[00:00:02]
BUT HE'S READY YET, BUT THEY'RE TIRED OF THIS STUFF.
[CALL TO ORDER – May 7th, 2021 at 3:00pm]
OKAY.SO LET'S CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER AT THREE 25.
DID WE HAVE A QUORUM TRYING TO LOOK AND SEE IS HERE WE HAVE A QUORUM.
MERISSA ARE WE GOOD? I'M COUNTING.
AND WE HAVE, UH, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX.
SO WE HAVE A QUORUM OR RIGHT AT A QUORUM.
UM, WE'RE NOT REALLY SURE WHAT HAPPENED.
WE GOT A GHOST IN THE MACHINE, SO, UM, LET'S GO AHEAD AND MAKE SURE I'M LOOKING AT THE RIGHT AGENDA.
I WAS VERY ORGANIZED BEFORE THIS HAPPENED AND NOW I'M NOT.
SO, UM, DO WE HAVE ANY, ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ANY CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS? DO, DO WE KNOW HE CANCELED? OKAY.
YOU GOT BORED OF WAITING FOR ME TO GET ON THE LINE? NO, HE CANCELED BEFORE THREE.
[1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES]
FIRST AGENDA ITEM IS APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.DOES ANYONE DO, CAN I GET A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES I MOVE APPROVAL? BILL MORIARTY.
I WAS WONDERING IF I WAS ABLE TO HEAR PEOPLE IN THIS MODE.
DO I HAVE A SECOND? THIS IS ROBERT MACE.
AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, I CAN SEE Y'ALL SORTA, BUT I'M ON MY PHONE.
SO IT'S GOING TO BE A LITTLE CHOPPY, BUT I'LL DO MY BEST.
UM, SO WE HAVE, UH, A MOTION AND A SECOND, UM, ANY DISCUSSION, ALL IN FAVOR OF APPROVING THE MINUTES.
I'M RAISING MY HAND, BUT Y'ALL, CAN'T SEE ME.
ARE WE EVERYBODY EYES ALL AROUND? THERE'S NO NAYS.
[2.a. Water Forward Implementation Progress Update and Supply Outlook]
HAVE A SUPER BEEFY PACKET TODAY TO GO THROUGH.UM, SO OUR NEXT AGENDA ITEM, WE HAVE STAFF BRIEFINGS, PRESENTATIONS, AND REPORTS, SOME, SEVERAL ITEMS HERE.
UM, AND WHO'S GOING TO BE DOING THAT.
WELL, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO YOU AND EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A PACKET IN YOUR EMAIL.
UM, I THINK YESTERDAY FROM JNL, IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT.
ALL RIGHT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO TEAM RISA.
HOW DO YOU WANT US TO DO THIS? DO YOU WANT TO GO THROUGH STEP? UM, DO YOU WANT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AS WE GO, OR DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BREAK BETWEEN EACH SECTION AND THEN ANSWER QUESTIONS? MAYBE THE LETTER ANSWERING QUESTIONS BETWEEN EACH SECTION.
AND THEN ALSO THERE WAS A MENTION WHEN I, WHEN WE WERE ON THE PHONE WITH, WITH, UH, AB TRYING TO GET CONNECTED, UM, IS THIS MEETING TO HAVE A HARD STOP AT FIVE? OR, YOU KNOW, WE WANT TO TRY TO STOP AT FIVE, BUT IF WE NEED TO GO OVER AT ALL, DO WE HAVE LATITUDES? YES, WE HAVE A FEW MINUTES LATITUDE.
I'D SAY WE SHOULD MAYBE AIM TO END AT FIVE 30.
UM, WE WILL, WE'LL TRY TO DO, DO BETTER THAN THAT, BUT, UM, WE HAVE A LOT TO GO OVER AND WE'VE HAD TROPICAL OR WINTER STORMS AND, AND ADMINISTRATIVE STUFF, UH, BREAKING OUR MEETINGS LATELY.
SO WE GOT A LOT TO COVER TAKE AWAY AND RESET.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR JOINING US.
I APPRECIATE Y'ALL BEING HERE.
UM, WE'RE GOING TO GO AHEAD AND JUMP INTO, UH, THE PRESENTATION.
THIS FIRST ITEM IS TO A, THE WATERFORD IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS UPDATE AND SUPPLY OUTLOOK.
THIS SLIDE SHOWS A PICTURE OF COMBINED STORAGE OF LAKE SPI CANNON AND TRAVIS.
UH, THIS IS UPDATED AS OF MAY 1ST, 2021.
UM, YOU'LL SEE THAT WE'RE DOWN HERE A LITTLE BIT BELOW, AS OF MAY 1ST DOWN HERE, A LITTLE BIT BELOW 1.5 MILLION ACRE FEET AND COMBINED STORAGE.
NEXT SITE INFLOWS TO THE HIGHLAND LAKES HAVE BEEN PRETTY LOW, UM, THROUGH THE CALENDAR YEAR 2021.
UM, UH, WE HAVE EXPERIENCED LOWER INFLOWS, UH, SINCE, UH, 2020.
UM, AND WE ANTICIPATE THAT, YOU KNOW, WITH, UM, HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS, WE WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE TO SEE A LITTLE BIT
[00:05:01]
LOWER INFLOWS, UM, THEN AVERAGE, HOWEVER WE ARE TRACKING.UH NOAH'S AND SO FORECAST THAT FORECAST AN 80% CHANCE OF US TRANSITIONING OUT OF LANEA CONDITIONS INTO AN ENZO NEUTRAL, UM, PATTERN HERE WITHIN THE NEXT, UH, COUPLE OF MONTHS IN MAY OR JULY NEXT SLIDE.
AND THIS SLIDE JUST SHOWS THE LCRA LAKE LEVELS FORECAST, UH, FOR LAKE SPI CANNON AND TRAVIS.
UM, THESE ARE TOTAL COMBINED STORAGE PROJECTIONS.
THIS WAS UPDATED AS OF APRIL 1ST, 2021.
AND, UM, AS OF THAT UPDATE, UM, WHICH WE HAD ACCESS TO AT THE TIME OF POSTING FOR THE MATERIALS, IT SHOWED US, UH, GETTING DOWN, UM, INTO SOME POSSIBLE STAGE ONE DROUGHT RESTRICTION, UH, CONDITIONS HERE WITHIN, UH, THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS, NEXT SLIDE.
AND OKAY, WE WANTED TO GIVE A UPDATE ON WATERFORD 2018 IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS AS A WHOLE.
SO IF YOU GO AHEAD AND GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
UM, THIS, UH, QUARTERLY REPORT IS A DOCUMENT THAT WE HAVE BEEN PREPARING, UM, AND PRESENTING TO THE AUSTIN WATER OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE AS WELL.
UM, WE HAVE POSTED THIS AS A BACKUP ON THE WATERFORD TASK FORCE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS PAGE, UM, AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT.
UH, SO FOLKS WILL SEE THAT APART FROM THE BACKUP TO THIS AGENDA ITEM, UH, WE WANTED TO TALK THROUGH VERY, AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL, SOME OF OUR KEY PROGRESS HERE WITHIN THIS LAST QUARTER, Q2 BEING, UH, JANUARY, FEBRUARY AND MARCH OF 2021.
DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME, AUSTIN WATER STAFF, UH, BEGAN DEVELOPMENT OF A DRAFT SCOPE OUTLINE FOR AN UPDATE TO THE WATERFORD PLAN.
UH, DURING THAT TIME, UM, THE TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD ALSO APPROVED THE ADOPTED 2021 REGIONAL WATER PLAN THAT WAS SUBMITTED BY REGION K AND AS MANY OF Y'ALL KNOW, AUSTIN WATER, UM, IS A, UH, A STALWART PARTICIPANT IN THAT REGIONAL WATER PLANNING PROCESS.
AND WE WERE VERY HAPPY TO SEE THAT HAPPEN.
UM, WE, UH, ON THE CONSERVATION SIDE CONTINUED OUR, MY ATX WATER SYSTEMS TESTING PILOT, UM, THAT INCLUDES NEARLY 5,000 WATER METERS AND THAT PILOT IS NOW NEARLY COMPLETE.
WE ALSO COMPLETED DEVELOPMENT OF OUR ONSITE WATER REUSE SYSTEMS, PILOT INCENTIVE PROGRAM.
UM, OUR ONSITE WATER REUSE SYSTEMS TEAM BEGAN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COUNCIL APPROVED ONSITE WATER REUSE SYSTEM ORDINANCE, UH, THAT WAS APPROVED IN DECEMBER OF 2020.
AND, UM, UH, AUSTIN WATER CONTINUED OUR WORK TO IMPLEMENT OR COMPLETING THE CORE PLAN FOR A CENTRALIZED RECLAIM WATER SYSTEM AND TO UPDATE THE CENTRALIZED RECLAIM WATER MASTER PLAN.
UH, DURING THAT, UH, QUARTER, UH, THE ASR PILOT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT PROJECT, UH, CONTRACT WITH HDR WAS ALSO EXECUTED AND WE BEGAN WORK, UM, ON THAT PROJECT IN EARNEST.
YOU CAN SEE WITHIN THE SECOND COLUMN ON THIS PAGE, CURRENT AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR QUARTER THREE, AND THEN IN THE THIRD COLUMN, UH, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION STEPS ON A BROADER TIMELINE, REALLY LOOKING AT, UH, UH, ACTION STEPS TO BE COMPLETED, UH, IN COMING FISCAL YEARS.
I'M HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT FOLKS MIGHT HAVE, SORRY, THAT I WENT THROUGH THAT FAIRLY QUICKLY, BUT I JUST RECOGNIZE WE DO HAVE A PRETTY PACKED SCHEDULE FOR TODAY.
UM, BARISA I SEE THAT THAT DOCUMENT IS NOT IN OUR BOARD PACKET, BUT YOU SAID FOLKS CAN FIND IT ONLINE ON THE BOARD WEBSITE OR TASK FORCE WEBSITE.
AND WE'LL BE HAPPY TO EMAIL THAT OUT AFTERWARDS TO THE TASK FORCE MEMBERS AS WELL.
UM, DO FOLKS HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? I CAN ONLY SEE ROBERT AND KEVIN, I JUST TO COMMENT, IT'S A DRAG THAT, UH, WE DIDN'T HAVE, UH, AN UPTICK IN, IN LAKE STORAGE FROM ALL THAT RAIN THAT WE'VE GOT RECENTLY, BUT I GUESS THE SOILS WERE SO DRY.
THEY JUST, THEY JUST SUCKED IT ALL UP.
AND THERE WAS LITTLE TO NO RE NO RUNOFF.
ALL THAT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN BUILDINGS IS DEFINITELY RIGHT UP.
UM, I HAVE A QUESTION, UM, ABOUT THE, THE LIST OF ITEMS THAT ARE, WAS REVIEWING, TRYING TO REVIEW QUICKLY ON THE SCREEN.
UM, I HAVE ACTUALLY, I LOOKED BACK NOT TOO LONG AGO, LIKE IN THE LAST WEEK OR TWO, UM, AND THE WATER PLAN OR IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE, THOSE BIG KIND OF BIG SHEETS THAT WE WOULD FOLD OUT THAT HAS THE, UM, SQUARES ON THEM.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I DON'T SEE ON THERE, BUT I PRESUME IT'S HAPPENING IS A LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION WORK.
I KNOW YOU'VE, YOU'VE HAD SOME CHANGES IN STAFF THERE AND
[00:10:01]
STUFF, BUT, UM, AND THAT CAN SLOW THINGS DOWN, BUT I'M INTERESTED IN KIND OF KNOWING WHERE THAT IS AS WE'RE COMING INTO SUMMER AND STAFF, THAT'S, THAT'S JUST OUTDOOR WATERING.IT'S JUST BIG, BIG, BIG WATERING SAVINGS IN OUR PLAN.
SO JUST, I KNOW WE'VE GOT A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENING, BUT THAT SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING WE SHOULD BE, OR ARE MOVING ON THAT WE JUST HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT DELIBERATELY YET THE LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION.
ORDINANT MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THE LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION ORDINANCE THAT WAS INCLUDED IN THE WATERFORD PLAN HAS AN IMPLEMENTATION DATE.
THAT'S A LITTLE BIT FURTHER OUT THAN THE INITIAL OR BATCH OF ORDINANCES.
I THINK OF A SLATED TO BEGIN, UM, DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEXT YEAR, FISCAL YEAR.
SO WITH, UH, COMPLETION IN THE MID 2020S, HOWEVER, I MAY NOT BE AWARE OF OTHER CONSERVATION PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.
AND THAT'S DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT WE COULD, UM, UH, DISCUSS AT OUR NEXT TASK FORCE MEETING TO DRILL IN ON ANY ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO THAT STRATEGY THERE.
I MEAN, I THINK THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.
AND THEN WHAT THE CONSERVATION DIVISION IS DOING, THEY'RE DOING A LOT OF GREAT WORK.
UM, AND, AND AS THIS TRACKS WITH ROSS LOOKING AT, I WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THE IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE AND FOCUSING ON THE THINGS THAT WERE GOING TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE FIRST FIVE YEARS.
SO, SO WHAT YOU JUST DESCRIBED MAKES SENSE, BUT, UM, THAT'S A IMPORTANT PIECE AND LOOK TO SEE HOW IT ALL FITS IN AND JUST WHAT CONSERVATION IS DOING IN GENERAL.
AND I LOOK FORWARD TO, UM, HAVING, UH, THE NEW DIRECTOR, KEVIN JOIN US WHEN WE MEET IN PERSON UP AT THE TABLE AND STUFF.
I DON'T KNOW IF HE'S ON HERE TODAY OR NOT, BUT HE'S NOT ON TODAY'S CALL, BUT I THINK THAT'S A GREAT IDEA FOR US TO HAVE THAT PRESENTATION AND TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR KEVIN TO, UH, TO INTRODUCE HIMSELF TO Y'ALL.
UM, ALTHOUGH I KNOW HE KNOWS A GOOD NUMBER OF Y'ALL READY.
DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? ALL RIGHT.
[2.b. Water Forward 2023 Preliminary Planning]
ON TO, TO BE GREAT.SO TODAY, UH, WE WANTED TO GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF OUR PRELIMINARY PLANNING FOR THE UPDATE TO THE WATERFORD PLAN.
YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, JUST FOR SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
WE WANTED TO GIVE A QUICK UPDATE OR OVERVIEW OF WATERFORD 2018.
W MANY OF Y'ALL ARE FAMILIAR WITH THIS.
I'M INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH THIS PROCESS AND THE PLAN, BUT, UM, JUST FOR SOME BACKGROUND INFO, THE PLAN WAS APPROVED BY COUNCIL IN NOVEMBER OF 2018.
UH, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAN WAS LED BY AUSTIN WATER, BUT IT INCLUDED EXIT PHYSIOS FOR MANY OTHER DEPARTMENTS, INCLUDING WATERSHED PROTECTION, OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY, UM, AND OTHERS.
SOME OF THE KEY DRIVERS FOR THE PLAN INCLUDED A POPULATION GROWTH LEADING TO DEMAND INCREASES DROUGHTS AND FUTURE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
AND WE WORKED CLOSELY, OR AUSTIN WATER WORKED CLOSELY WITH THIS TASK FORCE, UM, WHO MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS, UH, OVER THE COURSE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THAT PLAN.
WE HAD SOME GOALS TO DO, UM, A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, UH, THROUGH THAT PLAN.
AND OUR OVERALL GOAL WAS TO ENSURE A DIVERSIFIED, SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT WATER FUTURE.
THE PLAN, UH, WAS PLANNED TO BE UPDATED ON A FIVE-YEAR CYCLE AND ALIGNMENT WITH, UH, SOME OF OUR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACHES.
AND, UH, ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS LIKE NOT TOO LONG AGO THAT THE PLAN WAS ADOPTED.
IT'S NOW TIME FOR US TO START THINKING ABOUT, UM, THE SCOPE AND SCHEDULE FOR THAT PLAN UPDATE.
CAN YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE? SO THE, WE WENT AHEAD AND, UM, PUT TOGETHER A PROJECT PLAN AND SCHEDULE, UH, FOR THE, THE PLAN UPDATE.
AND WE'RE SHOWING THAT HERE ON THE SCREEN, I'M GONNA RUN THROUGH IT, UM, FAIRLY BRIEFLY ON THIS SLIDE.
AND THEN WE HAVE A KEY TAKEAWAY SLIDE COMING UP NEXT, UH, THAT KINDA GIVES THE PUNCHLINE TO THIS ENTIRE PRESENTATION.
AND AFTER THOSE TWO SLIDES, WE'LL GO THROUGH THE INDIVIDUAL TASKS THAT ARE LISTED HERE IN THE BLOCKS, UM, ON THE GRAPHIC AND WE'LL SHARE, UM, WHAT A SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS PERFORMED FROM THE CORRELARY TASK IN WATER FOR 2018.
UH, WHAT WE ARE PLANNING TO DO IN WATERFORD 2023 AND KEY CHANGES IN THIS, UH, UPCOMING PLANNING GROUND.
SO JUST TO DESCRIBE THE PRO CAN YOU GO BACK JUST ONE MORE, SORRY, JUST TO DESCRIBE THE PROJECT SCHEDULE A LITTLE BIT, UM, FOR TASK ONE AND TASK TWO, THOSE ARE THE BOXES THAT SPAN THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE PROJECT.
UM, THOSE, UH, TASKS INCLUDE PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OF COURSE, WOULD INCLUDE SOME KEY POINTS OF
[00:15:01]
ENGAGEMENT, UM, TO SEEK COMMUNITY INPUT, INCORPORATE THAT INPUT INTO OUR PLANNING PROCESS AND THEN REPORT OUT HOW THAT INPUT WAS INCORPORATED.AND THOSE, UH, KEY POINTS WILL BE FURTHER DEVELOPED AS PART OF OUR EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT PLANNING IN TASK THREE, THE FIRST, UH, DARKER BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE, WE ARE PLANNING A, UH, PROCESS TO EVER FIND OUR PLANNING METHODOLOGY.
UM, AS THE SAME TIME WE'D BE WORKING INTERNALLY TO UPDATE OUR FORECAST OF BASELINE WATER DEMANDS, AND WE WOULD ALSO BE UPDATING OUR CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY ANALYSIS.
THIS WORK WOULD BEGIN IN, UH, HOPEFULLY SEPTEMBER OF 2021, AND, UH, CONTINUE TO LAY, UH, CONTINUE THROUGHOUT A GOOD PORTION OF THE NEXT YEAR.
AS WE'RE LAYING OUT THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION FOR OUR PLANNING PROCESS, WE WOULD TAKE THE RESULT FROM TASK FOUR AND TASK FIVE TO IDENTIFY OUR WATER RESOURCE NEEDS.
UM, AND THEN THAT WOULD LAY A FOUNDATION FOR US TO MOVE INTO TASK SEVEN, WHERE WE WOULD IDENTIFY SCREEN AND CHARACTERIZE STRATEGIES TO HELP US MEET THOSE NEEDS AND TASK EIGHT.
WE, UH, GROUPED TOGETHER, UH, COMBINATIONS OF DEMAND MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY SIDE STRATEGIES.
AND WE EVALUATE THOSE AS PART OF WATER RESOURCE PORTFOLIOS.
AND THEN IN TASK NINE, WE'RE DEVELOPING OUR PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE OUTCOME OF THAT EVALUATION.
AND WE'RE DOCUMENTING OUR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH.
THE GOAL OF THIS PROCESS WOULD BE FOR US TO COMPLETE THE PLAN BY FALL OF 2023.
AND THEN AFTER THE, AT THAT POINT, WE'D BE ABLE TO GO TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS AND COUNCIL, UM, FOR REVIEW AND TO SEEK COUNCIL APPROVAL AND ADOPTION OF THE PLAN NEXT WEEK.
THIS SLIDE HAS A LOT OF WORDS ON IT, BUT, UM, IT'S KIND OF THE CLIFF NOTES FOR THIS ENTIRE PRESENTATION.
SOME OF THE KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR THIS PLANNING PROCESS, UM, WE WOULD, UH, BE BUILDING ON THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION AND LESSONS LEARNED OF WATERFORD 2018 AND ALSO THIS PLANNING GROUND WE'RE ANTICIPATING INSTEAD OF, UH, SEEKING A LARGE, UH, PRIME CONSULTANT WITH MANY SUB-CONSULTANTS, WE'D BE LEADING THE PLANNING PROCESS WITH AUSTIN WATER STAFF AND WITH TARGETED CONSULTANT SUPPORT.
AND WE HAVE, UH, UH, SOME SUMMARIES OF WHAT THAT CONSULTANT SUPPORT WOULD LOOK LIKE IN LATER PLANT IN LATER SLIDES.
I'M NOT GOING TO READ ALL OF THE THINGS ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, JUST TO PICK OUT A FEW OF THEM.
UM, OVERALL WE'RE TRYING TO DEVELOP A MORE ROBUST APPROACH TO ADDRESSING RISK AND UNCERTAINTY IN OUR PLANNING PROCESS.
UM, WE WOULD, UM, OF COURSE HAVE SEVERAL TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUPS AND ADVISORY GROUPS THAT WE ARE HOPING TO FORM, UM, AND TO ENGAGE IN THIS PROCESS THAT CAN HELP US TO DEVELOP THAT MORE ROBUST APPROACH.
UM, WE HAVE A NEW ANALYSIS THAT WE'LL BE INCORPORATING INTO THIS, UH, ROUND OF PLANNING, UM, WHERE WE'LL BE LOOKING AT, UM, POTENTIAL DRINKING, WATER QUALITY, UH, POTENTIAL CON LAND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES THAT WOULD HELP US TO PROTECT DRINKING WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY.
WE WANT TO LOOK AT AN UPDATED APPROACH TO PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION.
AND THEN AT THE OUTCOME OF THIS PROCESS, WE WANT TO DEVELOP AN ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT, UH, DECISION SUPPORT FRAMEWORK THAT CAN HELP US TO INFORM STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AS WE'RE TRYING TO RESPOND TO CHANGING CONDITIONS, UM, OVER TIME.
UM, THIS SLIDE, WE JUST INCLUDED IT TO KIND OF GIVE A SENSE OF HOW INTERNALLY WE ARE PLANNING TO STRUCTURE OUR PROJECT TEAM.
UH, WE'LL HAVE, UH, WE HAVE AN INTERNAL WATERFORD STEERING COMMITTEE AT THE EXECUTIVE LEVEL, AND WE'LL ALSO HAVE AN AUSTIN WATER PROJECT CORE TEAM THAT'LL BE MADE OF, OF OUR SYSTEMS PLANNING, WATER RESOURCES TEAM.
UH, WE HAVE SEVERAL OR SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THAT TEAM ON THE CALL HERE TODAY, MYSELF HELEN GERLACH, UH, JENELLE NICHOLSON.
AND THEN WE ACTUALLY HAVE A NEW MEMBER OF OUR TEAM.
SARAH EASTMAN, THERE'LL BE A NEW WATER SUPPLY ENGINEER ASSISTING US WITH THIS PLAN UPDATE.
WE'LL ALSO HAVE TASKS SPECIFIC TEAMS. SO FOR EACH OF THOSE BOXES, WE LAID OUT ON A PREVIOUS SLIDE.
WE'LL HAVE, UH, SOME OF OUR PRIMARY SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS FROM WITHIN THE UTILITY AND POTENTIALLY FROM OTHER LOCATIONS THAT IT WILL BE, UM, PROVIDING, UH, INPUT INTO THESE TASKS.
AND WE'LL ALSO HAVE TECHNICAL TEAMS THAT ARE MADE UP OF THE STAFF, PERFORMING THE TECHNICAL WORK FOR EACH OF THESE TASKS.
WE'RE TRYING TO GET BETTER COLLABORATION, UM, AND, UH, AND, UH, TRANSPARENCY WITHIN OUR INTERNAL PROCESSES AS WELL.
WELL, IN TERMS OF TASK FORCE AND ADVISORY GROUPS, UM, WE'LL CONTINUE OUR STRONG COLLABORATION WITH THE WATERFORD TASK FORCE WITH THIS TASK FORCE THROUGHOUT THE PLAN UPDATE
[00:20:01]
PROCESS.AND I WANTED TO MENTION AS WELL THAT, UM, THROUGHOUT THE PLAN UPDATE PROCESS, AUSTIN WATER WILL CONTINUE OUR WORK TO IMPLEMENT THE STRATEGIES, THE NEAR TERM STRATEGIES FROM THE WATERFORD 2018 PROCESS.
SO I IMAGINE THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, OUR FUTURE MEETINGS OF THIS TASK FORCE WILL INCLUDE BOTH THE IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS UPDATES, AS WELL AS, UM, CONTENT.
THAT'S MORE ALIGNED WITH THE UPDATE OF THE WATERFORD 2023 PLAN.
UH, AS WE'VE PRESENTED IN A PREVIOUS MEETING, WE ARE ALSO PLANNING TO FORM A COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP, AND WE'RE ENVISIONING THE ROLE OF THIS GROUP, UM, TO PROVIDE INPUT INTO THE EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY ROADMAP.
UM, THAT'S AT THE LEVEL OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR WATER FOR 2023 PLAN.
AND THEY'D ALSO BE PROVIDING INPUT INTO OUR DEVELOPMENT OF AN EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE PLAN UPDATE.
WE ARE ALSO GOING TO BE SEEKING THEIR INPUT AND TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF AN EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY TOOL THAT WE WOULD USE, UM, TOWARDS THE PORTFOLIO EVALUATION PROCESS.
UH, WE HAVE ALSO FORMED A CLIMATE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP, AND THIS GROUP IS MADE UP OF, UH, CLIMATE SCIENTISTS, FOLKS FROM ACADEMIA AND, UM, FOLKS FROM OTHER WATER UTILITIES MAINLY, UM, WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE WATER UTILITY CLIMATE ALLIANCE, WHO ARE HELPING TO ADVISE US ON OUR CLIMATE CHANGE AND HYDROLOGIC MODELING.
THAT GROUP HAS ACTUALLY MET SEVERAL TIMES NOW.
AND, UH, ROBERT MASON, JENNIFER WALKER HAVE BEEN THE TWO TASK FORCE MEMBERS WHO'VE BEEN PARTICIPATING AS PART OF THAT.
UH, CLIMATE TECHNICAL CAN GO ONTO THE NEXT ONE IN TERMS OF POTENTIAL CONSULTANT RESOURCES.
WE ARE ENVISIONING FOUR DIFFERENT CONSULTANTS TO SUPPORT THIS PLANNING PROCESS AND EQUITY GROUNDING CONSULTANT THAT WOULD PROVIDE SUPPORT IN TASK TWO FOR AN INITIAL EQUITY GROUNDING WORKSHOP FOR A TASK FORCE, OUR COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP AND CITY STAFF, WHO WILL BE, UM, PARTICIPATING IN THIS PLAN UPDATE.
AND WE'RE ENVISIONING THIS CONSULTANT TO ALSO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY ROADMAP FOR THE PLAN WE ARE LOOKING AT, UM, PROCURING AN ENGINEERING CONSULTANT TO SUPPORT US AND TASK SEVEN FOR STRATEGY, CHARACTERIZATION, AND COSTING SUPPORT, AND TO ALSO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR SOME TECHNICAL WRITING TO BE DONE IN THIS PLANNING PROCESS.
OUR INITIAL APPROACH WILL BE TO GO TO OUR AUSTIN WATER ROTATION LIST TO PROCURE THOSE ENGINEERING SERVICES.
WE ARE ALSO LOOKING AT, UM, UH, PROCURING A CLIMATE CONSULTANT TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF TASK FIVE IN DEVELOPING UPDATED CLIMATE DATA, AS WELL AS STREAM FLOW PROJECTIONS.
AND THEN WE'LL BE UTILIZING OUR HYDROLOGY CONSULTANT IN TASK FIVE TO NINE IN DOING WATER AVAILABILITY MODELING AS WELL AS SUPPLY ANALYSIS SUPPORT.
WE HAVE A CURRENT HYDROLOGY CONSULTANT WHOSE CONTRACT HAS, UM, ALREADY, UH, ALREADY INCORPORATES SOME TIME AND EFFORT TO DEDICATE TO THE WATERFALL PLAN UPDATE.
RICHARD YOU'RE TOUGH POWER CAN GO ON TO THE NEXT SIDE.
CAUSE THAT WAS A LOT OF CONTENT ALREADY.
UM, THE NEXT SLIDES ARE, UH, LIKE I MENTIONED BEFORE, SLIDES THAT PROVIDE OVERVIEWS OF WATERFORD 2018 ACTIVITIES, WHAT WE'RE PLANNING FOR THE PLAN UPDATE, AND THEN SOME KEY CHANGES WITHIN EACH TASK.
UM, I AM PLANNING TO, UH, GO THROUGH ALL OF THOSE, BUT JUST IN CASE THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS, UM, THUS FAR THAT I CAN ANSWER TO HELP.
I HAVE A BILL MORIARTY SPEAKING, UM, HAD YOU CONSIDERED IN THE UPDATE TO THE WATER FORWARD PLAN, ANALYZING SYSTEM STORAGE, UM, YOU KNOW, THE QUESTION BEING, DOES THE CITY HAVE ENOUGH WATER STORAGE AS IT IS? AND A, B N IS THE STORAGE IN THE RIGHT PLACES AND SEE, HOW DOES THE STORAGE WORK WITH THE TRANSPORTATION OF ASR WATER? HAD YOU CONSIDERED THAT? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT RESERVOIR STORAGE WITHIN OUR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM? UH, TANKAGE STORAGE IS WHAT I'M THINKING.
I'M, UH, GOING TO LOOK AT POTENTIALLY OTHERS TO HELP ANSWER THIS QUESTION IN CASE I DON'T COVER IT ALL, BUT MY INITIAL RESPONSE WOULD BE THAT SINCE WE ARE, UM, TARGETING THIS PLAN TO BE AN OVERALL INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE PLAN, RATHER THAN A FACILITIES PLANNING EFFORT, THAT WE, UM, ARE NOT PLANNING ON DRILLING IN TO SOME OF THOSE MORE DETAILED INFRASTRUCTURE CONSIDERATIONS OVER I'D LOOK AT POTENTIALLY KEVIN OR THERESA
[00:25:01]
TO SEE IF THEY HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL RESPONSE.WELL, YEAH, I MEAN, I WOULD JUST ADD WHAT'S KEVIN CRIMINAL AND AUSTIN WATER.
UM, YOU KNOW, GENERALLY SPEAKING WATER FORWARD, SPECIFICALLY SPEAKING WATER FORWARD IS THE WATER RESOURCES, INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES, PLANNING, UM, DOCUMENT.
UM, OBVIOUSLY WE'LL HAVE TO LOOK AT KIND OF ON THE IMPLEMENTATION SIDES, STORAGE IMPLICATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ASR PROJECT.
UM, YOU KNOW, SO THERE IS SOME CLEAR CONNECTIVITY THERE.
I THINK THE REAL QUESTION THAT YOU'RE ASKING, UM, UM, MR. MORIARTY IS PROBABLY MORE WELL FOCUSED IN OUR VARIOUS AFTER ACTION ACTIVITIES ACROSS THE UTILITY, AS WE LOOK AT, UH, CAUSES AND IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WINTER STORM AND HOW THE SYSTEM BEHAVED AND, YOU KNOW, UH, A DEEPER TECHNICAL DIVE ON, YOU KNOW, HOW ADDITIONAL STORAGE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE IMPACTED THAT.
SO THE SHORT ANSWER IS WE'LL BE LOOKING AT IT IN OTHER CONTEXTS, MORE DETAILED.
UM, THERE MAY BE SOME SLIGHT REFERENCES IN FUTURE UPDATES TO, UH, WATERFORD, BUT, YOU KNOW, THE, THE MORE SPECIFIC, UM, INFRASTRUCTURE PIECES WILL BE THE SUBJECT OF OTHER AFTER ACTION AND CAPITAL PLANNING ACTION.
AND I APPRECIATE THAT RESPONSE.
UH, BUT WHAT I'M THINKING HERE IS IF FOR WHATEVER REASON, UM, THE LAKE SYSTEM WAS GONE AND YOU WERE RUNNING ON PURE ASR WATER, I'M THINKING THE STORAGE ARRANGEMENT NEEDS TO BE THOUGHT OUT IN THAT CONTEXT.
UM, SO I, I THINK THERE'S, THERE'S SOME EFFORT WITH WATER FORWARD TO FIGURE OUT STORAGE AS YOU MOVE THE WATER FROM A DIFFERENT SPOT.
SO, UH, AND AGAIN, MAYBE THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO DO, BUT I'M KINDA THINKING, AND MAYBE YOUR ANSWER IS EXACTLY RIGHT, IS YOU'RE, YOU'RE LOOKING AT IT IN OTHER AREAS AND YOU'LL, YOU'LL TRY TO MAKE SURE IT'S CONNECTED.
SO, UH, I'LL, UH, STAND DOWN AT THAT POINT.
DO WE HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS FROM OTHER, UM, TASK FORCE MEMBERS? THANKS BILL.
I HAVE A COUPLE QUESTIONS, BUT I'M GOING TO ASSUME THAT MARISA IS GOING TO READ MY MIND AND ANSWER THEM WHILE SHE GOES THROUGH THESE TASKS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS AND THAT'S WHAT THEY PAY ME FOR.
ALL RIGHT, WELL, LET'S KEEP GOING.
SO, UM, THESE SLIDES, SO THERE'S TWO SLIDES, UM, AND I'M GONNA KIND OF GO THROUGH EACH OF THEM.
SO THE TWO SIDES PER TASK, THE FIRST TASK IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT, UM, IN WATERFORD 2018 AUSTIN WATER UNDERTOOK RESEARCH TO, UM, OF OTHER PLANNING EFFORTS TO DEVELOP OUR SCOPE, AS WELL AS SAW INPUT FROM THE TASK FORCE.
WE WENT THROUGH A NINE MONTH RFQ PROCUREMENT PROCESS THAT RESULTED IN THE SELECTION OF CDM SMITH, AS WELL AS A BEVY OF SUB-CONSULTANTS.
AND WE SEPARATELY PROCURED A CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY CONSULTANTS, DR.
AND WE ALSO HAD A NUMBER OF AUSTIN WATER STAFF, AS WELL AS STAFF FROM CITY, OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS WHO SUPPORTED THE PLAN.
IT MAKES SENSE WITHIN THE WATERFORD 23 TASKS SCOPE, UM, WE HAVE INCLUDED THE TASKS THAT ARE IN THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE.
UM, SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES FOR THIS ROUND OF PLANNING, WE'LL THAT WE'LL BE UTILIZING CONSULTANT RESOURCES FOR TARGETED SUPPORT, RATHER THAN HAVING A LARGE PRIME AND SUBS, AS WE'VE DISCUSSED BEFORE, WE WANT TO HAVE MORE CLEARLY DEFINED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, UM, FOR STAFF AS WELL, THEY'LL HAVE A LARGER ROLE IN WORK PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.
AND WE WANT TO HAVE LIKE A MENTIONED MORE TRANSPARENT INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AND DECISION MAKING PROCESSES.
OUR SECOND TASK IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WATERFORD 2018.
WE HAD SEVERAL, UH, GOALS OF OUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.
UM, UH, WE WANTED TO IDENTIFY COMMUNITY VALUES THAT SHOULD BE REFLECTED IN OUR PLAN.
WE WANTED TO SEEK INPUT FROM THE COMMUNITY THAT REFLECTED THE DIVERSITY OF AUSTIN'S POPULATION AND CUSTOMERS, AS WELL AS INFORM AND EDUCATE THE COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT THE PLAN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
WE ENDED UP COLLECTING PUBLIC INPUT AT A NUMBER OF EVENTS.
I THINK THIS SLIDE ACTUALLY SHOULD BE UPDATED TO SAY A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN A HUNDRED EVENTS THAT INCLUDED FIVE WORKSHOPS, UM, FOR TARGETED STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS, 10 SUMMER SERIES EVENTS, AND A NUMBER OF OTHER MEETINGS.
NEXT SLIDE, WITHIN OUR WATERFORD 23 SCOPE, SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES
[00:30:01]
WE'VE BEEN INCLUDED ARE TO UTILIZE OUR COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP TOGETHER, MEANINGFUL INPUT FROM TARGET COMMUNITIES.WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO BUILD REALLY STRONG RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH THAT COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP AND BE ABLE TO, UM, UH, GATHER SOME OF THAT INPUT IN A WAY THAT WE'RE FOLKS REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS PLANNING PROCESS IS FOR WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE AND CAN GIVE US, UH, SOME REALLY TARGETED FEEDBACK ON THAT.
WE ALSO WANT TO DEVELOP AN EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY ROADMAP FOR THIS PLAN.
AND LIKE I MENTIONED, WE'RE ENVISIONING THAT BEING AT THE LEVEL OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES THAT WOULD THEN INFORM OUR EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT PLAN.
AND WE WANT TO OVERALL HAVE AN ENHANCED FOCUSED ON EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN OUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND IN OUR PLANNING PROCESS.
THANKS FINE TASK THREE, WE'LL BE REFINING OUR PLANNING METHODOLOGY AND THE LAST PLANNING PROCESS, AUSTIN WATER, AND THE TASK FORCE DEVELOPED A MISSION STATEMENT, GUIDING PRINCIPLES, PLAN OBJECTIVES, AND SUB OBJECTIVES, AS WELL AS WEIGHTINGS FOR THOSE OBJECTIVES AND SUB OBJECTIVES.
THE OBJECTIVES ARE SHOWN IN THAT PIE CHART THAT YOU SEE ON THE SLIDE.
UM, WE HAD PERFORMANCE MEASURES THAT WERE DEVELOPED FOR EACH OF THE SUB OBJECTIVES AND THOSE PERFORMANCE MEASURES WERE UTILIZED IN EVALUATION OF OUR PORTFOLIOS.
WITHIN THAT PLANNING PROCESS, WE HAD AN OVERALL PLAN METHODOLOGY THAT WAS PROPOSED BY AUSTIN WATER AND THE CONSULTANT AND THAT INCORPORATED TASKFORCE IN COMMUNITY INPUT BROADLY, WE, UM, IDENTIFIED POTENTIAL WATER SUPPLY AND DEMAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES.
WE CONSOLIDATED STRATEGIES AND SCREEN THEM USING THE SET OF CRITERIA.
THEN WE CHARACTERIZE THOSE STRATEGIES THAT PASS THROUGH THE SCREENING PROCESS TO DEVELOP INFORMATION ABOUT COST AND YIELD AND OTHER INFORMATION.
AND THEN WE USE THOSE STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP FIVE PORTFOLIOS THAT WERE DEVELOPED AROUND OUR OBJECTIVE BASED THEMES.
OBJECTIVE-BASED THEMES REALLY JUST MEANS THAT WE TRIED TO TIE THEM INTO THE MAJOR THEMES OF COMMUNITY VALUES THAT WE FOUND IN THIS PROCESS.
I'LL ALSO MENTION, JUST TO EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT THE GRAPHIC THAT'S ON THE RIGHT.
WE HAD FOUR DIFFERENT PLANNING HORIZONS AND A WATERFORD 2018, 2020, 20, 40, 20, 70 AND 2115.
AND WE LOOKED AT FOUR DIFFERENT HYDROLOGIC SCENARIOS.
THE PERIOD OF RECORD, THE PERIOD OF RECORD ADJUSTED TO REFLECT POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AT 10,000 YEAR SEQUENCE, UH, THAT WAS, UH, DEVELOPED BY RE SEQUENCING THE YEARS IN THE PERIOD OF RECORD, AND THEN A 10,000 YEAR SEQUENCE THAT RE SEQUENCED THE YEARS IN THE PERIOD OF RECORD WITH CLIMATE CHANGE ADJUSTMENTS.
AND WE USE THOSE 10,000 YEAR SEQUENCES TO PULL OUT DROUGHTS THAT WERE WORSE THAN OUR DROUGHT OF RECORD THAT WE COULD USE TO TEST OUR PORTFOLIO SUPPLIES AGAINST NEXT SLIDE.
IN OUR 2023 SCOPE, WE WANT TO, UM, UPDATE OUR MISSION STATEMENT, OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES, OUR PLAN OBJECTIVES, AND SUB OBJECTIVES.
WE WANT TO DEFINE WHAT OUR PLANNING SCENARIOS MIGHT BE, WHAT OUR PLANNING HORIZONS WOULD BE AND OUR APPROACH TO ADDRESSING RISK AND UNCERTAINTY.
AND THEN, UH, WE WANT TO ALSO SUMMARIZE THEIR IMPLEMENTATION OF WATERFORD 2018 PLAN TO DATE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION TO DATE.
SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES THAT WE'RE ENVISIONING, UM, HERE ARE TO SUMMARIZE, UM, WHAT IS WATER FOR 2020 THREES RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PLANNING EFFORTS, WHETHER THEY BE AUSTIN, WATER OR CITY OF AUSTIN, CLIMATE RESILIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY, OR EQUITY PLANNING EFFORTS, JUST TO BETTER LOCATE, WHERE DOES WATERFORD SIT WITHIN THIS UNIVERSE OF PLANS AND HOW DO ALL OF THESE PLANS KIND OF COME TOGETHER TO CREATE AN OVERALL RESILIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY AND AN EQUITY KIND OF STRATEGY FOR AUSTIN WATER? AND FOR OUR EFFORTS, WE ARE ENVISIONING CHANGES TO OUR SCENARIOS.
THERE'S A LITTLE BLUE INSET BOX AT THE, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIDE THAT SHOWS SOME OF THE POSSIBLE SCENARIOS WE ARE CONSIDERING.
UH, WE'RE LOOKING AT POTENTIALLY AVERAGE CONDITIONS BEING HISTORICAL AVERAGE AND A FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE, ADJUSTED AVERAGE, UM, UH, DROUGHTS, HISTORIC DROUGHTS, POTENTIALLY AS TO CASTIC GENERATED DROUGHTS, UM, CLIMATE CHANGE, ADJUSTED DROUGHTS, AS WELL AS SUPPLY RELATED EMERGENCY EVENTS.
WE WANT TO, UM, BETTER UTILIZE RANGES.
WE WANT TO BETTER UTILIZE RANGES IN OUR PROJECTIONS OF POPULATION DEMAND, AS WELL AS OUR ESTIMATIONS OF STRATEGY YIELDS GOING OUT INTO THE FUTURE.
AND THEN WE ALSO WANT TO UTILIZE IT POTENTIALLY DIFFERENT PORTFOLIO EVALUATION APPROACH, WHERE RATHER THAN JUST HAVING GROUPINGS OF STRATEGIES, UH, AROUND VERY DIVERGENT THEMES, TRYING TO PUSH BOUNDARIES, UH, WE WANT TO ITERATE THROUGH A RANGE, A NUMBER OF FEASIBLE GROUPINGS OF STRATEGIES AND SEE, UM, WHICH PERFORMS BEST ACROSS THESE NUMBER OF SCENARIOS THAT WE'RE PROPOSING.
[00:35:01]
LIKE I MENTIONED BEFORE, WE'D ALSO BE DEVELOPING AN EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY TOOL THAT WOULD HELP US TO ITERATE THROUGH THE POTENTIAL EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY IMPLICATIONS OF OUR PORTFOLIOS.WE'RE ENVISIONING THAT WOULD BE USED AT THE PORTFOLIO EVALUATION STAGE.
I'M ON TASK FOR A WEEK, WE ARE LOOKING TO UPDATE OUR ESTIMATES AND FORECAST OF BASELINE WATER DEMANDS.
IN WATERFORD 2018, WE DEVELOPED A STAFF DEVELOPED A DESEGREGATED DEMAND MODEL, AND THAT DEMAND MODEL WAS USED TO PRODUCE BASELINE, UM, CITY OF AUSTIN, CITY OF AUSTIN DEMAND ESTIMATES, UM, FOR THE, UH, HISTORIC PAST FOR USING UTILIZING BILLING DATA.
AND THEN ALSO FOR OUR FEATURE PLANNING HORIZONS, UM, THIS WAS MODELED SPATIALLY AND THE IMAGE ON THE RIGHT SHOWS YOU THE OUTPUT OF, OF THAT MODEL, UM, IN TERMS OF BASELINE WATER DEMANDS FOR 2115, WE USE THAT MODEL TO BREAK AND TO BREAK WATER USE DOWN BY SECTOR SUB-SECTOR AND END USE SECTOR WOULD BE SOMETHING LIKE SINGLE FAMILY, RESIDENTIAL, UM, MULTIFAMILY, RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND USE WOULD BE SOMETHING LIKE, UM, INDOOR OR OUTDOOR.
IN ON THE INDOOR SIDE, WE BROKE IT DOWN EVEN FURTHER INTO THINGS LIKE TOILETS, UH, LAUNDRY DISHWASHERS, ET CETERA.
OUR GROWTH IN OUR WATER DEMAND IN THE DESEGREGATED DEMAND MODEL IS PRIMARILY DRIVEN BY GROWTH IN POPULATION, WHICH TRANSLATES INTO GROWTH IN RESIDENTIAL UNITS, SINGLE FAMILY, OR MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL UNITS, AS WELL AS GROWTH IN EMPLOYMENT, UH, EMPLOYEES THAT WOULD, UM, BE WORKING HERE IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
WE USE THAT DEMAND MODEL TO INFORM OUR ESTIMATES OF WATER SAVINGS FROM BOTH DEMAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND DE-CENTRALIZED STRATEGIES.
AND ON THE DECENTRALIZED SIDE, IT NOT ONLY HELPED TO INFORM OUR ESTIMATES OF WATER SAVINGS, BUT THE POSSIBLE YIELD FROM THOSE STRATEGIES.
UM, OUR DEMAND ESTIMATES THIS TIME AROUND SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES WE'D LIKE TO SEE ARE UTILIZING ADDITIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC AND LAND USE DATA, UM, AND DEVELOPING MORE INFORMATION THERE TO SUPPORT LATER STRATEGY CHARACTERIZATION, PARTICULARLY RELATED TO CONSERVATION AND REUSE STRATEGIES.
WE WILL BE UPDATING OUR DEMAND BASELINE WITH MORE RECENT HISTORIC BILLING DATA.
WE'LL BE INCORPORATING THAT INFORMATION.
UM, WE'LL ALSO BE MAKING SOME STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS TO THE MODEL TO INCLUDE MONTHLY TIMESCALES AND ADDITIONAL KNOBS FOR WEATHER CLIMATE AND PASSIVE CONSERVATION TRENDS.
AND WE ALSO WANT TO, UM, USE SOME RANGES IN OUR PROJECTIONS AND BETTER BE ABLE TO, UH, UH, CAPTURE AND COMMUNICATE THAT UNCERTAINTY IN THOSE PROJECTIONS, WE ARE DEVELOPING A HUNDRED YEAR DEMAND FORECAST AND THERE WAS A GREAT AMOUNT OF UNCERTAINTY, ESPECIALLY FURTHER OUT INTO, UM, INTO THE PLANNING CRISIS.
WE'RE ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH THE TASKS AS IS TASK FIVE, I'M UPDATING A CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY ANALYSIS AND SOME MOST EXCITING ONE.
UM, THIS WE'RE IN THE LAST ROUND WE WORKED WITH, UH, DR.
KATHARINE HAYHOE, UM, TO DEVELOP TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION DATA FROM GLOBAL CLIMATE MODELS.
UM, THERE WERE, UM, UH, 20 DIFFERENT GCMS THAT WERE USED AND THAT INFORMATION WAS USED TO DRIVE, UM, STATISTICAL REGRESSION MODELS THAT WERE DEVELOPED TO REPLICATE HISTORICAL STREAMFLOW IN THE TEXAS COLORADO RIVER BASIN.
AND THEN, UM, AFTER WE HAD DEVELOPED THOSE MODELS, WE TOOK A FUTURE PROJECTED TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION DATA FROM THOSE SAME 20 GCMS. AND WE RAN THAT THROUGH OUR REGRESSION MODELS, REPLICATING HISTORICAL STREAM FLOW THAT GAVE US 20 DIFFERENT PROJECTIONS OF STREAM FLOW AT EACH OF THE 43 GAUGES WITHIN THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER BASIN.
AND FROM THOSE 20 DIFFERENT PROJECTIONS OF STREAM FLOW, WE CREATED AN ENSEMBLE THAT, UM, WAS THEN WITH ONE SEQUENCE OF STREAM FLOW THAT WE USE TO RUN THROUGH THE WATER AVAILABILITY MODEL THAT WE USE TO ASSESS OUR, OUR WATER SUPPLIES.
UM, IN ADDITION, UM, OUR HYDROLOGIST DEVELOPED TWO 10,000 YEARS SCENARIOS BY RE SEQUENCING OUR YEARS FROM OBSERVED OR CLIMATE CHANGE ADJUSTED HYDROLOGY, AND THEN SELECTED DIFFERENT DROUGHTS OUT OF THAT, UM, TO TEST OUR, OUR, OUR SUPPLIES, CURRENT SUPPLIES, AS WELL AS FUTURE POTENTIAL PORTFOLIOS.
YOU CAN GO TO THE NEXT SIDE, THANK YOU.
WE WANT TO, UM, GO THROUGH THAT ANALYSIS PROCESS AGAIN, UM, AND UPDATE THAT ANALYSIS.
SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES IN, IN THIS WORK IS THAT, LIKE I MENTIONED BEFORE, WE'VE DEVELOPED A CLIMATE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP TO HELP, UM, PROVIDE INPUT,
[00:40:01]
UM, IN, INTO THAT PROCESS.AND WE THINK THAT THAT IS A KEY PART OF US HAVING GREATER TRANSPARENCY INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THAT INFORMATION AND, UH, TO ALSO BUILD OUR INTERNAL CAPACITY WITHIN AUSTIN WATER AND, AND AS A TEAM, OUR OVERALL CAPACITY, UM, IN, IN DOING THAT TYPE OF WORK AT ANALYSIS, WE WANT TO KNOW, UM, HOW, UH, THIS INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED.
WE WANT TO KNOW, UM, HOW WE SHOULD INTERPRET THE RESULTS OF THIS CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY ANALYSIS.
AND THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO DO THAT.
UM, AN ADDITIONAL ADJUSTMENT WILL BE POSSIBLY, UH, CHANGING OUR APPROACH TO EVALUATING IMPACTS OF DEGREES OF WARMING RATHER THAN IMPACTS OF EMISSION SCENARIOS, AS WELL AS HAVING A MORE ROBUST EVALUATION OF SOME OF THESE EXTREME EVENTS, THINGS ON THE LOW END DROUGHTS AND THINGS ON THE HIGH END FLOODS.
WE WANT TO HAVE A BETTER SENSE OF, UH, SOME OF THE, THE VALIDITY OF SOME OF THOSE HIGHER FLOW EVENTS THAT CAME OUT OF OUR, UH, ANALYSIS LAST TIME AROUND, UH, ESPECIALLY, AND WE ALSO WANT TO DO SOME ANALYSIS TO UNDERSTAND THE CHANGES IN THE FREQUENCY, MAGNITUDE, AND DURATION OF THOSE EXTREME EVENTS, AND THAT'LL HELP TO INFORM OUR, OUR FUTURE WE'RE PLANNING GREATLY.
UM, THE OUTPUTS FROM OUR ESTIMATION OF BASELINE WATER DEMANDS AND OUR CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY ANALYSIS WILL HELP US IN IDENTIFYING WATER RESOURCE NEEDS.
THAT WAS THE SAME WAY THAT IT WORKED LAST TIME AROUND IN WATERFORD 2018.
WE USE THE WATER AVAILABILITY MODEL TO IDENTIFY OUR BASELINE NEEDS, AND WE HAD ACTUALLY CHARACTERIZED, UH, DIFFERENT TYPES OF NEEDS IN THAT LAST PLAYING GROUND.
I'M NOT GOING TO DIVE INTO A LOT OF DETAILS ABOUT HOW WE CATEGORIZE NEEDS IN THE LAST PLANNING PROCESS.
UM, BUT I WILL SAY THAT THIS ROUND, WE ARE HOPING TO SIMPLIFY OUR IDENTIFICATION OF NEEDS.
UM, WE HAD, UM, IDENTIFIED NEEDS THAT WERE OVER OUR CURRENT CONTRACTED AMOUNTS, UM, NEEDS THAT WOULD, UM, COME ABOUT BASED ON LONG-TERM IMPLEMENTATION OF SOME OF OUR DCP STAGES AND THEN ALSO NEEDS, UM, THAT WOULD ARISE.
UH, IF WE HAD EXTREMELY LOW LAKE LEVELS IN THE FUTURE, THERE WERE SOME PERIODS IN 20, 70 AND 2115, WHERE WE SAW, UM, UH, LITTLE TO NO COMBINED STORAGE FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME.
AND, AND THAT WAS, UH, AN ADDITIONAL TYPE OF NEED WE HAD IDENTIFIED.
AND NEXT SLIDE IN THIS ROUND OF PLANNING, SOME OF OUR KEY CHANGES AND IDENTIFYING WATER RESOURCE NEEDS WOULD BE THAT, UM, WE MAY BE ESTIMATING WE'LL LIKELY BE ESTIMATING OUR PRELIMINARY NEEDS WITHOUT FIRST INCORPORATING DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN SAVINGS THAT WOULD BE INCORPORATED LATER ON IN THE PLANNING PROCESS TO REPRESENT, UM, AN ADDITIONAL, UH, STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION, UM, FOR DROUGHT SCENARIOS.
AND THEN WE ALSO, LIKE I MENTIONED, ONE HAVE A CLEARER APPROACH TO OUR WATER NEEDS IDENTIFICATION BY SIMPLIFYING THE TYPES OF NEEDS, UH, THAT WE IDENTIFY IN THIS CASE PROCESS.
NEXT SLIDE IN SEVEN, THIS IS THE TASK WHERE WE'D BE IDENTIFYING SCREENING AND CHARACTERIZING STRATEGIES.
AND THE LAST ROUND, UM, WE IDENTIFIED A DEMAND MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY SIDE STRATEGIES THROUGH AUSTIN WATER STAFF, INPUT, TASKFORCE, INPUT, AND COMMUNITY INPUT.
AND THEN WE TOOK THE STRATEGIES, ALL OF THE STRATEGIES THAT WERE IDENTIFIED, AND WE BASICALLY PUT THEM IN A BIG BUCKET AND WE PICKED OUT THE STRATEGIES THAT WERE VERY SIMILAR AND WE COMBINE THOSE STRATEGIES.
THOSE CONSOLIDATED STRATEGIES WENT THEN WENT THROUGH A SCREENING PROCESS, UM, AGAINST A SET OF CRITERIA THAT HAVE BEEN SET EARLY ON IN THE METHODOLOGY TASK AND THE STRATEGIES THAT PASSED YOU, THAT SCREENING PROCESS RECHARACTERIZED, I CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE IN THIS, UM, PLANNING PROCESS.
UH, SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES, IT'S NOT REALLY A CHANGE SO MUCH AS IT'S JUST, THIS IS OUR SECOND ROUND OF PLANNING AND WE HAVE TO, UM, FIGURE OUT HOW THE UPDATE PROCESS WILL WORK IN THIS ROUND OF PLANNING.
WE'RE ANTICIPATING THAT STRATEGIES THAT WERE CONSIDERED IN WATER FOR 2018 AND NEW STRATEGIES.
WE'LL GO THROUGH AN UPDATED SCREENING PROCESS AND ALIGNMENT WITH ANY UPDATES, OUR PLANNING METHODOLOGY.
SO EXAM, FOR EXAMPLE, AND ALIGNMENT WITH UPDATES TO OBJECTIVES OR SET OF OBJECTIVES THAT WE HAD WORKED THROUGH IN THE, UH, IN TASK THREE, WE WANT TO GIVE CONSIDERATION FOR THOSE STRATEGIES THAT ARE CURRENTLY UNDERWAY THAT, UM, MAY HAVE ALREADY BEEN IMPLEMENTED OR IN THE PROCESS OF BEING IMPLEMENTED.
WE WILL, UM, TAKE THOSE STRATEGIES THAT PASS THROUGH THE SCREENING, WHETHER THEY BE NEW STRATEGIES OR WATERFORD 2018 STRATEGIES, UM, AND
[00:45:01]
WE'LL EITHER UPDATE THEIR CHARACTERIZATION IF THEY ALREADY HAVE CHARACTERIZATION INFORMATION DEVELOPED ABOUT THEM, OR, UM, FOR TOTALLY NEW STRATEGIES, WE WOULD, UM, DEVELOP NEW INFORMATION ON COST YIELD, ET CETERA.AND A KEY POINT IN THIS PLANNING PROCESS, WE WANT TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO GEO SPATIALLY, RECONCILING YIELD ACROSS STRATEGIES TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE NOT DOUBLE COUNTING SAVINGS.
AND THEN, UM, ADDITIONALLY, WE'RE ALSO GOING TO BE WORKING CLOSELY WITH AUSTIN WATER STAFF AND OUR CONSERVATION DIVISION AND OUR, UM, UH, UH, SYSTEMS PLANNING, UM, WASTEWATER TEAMS AND OUR RECLAIMED TEAMS AND IN OUR ONSITE WATER REUSE TEAM, UH, TO DEVELOP STRATEGY YIELDS FOR CONSERVATION DECENTRALIZED AND RECLAIMED, UH, AND CENTRALIZED RECLAIM STRATEGY.
WE'RE ALMOST THROUGH SECOND TO LAST IN TASK EIGHT.
UM, THIS IS A POINT WHERE WE DEVELOP AND EVALUATE OUR WATER RESOURCE PORTFOLIOS AND THE LAST PLANNING GROUND, WE IDENTIFIED, UM, FIVE PORTFOLIOS THERE ON THIS GRAPH AT THE TOP, THE TOP FIVE PORTFOLIOS, UM, THAT WERE, UH, UH, COMBINATIONS OF DEMAND MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY STRATEGIES GENERATED TO MEET OUR WATER SUPPLY NEEDS.
THESE, THE MADIC PORTFOLIOS, LIKE I'D MENTIONED BEFORE, THEY WERE DESIGNED TO PUSH BOUNDARIES AND TO MAKE TRADE OFFS MORE EASILY SEEN.
UM, AND OUR PORTFOLIO EVALUATION METRICS THEY'RE ACTUALLY LISTED, IT'S KIND OF SMALL, BUT YOU CAN SEE THE, THE KEY ON THE RIGHT OF THIS GRAPH.
UM, THEY WERE TIED TO THOSE OVERALL OBJECTIVES.
THE, THE METRICS THEMSELVES WERE A MIXTURE OF BOTH QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE METRICS OR QUALITATIVE METRICS FOR US OFTEN TRANSLATED INTO LIKE A ONE TO FIVE SCALE.
NEXT SLIDE CHANGES FOR THIS TASK IN WATERFORD 2023, LIKE I MENTIONED, WOULD BE TO CREATE PORTFOLIOS THAT ITERATE THROUGH A NUMBER OF FEASIBLE GROUPINGS OF DEMAND MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY STRATEGIES.
AND WE'RE THINKING THAT THIS APPROACH WOULD HELP US TO BETTER IDENTIFY ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PATHWAYS.
SO BY EVALUATING A LARGE NUMBER OF ITERATIONS AGAINST OUR OBJECTIVES AND SUB OBJECTIVES, UM, WE'RE ABLE TO SEE WHAT OUR VULNERABILITIES RISKS, WHAT ARE SOME NEAR TERM, NO REGRET, UM, PORTFOLIOS OF STRATEGIES TO BE IMPLEMENTED, WHAT ARE MEDIUM TERM ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES THAT COULD BE IMPLEMENTED IN RESPONSE TO CHANGING CONDITIONS AND WITH IDENTIFY TRIGGERS AND THRESHOLDS, AND THEN WHAT ARE SOME LONGER TERM STRATEGIES THAT MAY BE, UH, SOME, UH, OPTIONS AND PATHWAYS FOR US AS WE SEE, UM, POTENTIALLY GREATER IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, INCREASED DEMAND, ET CETERA, OUR EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY TOOL WOULD ALSO BE INCORPORATED INTO THIS PORTFOLIO EVALUATION PROCESS.
AND WE'RE ENVISIONING THAT, UM, TO BE A TOOL THAT WOULD NOT JUST SHOOT OUT A SINGLE SCORE TO SAY WHETHER OR NOT SOMETHING IS EQUITABLE, BUT SOMETHING THAT DRIVES THE DIALOGUE.
UM, IF, FOR US TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR PORTFOLIOS AND OVERALL PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS, NEXT SLIDE TASK NINE.
THIS IS THE LAST TASK WE HAVE HERE IN THE PRESENTATION.
WE WILL BE DEVELOPING OUR PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS AND DOCUMENTING OUR ADOPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN IN THE LAST PLANNING GROUND.
OUR PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS WERE BASED ON THE HYBRID PORTFOLIO THAT WAS EVALUATED AND RANKED THE HIGHEST AS WAS SHOWN IN THAT GRAPH.
ON THE LAST SLIDE, WE ALSO DEVELOPED A NEAR TERM 20 YEAR IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.
IF ANY OF Y'ALL HAVE ACTUALLY SQUIRRELED THROUGH THE ALL 500 PAGES OF THE WATERFORD PLAN DOCUMENT AND THE LAST SIX PAGES, THERE ARE SOME 11 BY SEVENTEENS THAT INCLUDE A 20 YEAR TIMELINE FOR HOW WE WOULD ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT THOSE PLANS.
WE ALSO DEVELOPED METRICS TO ANNUALLY ASSESS OUR PLAN IMPLEMENTATION, UH, PROGRESS.
AND WE HAVE INCLUDED, UM, THOSE METRICS WITHIN OUR ANNUAL REPORTS.
THE TABLE ON THE RIGHT HERE INCLUDES ALL OF THE STRATEGIES, UM, THAT WERE, UH, IDENTIFIED AS RECOMMENDED IN WATERFORD 2018, AS WELL AS THE TARGETS FOR FUTURE PLANNING, HORIZONS, AND NEXT SLIDE.
AND FOR WATERFORD 2023, WE'RE ANTICIPATING, UH, DEVELOPING IN ADDITION TO UPDATING GARDEN NEAR TERM PLAN, IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE, AND UPDATING OUR METRICS.
UH, WE'RE ANTICIPATING DEVELOPING AN ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN THAT WOULD, UH, LOOK KIND OF LIKE A DECISION TREE.
IF YOU CAN IMAGINE WHAT THAT MIGHT BE.
THERE WILL BE CERTAIN POINTS OUT FURTHER INTO THE DECISION TREE THAT WOULD CAPTURE VARIOUS RISKS OR UNCERTAINTIES, AND THAT WILL PROMPT US TO POTENTIALLY FOLLOW DIFFERENT PATHWAYS FOR HOW WE WOULD IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES.
THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO WORK ON THROUGH THIS PLANNING PROCESS AND BE ABLE TO, TO PUSH FORWARD, UM, AS AN
[00:50:01]
OUTCOME IN NEXT SLIDE.SO THIS I'M JUST GOING TO LEAVE THIS SLIDE UP HERE, UM, ON THE SCREEN SO THAT WE CAN HAVE KIND OF A RECAP AND OVERVIEW OF WHAT THE OVERALL PROJECT PLAN IS.
BUT AT THIS POINT, I'D BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS, UM, AND TO, UH, YOU KNOW, TO ALSO ALLOW THE TASK FORCE TO HAVE SOME DISCUSSION.
THAT WAS A LOT, UM, LET'S BE MINDFUL OF THE TIME BECAUSE WE GOT A LOT OF STUFF TO COVER STILL, BUT DO FOLKS HAVE SOME QUESTIONS? THIS IS GOING TO HAVE TO SPEAK UP BECAUSE THANK YOU, ROBERT, GO AHEAD.
UM, YEAH, JUST ON THE, ON THE PREVIOUS SLIDE, MERISSA JUST CLARIFICATION ON THE ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT.
IS THAT, IS THAT A PROCESS, UM, YOU KNOW, ONCE THE PLAN IS APPROVED BEFORE THE NEXT PLAN IS APPROVED, THAT IF THAT IF A MORE SEVERE THAN ANTICIPATED CONDITION ARISES, THAT THAT THAT'S WHAT THAT DECISION TREE IS ABOUT.
I THINK THAT'S, THAT'S IMPORTANT.
AND YOU HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION, OTHER QUESTION.
UM, THE, UH, SO, UM, I DON'T WANT TO DWELL ON THIS TOO MUCH, BUT, UM, A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME THAT THAT MAYBE IT WAS A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT THAN ANTICIPATED TO, UM, KINDA MERGE SOME OF THE GOALS FROM THIS PLAN WITH THE STATE WATER PLANNING OR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGIONAL WATER PLAN.
UM, I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THAT WITH THIS PLANNING PROCESS, YOU KNOW, SETTING ASIDE THAT, YOU KNOW, MAYBE SOMETHING COULD BE DONE WITH THE OTHER PLANNING PROCESS, BUT I'M JUST CURIOUS WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS ARE THERE.
AND, UH, ON OUR KEY TAKEAWAY SLIDE, WE KIND OF NOTED THAT PART OF THIS PLANNING PROCESS, WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE KIND OF FORMAT AND STRUCTURE OF THE REGIONAL WATER PLANNING PROCESS AND HAVE THAT IN MIND THROUGHOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OR UPDATE OF THIS PLAN, BECAUSE WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR STRATEGIES AND YIELDS AND, UM, KIND OF THE JUSTIFICATION FOR OUR PORTFOLIOS TRANSLATES INTO THE REGIONAL WATER PLANNING PROCESS.
UM, AND I'LL ALSO SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT OUR CONTINUED WORK HERE ON THE WATER FORD'S SIDE LEADS TO GOOD THINGS THAT CAN THEN, UM, BE INCORPORATED AT LEAST SLIGHTLY AND, YOU KNOW, TO SOME EXTENT WITHIN OUR REGIONAL WATER PLANNING PROCESSES.
SO WE'LL CONTINUE TO PUSH THEM BOUNDARIES, UM, SO THAT WE CAN, YOU KNOW, KIND OF INFORM ONE ANOTHER.
THESE PROCESSES CAN INFORM ONE ANOTHER.
UM, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FROM FOLKS? AND I AGREE WITH THAT ASSESSMENT OF REGIONAL WATER PLANNING, UM, AS THE REGIONAL WATER PLANNING GROUP MEMBER, UM, YOU KNOW, THAT PROCESS ADAPTS DOES NOT ADAPT AND CHANGE, UM, AS MUCH AS AUSTIN HAS AND ITS APPROACH.
UM, AND I THINK THAT THAT BOTH ENTITIES LEARNED A LOT GOING THROUGH THAT.
UM, AND ALSO THE REGIONAL WATER PLANNING PROCESS ON A STATEWIDE LEVEL, YOU KNOW, HASN'T DEALT, INCORPORATING A LOT OF THESE KINDS OF, YOU KNOW, CUTTING EDGE TYPE TECHNOLOGIES OR NEW WAYS OF DOING THINGS AND THERE, AND WE HAD TO REALLY KIND OF WORK THROUGH TO MAKE SOME OF THAT HAPPEN.
I KNOW THERESA SPENT A LOT OF TIME WORKING THROUGH THAT TERESA ROOTS, AND I GUESS, I MEAN, I'M ASSUMING LIKE CITY OF AUSTIN CAN'T SET ITS OWN SAFE YIELD FOR THE HIGHLAND LEGS.
AND SO THAT, THAT MAKES THAT A C KEVIN KNOTTY.
NO, AND THAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO, YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU COULD, UH, FAKE OUT THE PROCESS BY FIGURING OUT THE CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT 50 YEARS OUT AND THEN CALCULATE IN A SAFE YIELD AND THEN PLAN OFF THAT SAFE YIELD.
BUT IF THE, THE KEEPER OF THE YIELDS, WHICH IS LCRA IS NOT WILLING TO, UM, PUT IN A SAFE FIELD APPROACH WHERE THE BOARD IS NOT WILLING TO ALLOW THE CITY TO PUT ITS OWN SAFE YIELD IN, UM, WHICH, WHICH, WHICH, UH, SEEMS INTERESTING BECAUSE THEY DO ALLOW SAY FIELD APPROACH, UM, THAT IT TIES YOUR HANDS A BIT.
SO IT LOOKS LIKE CITY OF AUSTIN IS PROBABLY OVER-PLANNING, UM, ON WATER SUPPLIES SINCE, SINCE THE CURRENT STATE PROCESS WOULD SHOW MORE WATER AVAILABLE THAN, THAN WE THINK THERE MIGHT BE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE.
THIS IS TRACY, UM, AS TO WATER.
UM, THOSE, ALL THOSE COMMENTS ARE WELL NOTED IF YOU WILL.
UH, I DO THINK, YOU KNOW, JUST, UM, THE, THE PROCESS, UH, IS THERE IS
[00:55:01]
A VERY GOOD ONE.IT, IT, UM, IS UPDATED EVERY FIVE YEARS AND WE'VE MADE SOME, UM, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS THROUGH THAT PROCESS WHERE HOPEFULLY OVER TIME, SOME CHANGES CAN BE MADE AND MORE, UM, MORE THINGS LIKE CONSIDERING DROUGHTS WORSE THAN THE DROUGHT OF RECORD AND OTHER KINDS OF STRATEGIES LIKE MANISA WAS SAYING, TRYING TO SORT OF PUSH THE ENVELOPE A LITTLE BIT.
I THINK WE HAVE, UM, BEEN A GOOD, UM, KIND OF SOURCE OF INFLUENCE IF YOU WILL, IN THAT PROCESS TO HELP KIND OF PUSH THE ENVELOPE SOME, AND HOPEFULLY WE CAN CONTINUE TO DO THAT.
UM, IS IT, IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT PROCESS AND WE, WE WERE ABLE TO GET ALL OF OUR WATER FORAGE STRATEGIES INTO THE, UM, INTO THE PLAN, BUT LIKE, UH, IT HAS BEEN NOTED.
THERE ARE SOME ASPECTS TO IT WHERE THINGS DON'T EXACTLY LINE UP, BUT, UM, WE EVEN WITH THOSE KINDS OF CONSTRAINTS AND THINGS THAT WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY, UM, PUT OUR PROJECTS INTO THE PLAN, WHICH IS IMPORTANT FOR, UH, HAVING ACCESS TO POTENTIAL, UH, SWIFT FUNDING SOURCES AND PERMITTING KINDS OF THINGS.
SO I JUST WANTED TO MENTION THAT TWO POINTS ARE WELL TAKEN.
UM, ROBERT, WERE YOU TRYING TO SAY SOMETHING ELSE? SORRY.
I WAS JUST GONNA ADD THAT, UH, FOR MY DAY JOB, UM, YOU KNOW, WE ARE EMBARKING ON WORK, LOOKING AT CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER PLANNING IN TEXAS IN GENERAL, AND PLAN ON DOING A POLICY ANALYSIS ON KIND OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF BEING ABLE TO CONSIDER CLIMATE CHANGE.
AND OF COURSE, THIS PROCESS THAT AUSTIN HAS IS, UH, EXTREMELY ILLUMINATING, BUT, BUT PART OF THAT WILL BE, YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE SOME, MAYBE WHAT ARE SOME INCREMENTAL THINGS THAT THE LEGISLATURE COULD, UM, DO THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, ISN'T FULL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, WHICH RIGHT NOW IS NOT POLITICALLY ACCEPTED OVER THERE.
SO LIKE YOUR COMMENT THERESA ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ALLOWING COMMUNITIES TO PLAN FOR A DROUGHT WORSE THAN THE DROUGHT OF RECORD, THAT'S INDEPENDENT IN MY MIND OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
I MEAN, CLIMATE CHANGE IS PART OF IT, BUT YOU JUST HAVE TO LOOK AT TREE RINGS AND SAY, YOU KNOW, WE'VE HAD DROUGHTS WORSE THAN THE DROUGHT OF RECORD.
AND SO WHY, WHY CAN'T COMMUNITIES DO THAT ALL SET UP? OKAY.
WE, UH, WE NEED TO KEEP GOING WITH QUESTIONS.
MERISSA THE FIRST REALLY GOOD JOB.
I'M ALWAYS IMPRESSED WITH HOW MUCH INFORMATION YOU'RE ABLE TO CONVEY TO US IN THIS BRIEF AMOUNT OF TIME.
BUT I DID WANT TO ASK, UM, I SAW THE LAND CONSERVATION, YOU KNOW, IT'S OBVIOUSLY STILL, JEEZ.
AND IN TERMS OF THE MODELING EFFORTS, ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT INCLUDING ANY PREDICTIVE DEVELOPMENT SCENARIOS, UM, LIKE FOR THE UPPER WATERSHED, UM, YOU KNOW, ALONG THE COLORADO, IT'S SOMETHING THAT I'D BEEN DISCUSSING, UM, WITH COHORTS ON THE, UH, REGIONAL 11 FLOOD PLANNING GROUP.
AND SO IT JUST KIND OF MADE ME WONDER IF THAT WAS SOMETHING ALSO THAT AUSTIN WATER HAD BEEN LOOKING AT AT THIS TIME.
UH, WE'VE BEEN LOOKING AT IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF ANALYSIS IS IDENTIFYING WHAT WE CALL PRIORITY AREAS OF FOR A DIESEL AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES.
WE CAN FOLLOW UP WITH MORE INFORMATION BY THE WAY.
UM, BUT, UH, THE, THESE PRIORITY AREAS ARE REALLY DRIVEN BY, UM, WATER SUPPLY BENEFITS AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS.
AND WE'RE LOOKING AT DOING A, A RASTER ANALYSIS, A SPATIAL ANALYSIS THAT WOULD HELP US TO IDENTIFY THESE PRIORITY AREAS.
FIRST, BEFORE WE GET INTO A SUBSEQUENT, A SUBSEQUENT LEVEL OF ANALYSIS THAT WOULD, UM, CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL FOR, UH, I THINK LAND USE CHANGE IS, UH, ONE OF THE CONSIDERATIONS.
I DON'T THINK THAT IN THAT ANALYSIS WE'VE ENVISIONED CREATING LIKE A FUTURE LAND USE SCENARIO SO MUCH AS WE'VE JUST IDENTIFIED THE POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE AS ONE OF THE FACTORS IN THE SECOND TIER OF, OF, UH, OF ANALYSIS.
AND, UM, THAT WOULD INFLUENCE KIND OF SOME THE, UH, YOU KNOW, PRIORITIZATION OF SPECIFIC AREAS.
YEAH, THAT'S EXCITING TO SEE THAT IN THE LIST OF STRATEGIES.
UM, DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE ANY, UM, QUESTIONS? UM, I HAVE A QUESTION.
I THINK I'M JUST GOING TO LEAVE IT AS A COMMENT AT THIS POINT.
UM, I, I LOVE UPDATING THE PLAN.
I LIKE TAKING THIS LIKE ROBUST, LIKE A LITTLE BIT MORE ROBUST LOOK AT SOME OF THESE AND RETHINKING HOW WE DID IT.
I THINK FOR THE FIRST TIME AROUND WHEN WE DID THE PLAN, UM, WE WERE DOING OUR VERY BEST.
[01:00:01]
UM, BUT WE ALSO PROCEEDING IN A, IN A STEP-BY-STEP WAY AND NOT BEING ABLE TO STEP BACK AND KIND OF LOOK AT THE WHOLE BODY OF WORK.IT GIVES YOU A LITTLE BIT MORE, UM, LIKE CONTEXT AND PERSPECTIVE ON THE PLAN, BECAUSE AT THE FIRST WE WERE DOING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE FIRST TIME.
UM, SO I'M, I'M, I AGREE WITH A LOT OF THESE CHANGES AND, UM, I'M A LITTLE BIT, I DON'T KNOW IF I'M CONCERNED, BUT I JUST HAVE LIKE A LITTLE QUESTION MARK IN MY HEAD.
I THINK IT WAS JUST LIKE, AS WE GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS, THIS WILL BE IN MY HEAD THAT WE'VE GOT THIS PLAN IN PLACE.
UM, AND THEN WE'RE WORKING THROUGH IT AND HOW THAT BAKES IN WITH, IF THERE ARE THERE GOING TO BE WHOLESALE, BIG CHANGES AS WE GO WHERE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO KIND OF RETHINK OUR APPROACH.
AND MY INTUITION IS THAT'S PROBABLY NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, BUT IF IT DOES, THEN, THEN MAYBE THAT'S VALID.
SO I APPROACHED THIS WITH SOME CURIOSITY AND REALLY GLAD TO SEE THIS VERY WELL ARTICULATED KIND OF HOW WE'RE GOING TO MOVE FORWARD INTO IT.
WE'LL BE HAVING SOME MORE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT IT.
UM, YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I THINK IS REALLY GREAT ABOUT OUR PLAN THAT I THINK HAS BEEN REALLY STRONG.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS I LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IS HOW WE BUILT THESE GUIDING PRINCIPLES, UM, TO GUIDE OUR EFFORTS AND AS A KIND OF A LOOK BACK AS WE WERE PROCEEDING THROUGH IT.
SO, UM, I'M INTERESTED IN, IN, UM, HOW THOSE ARE GOING TO BE RELOOKED AT REDEVELOPMENT.
I THINK WHERE IT MIGHT BE TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THAT IN THE NEXT AND I, AND IF NOT, THERE'S PLENTY OF TIME TO TALK ABOUT IT IN FUTURE MEETINGS.
SO, UM, UNLESS YOU HAVE ANY FEEDBACK ON THAT, UM, WE CAN GO AHEAD AND KEEP GOING IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ANY QUESTIONS.
NO, BUT I THINK THOSE COMMENTS ARE GREAT COMMENTS.
UM, WE HAVE A LOT OF THE SAME INTEREST, UM, IN THIS PLAN UPDATE PROCESS.
YOU'VE GIVEN US A LOT OF THOUGHT AND I KNOW OUR STAFF ARE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, WE JUST APPRECIATE Y'ALL'S CONTINUED SUPPORT AND AN INTEREST IN ENGAGING WITH THIS PROCESS.
WE THINK IT'S GOING TO BE REALLY GOOD AND HELP US TO KIND OF MAKE OUR, UH, WATERFORD PLANNING PROCESS, YOU KNOW, EVEN STRONGER.
SO LOOKING FORWARD TO, TO ALL OF THIS, RIGHT.
SO LET'S MOVE ON TO, UM, TO SEE
[2.c. Aquifer Storage and Recovery Pilot and Program Management Overview]
WHICH IS THE ASR RECOVERY, RESTORATIVE AND RECOVERY PILOT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW.YOU ARE BRINGING UP SOME SLIDES.
THIS POINT, I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND TURN THE MIC OVER TO HELEN GERLACH TO INTRODUCE OUR PRESENTERS.
UH, IT SOUNDS LIKE WE'RE NOT GETTING ANY SOUND.
CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME AWESOME? NOW WE CAN HEAR.
MERISSA UM, I'LL JUST DO A REAL QUICK INTRODUCTION.
UM, I THINK MOST OF THE FOLKS ON THE TASK FORCE, UH, PROBABLY SEEN ME AROUND BEFORE, BUT, UM, HELEN GERLACH, I AM IN RACIST GROUP AT AUSTIN WATER WORKING IN SYSTEMS PLANNING, AND I AM THE AUSTIN WATER PROGRAM MANAGER OR OUR ASR PILOT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT PROJECT.
UM, SO WE'VE GOT, UM, JAMES DWYER AND IT'S ACTUALLY, UM, CARMEN SCHOFIELD HERE TODAY FROM HDR TO KIND OF GIVE YOU GUYS A WALK THROUGH, UM, UH, TASKS THAT WE'LL BE DOING FOR PHASE ONE A SO THE VERY FIRST PHASE OF OUR ASR PROJECT, UM, IT'S GOING TO BE, I THINK, CAUSE WE'VE GOT SEVERAL MORE ITEMS ON THE AGENDA TO GET THROUGH AFTER THIS, UM, JAMES OR CARMEN, MAYBE WE CAN KEEP IT PRETTY HIGH LEVEL AND THEN, UM, DIVE IN, UM, MORE DEEPLY, UM, AS QUESTIONS COME UP AFTER WE GET THROUGH EVERYTHING.
UH, AND JUST TO NOTE TOO, THAT THIS PRESENTATION IS GOING TO BE PRETTY SIMILAR TO WHAT WAS PRESENTED AT OUR MARCH, UM, ASR TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP MEETING.
UM, SO IT MIGHT LOOK SIMILAR TO SOME OF THE, UM, TASK FORCE MEMBERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THAT MEETING AS WELL.
AND SO WITH THAT, I'LL GO AHEAD AND HAND IT OVER TO HDR TO INTRODUCE THEMSELVES, UM, JAMES, IF YOU'RE THERE.
AND WITH ME TODAY, WE, AS ALAN SAID, WE HAVE A CARMEN, WE'RE GOING TO KIND OF TAG TEAM THIS.
AND, UH, SO WE'LL JUST JUMP RIGHT IN EXELON.
SO THE, THE BASIS OF THE PROJECT, UM, THE WHOLE SCOPE DEVELOPMENT FOR THIS PHASE
[01:05:01]
OF THIS, OUR PROGRAM WAS, WAS DEVELOPED TO IDENTIFY THE MOST SUITABLE ASR PROJECT FOR AUSTIN WATER AND NOT JUST THE BEST STORAGE ZONE.SO THE STUDY COMPONENTS INCLUDED, UH, OBVIOUSLY UNDERSTANDING THE CANDIDATE STORAGE ZONES, UH, AND RELATED IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES.
UM, CONSIDERING THE INTEGRATION SIDE OF THE PROJECT, WHERE, WHERE WE CONNECT TO THE EXISTING AND FUTURE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, UM, WE'RE GOING TO USE TOOLS SIMILAR TO WATER FOR, TO, UH, YOU KNOW, TO EVALUATE THE DIFFERENT ALTERNATIVES AND IDENTIFY THOSE, THOSE PREFERRED ALTERNATIVES AND OVERRIDING ALL THIS.
OF COURSE, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A PRETTY ROBUST OUTREACH, UH, UH, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, EDUCATION, UH, PROGRAM TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS THE BEST PROJECT WE CAN DEVELOP FOR, UM, AUSTIN WATER.
SO THIS, THIS SHOWS A, A LAYOUT OF THE PHASE ONE, UH, PROJECT APPROACH.
UM, WE'VE GOT, UH, TASK TWO IS, IS THE BEGINNING.
WE'VE ALREADY COMPLETED THIS AS THE TEAM CHARTERING, UH, TASK THREE IS, UH, OVERRIDING, UH, ALL, ALL COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT, UM, WHICH IS THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EDUCATION.
UH, ALSO INCLUDES EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY TASK FOUR AND FIVE WILL GO SIMULTANEOUSLY.
AND THOSE TASKS ARE THE INITIAL STORAGE ZONE SCREENING, UH, IDENTIFYING, UH, ONCE WE IDENTIFY SHORT LISTS, WE DO A LITTLE MORE DEEP DIVE INTO THOSE STORAGE ZONES AND IDENTIFY ACTUAL ASR WELL FIELD DEVELOPMENT AREAS.
AND THEN ON THE OTHER END OF THE PROJECT, THE INTEGRATION SIDE, WE'RE GOING TO BE LOOKING AT THE, UH, UH, IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING POINTS OF, UH, A FUTURE SYSTEM LOOKING AT AT THE BILLABLE STORAGE WATER AVAILABLE FOR STORAGE, AND THEN ALSO CAPACITY TO ACCEPT RECOVERED WATER, UM, TEST SIX, THE PRELIMINARY PROJECT EVALUATION AND, UH, DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION.
HERE'S WHERE WE PUT THOSE TWO ENDS OF THE PROJECTS TOGETHER IN A NUMBER OF COMBINATIONS TO DEVELOP PROJECTS, AND THOSE PROJECTS WILL BE SCORED, UH, EVALUATED.
UM, AND WE'LL ALSO BE LOOKING, LOOKING OUT TO THE, UH, COMMUNITY IN THIS PHASE WITH REGARD TO THE EVALUATION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTINGS TEST SEVEN.
WE INCORPORATE THE FEEDBACK WE GOT ON THE, UH, IDENTIFICATION OR ON THE EVALUATION CRITERIA FROM THE COMMUNITY, REVISE THOSE PROJECT ALTERNATIVES AND, UM, UH, FINALIZE THOSE.
AND THEN TASK EIGHT, WE'RE LOOKING AT EXPLORATORY DRILLING AND TESTING OF THE PREFERRED STORAGE ZONES BACK ON THE ASR SIDE OF THE PROJECT TO RESOLVE UNCERTAINTIES IN THOSE AND CONFIRM ASSUMPTIONS FOR THE STORAGE ZONES NEXT LINE.
AS I MENTIONED, CHARTERING THAT'S COMPLETE, UH, EARLY APRIL.
UM, THE GOAL OF THAT IS TO, UM, KIND OF GAIN, UH, IDENTIFY, UH, TENANTS OF THE SUCCESS FACTORS FOR THE PROJECT AND, AND KIND OF CLARIFY THE MISSION FOR THE TEAM.
UM, THE STEPS INVOLVED PROJECT DEVELOPING INITIAL CHARTER.
UM, THEN WE HAVE THREE DIFFERENT FOLLOW-UP CHARTERING SESSIONS AS WE GO THROUGH THE PROJECT TO KIND OF JUST RE BENCHMARK AND MAKE SURE WE'RE ALL STILL ALIGNED AS THE PROJECT EVOLVES.
HERE'S WHERE I'D LIKE, UH, CARMEN TO JUMP IN ON THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DEPARTMENT.
EVERY BOOK, BETTY CARMEN IS HDR.
I WILL BE LEADING THE COORDINATION OF COMMUNICATION ENGAGEMENT AND OVERALL MANAGEMENT OF THE TASKS.
UM, BRINGING IN WE'VE GOT SOME GREAT SUBS ON THE TEAM.
SO BRINGING IN AND ENGAGING OUR EXPERT TEAM MEMBERS, UH, THROUGHOUT THE DURATION OF THE PROJECT, UH, CHRISTINE SHAW COULDN'T BE HERE TODAY, BUT SHE IS A DEPUTY PROJECT MANAGER.
SHE'LL BE LENDING HER TECHNICAL EXPERTISE TO OUR TEAM.
AND OF COURSE WE HAVE A DECENT AND RIFLE LINE ON THE TEAM.
THEY'RE, WELL-KNOWN IN THE COMMUNITY AND WE'LL BE ENGAGING THEM THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS.
SO SIMILAR TO THE WATERFORD UPDATE THAT MERISSA SHARED, UM, WE'VE GOT SOME SIMILAR TASKS PLANNED.
ONE OF THE FIRST ONES THAT WE'RE STARTING TO WORK ON IS DEVELOPING THE ENGAGEMENT AND EDUCATION PLAN THAT WILL SERVE AS A GUIDING DOCUMENT FOR PHASE ONE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.
IT WILL DOCUMENT THE BACKGROUND, THE PURPOSE, AND THE NEED OF ASR,
[01:10:01]
UM, THAT WILL REALLY INFORM OUR TEAM AND HELP US TO REVISE OUR STRATEGY AND OUR MESSAGING.AND WE'LL ALSO REFLECT THE COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE TO HELP US REFINE THOSE STRATEGIES.
WE'LL ALSO BE SUPPORTING, UH, AUSTIN WATER AND THE PIO IN DEVELOPING THE EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO INTRODUCE THE ASR PROGRAM TO THE PUBLIC AND BRING THE MESSAGE OF ASR AS A WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY FOR AUSTIN TO THE COMMUNITY.
AND WE'LL ALSO PROVIDE HIGH LEVEL OF REVIEW DESCRIBING HOW ASR WORKS, WHAT THE PROJECT TIMELINE WILL BE IN TERMS OF THE TECHNICAL TASKS AND WHERE IT WILL BE OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE DURING PROJECT DEVELOPMENT.
NEXT SLIDE, WE'LL ALSO HAVE AN EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY COMPONENT WITH DEVELOPING A ROADMAP TO ESTABLISH A PROCESS THAT WILL IDENTIFY A FINAL PROJECT THAT COULD BEST MEET THE EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY GOALS TO CARRY FORWARD INTO PHASE ONE B WHILE WE WERE DEVELOPING DURING DEVELOPING THAT INFORMED ROADMAP, WE'LL BE ENGAGED IN COMMUNITY TOGETHER, THEIR FEEDBACK AND PERSPECTIVE PERSPECTIVES, WHAT EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY MEAN TO THEM.
AND THEN WE'LL FEED THAT BACK INTO THE EDP.
AND WE'LL ALSO USE THAT INFORMATION TO DEVELOP THE EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY TOOL FOR THE ASR PROJECT, WHICH WILL BE PART OF THE SCREENING PROCESS OF THE PROJECT ALTERNATIVES THAT ARE IDENTIFIED AND TESTED.
SO THOSE PRELIMINARY ALTERNATIVES TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL EQUITY AND AFFORDABILITY CONCERNS WITH ASR IMPLEMENTATION AND DEVELOP METHODS TO ADDRESS THOSE CONCERNS, IT WILL BE APPLIED IN A TWO-STAGE PROCESS AS NEW DATA ABOUT THE PROJECT DEVELOPS THROUGH THE PLANNING PROCESS.
THEN DURING ONCE THOSE PROJECT ALTERNATIVES COME UP, WE'LL BE GOING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY AGAIN TOGETHER.
WE'RE GOING TO BE PRESENTING THE PRELIMINARY SCREENING CRITERIA TO THE COMMUNITY AND GATHERING THEIR FEEDBACK AND THEIR PERSPECTIVE.
BRINGING THAT BACK TO THE TECHNICAL TEAM, THERE WILL BE A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS FOR ROUND ONE, AND THEN A SECOND SERIES OF WORKSHOPS TO BRING BACK THAT REFINED CRITERIA AND MAKE SURE THAT WE UNDERSTOOD HOW THE COMMUNITY VALUES FIT INTO THAT FINAL CRITERIA.
ONCE WE'VE DONE THAT, BROUGHT THAT BACK TO THE PROJECT.
OUR FINAL TOUCH POINTS WITH THE PUBLIC WILL BE TO PRESENT THE FINAL FINDINGS OF THE NEXT PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT.
AND WE'LL BE WORKING CLOSELY WITH AUSTIN WATER TO DEFINE WHAT THOSE FINAL FINDINGS WILL BE AND WHAT WE'LL BE PUBLISHING AND WHAT WE'LL BE SHARING AT THE END OF PHASE ONE THAT TO YOU, JAMES.
SO TASK FOUR, PRELIMINARY ASR STORAGE ZONE IDENTIFICATION, AND CHARACTERIZATION.
THE GOAL OF THIS TASK IS TO CAST A VERY WIDE NET, UH, LOOKING AT SCREENING STORAGE ZONE OPTIONS IN TRAVIS COUNTY AND THE SEVEN ADJACENT COUNTIES.
UM, THESE STEPS OF THIS TASK, WE'RE GONNA FIRST DEFINE THE, UH, ASR WELL FIELD PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES.
UM, THEN WE'RE GOING TO DO A PRESCREENING OF THE NUMEROUS OPTIONS WE HAVE FOR STORAGE WITHIN THAT STUDY AREA.
UM, WE'LL DO A SHORT LIST OF THOSE OPTIONS AND DEEPER DIVE WITH THE NEW SET OF MORE RIGOROUS CRITERIA, UM, LOOKING AT THAT SMALLER SUBSET OF OPTIONS.
AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO IDENTIFY, UH, UH, THROUGH MAPPING OF THOSE CRITERIA, ACTUAL WEALTH FIELD POTENTIAL, POTENTIALLY SUITABLE WELLSVILLE DEVELOPMENT AREAS NEXT NIGHT.
SO INITIALLY THE STORAGE ZONES ARE GOING TO BE DEFINED AT THE AQUIFER COUNTY LEVEL.
AND THIS MAP HERE SHOWS THE, UM, MAJOR AQUIFERS IN THE STUDY AREA AND MAJOR AQUIFERS ARE GENERALLY DEFINED AS HAVING A BROADER REGIONAL EXTENT, UH, TYPICALLY HAVE HIGH WELL YIELDS AND GENERALLY GOOD WATER QUALITY.
AND THAT OFTEN RELIED ON BY LARGE USERS FOR SUPPLY.
UM, WITHIN OUR STUDY AREA, WE HAVE UP TO 40, UH, COUNTY AQUIFER OPTIONS TO LOOK AT, UM, IN THE MAJOR OXFORD CATEGORY.
NEXT SLIDE, CONVERSELY MINOR AQUIFERS, WHICH ARE SHOWN HERE ON THIS MAP, UM,
[01:15:01]
ARE, ARE MORE LOCAL AND EXTENT, UH, GENERALLY HAVE MUCH SMALLER EWALDS AND OFTEN TIMES HAVE QUALITY CHALLENGES, UH, THAT LIMIT THEIR, THEIR USE.UM, WITHIN THE STUDY AREA, WE HAVE A 16 COUNTY AQUIFER STORAGE ELOCON COMBINATIONS THAT WE'RE GONNA LOOK AT NEXT SLIDE PAST FIVE, THE PRELIMINARY ASR INTEGRATION POINT AND CHARACTERIZATION, UH, PORTION OF THE PROJECT.
UH, THE GOAL OF THIS IS, IS TO LOOK AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE PROJECT AND, AND IDENTIFY THE MOST BENEFICIAL LOCATIONS TO PLUG IN ASR CAPACITY, UH, INTO THE FUTURE AUSTIN WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.
AND THIS KIND OF GETS TOWARDS MR. MORIARTY'S COMMENT ABOUT STORAGE AND THINGS.
WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT A MUCH DEEPER LEVEL IN THIS PROJECT AT THOSE DETAILS WITH A NETWORK MODELING OF FUTURE SUPPLIES AND DEMANDS, UM, THE STEPS INVOLVED, UH, IN THIS, IN THIS, UH, TASK WE'LL IDENTIFY THOSE, THOSE INTEGRATION POINTS, UM, AND THE OBJECTIVES AND THE NEEDS, UH, FOR THOSE, UM, WE'LL BE DOING SOME NETWORK MODELING OF THOSE FUTURE, UH, DROUGHT NEEDS AND ALSO AVERAGE HAVE MORE AVERAGE CONDITIONS FOR AVAILABILITY TO, TO STORE THAT WATER.
AND THEN WE'LL, UH, UM, SCORE AND, AND RANK THOSE PROJECTS COMING OUT OF TASK FIVE, NEXT SLIDE, UH, TASK SIX, AGAIN, TASK FOUR AND FIVE, WE'LL BE GOING SIMULTANEOUS, TEST SIX.
THE GOAL IS TO DEVELOP AND EVALUATE ACTUAL PROJECT ALTERNATIVES, AND, UH, WE'LL BE USING A NEW SET OF CRITERIA AND, AND WEIGHTS, UH, THAT WILL BE INFORMED BY THAT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EQUITY WORK IN TASK THREE, UH, MAJOR STEPS.
UH, WE'LL GET THOSE PROJECT CRITERIA AND WEIGHTINGS DEFINED IN ADVANCE OF THE PROJECTS, AND THEN WE'LL DEVELOP CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS AND COST ESTIMATES TO APPLY THOSE, THOSE CRITERIA AND WEIGHTINGS TO, TO, UH, IDENTIFY THE MOST SUITABLE PROJECTS.
INITIALLY, NEXT SLIDE, A MAJOR ELEMENT OF TASK SIX IS, UH, THE ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY.
AND CARMEN DID A GOOD JOB OF OUTLINING THOSE TOUCH POINTS.
UM, IN GENERAL, WE'LL BE SEEKING INPUT ON THE EVALUATION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTINGS FOR THE PROJECTS BEFORE.
WELL, UH, WE'LL DO AN INITIAL APPLICATION OF THOSE TO THE PROJECTS, BUT THEN WE WILL, UH, SEND THE PROJECTS OUT FOR THE WEIGHTINGS.
UM, WE'RE GOING TO REFINE THOSE WEIGHTINGS, UH, AS IT COMES BACK IN FROM THE COMMUNITY, UH, YOU KNOW, AND THEY CAN, THEY'LL HAVE SOME CONTEXT BECAUSE WE'LL HAVE, UH, THE PROJECT ALTERNATIVES ALREADY DEVELOPED WE'LL THEN APPLY THAT, UM, ADJUSTED CRITERIA AND WEIGHTINGS TO THE PROJECTS, UM, X LINE, AND THEN IN A PASS SEVEN, WE'RE GONNA, UH, WHICH IS PROJECT ALTERNATIVE REVISION.
AND RE-EVALUATION, WE'LL SEND THOSE PROJECTS OUT AGAIN TO THE COMMUNITY, UM, WITH THE REVISER, UM, UH, EVALUATIONS, SOLICIT THEIR FEEDBACK, MODIFY THE PROJECTS TO MAKE THEM BETTER.
UM, AND, AND THEN, UH, THOSE WILL, THOSE WILL MOVE FORWARD.
SOME, UH, SOME SHORTLIST OF THOSE AND MOVED FORWARD INTO RECOMMENDED PROJECTS.
UM, BASED ON THOSE RECOMMENDED PROJECTS, WE'RE AGAIN, GOING TO GO OVER TO THE STORE'S ZONE SIDE AND, AND DO DEVELOP EXPLORATORY TESTING IN PLANNING SCOPES FOR ONE OR MORE, YOU KNOW, POTENTIAL WEALTH FIELD AREAS.
AND THE GOAL OF THOSE ARE TO, UH, ADJUST THE UNCERTAINTIES AND INVALIDATE KEY ASSUMPTIONS THAT WE MADE DURING THE, UH, PRIOR TASKS.
AND SO COMING OUT OF THAT, WE WILL HAVE THOSE, UM, TESTING PLANS, WHICH WILL ALSO INCLUDE, UH, COST ESTIMATES AND SCOPES FOR THE, FOR THE TESTING.
AND THEN WE WE'LL, WE'LL WRAP UP PHASE ONE A WITH, UH, A LESSONS LEARNED WORKSHOP TO KIND OF LAY THE GROUNDWORK FOR PHASE ONE B, UH, WHICH, WHICH WE'LL FOLLOW UP WITH THAT ON NEXT SLIDE.
UH, I GUESS WHAT ARE 10 QUESTIONS? I HAVE A QUESTION BILL.
UH, TALK TO ME ABOUT MIXING THE POST ASR WATER WITH
[01:20:02]
THE EXISTING AUSTIN WATER TREATED WATER.SO HOW DO YOU WANT TO TACKLE THAT? OR DO YOU WANT ME TO TRY, UH, I'M SORRY, I MISSED IT.
ARE YOU ABLE TO HEAR ME? YEAH, YEAH, YEAH.
AND THEN, UM, JAMES CAN ADD ON IF NEEDED.
UM, SO WE'RE GOING TO BE GETTING AS PART OF TASK FOR, UM, DOING A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN, UM, OUR WATER QUALITY AND THE NATIVE GROUNDWATER.
UM, BUT THE PLAN WOULD BE, UM, ESSENTIALLY I THINK TO TREAT THE WATER BACK TO FULL COMPATIBILITY WITH THE EXISTING DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM QUALITY BEFORE IT WOULD EVER BE RETURNED TO THE SYSTEM.
UM, AND SO WE WOULD BE DOING MORE DETAILED STUDIES FOR THAT.
ONCE WE GET INTO FUTURE PHASES, WE'VE DONE SOME FIELD TESTING.
WE'VE MAYBE GOT A PILOT GOING AND HAVE, YOU KNOW, ACTUAL WATER, UM, TO MAYBE DO LOOP STUDIES AND, AND RUN THROUGH THE PIPES AND SEE WHAT THE, WHAT THE ACTUAL REACTIONS WOULD BE LIKE.
SO IT'S PRETTY HIGH LEVEL ON THIS STEP, BUT WE'RE AT LEAST KIND OF, YOU KNOW, UH, WHEN WE'RE COMPARING STORAGE ZONES, UM, THAT'LL AT LEAST BE A FACTOR AND THEN WE'LL NAIL DOWN THE SPECIFICS OF WHAT WE NEED AND FUTURE FUTURE TASKS, FUTURE PHASES.
UM, YES, I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY, UH, IN GENERAL, DO YOU S DO YOU ANTICIPATE THIS BEING A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM, HELEN? I CAN'T, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU.
IT KEEPS SWITCHING BACK AND FORTH.
UM, WERE YOU ABLE TO HEAR BY THE FIRST RESPONSE? YEAH, I HEARD THAT THE FIRST RESPONSE, AND THEN I ASKED THE FOLLOW UP QUESTION ABOUT IT, IF IT'S, IF YOU THINK IT'S A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM, RIGHT.
IT'S GOING TO BE A HARD PROBLEM TO FIGURE OUT.
AND I THINK IT'S REALLY GOING TO DEPEND ON WHERE, WHAT STORAGE ON WE END UP GOING INTO, UM, AND HOW MUCH, YOU KNOW, MIXING THERE IS.
AND THAT'LL DEPEND ON THE QUALITIES OF THE AQUIFER WE'RE IN.
UM, MAYBE JAMES, DO YOU WANNA SAY, YEAH, SURE.
I MEAN, IT'S KIND OF JUST TO ADD ONTO THE FIRST QUESTION.
WE WILL BE LOOKING AT THE NATIVE GROUNDWATER QUALITY RELATIVE TO WHAT STABILITY PARAMETERS WE NEED IN THE RECOVERED WATER, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY THAT'S GOING TO AFFECT HOW MUCH WATER WE CAN RECOVER WITHOUT TREATMENT.
AND SO WE WILL BE LOOKING AT THAT IN THIS PHASE, IN THE CONTEXT OF COMPARING ZONES.
SO A GOOD STORAGE ZONE MIGHT HAVE, LET'S SAY THE EDWARDS IS GOING TO BE MUCH MORE COMPATIBLE WITH AUSTIN'S WATER THAN LET'S SAY A SIMSBORO, WHICH IS MUCH SOFTER.
SO, UH, WE WILL HAVE THAT, UH, WE'RE NOT GOING TO DO A LOT OF DETAIL ON IT, BUT WE'RE GOING TO CONSIDER IT AT THE LEVEL OF COMPARING BETWEEN, UH, POTENTIAL STORAGE ZONES, YOU KNOW, RECOGNIZING THAT THAT IS AN ISSUE.
THE SECOND PART OF THE QUESTION, NOT REALLY, AS FAR AS A CONCERN, UM, W THE NEXT PHASE, YOU KNOW, CERTAINLY WHEN WE DO THE, ONCE WE PICK A STORY, WE'LL BE DIVING PRETTY DEEPLY AND DOING, DOING STABILITY MODELING.
AND LIKE, LIKE HELEN SAID, BACKING THAT UP WITH POSSIBLE.
IF, IF THERE'S A CONCERN, WE MIGHT DO LOOP TESTS WITH EXISTING PIPES IN THE SYSTEM, JUST, JUST TO MAKE DOUBLE SURE THAT WE'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY KIND OF RED WATER EVENTS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
UM, SO, AND I APOLOGIZE FOR MAYBE NOT BEING SMART ENOUGH TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING I'VE HEARD OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS, BUT WALK ME THROUGH HOW THE, THE ASR GETS FILLED WITH TREATED WATER.
I WANT TO GET A TIME CHECK WE'RE AT FOUR 50.
DO FOLKS HAVE TO LEAVE AT FIVE OR DO WE HAVE A CHANCE TO KEEP GOING AFTER FIVE FOR JUST A LITTLE BIT SO WE CAN GET TO THESE OTHER AGENDA ITEMS? I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE WE'RE NOT GOING TO LOSE A FORUM.
DOES ANYBODY HAVE TO LEAVE AT FIVE ON THE DOT? ALL RIGHT, CARRY ON, ALAN.
[01:25:03]
YOU'RE MUTED, HELEN.CAN'T HEAR YOU STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU NOW.
SO I'M REALLY, I'M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THAT.
BUT YES, BILL, THE PLAN IS TO, UM, TO STORE TREATED WATER.
SO, BUT SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS THE POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT YOU COULD HAVE TO TREAT THE ASR WATER IF IT'S, IF THE COMPATIBILITY IS NOT THERE, YOU MAY HAVE TO TREAT IT AGAIN.
AM I HEARING THAT CORRECTLY? KELLEN? WE'RE NOT HEARING YOU.
SO, SO BOOM, THAT'S IT, IT REALLY DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH WE WANT TO RECOVER.
THERE'S GOING TO BE THE INTENT IS TO GET THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ACTUAL WATER THAT WE STORED BACK IN A VERY HIGH PERCENTAGE WHERE THERE WON'T BE ANY TREATMENT REQUIRED TO RECONDITION IT.
UM, BUT IF WE WANT TO MAXIMIZE RECOVERY, AS WE GET TO THE END OF THAT STORED WATER BUBBLE, THERE'LL BE A TRANSITION.
WE'LL START PICKING UP SOME OF THAT NATIVE GROUNDWATER.
AND IF IT, BOSTON WATER DECIDES IT'S IN THEIR BEST INTEREST TO EXTEND THAT RECOVERY, AND WE MAY GRADUALLY NEED THEIR CONDITIONING, THAT WATER.
AND WHEN I SAY TREATMENT, I'M JUST TALKING ABOUT PH ADJUSTMENT, ALKALINITY, CALCIUM, JUST THOSE PARAMETERS, NOT ARO OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
IT'S JUST A CHEMICAL, A CHEMICAL ADDITION THAT SOUNDS LIKE, YEAH, THAT'S NO FILTRATION, NOTHING LOCAL MEANS AND DOING SOME PH ADJUSTMENT AND ALKALINITY.
THAT'S, THAT'S THE EXTENT OF WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.
THAT'S THE END OF MY QUESTIONS.
DO WE HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS? IT SOUNDS LIKE WE'LL GOING TO HAVE LOTS OF OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT.
SO IF THAT'S THE CASE, YOU WOULD BE PAINTING A TREATMENT FACILITY AT THE ASR SITE OR SOMEWHERE ALONG THAT ANYBODY HEAR ME THINK SO.
UH, SO YES, PROBABLY WE WOULD BE ANTICIPATING SOME SORT OF TREATMENT, UM, AT THE ASR SITE OR BEFORE IT WOULD GET INCORPORATED BACK INTO THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.
AND IT'S SIMILAR TO HOW, UM, THE SAN ANTONIO PROJECT IS SET UP RIGHT NOW.
THEY TREAT AT THE, AT THE WESTFIELD.
AND, UM, ACR FOLKS, LET'S KEEP MOVING TO WINTER STORM
[2.d. Winter Storm Event Presentation]
EVENT PRESENTATION.UH, TASK FORCE MEMBERS, KEVIN CRIPPEN AND AUSTIN WATER.
WE'LL GET THE SLIDES QUEUED UP HERE AND IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, I'LL JUST EVERYBODY TO A BUCKLE, THEIR SEAT BELTS, LOW AND TIGHT, AND WE'LL TRY TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN AS QUICKLY AS WE CAN, UM, BUT FEEL FREE.
UM, OBVIOUSLY THE SLIDES WILL BE AVAILABLE, UM, AFTER THE MEETINGS THAT ARE FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS THAT WE NEED TO, UH, TO HANDLE.
AND IF ANYBODY NEEDS TO STOP ALONG THE WAY TO, UH, UH, GET QUESTIONS AND JUST PLEASE HOLLER OUT NOW, I'LL TAKE THOSE, UH, SORT OF, UM, REALLY THE PURPOSE OF THE PRESENTATION TODAY IS REALLY JUST TO UPDATE THE, UH, TASK FORCE ON THE RECENT EVENTS DURING THE WINTER STORM URI.
UM, THIS SLIDE PRESENTATION IS BASICALLY THE CULMINATION OF SOME SUMMARY PRESENTATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ALREADY MADE TO A CITY COUNCIL.
UM, THEY ALSO MOTOR OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE, UH, AND, UH, THE, UH, WHARTON WASTEWATER, UH, COMMISSION.
SO, UH, WE'VE TRIED TO KIND OF COMPILE ALL THAT TOGETHER.
UM, I'LL BE MAKING THE PRESENTATION AND I DIDN'T PARTICIPATE IN THE, UH, THE, UH, THE, UH, OPERATION CENTER AS ONE OF THE INCIDENT COMMANDERS.
UM, SO WE'LL KIND OF GET THROUGH THIS NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.
THIS SLIDE IS REALLY JUST PROVIDED AS A, AN OVERVIEW
[01:30:01]
OF OUR WATER SYSTEM, OUR WATER SERVICERS ABOUT 540 SQUARE MILES.IT'S DIVIDED INTO NINE PRESSURE ZONES.
THE PRESSURE ZONES ALLOW US TO PUMP FROM ONE LOCATION TO ANOTHER HIGHER ELEVATION SO THAT WE CAN MAINTAIN A SYSTEM OF PRESSURE ACROSS THE UTILITY, GIVEN THE WIDE VARYING TOPOGRAPHY AND ELEVATION THROUGHOUT OUR SERVICE AREA.
UM, YOU'LL NOTE, THESE ARE COLOR-CODED.
UM, THE SIMPLE ZONE IS, IS SUBDIVIDED BY THE, UH, THE COLORADO RIVER, UH, LABORED LIGHT THAT FLOWS THROUGH TOWN.
THERE'S THE, THOSE ARE THE TWO GREEN AREAS.
UM, UM, CENTRAL ZONE IS WHERE THE BULK OF OUR WATER, THE HIGHEST VOLUME OF OUR WATER ENTERS THE SYSTEM FROM OUR WATER TREATMENT PLANTS ON LAKE AUSTIN, ALL RICK AND THE DAVID'S WATER TREATMENT PLANT, UM, FROM THOSE CENTRAL STORAGE ZONES, UH, WATER'S PUMPED PROGRESSIVELY EITHER NORTH TO THE NORTH PUMP, UH, PRESSURE ZONE NORTHWEST A AND THEN NORTHWEST B.
AND THEN SIMILARLY FROM THE SIMPLE ZONE OUT SOUTH SOUTHWEST, A SOUTHWEST BE AT SOUTHWEST C.
UM, THE, THE OTHER, I GUESS, NUANCE HERE IS THAT WE OF COURSE HAVE OUR HANCOCK'S WHERE PEOPLE PLANT, WHICH TAKES WATER AT A HIGHER ELEVATION FROM LAKE TRAVIS.
AND THAT WATER IS INTRODUCED, I BELIEVE, INTO THE NORTHWEST EIGHT PRESSURES.
UM, THIS IS BASICALLY A GRAPHIC THAT DESCRIBES SORT OF THE, THE PRIMARY SYSTEM, UH, CONDITIONS DURING THE WINTER STORM EVENT.
UM, YOU'LL NOTE THAT THE WINTER STORM GENERALLY IS REFLECTED HERE AS ABOUT AN EIGHT DAY PERIOD.
UH, THE FREEZING BEGAN ON ABOUT THE 12TH, UM, AND LASTED FAIRLY CONSISTENTLY THROUGH THE, UH, 20TH.
UM, SO FOR THAT EIGHT DAY PROCESS, UM, YOU KNOW, JUST TO ACQUAINT YOU WITH THE PARTICULAR SLIDE, THE RED LINE REPRESENTS OUR COMBINED SYSTEM STORAGE.
SO THAT'S THE WATER STORED IN THE DRINKING WATER RESERVOIRS THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
WE HAVE AROUND 38 RESERVOIRS THROUGHOUT THE CITY THAT PROVIDES STORAGE AT DIFFERENT ELEVATIONS, AGAIN, TO MAINTAIN PRESSURE IN THE DIFFERENT PRESSURES ZONES.
UM, THOSE ARE ALSO, UM, SUPPLIED BY A NUMBER OF PUMP STATIONS.
I THINK THERE ARE AROUND 40 ODD PUMP STATIONS THAT WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH THOSE STORAGE RESERVOIRS.
UM, THE BLUE LINE REPRESENTS WHAT WE CALL USAGE AND BASICALLY THAT'S, UM, YOU KNOW, THE WATER THAT IS BEING, UM, LEAVING THE SYSTEM, IF YOU WILL, FOR A VARIETY OF PURPOSES FOR BOTH DOMESTIC AND INDUSTRIAL USE, UM, AS, OR AS IT RELATES TO THIS PARTICULAR GRAPHIC THAT ALSO, UM, INCLUDES, UM, WHAT WE WOULD POTENTIALLY BE LOSING FROM THE SYSTEM.
SO I JUST WANTED TO MAKE THAT NOTE HERE, BECAUSE THERE'LL BE A LATER SLIDE THAT HELPS DESCRIBE SOME OF THE NUANCE OF THAT.
UM, THE BRAIN REPRESENTS PUMPING.
SO THAT'S ACTUALLY THE WATER THAT IS PUMPED FROM OUR WATER TREATMENT PLANTS INTO THE SYSTEM.
UH, YOU'LL NOTE THAT IN THE VERY EARLY DAYS OF, UH, KIND OF BEFORE THE WINTER STORM, THERE'S KIND OF A PEAK A, UH, ON WATER USAGE IN THE, I WOULD SAY ROUGHLY THAT ON THE TEMP THAT, UM, IS FRANKLY WAS A PRE EVENT TO THE WINTER STORM.
UM, WE ACTUALLY HAD A FAIRLY LARGE WORK TRANSMISSION MAIN, UM, UH, EXPERIENCED, FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT LEAK IN THE SYSTEM BEFORE THE EVENT STARTED.
THE ONLY REASON I BRING IT UP AS TO JUST KNOW THAT YOU CAN SEE HOW THINGS LIKE WATER LOSS IMPACT, UM, THE BLUE LINE OF THE COURSE OF THE EVENT, UM, AS THE EVENT STARTED IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE EVENT, SAY AROUND 12, THE 12TH, UM, WE BEGAN TO EXPERIENCE FREEZE CONDITIONS.
UM, I I'LL JUST KIND OF REFLECT THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, THIS WAS A SYSTEM WIDE EMERGENCY.
AND SO, UM, IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE EVENT, UM, YOU KNOW, WE WERE ACTUALLY HAVING TO, UM, PUT CREW ON THE ROAD TO DEAL WITH, UM, POWER OUTAGES.
CAUSE YOU'LL RECALL THAT DURING THIS EVENT, THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT STRAIN ON THE LOCAL GRID AS WELL, STATEWIDE ELECTRICAL GRID.
WE WERE EXPERIENCING POWER OUTAGES ACROSS THE SYSTEM.
SO WE HAD A VARIETY OF, OF OUR CREWS TENDING TO MATTERS DUE TO THE ROLLING, UM, OUTAGES, UM, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENT, UM, YOU CAN SEE THAT WE GOT FAIRLY DEEPLY INTO THE EVENT.
UM, AND, AND GENERALLY, YOU KNOW, THE SYSTEM WAS PERFORMING, YOU KNOW, WITHIN A MORE NORMAL RANGES.
AND IT REALLY WASN'T UNTIL WE GOT TO ABOUT THE 16TH THAT WE REALLY BEGAN TO SEE, UM, SOME SIGNIFICANT DEPARTURES FROM NORMAL OPERATIONS ACTIVITY.
THAT'S SHOWN IN THIS, THIS BLUE BOX, WE CALL IT BOX, WE CALL THE QUARTER THE CRITICAL 48 HOUR PERIOD.
[01:35:01]
AND I THINK WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THERE IS, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT THE BLUE LINE BEING DEMAND, WHICH AT THAT POINT CONTINUES TO SHOW A FAIRLY HIGH LEVEL OF DEMAND FOR TYPICALLY, YOU KNOW, A FEBRUARY TIME STEP.UM, YOU KNOW, AT THAT POINT WE'RE STILL ABLE TO BASICALLY KEEP UP WITH DEMAND.
SO THAT'S SHOWN BY THE GREEN LINE, BUT WE'RE STARTING TO SEE A LITTLE BIT OF A DEPARTURE BETWEEN DEMAND AND PUMPING, WHICH STARTS TO ALSO MANIFEST ITSELF BY A, A REDUCTION IN STORAGE VOLUMES.
SO THAT'S AGAIN, THE RED LINE.
AND AS YOU CAN SEE THROUGH THAT PERIOD, THE RED LINE BEGINS TO CONTINUE TO DIP WHILE THE BLUE LINE, AGAIN, THE USAGE LINE CONTINUES TO INCREASE AT A FAIRLY, UM, UH, ALARMING RATE.
UM, AND SO, YOU KNOW, THROUGH THE STORM AND THROUGH THE COLD WEATHER, YOU KNOW, THIS CONTINUED AND ULTIMATELY DEPLETED OUR WATER STORAGE.
UM, AND I THINK WHAT I'LL DO HERE IS JUST SORT OF FLIP TO THE NEXT SLIDE TO KIND OF GO THROUGH A FEW OF THE DETAILS ABOUT THE TRAJECTORY OF THE STORM.
UM, THIS SLIDE, I KNOW IT'S VERY CROWDED AND CERTAINLY YOU CAN STUDY IT WHEN YOU HAVE MORE TIME, BUT I THINK REALLY THIS SLIDE IS REALLY JUST INTENDED TO ISOLATE CERTAIN EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE, UM, THROUGHOUT THE PRESSURE LOSS IN THE SYSTEM, JUST TO REINFORCE THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, IT WAS A FAIRLY CHAOTIC CIRCUMSTANCE.
THE SYSTEM WAS, UM, BEHAVING IN WAYS THAT, YOU KNOW, WE HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED BEFORE.
UM, STARTING, YOU KNOW, MOST NOTABLY, UH, WE WERE GETTING INFORMATION REGARDING OUTAGES AND OURSELVES LET'S BE PRESSURE ZONE.
SO THOSE, THOSE WERE AREAS IN SOUTHWEST SAUCE.
UM, WE, UM, HAD THE INCIDENT COMMAND STRUCTURE, UM, PRE POSITIONED.
AND SO WE, WE FULLY BROUGHT THAT INTO, UM, UM, FORMAL OPERATION ON THE SEVENTH AT 7:00 AM ON 17TH.
UM, AS THIS, THE CONDITIONS, UH, CONTINUE TO WORSEN, WE CONTINUE TO SEE HIGH LEVELS OF QUOTE, UH, WATER USAGE THAT PEEKED DOWN, UM, AND AN HOURLY, UH, PEAK USE OF 330 MGD AT 9:00 AM ON THE 17TH.
UM, THAT RESULTED IN US HAVING TO ISSUE A BOIL WATER NOTICE, UH, UH, IN THE SAMPLE MUST BE PRESSURE ZONE 11:00 AM, UM, AS WE WERE CONTINUING TO DEAL WITH THE, UM, INCREASES IN USE.
AND AGAIN, THAT'S KIND OF A COMBINATION OF USE LOSS, A VARIETY OF, OF, UH, PHENOMENON THERE.
UM, ON THE SEVENTH, I THINK AT ABOUT 2:00 PM, WE DID IN FACT LOSE POWER TO OUR OLD BRICK OR TREATMENT PLANT.
AGAIN, ONE OF OUR, UM, ONE OF OUR THREE WATER TREATMENT PLANTS, ONE OF THE TWO LARGER WATER TREATMENT PLANTS, UM, THAT OUTAGE WAS BASICALLY DUE TO, UM, WE'D HAD A FAILURE OF A PRIMARY POWER FEED TO THE, TO THE, UM, UM, THE LOW SERVICE PUMP STATION, UM, THAT THE SECONDARY FEED WAS THEN, UM, UH, WELL, THE PRIMARY FEED WAS, UM, RE UH, SECONDARY FEED WAS ESTABLISHED THROUGH AUTOMATIC SWITCHING OPERATION BY AUSTIN ENERGY.
UM, THAT SECONDARY FEED WAS IN COMPROMISED.
UM, AND WE LOST POWER AT THAT POINT, UM, THAT REQUIRED US TO, UM, BRING, UH, PERSONNEL TO THE PLANT ELECTRICAL PERSONNEL, TO THE PLANT TO RESTORE OR RESTORE POWER AT THAT LOCATION.
UM, POWER WAS RESTORED AT THE PLANT APPROXIMATELY 5:30 PM.
SO AFTER ABOUT A, UM, THREE, THREE AND A HALF HOUR PERIOD, UM, JUST A NOTE THAT, UM, UH, YOU KNOW, REMEMBER THAT AT THIS POINT IN TIME, UM, ROADS WERE BASICALLY IMPASSABLE THROUGH THE CITY.
SO IT DID THINK THROUGH SOME PERIOD OF TIME TO ACTUALLY GET TO THE PLANT AND RESPOND, AND JUST AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAT, YOU KNOW, UNFORTUNATELY STARTING UP OR TREATMENT PLAN AFTER IT IS FULLY LOST POWER IS NOT A INCONSEQUENTIAL MATTER.
IT TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT TO ACTUALLY SHUT DOWN SYSTEMS FOR SAFETY REASONS I'M INTO RESTART THEM.
UM, UH, DURING THAT PROCESS, THE CITYWIDE BOIL WATER NOTICE WAS ISSUED ON THE 17TH, THAT EIGHT 30, UM, BY 1:00 AM ON THE 18TH, WE WERE BACK AT THREE SHUTDOWN FLOW RATES.
UM, SO I'M GOING FAST, BUT ALL RIGHT, UH, NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.
THEN WE SORT OF SHIFTED THE RECOVERY PROCESS.
UM, YOU CAN SEE AT THIS POINT, UM, A, YOU KNOW, UM, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE RESTORED PUMP IS JUST THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE SLIDE.
UM, DEMAND HAD FALLEN, OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE WE WERE, UH, YOU KNOW, AT, AT, AT VERY LOW WATER STORAGE ELEVATIONS.
SO IT SORT OF HAPPENED NATURALLY IF YOU WILL.
[01:40:01]
THIS POINT, THE SYSTEM BEGINS TO REFILL, UM, PLANTS ARE OPERATING NORMALLY, UM, UH, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THEM, THE MORE, UM, OUT OF RANGE, DEMAND BEHAVIORS BEGIN TO NORMALIZE.UM, AND SO BY FIVE 30 ON THE 22ND, UH, WE WERE ABLE TO, UM, LIFT THE BOIL WATER, NOTICE TO THE CENTRAL ZONE AND THEN FOLLOWED SUIT, UH, NORTH SOUTH, UH, NORTHWEST EIGHT, UH, BOIL WATER NOTICES ARE LIFTED ON THE 22ND, AROUND FOUR 30.
UH, WE FOLLOWED SUIT, UH, BY LIFTING THE CITY-WIDE BOIL WATER NOTICE ON THE 23RD AT 1145.
UM, AND THEN, UH, LIFTED EMERGENCY WATER USE RESTRICTIONS WOULD REALLY JUST AIMED AT TRYING TO CURTAIL, UM, OUTDOOR WATER USE ON THE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, UH, UM, UH, ADVANCED THAT THERE WERE ANOMALOUS, UH, YOU KNOW, UH, DISCRETIONARY NON-DISCRETIONARY USES.
UM, AND SO THAT'S KIND OF THAT SIDE OF THE STORY.
UM, THIS IS A SLIDE REALLY, THAT JUST KIND OF GETS INTO SOME OF THE DETAILS OF SOME OF THE PHENOMENON THAT WE SAW, UM, WHICH WE BELIEVE, WHICH WE BELIEVE HELPED LEAD TO SOME OF THE UNUSUALLY HIGH, UM, WATER USE DURING THAT TIME, AS YOU CAN SEE.
AND I WON'T BOTHER KIND OF GOING THROUGH ALL THE DETAILS, BUT IF YOU'LL NOTE JUST ON THE BOTTOM LINE, THERE ARE SOME STACKED BAR CHARTS THAT I HAVE SOME GRAY AND GREEN.
UM, EACH OF THOSE BAR CHARTS INDICATE NUMBER OF PUBLIC SIDE OR UTILITY LINE BREAKS THAT WE BEGAN TO SEE THAT WERE CALLED IN.
UM, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY WE, WE, WE EXPECT THAT SOME, THERE WERE SOME DELAYS IN REPORTING BREAKAGE, UH, AND IN THE SYSTEM JUST SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE WEREN'T MANY EYES OUT IN THE FIELD, UM, PEOPLE WEREN'T ON THE ROADS.
AND SO WHERE WE MAY HAVE HAD MORE VISIBILITY TO, UM, SEE, UH, WATER LEAVING THE SYSTEM, YOU KNOW, WE WEREN'T GETTING IMMEDIATE CALLS, BUT I, YOU KNOW, AROUND THE 18TH, WE STARTED TO SEE A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF CALLS.
AND SO YOU CAN SEE THE CALL RATE GO.
AND AGAIN, THESE ARE CALLS FOR WATERLINE REPAIRS, AND AGAIN, OUR WATERLINE REPAIRS, YOU KNOW, GROWING FROM 17 AND THEN 30 ON THE 19TH, AND THEN 23 AND 26.
SO OVER THIS PERIOD, YOU KNOW, WE EXPERIENCED, UH, SOMEWHERE IN THE ORDER OF A HUNDRED TO 150, UM, PUBLIC SIDE BREAKS THAT WE HAD TO ATTEND TO, UM, YOU KNOW, BASICALLY DURING THIS, YOU KNOW, SEVERAL DAY PERIOD, WE ENDED UP HAVING TO REPAIR, YOU KNOW, UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT COULD BE A NORMAL MONTH WORTH OF BREAKAGE IN OUR SYSTEM.
SO NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE, IN OUR POST RECOVERY PROCESS, WE HAVE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOME MORE FORENSIC WORK TO TRY TO DISTINGUISH, UM, YOU KNOW, TRY TO KIND OF GET INTO THE DETAILS OF, YOU KNOW, WHERE THE WATER WAS ACTUALLY GOING.
UM, UH, YOU KNOW, I'LL STOP JUST TO SAY THAT ONE OF THE CHALLENGES WITH OUR SYSTEM AND WITH MOST WATER SYSTEMS, UH, YOU KNOW, IN, IN THE COUNTRY AND, UM, IN THE WORLD, FRANKLY, UM, YOU KNOW, ONCE WATER LEAVES THE WATER PLANTS, WE START TO HAVE DIFFERENT ABILITY TO SEE WHERE THAT WATER IS IN THE SYSTEM.
SO ONCE IT LEAVES THE PLANTS, WE HAVE A GOOD IDEA OF WHAT THOSE VOLUMES ARE.
AS THE WATER IS PUMPED INTO STORAGE RESERVOIRS, WE HAVE AN IDEA OF KIND OF A GOOD IDEA OF WHERE THAT WATER IS AND WHAT THOSE VOLUMES ARE, BUT ONCE IT LEAVES THE PLANTS AND IT'S IN THE PIPES, UM, WE ONLY HAVE INFORMATION ON, ON KIND OF WHERE THAT WATER IS BASED ON WATER METERS AT PEOPLE'S HOMES OR BUSINESSES.
AND OF COURSE, IN OUR CURRENT CONDITION, UH, CONFIGURATION, WE RELY ON MECHANICAL METERS THAT WE GET DATA FROM ONCE A MONTH, UM, TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHERE THE WATER IS.
UM, AND SO, UM, UNFORTUNATELY RIGHT NOW WE, UM, DON'T HAVE A LOT OF, UM, YOU KNOW, INTELLIGENCE ON WHERE WE MAY BE LOSING WATER THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM.
WE DO RELY ON, UM, PEOPLE CALLING AND LEAKS.
WE DO, UM, RELY ON CREWS IN THE FIELD, BUT IT GETS VERY, UM, YOU KNOW, VERY OPAQUE AND UNDERSTANDING THAT, UM, THIS IS OUR OPPORTUNITY TO PLUG OUR, UH, MY APX, OUR, UH, AMI AUTOMATED METER INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.
UM, YOU KNOW, ONCE THAT INFORMATION IS MORE FULLY IN PLACE, WE WILL HAVE BETTER ELECTRONIC DATA ON MORE OF A REAL TIME BASIS WHERE WE CAN UNDERSTAND INDIVIDUAL WATER USE AND KIND OF WHERE WATER MAY BE AT ANY HOUSE AT ANY GIVEN TIME.
UM, OBVIOUSLY RESIDENTS WILL KNOW MORE ABOUT THEIR WATER SIGNATURE MORTAR
[01:45:01]
FINGER OR FOOTPRINT KIND OF BASED ON THAT INFORMATION, WE WILL HAVE THE ABILITY AS A UTILITY TO AGGREGATE THAT IN INFORMATION INTO, YOU KNOW, BLOCKS NEIGHBORHOODS, PRESSURES ZONES.UM, UNFORTUNATELY WE HAD VERY LITTLE OF THAT INFORMATION.
THE GOOD NEWS IS WE DO HAVE A, A GOOD START ON OUR AMI PILOT PROJECT.
AND SO THROUGH SOME PILOT INFORMATION, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO DO AT LEAST SOME INITIAL FORENSICS TO ESTIMATE WHERE WATER MAY HAVE BEEN LOST DURING THE SYSTEM, UM, OUTAGE.
AND THAT'S REALLY WHAT THIS GRAPH IS TRYING TO DEPICT.
UM, JUST TO KIND OF GENERALLY ORIENT YOU, THE DARK BLUE STACK CHART REPRESENTS WHAT WE BELIEVE IS CUSTOMER WATER DEMAND, WHICH IS ACTUALLY WATER BEING USED IN HOUSEHOLDS.
UM, THE, UM, ORANGE STACK BAR WOULD BE THE CUSTOMER FAUCET DRIPPING OR, UM, UM, BREAKS THAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED ON THE CUSTOMER SIDE.
AND AGAIN, THAT'S AN APPROXIMATION BASED ON, UM, LOOKING AT AMI DATA AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND, UM, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, FIRST ON KIND OF A HOUSE BY HOUSE WHERE WE SAW PEOPLE EXPERIENCING ANOMALOUS WATER INCIDENTS AT THEIR HOUSE.
SO WE CAN SEE WHERE THERE'S A HIGH, HIGH SPIKE THAT MAY BE A VERY SHORT DURATION, WHICH WOULD BE A SIGNATURE OF, I LIGHT A LINE BREAK THAT HAPPENED THAT WAS SUBSEQUENTLY REPAIRED.
UM, UH, VERY HIGH CONTINUOUS USE WOULD BE MORE OF A, UH, OF, UH, OF, UH, INCIDENT OF A LONGSTANDING LEAK, LIKE A, MAYBE A FLUSH VALVE THAT WAS STUCK OR MAYBE AN UNDETECTED LEAK.
UM, AND SO YOU CAN SEE AS THE, AS THE EVENT BEGAN AROUND THE 15TH, WE STARTED TO, I MEAN, AND AGAIN, THIS IS ALL FORENSIC INFORMATION.
WE'VE HAD THIS POST EVALUATION.
YOU CAN SEE WHAT WE BELIEVE HAPPENED IS THAT, YOU KNOW, INITIALLY WE STARTED TO SEE PRIVATE SIDE, UM, YOU KNOW, LIKELY FAUCET DRIPPING OR PEOPLE TAKING ACTIONS.
YOU KNOW, THIS IS THREE OR FOUR DAYS INTO THE FREEZE TO FILL BATHTUB AND START TO TRY TO INDEPENDENTLY STORE OR DRIP FAUCETS, UM, AS THE SYSTEM WAS DE-WATERED AND PRESSURE WAS LOST, OBVIOUSLY, UM, YOU KNOW, THOSE, UM, MATTERS BEGAN TO BE REPLACED BY, UM, UH, UTILITY SIDE LEAKS.
AND AGAIN, THIS KIND OF COINCIDES TO THE GRAPHIC BEFORE WHERE WE'RE STARTING THEN, YOU KNOW, AROUND THE 18TH TO SEE OR RECEIVE A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF, OF, UM, UH, CALLS ON PRIVATE OR PUBLIC SIDE BREAKS.
AND THEN AGAIN, AS WE SYSTEM PRESSURE IS STARTING TO RESTORE AROUND THE 20TH OF THE 21ST, YOU KNOW, AND WE SEE PEOPLE STARTING TO FIX LEAKS.
WE BEGAN TO HAVE MORE SUCCESS AND FIXING UTILITY SIDE LAKES.
WE'RE ACTUALLY ABLE TO PUSH MORE WATER INTO STORAGE, WHICH IS THE, THE LIGHT BLUE BAR AT THE TOP.
SO I'M GOING TO TAKE A BREATH THERE.
I KNOW I WENT THROUGH THAT VERY FAST, BUT IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, I THINK I'LL JUST SAY, UM, SOMEBODY'S GONNA ASK A QUESTION.
MY QUESTION IS THAT THIS IS, I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A RARE EVENT, BUT WHAT ARE THE LESSONS LEARNED THAT THE UTILITY HAS LEARNED FROM, FROM THIS EVENT? SO, UM, LET ME SAY THAT, UM, THERE'VE BEEN A LOT OF LESSONS LEARNED AND LET ME, THERE'S A FEW SLIDES IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES THAT KIND OF DISCUSS THAT A BIT.
UM, AS WELL AS WE'LL TALK, I'LL TRY TO COVER KIND OF THE OVERALL CITY AFTER ACTION PLANS, AS WELL AS AUSTIN WATER ACTION PLANS.
BUT I THINK KIND OF, YOU KNOW, ONE JUST BASED ON THIS SLIDE RIGHT HERE, YOU KNOW, ONE LESSON LEARNED GIVE IS, UM, YOU KNOW, OUR DECISION TO INVEST MONEY AND TO MOVE OUR UTILITY INTO AMI, I THINK IS, WAS WHAT WAS DEFINITELY REINFORCED BY THIS EVENT.
THIS EVENT CERTAINLY HAS JUST, UM, HEIGHTENED THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING BETTER REAL TIME UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE WATER IS BEING USED AT ANY TIME IN THE SYSTEM.
I THINK MAYBE AS WE GOT INTO THE AMI, UM, YOU KNOW, UM, MOVING FORWARD ON THAT AS A PROJECT, I THINK WE CERTAINLY APPRECIATED THE WATER SAVING AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO, TO, TO, UM, UH, IMPROVE OR INFORM CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR.
BUT I THINK THAT'S DEFINITELY A LESSON LEARNED HERE IS THAT HAVING THAT AMI DATA WILL BE INVALUABLE IN A REAL TIME SENSE AS WE TRY TO DEAL WITH WITH
[01:50:01]
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SYSTEM UPSETS IN THE FUTURE.SO I'LL GET TO SOME MORE OF THOSE QUESTIONS, UM, MR. MICHELLE, AS WE GET INTO THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES, BUT IF YOU'LL LET ME, I'LL MOVE ON AND I ASK A QUESTION.
UM, I'M JUST TRYING TO SORT OF, EXCUSE ME, UNDERSTAND, COULD YOU, FOR ME COMPARE THE USE GOING ON ON THE 16TH, 17TH, AND 18TH, WHERE WE'RE SHOWING LIKE, YOU KNOW, TWO ALMOST UP TO 250 MILLION GALLONS PER DAY, HOW DOES THAT COMPARE TO A SUMMER PIECE? SO, I MEAN, I THINK, I THINK THAT USAGE IS ACTUALLY, I THINK DURING THIS EVENT WE EXPERIENCED, UM, HIGHER THAN OUR PREVIOUS SUMMER PEAK.
SO, I MEAN, THAT IS, UH, A VERY HIGH WATER DEMAND, A SINGULAR WOULD SPEAKING.
UM, AND, AND ACTUALLY, UM, THERESA MAY HAVE MORE, MORE DIRECT ANSWER TO THAT.
AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT OUR SUMMER PEAKS HAVE BEEN THE PAST FEW YEARS? SO THIS IS THERESA LUTES.
UH, UH, WE, I RECENTLY LOOKED AT, UH, LAST YEAR 2020, AND IT WAS 215 MILLION GALLONS A DAY.
I THINK IN THE PREVIOUS YEARS IT HAD BEEN AROUND THERE, UM, TWO OH EIGHT TO 10 TO TWO 12 IN THAT KIND OF RANGE.
AND ABOUT HOW LONG DOES THAT LAST FOR? UH, THEY'RE FAIRLY, I WOULD SAY THEY'RE FAIRLY, IT, IT, BY DEFINITION, IT'S A SINGLE DAY EVENT, BUT LEADING UP TO IT AND THEN, UM, YOU KNOW, AFTER IT, IT GETS UP IN THAT THOSE HIGHER RANGES, PROBABLY FOUR DEPENDS ON HOW HOT AND DRY IT IS, BUT IT CAN BE FOR A WEEK OR SO.
UM, WITH OUR WATERING SCHEDULES, THE WATER USE PATTERN CHANGES, YOU KNOW, DAY BY DAY BASED ON THE WATERING, UM, SCHEDULE GROUP THAT'S IN EFFECT, UH, FOR EACH DAY OF THE WEEK.
UH, BUT IT CAN, UM, YOU KNOW, DURING THE SUMMER, TYPICALLY OUR PEAK DAYS DURING AUGUST, SOMETIMES IT EARLY SEPTEMBER, IF IT'S A VERY HOT DRY YEAR.
UH, AND SO THAT'S A TYPICAL, WELL, I GUESS CAN, CAN IT MAKE, I KNOW YOU HAVE MORE TO SAY IN THE PRESENTATION, BUT I'M JUST KIND OF WONDERING, AND I DON'T RECALL THE EXACT DATE THAT THE OLD RICK PLANT LOST THE POWER, BUT WHY IS IT THAT THE SYSTEM, I MEAN, YOU'RE TALKING A LOT ABOUT WHERE THE WATER WAS GOING, BUT WHY IS IT THAT THE SYSTEM CAN'T BE PROVIDING THE WATER THE SAME WAY IT WOULD IN THE SUMMER? WAS THERE SOME OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES PRIOR TO THE POWER LOSS AT ALL, RICK, THAT DOESN'T ALLOW IT TO PUSH WATER OUT? LIKE IT WOULD IN SOME WAY, I'M NOT SURE I FULLY UNDERSTAND YOUR QUESTION.
I MEAN, I THINK, UM, UH, YOU WANT IT, CAN I ASK YOU TO TRY TO MAYBE REPHRASE THAT? OR I THINK WHAT SHE'S SAYING IS IF, IF OUR SYSTEM CAN HANDLE THIS TYPE OF FLOW IN THE SUMMER, WHAT WAS, WHAT MADE IT NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THIS TYPE OF DEMAND? WHAT MADE IT NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT AT THIS TIME? OKAY.
UM, I THINK GENERALLY VIA A COUPLE OF THINGS, NUMBER ONE, IT WOULD BE THE PROLONGED NATURE OF THIS DEMAND.
AND THEN, UM, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY, UM, YOU KNOW, AT, AT THE TIME WHEN WE, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE DID IN FACT, WELL, I THINK THE PROLONGED NATURE OF THE EVENT COMBINED WITH THE MULTIPLE KIND OF, UM, CASCADING IMPACTS ON THE SYSTEM IS WHAT, WHAT MADE THIS PARTICULAR EVENT HAPPEN IN THE WAY THAT IT DID? I'M NOT SURE IF I'M ANSWERING THE QUESTION AND THIS IS, UH, TERESA LEWD.
SO I THINK ANOTHER ASPECT OF IT IS WE ALSO HAD SOME WINTER MAINTENANCE OF, UM, SOME OF OUR UNITS IN OUR TREATMENT PLANTS UNDERWAY.
UM, AND SO THAT WAS ALSO PART OF IT IS MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES AND, AND, UM, SOME OF THE SYSTEM COMPONENTS THAT WERE, UH, NOT ONLINE AT THE TIME.
IF I COULD HAVE THE NEXT SLIDE THEN KEVIN, I'M SORRY.
CAN I JUST ASK ONE QUESTION? OKAY.
[01:55:01]
ON THE SLIDE THAT YOU HAD UP THAT HAD THE BAR GRAPHS AT THE BOTTOM.THERE, THERE WAS, UM, UH, NOT THAT ONE.
I THINK IT MIGHT'VE BEEN THE ONE BEFORE THAT ONE.
WHAT IS THAT HEAT ON? UM, W WHERE D IS WHERE IT SAYS, UH, THE PEAK HOURLY USAGE.
WHY IS THAT SO MUCH HIGHER THERE? LIKE, IT, IT LOOKS LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU'RE FALLING, THE GRAPH THAT THE PEAK USAGE, UM, IS KIND OF ALIGNING, YOU KNOW, WITH THE, UM, THE, WHAT Y'ALL REPORTING AND THE, THE BRAKES, BUT THAT SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENT TO ME.
SO I WAS JUST CURIOUS IF YOU COULD PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL ON THAT ONE.
SO LET ME, I MEAN, AGAIN, THAT, THAT, I MEAN, THAT W I, THE BOX D REALLY PRESENTS WHEN THE, WHEN WE EXPERIENCED THE PEAK DEMAND, IF YOU WILL, ON THE SYSTEM, UM, CAN YOU, CAN YOU TRY SAY IT AGAIN AND I'LL, WELL, MAYBE I JUST NEED TO LIKE, BE WALKED THROUGH IT AGAIN LATER.
SO THE, AGAIN, THE, THE, THE, THE BOX DAY ON THE BLUE GRAPH THERE REPRESENTS, AGAIN, ITS USAGE, RIGHT? THAT WAS THE PEAK USAGE THAT WE EXPERIENCED DURING THE EVENT.
AND THAT'S A STRESS INDICATOR THAT WAS HIGHER THAN, YOU KNOW, LIKE A SUMMER PEAK THAT WE WOULD HAVE SEEN LAST YEAR, FOR EXAMPLE.
UM, SO THAT, I MEAN, THAT'S WHAT THAT LINE REPRESENTS THE GREEN LINE UNDER THAT REPRESENTS THE HOMEPAGE.
SO OUR PLANTS ACTUALLY PUMPING WATER TO TRY TO MEET THAT NEED.
YEAH, I GUESS I JUST, MAYBE I'M WRONG ABOUT THIS ASSUMPTION, BUT I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT THE PEAK USAGE AND THEN WHERE YOU HAVE, LIKE THE LEAKS LIKE THAT THERE'D BE THAT THOSE WOULD BOTH BE ELEVATED.
UM, BECAUSE I, I WAS, I THOUGHT I HEARD YOU SAY ABOUT THE, THERE, THOSE WERE CONNECTED, SO IT JUST SEEMS LIKE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE D IS THE SAME KIND OF LOW, SO, OKAY.
I MEAN, SO LET ME CLARIFY, I MEAN, IT, IT, YOU KNOW, TH THIS IS WHERE, UM, YOU, WE'VE GOT LOTS OF DIFFERENT DATA SETS THAT GO INTO MAKING THIS INFORMATION, RIGHT.
AND SO, UM, THE, THE LEAKAGE INFORMATION TO THE BREAK INFORMATION ON THE BOTTOM, THOSE ARE BASICALLY LEAKS, YOU KNOW, IT'S ACTUALLY A COUNT OF LEADS.
SO IT'S JUST NUMBER OF LEAKS THAT WE HAD TO RESPOND TO, UM, THE, THE LEAKS THAT WERE BEING REPORTED AND THEN SUBSEQUENTLY FIXED ON THESE DAYS THAT WERE SHOWN HERE, THEY PROBABLY WERE HAPPENING AND THEY CONTRIBUTED TO EXACERBATE THAT PEAK DEMAND THAT WAS GOING ON, THAT WE EXPERIENCED ON THE THINGS I THINK, I DON'T KNOW IF THAT HELPS.
I MEAN, I THINK THAT THE COMPLICATION IS THAT WE, WE BELIEVE THAT THAT VERY HIGH WATER DEMAND WAS, WAS, YOU KNOW, ATTRIBUTABLE TO A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FACTORS.
I MEAN, SOME OF IT WAS, UM, LEAKS IN AUSTIN WATERS, DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.
SOME OF THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN PRIVATE SIDE LEAKS.
SO PEOPLE EXPERIENCING BROKEN PIPES IN THEIR HOMES, IT ALSO WOULD HAVE BEEN A CON YOU KNOW, IT WOULD HAVE INCLUDED, UM, PEOPLE DRIPPING THEIR FAUCETS TO PROTECT FROM A PHRASE.
IT WOULD HAVE INCLUDED PEOPLE FILLING THEIR BATHTUBS IN PREPARATION FOR BAD THINGS HAPPENING.
UM, IT WOULD HAVE INCLUDED, YOU KNOW, JUST ANY OTHER NORMAL WATER USE BEHAVIOR AT THAT POINT IN THOUGHT.
I FIND IT HARD TO IMAGINE THAT THIS 20 GALLONS OF WATER, I WAS ABLE TO STORE AND OTHER PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SPIKES ON THAT, CONSIDERING WE WEREN'T ACTUALLY TAKING SHOWERS OR USING WATER OR FLUSHING TOILETS OR DOING ANYTHING ELSE, BUT IF YOU IMAGINE TIMING
[02:00:01]
IT, THEY'RE THERE THERE'S SIGNIFICANT TIMING ISSUES.UM, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, TRYING TO IDENTIFY EXACTLY HOW MUCH WATER MAY HAVE BEEN STORED THROUGH VARIOUS MECHANISMS. IT'S HARD TO SAY NO.
I MEAN, YOU KNOW, A BATHTUB FULL OF WATER DEPENDING IS, IS, YOU KNOW, 50 GALLONS, YOU KNOW, 50 GALLONS.
IF THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE, TWO BATHTUBS FULL THAT, A HOUSE OVER 220,000 CONNECTIONS.
I MEAN, I, YOU KNOW THAT, SO, NO, IT'S NOT ALL OF THAT.
WELL, I MEAN, IT'S INTERESTING TO GO BACK AND TRY TO DO LIKE FORENSICS ON THIS AND UNDERSTAND IT, AND IT'S A VERY USEFUL EXERCISE, SO WE'LL NEVER REALLY KNOW.
I MEAN, I THINK, AGAIN, I'M LIKE THE PITCH FOR AMI.
I MEAN, I THINK THE MORE FULLY WE HAVE AMI INSTALLED AND WE HAVE DATA SETS AVAILABLE TO US, I THINK WE CAN DO MUCH MORE TO UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW, SORT OF THAT SORT OF, YOU KNOW, 15 MINUTE BY 15 MINUTE, YOU KNOW, CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR RESPONSE SIDE OF THAT, THIS IS PRETTY FORGIVE ME, BUT I, I WON'T SAY CRUDE, CAUSE IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO GET TO EVEN THIS INFORMATION.
UM, THIS IS WHAT IT IS IT'S RIGHT.
I MEAN, AND IT, IT, IT, THERE'S A LOT OF MOVING PIECES HERE, RIGHT.
BECAUSE THESE ARE, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE DATASETS THAT ARE SOMEWHAT DISPARATE, RIGHT.
I MEAN, WE, WE GET DATA RELATIVE TO LINE BREAKAGE IN AN ARREARS FASHION.
I MEAN, LINES, BRIGHT LINES BREAKING LATE FOR SOME PERIOD OF TIME BEFORE WE GET THROUGH THEM AND FIX THEM.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, SO YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED HERE IS THAT THIS IS A, AN INCIDENT OF THE HEAD, NO SINGLE PAUSE, RIGHT.
I MEAN, THERE WERE NUMEROUS CAUSES THAT KIND OF, YOU KNOW, KIND OF HAPPEN IN CONCERT AND KIND OF CASCADED AND HAD A PRETTY, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT OF THE SYSTEM.
SO I MIGHT SUGGEST IF Y'ALL WANT MORE DATA, I DON'T Y'ALL MAY HAVE ALREADY DONE THIS, BUT FLUME IS COLLECTING DATA ALL OVER THE U S BUT I KNOW THEY HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN AUSTIN THAT USE IT AND THEY COLLECT DATA FROM ALL THEIR, ALL THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE THEIR DEVICES.
UM, IT'S, IT'S ANONYMIZED, BUT, UM, THEY'RE DOING QUARTERLY PRESENTATIONS ON WATER USE.
IT WAS VERY INTERESTING, BUT, UM, IF THERE ARE FLUMES AND OFFICER, WHICH I KNOW THERE ARE, UM, THAT'S ANOTHER WAY TO GET DATA BECAUSE AMI ISN'T HIGHLY DEPLOYED HERE YET.
I'M SURE THEY'D BE ABLE TO HELP YOU OUT THAT WE ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT WINTER STORM URI.
UM, AND THAT WAS THE PRESENTATION THEY DID THE OTHER DAY.
THERE MAY HAVE BEEN SOME ALSO WATER STAFF ON IT.
SO THAT'S ANOTHER SOURCE OF REALLY GREAT WATER USE DATA COLLECT EVERY FIVE SECONDS.
UM, KEVIN MERISSA, I DON'T KNOW, WE'RE AT FIVE 28.
I KNOW YOU HAVE LIKE SEVERAL MORE SLIDES LEFT.
DO WE WANT TO PUT THIS ON HOLD FOR OUR NEXT MEETING AND PICK IT UP? UM, AND THEN ALSO WE STILL HAVE MORE AGENDA ITEMS, UM, ADVISORY GROUP AND TASK FORCE
[2.e. Advisory Group and Task Force Subcommittee Reports]
SUB COMMITTEE REPORTS.THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF GOOD WORK HAPPENING IN THOSE.
SO OUR NEXT MEETINGS, AND WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO SCHEDULE A MEETING IN JUNE CAUSE WE HAVE MISSED, UM, WE HAVE, WE ARE, WE ARE DOWN A MEETING AND WE'VE GOT SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENING.
SO, UM, WE INDICATED THIS OVER EMAIL A WHILE AGO, BUT WE'RE GOING TO PICK UP, UM, OUR MEETINGS SO WE CAN STILL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER.
SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THIS MANY, WE HAVE ONE IN JUNE AND THEN OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED JULY 13TH.
AND WHEN I SAY REGULAR, I MEAN AIR QUOTES, BECAUSE IT'S HARD TO SCHEDULE THESE AND THEY'RE LITTLE SHAPE-SHIFTING, BUT RIGHT AROUND THAT TIME, UM, DO YOU WANT TO, BECAUSE I THINK WE HAVE A FIVE 30 STOP, RIGHT? MERISSA YEAH.
SO WHY DON'T WE, MAYBE WE CAN SUMMARIZE IN AN EMAIL, THE COMMUNICATIONS AND BILL RELIEF ACTIVITIES ARE IN THE SLIDES HERE, AND THEN WE CAN HAVE THAT BE ONE OF OUR AGENDA ITEMS THAT OUR NEXT MEETING.
AND I'M REALLY SORRY TO CUT YOU OFF KEVIN, THERE'S THIS VERY AMBITIOUS, TOO AMBITIOUS, PROBABLY, BUT WE HAVE A LOT OF STUFF TO COVER.
UM, I THINK J J BELL WILL WORK WITH US TO GET A JUNE MEETING SCHEDULED VERY, VERY SOON TO GET IT ON THEIR CALENDAR.
WHERE ARE YOU SHOT ANY? NOPE, WE'LL BE REACHING OUT VIA EMAIL.
WE'LL FOLLOW UP WITH, AS YOU INDICATED.
AND UH, WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING Y'ALL IN JUNE AND WE LOOK FORWARD AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE TO BEING IN PERSON.
I MISS ALL Y'ALL FACES IN PERSON.
UM, WE'LL HEAR FROM WATER CONSERVATION AT THAT MEETING TOO.
[02:05:01]
TO DO THAT.SO WE CAN KIND OF, YOU KNOW, WE WERE TALKING A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT, UM, AND OTHER STUFF, AND THEN WE'LL ALL SORT OF CIRCLE BACK TO MERISSA ABOUT ANY SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN.
I KNOW THE ONES, THE ONES I'VE HAD HAVE BEEN MEETING, BUT, UM, Y'ALL THANK YOU SO MUCH.
DO I HAVE A MOTION TO ADJOURN? SECOND? THERE'S A SECOND.
I'M SURE THERE WAS A FIRST IN THERE.
I FORGOT THAT MUTE MYSELF, BUT I GUESS I MADE THE FIRST, OH, GOOD JOB, ROBERT.
THIS WAS A REALLY, REALLY INTERESTING MEETING.
UM, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WORK YOU'LL DO TO PREPARE IT.
THANK YOU FOR THE SUMMARY OF EVERYTHING.
MERISSA Y'ALL DID A LOT, PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO IT.
UM, AND I HAVE QUESTIONS LOOK FOLLOW UP.
UM, AND WE MAY BE ABLE TO JUST TO DO A LITTLE POST FROM THIS AS OUR NEXT MEETING.
YOU BYE-BYE
THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE ME FEEL ONE, TWO, THREE.