board We developed a Nutrient offset program so that we could go out and develop projects to remove nutrients from the watershed Because it is virtually no it is actually impossible to remove nutrients from our wastewater To the zero level So since 2009 to present the city has been implementing various nutrient offset projects And those have been giving us phosphorus credits to offset our discharges and then in 2013 um They the change in our permit removed nitrogen as From our permit because it was determined that phosphorus was actually the limiting factor for the issues in our watershed So we were it's only since 2013. We're only tracking phosphorus And then in 2018 The regional board changed the program that we were under and adopted a water quality trading framework Which also includes the town of Windsor and they have a need to also have a zero net load For their discharge into the waterway So just kind of basic updates in the water quality trading framework It has in it reduced trading ratios for projects that are considered multi benefit projects And it clarified this by creating a new class of projects called these permanently protected Environmental enhancement projects, which are fun to say as peeps It sets mitigation ratios varying from two and a half To one Down to one and a half to one Which means that you would have for every pound of phosphorus we discharge We'd have to either have two and a half pounds Controlled or one and a half depending on the project that generates the the credits And i'll go through that a little bit more And if we can direct measure The phosphorus versus using engineering calculations, we get a further enhancement And that's what drives the mitigation ratio down to 1.5 as low as 1.5 Um And then also a big change was the maximum allowable credit banking went from a project life Up to uh Imperpetuity for these pepete projects, which is very important for us Because we have this episodic discharge And so our compliance strategy with phosphorus has been to maximize our reuse and minimize our discharges And i'll give a little bit of data on how we've done that so far We also seek to decrease the amount of phosphorus in our recycled water that has proven to be Much more challenging given the nature of our treatment process And then also to offset all those discharges via these nutrient offset projects And now given the new water quality trading framework guidelines We're using uh predominantly projects that are considered pepete So that we can get those longer lived credits So here's a uh a graph of our discharge over the years Volume and millions of gallons per year on the y-axis and the individual discharge year on the x-axis And in 2004 Our our geysers project came online And then in 2006 we restructured the agreement with the geysers so that they could take more water in the winter And less water in the summer so it allowed us to maximize our reuse And then store enough water so that we could have water for our ag customers And then you can see later on after 2006 our discharges went from uh prior to the geysers anywhere from Two and a half billion gallons up to almost four billion gallons a year Being discharged into the laguna to most years being zero discharged And only in the wettest years are we discharging or in years when we're required to do a test yours charge and there's two Um small discharges in this timeline here where we just discharge five million gallons Which is about what it takes for us to test and prove that our system works So just looking at some of the stats that we have um On our uh Discharged for the last 17 years so basically since the restructured agreement with the geysers our average discharge Is 214 million gallons a year Which is an average discharge of phosphorus about 3 279 pounds Uh and the maximum amount we've ever discharged in one year was one Since this regulation was 1.2 billion gallons And that led to about 15,438 pounds of phosphorus discharged into the waterway and then when you look at that Total over the 17 years that was 3.6 billion gallons was discharged Which is approximately what we used to discharge every year. So it's a 17 fold Decrease almost in our discharge since the restructured geysers agreement and that resulted in approximately 117,627 pounds uh discharged of phosphorus And all I should say all of those pounds of phosphorus that we discharged have been well offset by our Our projects we've we've had over 150,000 credits Generated from our offset projects So where we start this year we started this year with 15,630 credits in the bank at the beginning of the discharge season In one credit equals one pound of discharged phosphorus. It's the mitigation ratios Only occur in the credit generation process So and I'll have an example of that a little bit later We have earned 841 credits, which are Annual credits that we're getting from three of our nutrient offset projects. I've been accounting for that in a minute This was a rather large discharge for us. It was over 10,000 pounds of phosphorus discharged Um, and we are planning to sell 850 credits to the town of Windsor To offset their discharges for this year, which gives us a remaining credits of 5,344 credits Uh in above what we discharged Looking at what we get annually from three of our projects. Um, the bereda dairy project We're getting approximately 412 credits per year from that project As long as it's it still lasts the credits cost us 67 dollars per credit To develop that project and that the credits from that project only lasts three years Which means if we don't use them or sell them in a three-year period, they come off of our Accounting The pepperwood preserve is 337 credits per year That comes at us at a cost of 47 per credit But those credits are considered peeps And will last in perpetuity so we can bank those for longer periods of time The lagoon of one and two restoration, which is one that we just completed about three years ago Is 90 credits per year We did get a large lump sum of credits at the beginning of the project But each year it's returning anywhere from 90 to 100 credits depending on the analysis that we have to do And that came to us at a cost of 50 dollars per credit and those credits also will last in perpetuity so we can bank those We're now proposing a new project. We have It's at the peep it's on colgan creek it stretches from Pretty much right where colgan creek goes under todd road all the way down to walker avenue, which is really close to the wastewater treatment plant This project is going to improve channel capacity and remove approximately 7500 cubic yards of legacy sediment that is choking up that channel The measure of phosphorus our estimate from monitoring that amount was approximately that will generate 1150 pounds of phosphorus The trading ratio because it's a peep and we're able to directly measure would be one and a half To one So one and a half pounds controlled phosphorus. That's what we're removing to one pound of credit So we would generate approximately 8100 credits from this project We're sharing this project with winzer. They'll take 3000 of the credits and we'll get 5100 and costs will be apportioned Based on how many credits we get so our estimate of this project is 8100 credits It's subject to change as we will monitor as we're removing the material and do additional analyses on that soil The project cost is estimated right now at $441,000 and this puts it in the price range of about 55 dollars per credit In addition looking out farther. We think that would be enough credits for another discharge year And and feel pretty comfortable with that, but we still want to be developing projects In the future Especially looking at that this might be that this is an El Nino year Meaning that we could see another high rain event and possibly another discharge year So we're thinking we're working on projects in the Laguna de Santa Rosa Spreading from Yonah Road to Todd, which is the stretch of the Laguna that goes right around our recycled water ponds And on Meadow Lane And then also looking at a stretch of Rosalind Creek. These projects are in the early phases We haven't done the preliminary estimates to figure out how much volume of material is there And how much Phosphorus is in that material so I don't have costs or estimate Phosphorus removal from those projects But we're looking at those to to figure out how much we could get from them And most likely the city of Santa Rosa would support those projects and Sonoma water has the permits to do that work Thinking even further out. We are working with a Large team of of organizations to look at a much larger restoration in the Laguna There was an effort done by the regional board to map out the Laguna itself and look at the historic resources that it had Including a number of lakes that have filled in with sediment So we're working with this this large team including Sonoma or Marin Sonoma mosquito vector control Sonoma water town of Windsor Laguna foundation and others To develop a project that might have a component of nutrient Removal that we would fund and then a larger restoration of this lake like lake ballard That would one generate a lot of credits, but also provide incredible Ecological uplift to the Laguna helping to restore some of the natural processes So that's something that is five or more years out There are no existing permit structures available for that so that would most likely require an eir process But that's kind of how we're thinking of developing this program having little projects to get to this larger project To meet our compliance that might provide us enough compliance Credits for 10 years or more And if they're peeps they won't expire so That's where we're going with our our future projects But you can imagine just Managing our credit Can be very challenging. So we developed with a consultant water course engineering a credit tracking database And this is really helpful for us because it tracks all of our credit generating projects And it'll sign serial numbers to each individual credit. So for instance, if I have a credit from our Beretta dairy project In 2019 I know Which serial numbers that accounts to and my program will help me identify those credits as the first ones to use Either to sell or to use in our discharge And so the program is all set up so that we minimize the amount of credits that Expire and maximize the amount of credits that goes towards our compliance And it also helps us to create invoices That we'll be using to build Windsor for the the credits that we'll be selling them And for us to track that credit trading. They are also going to be working with the same Consultant to develop this database for them so that the integration between the two databases when we send them over A whole host of credits with various serial numbers. They'll be tracked on their end and we can track them as well And it also will help us determine How best to utilize our credits So with that concludes my presentation and I'm available if there's any questions Thank you deputy director McNeil One question I have when we sell any of our credits That doesn't change the expiration date to the like the town of Windsor. They're stuck with the same expiration date. I take it That's correct. And we did one thing that was very Beneficial is we worked out with the regulators that that credit trade could happen after the discharge Season meaning that they know now they know how many credits they need So they're only going to buy the credits that they need so that we can preferentially sell them credits that would expire sooner Great. Thank you Other board member questions or comments board member walsh So we're making these agreements with other entities at a certain cost so they can have our credit for certain costs or we're doing projects And so can we have more information maybe to budget supplementary that type of thing how we're pricing these From a financial standpoint and then from a pollution standpoint if we're doing projects that benefit the environment And then we're selling them to somebody else so they can Do a project that may be detrimental to the environment. I think we should have a conversation about that as well So I would Have a little bit. I mean, I don't know that I could fully, you know answer your your question, but In the process, but we did come to the board on the The trading or the selling of credits with Windsor that was an agreement and the agreement stipulates It's the cost of the credits plus 20 percent And the only two entities that are under the requirement this requirement Are the town of Windsor and the city of Santa Rosa and it's related to our discharge permits Into the waterway. So right now all the board is given staff authority to Sell credits are to the town of Windsor through that agreement and that did come to the Committee as well I appreciate that. Is there a is there a limit to that agreement? Do they get all our tips or pips or You know how much how many credits are we willing to sell? Who are we willing to sell them to and under what circumstances? Um, I'd like to kind of have a broader conversation about that if you don't mind bringing it back in a future meeting Because i'm not getting some awareness for the scope of this whole thing and how they work Um, I'd like to know more about it We can definitely bring it back And provide an update the agreement is only allows us To sell and buy credits from Windsor. So no one else. No other entity. What's the limit on the quantity? credits I don't believe we have a limit on the quantity So it allows us to sell if they need it or buy if we need it To transfer both ways per our you know staff and Discussions between myself and staff We are always going to make sure that we have enough credits and use our credits first Only if we believe we have excess credits or credits that are going to be expiring Would we look to then sell those to Windsor if they're available? So our priority is always making sure our compliance first and then Um, and I think deputy director McNeil can speak to this but we the credits we sold this year were credits that we're going to be expiring Um, and so that's why we sold those credits because we aren't going to be able necessarily to use them So those that are peeps we reserved But those that were expiring we chose to sell those To Windsor because they needed them for this discharge season Yeah, um, just one the guys whose project sells looks like the biggest peep fall, right? And it was before this this program came up or something Is is there credits for that when we're rebuilding doing capital projects for the geysers? Is that how does that work? So, um, because it's a zero net load Uh, the the way it's been determined from the regional board. We've had this discussion with them even though we reduced 90 percent you know, uh By having the geysers project And a zero net load still leaves that last 10 percent So by having the geysers and not discharging that water into the waterway I'm not looking for 114,000 credits per year Which might be if we didn't have the geysers we're we're looking for an average of about 3200 credits per year Um, so that's we don't get credit for it But we don't have to offset that phosphorus that's in the water that went to the geysers We're member Bartholome Thank you chair galvin. Um, thank you for that presentation. It was Wonderful so full of information and very easy to follow Hopefully this will never happen and I know that the credit checking software that you're implementing will help with that But but what happens if we do discharge more than we have credit for what What are the consequences? So that that would be considered a violation of our permit And then the regional board would have a whole host of regulatory actions that they could take Including mandatory minimum Penalties so it would depend on how many days and how much we were out of compliance by Uh, we have worked very hard and communicated. I think very well with our regional board about The challenges that we have in generating projects and getting projects built Um at a time and part of that effort really was a lot of work that this board did when we worked with the regional board To get them to create those peeps so that we could have A pathway for certainty for meeting these regulations prior to the peeps all credits lasted three years And so that was unsustainable for us to be able to meet this requirement And it really was a disincentive to do big projects to really make a big change in the watershed Because we couldn't bank the credits beyond so if I did have a project with 120 000 credits That would have a huge ecological uplift To to think that they would expire in three years would mean that's just not on the table And that's you know, what the regional board was trying to direct us to do that type of work with this regulation It was a complete disincentive. And so when we were able to talk with them They were able to finally hear after taking that, you know threat of lawsuit Um Seriously from the city because we really just can't be painted into a corner where it's just impossible to comply. So You know, there are with anything that we do There are occasionally times when mistakes are made and there are penalties that get paid for the those types of activities Any other board member questions or comments? All right, we'll now open up item 5.3 to public comments If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand. If you dial in via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary Ledesma, we do not have any voicemails or emails We do not have any hands raised in zoom, but we do have a public comment here in the chambers If you don't mind holding into the timers up I just have a question on my name is duane duwit. I'm from roseland I have a question on how those credits might be used for the ecological uplift It's something that the public doesn't understand as well as it might And if the professional staff and the experts would explain it to more than just the board People in the community might be able to help Especially in regards to where the credits might be used in ecologically sensitive areas such as riparian corridors Stormwater basin areas things of that nature So maybe you could take the extra time on my 220 seconds and give me some news to use. Thank you So We developed these projects by looking at areas where We can do the all the activities of the peeps that we've done Are looking to do are all creek restoration projects. And so Um, if the creek restoration projects are funded by grant funds, those typically aren't allowed And if it's in a part of a channel that is part of Sonoma water's routine maintenance Where they're they have specific requirements, it's not allowed to be used as credit So it has to be above and beyond that So the areas that we've been looking are outside of just downstream of urban areas Which are going through agricultural communities The flood risk concerns Seem to be less because there's less infrastructure there Not to diminish a farmer's complaints about, you know, their fields flooding or anything But compared to houses, it's it's a less of an impact. So Sonoma So those are areas that we're allowed to get the credits For doing this type of work So if it's already required, we can't get credits for it So that's kind of the what's been dictating where we're looking So the Laguna main stem has been something of of importance for the regional board And so we started our first project there Then we just moved a little bit north to Do the the cullin creek one this year Then looking a little bit further north to Rosalind Creek as well So if we were to do say a project at What's Rosalind community the Rosalind Creek community park That most likely wouldn't qualify because we would be going after grant funds for that To do that work there And Sonoma water has flood control requirements in that channel. So we Most likely wouldn't be able to get credits Even though it is a plan for our stormwater and creeks team to do that restoration So we have different ways that we might restore creeks in the city And the nutrient offset program or the water quality trading program is one And the other is to our stormwater and creeks program Thank you that helps Yes, vice chair Arnoti And just to make sure I'm going to make sure I understand it There's a distinction between Using credits and accumulating credits and you've been talking primarily about accumulating credits The the only time the credits ever get used Is if we have discharges that we don't anticipate So that's there's only one single use for a credit that's to offset An unanticipated discharge But what we're talking about here is how we accumulate them how we keep them so we can use them when we have an avoidable Discharges but but there's only one use for a credit And that's to offset a discharge, right? That's correct You know, it's it's looking like the regional board is going to be releasing a tmdl soon They are scheduling Information on that and that might open up other regulations for other dischargers in the waterway Um, I've mentioned to this board in the past. I think it's important to understand The phosphorus inputs into the laguna are less than two percent is coming from our wastewater treatment plant 98 percent is coming from other land use And if you compare this to the bay area right now, they're looking at regulating the bay 60 percent of the nutrients in san francisco bay come from wastewater treatment plants So you can see there that um by going after the you know regulations on wastewater treatment plants They can have a huge impact on reducing the phosphorus levels into the or the nutrient levels into the waterway We're here. We're only two percent. It's it's going to be really hard for our You know to reduce our two percent to look like a whole sale change And that's why going after these peeps which have these multiple benefits while we may be removing the nutrients from the watershed We're also increasing the watersheds ability to assimilate Nutrients in the future so that they have a greater carrying capacity To handle those nutrients as there'll be more vegetation up taking those nutrients trees shading the can of the Waterways to keep the water cooler which lowers or raises the dissolved oxygen and lowers the nutrients in the water so you know, it's kind of becomes a little bit of a Positive feedback loop when we build these big projects, but still we're a small piece of the problem Remember right Okay, so you said something that caught my interest that the regional board is now going to Is getting close to finishing their tmdl So is that going to impact our nutrient offsets program and they'll set a limit that we'll have to hold to or how Does that going to work? Do we have any idea how that might work? Thank you So, um, it is possible they could reopen our permit And they have in this would be a permit opener provision. It is Possible that they could lower our limit from zero to a negative number. Um, I don't know that I've seen that anywhere You know theoretically possible I don't I don't believe that's likely. Um, but it would be likely is the other discharge permits that they Do provide to other entities which might be uh, non-source but Might have some kind of limitations or they'll have best management practices for our stormwater permit Right now our stormwater permit is still in their hands So we'll see the first our first glimpse of how the tmdl is going to affect permits Will come out in our stormwater permit that we're expecting to come out sometime next calendar year But we also said that last calendar year too those of us have alphabetically challenged Would do tmdl Is the total maximum daily load uh requirement. So it is a uh apologize It's it's water quality Speak and and it's a mechanism by which they determine that the health of a waterway and then they ascribe How much of any type of pollutant can be discharged in that waterway by how much that waterway could handle Uh and still function for its beneficial uses And so right now we have a limit But we don't have that Document that says what our allocation is. So if they allocate us zero We're at the same place that we are and every indication is that that's probably what we will get it and Illegally determined zero limit, uh, right now we have a A narrative zero limit that would be a numerical zero limit Functionally doesn't mean anything different to us It's it would be about the same so other board member questions or comments All right, thank you very much deputy director McNeil that'll take care of item 5.3 We will now move to the consent calendar. There are seven items on the consent calendar I'll entertain a motion if everybody's ready with them I'll move the consent calendar second Thank you. We have a motion by board member right seconded by vice chair Arnone We'll now take public comment on the consent calendar if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone. Please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary Ledesma We do not have anyone approaching the podium in chambers There are no hands raised in zoom and no voicemails or email public comments were received. All right. May we have a roll call vote, please Chair gavin. Hi Vice chair Arnone. Hi board member baden for it Board member barthelot. Hi board member walsh. Hi Board member right Hi This passes unanimously with um board member wads absent Very good. That takes care of the consent calendar. We have no report items Item eight is public comments on non-agenda matters. If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand If you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary Ledesma We do not have any hands raised in zoom No voicemails or emails were received but we do have a public here public comment here in the council chambers And if you don't mind holding until the timer's up on the screen, please Hello, my name is DeWayne DeWitt The United States Environmental Protection Agency has a web page that I would hope all of you would look at It's about green infrastructure and stormwater retention techniques in riparian areas for urban situations And one of the things that could help here in santa rosa Especially because they took on the difficult annexation of a county island that had been Disadvantaged and underserved some would say overburdened also for many decades is under this current federal administration there is a bit of One might say compassion or interest in helping these communities such as roseland And that roseland creek could be A anchor for you to bring in funds Not just for working along the creek in stormwater Restoration riparian restoration But also in workforce training One of the things that you mentioned earlier that I had also brought up is that in 1984 The mcminna avenue state superfund site was declared along sabastopol road And ever since then that area has been in a Kind of a curse if you will of disinvestment and disadvantage Due to the recognition that pollutants were not just in the underground aquifer But on many of the sites They call them brown fields when they've been contaminated above ground auto wrecking yards Things of that nature So the uscpa has a whole program called brown fields They'll have a conference in detroit in august and they have workforce training Grants and funding that's available to help communities such as roseland and santa rosa Train young people on how they could be helpful in their own community To take care of the remediation of these pollutants Now one of the things that could actually also even be more helpful Is the federal government under region nine of the uscpa Has paid an organization called the california center for land recycling To give technical advisory consulting for free To organizations such as santa rosa Which has gotten brown fields grants such as revolving loan funds in the past Sonoma county which got a grant for the sabastopol road area If you folks would take on the lead agency approach to this No cost at the beginning talking to center for land recycling You could help our community in a bigger way. Thank you Thank you. Mr. DeWitt That concludes the public comment section. We'll now move to referrals. We have none. We have no written communications We have one subcommittee report. I'll report that the Contract review subcommittee met on june 6 to review one agreement Which was unanimously recommended by the subcommittee and was on today's board agenda as item 6.7 subcommittee reviewed the proposal Which was the ninth amendment to an agreement between the city and north harris computer corporation Which provides our water billing software? The amendment will add water Add water shortage rates into the system move a reared charges incurred during covid to current customer accounts Add additional software licenses and provide for additional tech support and support and maintenance for the licenses So that again was unanimously approved and we have passed that today at our today's meeting That concludes the uh report from the contract review subcommittee I'll now open it up for public comments on item number 11 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary Ledesma, we have no one at the podium in chambers. We have no raised hands in zoom and no voicemails or emails were received All right Item number 12 board member reports. Are there any board member Bartholome Thank you chair galvin. I'd like to thank director Burke and deputy director Of water use operations mike prince and deputy director of environmental services Sean mcneill for the excellent tour yesterday of the laguna treatment plant Thank you for taking the time to show it to me and Show me how it works Give me better insight into the system and some of the things that might be coming up around that. I really appreciate it Great. I'm glad you availed yourself of their expertise Any other board member reports? All right, we'll take public comments on item number 12 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star 9 Secretary Ledesma, we have no one in chambers wishing to make a comment No hands raised in zoom and no voicemails or emails were received All right, we'll move to item number 13 director's report director Burke Thank you chair galvin and members of the board a few things. I just wanted to update the board on first I wanted to let the board know That on may 30th. We had a delegation from the country of turkey Come out to our treatment plant We had about 30 government officials and staff As well as world bank staff and representatives of the american waterworks association They came out to the laguna treatment plant to learn about our system and Information on water reuse I think this was a much bigger Much bigger with logistics than we were anticipating None of the folks really spoke english and so we had two interpreters as well as Headsets for interpretation all of our Discussions were interpreted and then all of their discussions were interpreted back. So it was very interesting I think it was a great tour. They were very pleased and very thankful to be there You can actually see they gave us a very lovely plate and scarf that was presented to our city manager and it's up In the council display right now I did want to thank the city manager For attending as well as my team In particular mic prince shon mule kimberley zanino and joe shavoni as well as christian williams And then last nicole dorotinski who assisted with all of the coordinations and making this tour occur. So Again, it was a wonderful day. We really appreciated hearing from them and they really really appreciated Learning from us as they're embarking upon water reuse in their country I also wanted to let the board know that Um We are preparing for our annual geysers maintenance shutdown That is currently scheduled for july 10th through july 24th And we do schedule this collaboratively with calpine in order to minimize impacts to calpine's operation And while we do always do maintenance on the geyser system year round this Annual shutdown for two weeks is a very important shutdown that allows us to do bigger maintenance And maintenance that we can't do while the system is up and running It's always a big effort by the original operation staff. And I know they're providing or Doing a lot of planning to ensure that this maintenance shutdown goes well Somewhat related I wanted to let the board know that We're very excited the aqua, which is the association of california water agencies region one, which extends from Marin all the way up to the california border The event for this year is actually going to take place in our backyard We're working with aqua And calpine to have a tour of the calpine geysers facility So that is scheduled for friday august the 11th and We will be starting that at the geysers Facility in middletown And as soon as the event is finalized and the agenda is available. I will send it to the entire board As we've done in years past if there are up to three board members that would like to attend We're happy to send you If we have more than three I'll work with the chair To make a determination as we don't want to provide any quorum issues for board members attending But I'll get that out as soon as it's available and we're really excited to be hosting In partnership with calpine the aqua event for this year for region one And then last I wanted to Let the board know that I am thrilled to announce that michelle montoya has been selected To fill the administrative analyst position in the water department She'll be supporting All of the boards and committees that we support but in particular She'll be your recording secretary for this board Michelle has been working in the planning and economic development department since 2018 and she has a wealth of experience with supporting boards and committees And she has been serving in the interim capacity since february of this year and doing an exceptional job And we are so excited for her to be officially a permanent part of the water team. So congratulations, michelle And that's my report Congratulations, michelle any questions or comments from the board for the director All right, we'll open it up for public comment on item 13 if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're down in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary le Desmond, we do not have any hands raised in zoom We do not have a voice mail for emails, but we do have a public comment here in jeepers Just a quick question. Is that cal pine tour have any opening for public? Um aqua events are only available to aqua members But uh cal pine does provide public tours. So if you go on their website, uh, you can sign up for a public tour through cal pine Sure All right, that concludes item number 13. So with that our agenda is complete and we are adjourned Sure