[00:00:07]
[CALL TO ORDER]
STARTED HERE AND START THE, OH, THE AUSTIN INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE PLANNING COMMUNITY TASK FORCE.I SHOULD HAVE SITUATED MY PAPERS BEFORE I GOT THIS PARTY STARTED.
[APPROVAL OF MINUTES]
IS APPROVAL OF THE MEETING MINUTES FROM THE, OUR APRIL 11TH TASK FORCE MEETING.DO WE HAVE A SECOND? PERRY JUST JOINED ANYONE'S KEEPING TRACK.
UM, DO WE HAVE A SECOND? SECOND.
OH, IS THAT PAUL? THANK YOU, PAUL.
PAUL, I HOPE YOU'RE NOT MISSING CLASS.
UM, ANY DISCUSSION? ALL IN FAVOR? AYE.
UM, OUR FIRST DISCUSSION, OH WAIT, DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMUNICATION? I JUST ROLLED RIGHT PAST THAT.
[2. Update on water supply conditions, presented by Austin Water staff]
OUR FIRST AGENDA ITEM IS UPDATE ON WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS.UM, I CAN CONFIRM THAT IT RAINED REALLY HARD AT MY HOUSE FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 SECONDS TODAY, SO WE SHOULD BE FINE.
UM, BUT YOU MIGHT HA UM, I BELIEVE MARISSA HAS A MORE IN DEPTH ANALYSIS.
AND FOR TODAY, WE HAVE A SPECIAL PRESENTER, HELEN GORILLA IS GONNA OH.
CAN EVERYBODY HEAR ME OKAY? YEP.
SO JUST AS AN OVERVIEW TO ORIENT EVERYBODY TO OUR WATER SUPPLIES, UM, AS YOU GUYS PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW, WE HAVE, UM, ACCESS TO 325,000 ACRE FEET PER YEAR, UM, FROM A COMBINATION OF OUR CITY OF AUSTIN RUN OF RIVER WATER RIGHTS, UM, AS WELL AS A CONTRACT WITH THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER AUTHORITY, UM, THAT PROVIDES FIRM WATER BACKUP, UM, UP TO 325,000.
SO THIS IS OUR KIND OF RUNNING INFLOW TABLE, UM, THAT SHOWS THE INFLOWS TO THE HIGHLAND LAKES, UM, OVER SEVERAL DIFFERENT PERIODS.
UM, THE TALLER BARS THERE SHOW AVERAGES, UM, FROM HIS, THE HISTORICAL PERIOD.
SO THE LIGHTER BLUE ONE IS FOR THE PERIOD OF RECORD, UM, THE HISTORICAL AVERAGE AND THE DARKER BLUE, BUT TALL BAR IS THE, UM, AVERAGE OVER THE MOST RECENT DROUGHT WE HAD, UM, FROM 2008 TO 2015.
AND THEN THE ONES THAT YOU CAN BARELY SEE AT THE BOTTOM ARE THE FLOWS THAT WE'VE HAD INTO THE HYMAN LAKES, UM, FOR THE LAST YEAR IN 2022 IN GREEN.
AND THEN SO FAR THIS YEAR IN 2023, UM, AND PURPLE.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE, UM, CONTINUING THE TREND OF VERY, VERY LOW INFLOWS, UM, FROM LAST YEAR, KIND OF THROUGH APRIL OF THIS YEAR.
UM, VERY LOW, SOMETIMES HISTORICALLY, UH, LOW INFLOWS OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS.
UM, SO YEAH, WITH, UH, YOU KNOW, 16 MONTHS NOW OF REALLY, REALLY LOW INFLOWS INTO THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT EFFECT HERE ON THE STORAGE GRAFT.
UM, THE LAKE LEVELS ARE HOVERING JUST OVER A MILLION ACRE FEET OF COMBINED STORAGE RIGHT NOW, WHICH IS ABOUT 50% FULL, UM, IN TERMS OF THE TOTAL HIGHLAND LAKE STORAGE.
UM, AND WE HAVE ABOUT ANOTHER 100,000 ACRE FEET, UM, BEFORE WE WOULD BE ENTERING AUSTIN'S STAGE TWO DCP RESTRICTIONS.
SO IN TERMS OF DROUGHT OVER TEXAS, UM, THE DROUGHT HAS BEEN PERSISTING, UM, IN WEST TEXAS AND IN CENTRAL TEXAS, BUT IT'S BEEN SLOWLY MOVING WESTWARD, UM, SUCH THAT PARTS OF TRAVIS COUNTY ARE NOW ONLY ABNORMALLY DRY, UM, INSTEAD OF IN THE MORE SEVERE DROUGHT STAGES.
UM, AND THE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN IMPROVING OVER THE LAST MONTH, UM, COMPARED TO THE BEGINNING OF APRIL.
UM, WE'VE GOT LESS AREAS OF THE STATE, UM, IN SEVERE DROUGHT.
AND SO WE ARE CURRENTLY IN INSO
[00:05:01]
NEUTRAL, UM, PER CURRENT CONDITIONS.SO WE TRANSITIONED OUT OF, UH, LA NINA AND INTO NEUTRAL, UM, WITH A PROBABILITY OF EL NINO DEVELOPING DURING THE MAY TO JULY TIMEFRAME, WHICH MEANS WE'RE EXPECTING SLIGHTLY HIGHER TEMPERATURES, UM, OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, BUT HOPEFULLY NORMAL RAINFALL, UM, WHICH WOULD HOPEFULLY ALLOW US TO GET SOME RAIN IN THE PLACES WE NEED IT AND START BUILDING UP SOME ADDITIONAL SUPPLY, UM, IN OUR STORAGE LAKES.
SO THIS IS THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER AUTHORITY, UM, STORAGE PROJECTION THAT THEY DO FOR THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
UM, JUST AS A REMINDER, ALL NON GARWOOD IRRIGATION IS CUT OFF, UM, FOR 2023.
UM, SO NO WATER IS BEING SENT DOWN FOR THOSE NON GARWOOD IRRIGATION RIGHTS, UH, WITH THOSE NEUTRAL AND POSSIBLY AINO CONDITIONS FORECASTED, YOU CAN SEE THAT, UM, REFLECTED HERE IN THE LAKE PROJECTIONS, UM, WHICH ARE MUCH MORE SLOWLY DECLINING IN THE SEVERE SCENARIOS AND MAY EVEN RECOVER SOME, UM, DEPENDING, YOU KNOW, IN THOSE, UH, GREEN AND BLUE LINES, DEPENDING ON WHAT WEATHER PATTERNS WE SEE OVER THE SUMMER AND THE FALL.
UM, ALTHOUGH WE HAVE BEEN TRENDING MORE TOWARDS THE, THE LOWER PROJECTIONS OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS.
SO, UM, IN TERMS OF WHAT AUSTIN'S BEEN DOING, UM, WE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE DROUGHT SITUATION, UM, CONTINUE OUR IMPLEMENTATION OF OUR WATERFORD STRATEGIES, BOTH THE DEMAND MANAGEMENT ONE THAT ARE HELPING US CONSERVE WATER AND REDUCE DEMAND ON OUR POTABLE WATER SUPPLIES, AS WELL AS THOSE SUPPLY STRATEGIES, UM, THAT COULD BE USED DURING A DROUGHT.
UM, WE'VE ALSO BEEN PROMOTING OUR CONSERVATION PROGRAMS, UM, AND OUR DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN STAGES, UM, AND DOING A LOT OF COMMUNICATION RELATED TO THAT.
SO, WE'RE CURRENTLY IN STAGE ONE DCP, UM, AND THAT'S ON TOP OF OUR EVERYDAY CONSERVATION STAGE THAT WE'RE ALWAYS IN.
UM, AND OUR STAGE ONE DCP RESTRICTIONS, UH, LARGELY INCLUDE OR ARE MOSTLY BASED ON ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON OUTDOOR IRRIGATION, UM, THE TIMES THAT YOU CAN DO THAT, UH, AND THEN ALSO LIMITATIONS ON SOME OF OUR OTHER OUTDOOR USES LIKE PATIO, MISTERS AND FOUNTAINS, THAT KIND OF THING.
AND SO THE NEXT STAGE WOULD BE DCP STAGE TWO.
UM, AND THAT COULD BE ACTIVATED WHEN WE HIT 900,000 ACRE-FEET OF STORAGE IN THE HAIM LAKES, WHICH AGAIN, WE'RE AT JUST OVER A MILLION ACRE-FEET OF STORAGE RIGHT NOW.
AND DCP STAGE TWO WOULD BE LAYERING ON, AGAIN, ADDITIONAL IRRIGATION RESTRICTIONS FOR OUTDOOR IRRIGATION ON TOP OF THE STAGE ONE REQUIREMENTS, AND THEN ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON OTHER OUTDOOR USES.
SO IN ADDITION TO LIKE THE MISTERS, WE'D BE LOOKING AT LARGER FOUNTAINS, GOLF COURSES, SOME TYPES OF CAR WASH, UM, THAT TYPE OF THING.
SO RIGHT NOW, UM, WE'RE PRETTY MUCH JUST CONTINUING TO TRACK THE DROUGHT, UM, BE REALLY AWARE OF THE INFLOWS AND THE, UM, PROJECTIONS FOR WHAT THE WEATHER IS LOOKING LIKE OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, UM, BEEN EMPHASIZING TO OUR CUSTOMERS, UM, YOU KNOW, TO LOOK AT YOUR WATER USE SIGN UP FOR MY ATX, SO YOU'RE ABLE TO SEE THAT WATER USE, UM, IN MORE DETAIL, KNOW WHAT YOUR WATERING SCHEDULE IS SO YOU CAN TRACK THOSE DCP STAGE RESTRICTIONS.
UM, AND JUST, YOU KNOW, REALLY EMPHASIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF SAVING WATER, UM, WHILE WE'RE IN THIS DROUGHT.
AND I THINK WITH THAT, THAT'S THE END OF THAT UPDATE.
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WATER SUPPLY UPDATE? ALL RIGHT.
OH, ROBERT, I'LL JUST JUST SAY THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION.
I DO LOVE GETTING THESE UPDATES, SO TOTALLY.
YEAH, TOTALLY GEEKING OUT OVER HERE.
I'M TWEETING LIKE MAD, YOU'RE WONDERING WHAT I'M DOING, BUT, UH, THANK, THANKS AGAIN.
YOU'VE ALL BEEN WARNED, ROBERT IS NOT ONLY IS THIS MEETING BEING FILMED AND TELEVISED, BUT IT'S BEING TWEETED, SO, ALL RIGHT.
[3. Overview of Water Forward 2024 Disaggregated Demand Model, presented by Austin Water staff]
OKAY.SO WE HAVE TWO PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL PRESENTATIONS TODAY.
UM, TALKING ABOUT TWO REALLY BIG KIND OF COMPONENTS OF OF OUR WATER FORWARD LOOKING, LOOKING FORWARD, OUR WATER FORWARD 24.
UM, AND SO ONE OF THEM IS GONNA BE ON THE DISAGGREGATED DEMAND MODEL.
I THINK THERE'S GONNA BE A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON THAT TOO FOR FOLKS THAT WEREN'T AROUND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF IT THE FIRST TIME AROUND MM-HMM.
[00:10:01]
WATER FOR 18 AND, AND, UM, WITH PROMISES TO LOOK INTO IT DEEPER.AND SO THAT IS WHAT WE'RE GONNA BE DOING.
LOTS OF INFORMATION COMING AT YA FROM, UH, TWO FOLKS THAT CAN EXPLAIN IT WELL, AND WE'LL GET STARTED WITH THE OVERVIEW OF THE DISAGGREGATED DEMAND MODEL.
SO WE HAVE, UH, SEVERAL PRESENTERS HERE WITH US TODAY WHO ARE GONNA BE PROVIDING KEY PARTS OF THIS PRESENTATION.
UM, JACKIE RAMBO IS WITH OUR CONSERVATION DIVISION AND HAS BEEN DOING A LOT OF WORK, UM, ON THIS AND BRINGING OUR MODEL INTO THE, UM, THE NEW WATERFORD 2024 ITERATION.
AND MI MIGUEL MORALES IS WITH OUR SYSTEMS PLANNING DIVISION AND ENGINEER WHO'S BEEN, UM, HELPING A LOT WITH THE POPULATION PROJECTIONS AND INCLUDING THAT INFORMATION INTO OUR, UH, DE DESEGREGATED DEMAND MODEL.
UM, SO IF WE COULD BRING UP THE SLIDES.
SO, LIKE JENNIFER MENTIONED, THIS IS A, A KEY PART OF OUR PLANNING PROCESS.
WE, UH, TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY WHAT STRATEGIES WE'RE GONNA USE IN THE FUTURE, WE HAVE TO KNOW WHAT OUR FUTURE, UH, DEMANDS ARE.
AND A KEY PART OF HOW WE'RE DOING THAT DIFFERENTLY IN THIS PROCESS IS THAT WE ARE CREATING RANGES OF DEMANDS THAT ARE UTILIZING THOSE RANGES OF POPULATION THAT WE PRESENTED BACK IN DECEMBER.
SO YOU'LL SEE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT IN THIS PRESENTATION IF YOU MOVE TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
SO THIS, UM, PRESENTATION, UH, WILL FOCUS ON OUR APPROACH TO ADDRESSING UNCERTAINTY AND USING AN ADAPTIVE PLANNING PROCESS.
WE'LL TALK ABOUT HOW WE ARE DEVELOPING OUR DEMANDS, AND THEN WE'LL DISCUSS HOW THIS IS DIFFERENT AND WHAT PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS WE'VE MADE FROM THE WATER FORWARD 2018 PLAN.
AND THEN WE'LL GIVE A LITTLE, UH, UH, SNEAK PEEK ON NEXT STEPS THAT WE ARE ANTICIPATING IN UPCOMING TASKS.
THIS IS MORE OF A BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW PRESENTATION THAT'S GONNA GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF INSIGHT TO THE MODEL THAT WE USE TO DEVELOP DEMAND PROJECTIONS MOVING FORWARD, HOW WE INCORPORATE THOSE POPULATION UNEMPLOYMENT, UH, PROJECTIONS, AND THEN HOW THAT WILL, UM, UH, FACTOR INTO THE REST OF OUR PLANNING PROCESS AND HELPING US TO IDENTIFY FUTURE NEEDS WHEN COMPARED TO OUR, UM, UH, PROJECTED SUPPLIES AS WELL AS, UM, FUTURE STRATEGIES, OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONSERVATION, REUSE, AND, UM, AND OTHER STRATEGIES.
SO I THINK AT THIS POINT, I TURN IT OVER TO MIGUEL, WHO COULD MAYBE INTRODUCE HIMSELF.
CAN YOU ALL HEAR ME CLOSER? CLOSER.
I'M, I'VE BEEN WITH THE CITY OF AUSTIN FOR, UM, ABOUT FOUR YEARS NOW.
UH, AND BEFORE THAT, UM, I SPENT A LONG TIME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OF FLORIDA DOING, UH, RESEARCH ON WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND, UM, WATER DEMAND SAVINGS.
UH, SO WITH THIS, WITH THIS WATER FORWARD UPDATE, WE'RE REALLY TRYING TO DO A BETTER JOB OF, UH, INCORPORATING UNCERTAINTY.
UM, SO, AND OBVIOUSLY THE FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN AND A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW IS EVEN, IS EVEN MORE UNCERTAIN.
UH, SO WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE INCORPORATING AS MANY, UH, POSSIBLE FUTURE SCENARIOS AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WE'RE, UM, SO THAT OUR PLAN AND OUR STRATEGIES ARE, ARE, ARE BEST ABLE TO ADEQUATELY ADDRESS, UM, AS MANY OF THESE FUTURE SCENARIOS AS POSSIBLE.
UH, KEEPING IN MIND THAT WE DO HAVE, UH, THIS IS AN ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN.
SO WE DO HAVE THESE CHECK-INS, THESE UPDATES THAT HAPPEN EVERY FIVE YEARS WHERE WE CAN, UH, TAKE IN NEW INFORMATION AND, UM, YOU KNOW, MAKE ANY CHANGES THAT, UH, APPEAR NECESSARY.
SO AGAIN, UM, YOU KNOW, A HUNDRED YEARS IS A LONG TIME AND IT'S, IT'S OBVIOUSLY VERY UNCERTAIN WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW.
UM, SO WHY EVEN TRY TO DO A HUNDRED YEARS PLAN OF WATER RESOURCES? UH, WE, WE FEEL THAT, UM, IT'S STILL A, A VERY USEFUL EXERCISE TO HAVE A, A LONG RANGE VIEW OF WATER RESOURCES PLANNING.
UM, MANY OF THESE STRATEGIES IN PARTICULAR, THE SUPPLY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES WILL TAKE DECADES TO
[00:15:01]
PLAN, UH, DESIGN AND BUILD.SO WE REALLY NEED TO KIND OF GET AHEAD OF THE CURVE THERE AND HAVE A LONG-TERM VISION.
AND WE DO HAVE THESE FIVE YEAR UPDATES WHERE WE'RE ABLE TO INCORPORATE NEW INFORMATION, UM, NEW METHODOLOGIES, NEW IMPROVEMENTS, SOME OF WHICH WE'RE GONNA, UH, TALK ABOUT TODAY TO KIND OF COURSE CORRECT AS WE GO.
UM, AND, UH, ADAPT OR TAILOR THE PLAN, UM, AS NEW INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
SO, THE DESEGREGATED DEMAND MODEL, UM, IT'S THE SAME MODEL THAT WE USED IN THE LAST WATER FORWARD PLAN, UM, THAT WE HAVE MADE SOME IMPROVEMENTS TO THE MODEL.
UH, THIS MODEL WAS DEVELOPED INTERNALLY AND, UH, AT ITS CORE, IT'S A, IT'S A VERY SIMPLE MODEL.
UM, GENERALLY THERE'S KIND OF THREE COMPONENTS.
THERE'S, UM, OUR MEASURES OF SIZE.
SO, UM, BY AND LARGE, THE POPULATION IS THE LARGEST DRIVER OF WATER USE.
SO OUR POPULATION PROJECTION IS OUR PREDOMINANT MEASURE OF SIZE.
THEN WE HAVE OUR ANALYSIS OF WATER USE.
UM, SO THIS IS TAKING, UM, YOU KNOW, HISTORICAL DATA ON HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE WATER, AND THEN NORMALIZING THIS DATA BY OUR MEASURES OF SIZE SO THAT THEN WE CAN COMBINE THOSE TWO OUR, OUR WATER USE FACTORS OR NORMALIZED WATER USE, UH, AND OUR PROJECTIONS OF, UH, POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT TO GET OUR AT OUR DEMAND PROJECTIONS.
SO, UH, THE NEXT FEW SLIDES, WE'LL GO INTO A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL ABOUT THESE, UH, THREE COMPONENTS.
UM, SO EVEN THOUGH THE, THE DESEGREGATED DEMAND MODEL, THE METHODOLOGY SEEMS, UM, FAIRLY SIMPLE, UH, THE REAL, UH, STRENGTH OF THE MODEL AND, UM, THE REAL COMPLEXITY COMES INTO, UH, THE DESEGREGATION PART.
SO WE DESEGREGATE THE DEMAND, UM, BOTH SPATIALLY AND ACROSS WATER USE SECTORS.
SO SPATIALLY WE HAVE, UH, 235 POLYGONS.
THESE ARE WHAT WE TERM THE D T I POLYGONS.
UH, AND THESE POLYGONS ARE ANALOGOUS TO, UH, CENSUS TRACTS.
AND WE COME UP WITH THESE WATER USE RELATIONSHIPS, THESE, UH, WATER USE FACTORS.
WE ALSO COME UP WITH OUR POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS AT THIS SPATIAL SCALE SO THAT WE HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF NOT ONLY HOW, YOU KNOW, OUR WATER DEMAND PRODUCTION IS LOOKING, BUT WHERE THAT DEMAND PRODUCTION IS IS HAPPENING.
UM, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE OUR DISAGGREGATION DOWN TO THE WATER USE SECTORS.
SO WE'RE NOT JUST LOOKING AT HOW OUR, HOW OUR UTILITY USES WATER OVERALL, HOW ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS USE WATER, BUT, UM, BREAKING IT DOWN TO HOW THIS WATER'S BEING USED.
SO BREAKING IT INTO, UM, ON THE RESIDENTIAL SIDE, SINGLE FAMILY, MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL SECTORS, AND ON THE NON-RESIDENTIAL SIDE, DOWN TO ABOUT 12 SECTORS OR SO OF, YOU KNOW, UM, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, UM, INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS.
SO THE REAL POWER COMES IN THIS DISAGGREGATION OF OF DEMAND.
MAY I ASK A QUESTION REAL QUICK JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE AND UNDERSTAND.
SO, SO THE DISAGGREGATION PART AND THE BREAKING THE CITY UP INTO THESE DIFFERENT SUB-SECTORS, AND YOU SAID IT FOLLOWS THE CENSUS TRACKS.
AND THEN I GUESS MAYBE THERE'S SOME KIND OF FURTHER SUBDIVISION IN THOSE AS WELL, AND YOU'RE LOOKING AT, AT, UM, AND KIND OF HOW WATER IS USED OR MAYBE THE TYPES OF HOMES AND BUSINESSES IN THOSE AREAS, HISTORICAL AND PROJECTED WATER USE, AND THEN MAYBE POPULATION DENSITY, SOME OTHER THINGS.
I'M GETTING REAL OUT ON A LIMB HERE CUZ THIS IS NOT WHAT MY EXPERTISE, BUT, UM, SO ALL OF THOSE THINGS BRINGS UP LIKE A UNIQUE KIND OF TAILORED TO THAT AREA AND ALL THOSE FACTORS, WATER USE THAT YOU CAN THEN DO SOME FUTURE PROJECTIONS FOR THAT.
AND THAT, SO THAT GIVES US A REALLY MORE KIND OF FINE TOOTH.
AND FOR EXAMPLE, LIKE WEST AUSTIN AND EAST AUSTIN OR A HUGE INDUSTRIAL INDUSTRIAL AREA VERSUS LAR LOTS OF CLUSTERED MULTI-FAMILY.
LIKE YOU SEE DIFFERENT WATER USE FACTORS IN THOSE.
UM, REALLY IT COMES DOWN TO UNDERSTANDING HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE WATER,
[00:20:01]
UM, GOING DOWN ALL THE WAY TO THE END USE LEVEL.SO THAT'S ANOTHER LEVEL OF DISAGGREGATION THAT WE DO, UM, TO, TO, TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY, UM, HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE WATER SO WE CAN BETTER PROJECT HOW THEY'RE LIKELY TO USE WATER INTO THE FUTURE.
AND ALSO, UM, BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW OUR STRATEGIES ARE GONNA PERFORM IN MM-HMM.
AND AS THE CITY MOVES INTO AMI AND WE GO INTO LIKE OUR NEXT ITERATION OF THIS, IT'LL BE EVEN MORE REFINED, I WOULD SUSPECT A YES.
A LOT MORE REFINED BECAUSE WE'LL BE GOING FROM, UM, MONTHLY, UH, METER READS TO, UM, HOURLY METER READS MM-HMM.
SO WE'LL BE ABLE TO DO, UM, A BETTER JOB OF DISAGGREGATING THOSE END USES.
AND PARTICULARLY THE INDOOR AND OUTDOOR COMPONENTS.
SO, UH, TO, UM, KIND OF DIG INTO THESE THREE COMPONENTS A LITTLE BIT FURTHER.
UM, THE FIRST ONE IS OUR, OUR POPULATION PROJECTION, OUR POPULATION BEING THE LARGEST DRIVER OF WATER DEMAND.
SO THESE ARE OUR UPDATED POPULATION PROJECTIONS.
UM, SO IT'S A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO SEE, BUT THE, BUT THE, THE PURPLE LINE IS OUR WATER FORWARD 18 POPULATION PROJECTION.
AND THEN, UM, GOING ALONG WITH OUR INCORPORATION OF UNCERTAINTY AND TRYING TO INCORPORATE, UH, MORE RANGES OF POSSIBLE OUTCOMES.
WE HAVE THREE POPULATION PROJECTIONS, UH, THAT WE PUT TOGETHER IN COORDINATION WITH THE CITY DEMOGRAPHER.
SO OVERALL, OUR, OUR QUOTE UNQUOTE AVERAGE POPULATION PRODUCTION IS A LITTLE BIT LOWER THAN OUR WATER FORWARD 18 POPULATION PROJECTION.
UM, BUT WE DO HAVE, UM, THAT, THAT, THAT HIGHER GROWTH POPULATION PRODUCTION LINE DOES MATCH UP, UH, FAIRLY CLOSELY WITH THE WATER FORWARD 18 POPULATION PRODUCTION.
SO, UM, SO WHAT'S, WHAT WAS THE MAIN DRIVER FOR CAUSING THAT DIFFERENCE FOR, FOR THIS AVERAGE? UH, PRESUMABLY THE, THE ONE FROM THE OLD PREVIOUS PLAN OR THE CURRENT PLAN IS, IS PROBABLY AN AVERAGE AS WELL.
SO IT'S, THERE'S AN 800,000 AUSTINITE DIFFERENCE THERE.
UM, SO WHAT, WHAT'S THE MAIN DRIVER FOR THAT CHANGE? DID YOU, YEAH.
SO, UM, WITH OUR NEW, UH, THE TRANSITION TO A NEW CITY DEMOGRAPHER, OUR NEW CITY DEMOGRAPHER, LILA VALENCIA HAS A KIND OF A DIFFERENT, UH, APPROACH TO DEVELOPING PROJECTIONS.
AND WHILE SHE, UM, PROVIDED KIND OF PRIMARILY IN GUIDANCE AND, AND FEEDBACK ON THESE PROJECTIONS, SHE RECOMMENDED THAT, UM, WE TEND TO TAILOR OFF THE, THE GROWTH RATE RATHER THAN KEEPING THE GROWTH RATE.
UM, THE SAME IN THE LATER OUT PLANNING HORIZONS AS WE GOT OUT BEYOND 2070 TO, UH, OR 2080 NOW TO 2120.
UM, AND THE RATIONALE THERE WAS THAT AS AUSTIN KIND OF GROWS INTO OUR, UM, FULL PURPOSE AND, AND LIMITED PURPOSE, UH, UH, CITY LIMITS AND GROWS INTO, ULTIMATELY FOR US, OUR, OUR OUR IMPACT FEE BOUNDARY, WHICH WE'RE USING AS OUR ULTIMATE SERVICE AREA, UM, THEN THAT GROWTH, UM, WILL NOT INCLUDE AS MUCH AT GREENFIELD DEVELOPMENT.
UM, IT'LL INCLUDE SOME DENSIFICATION, BUT WE'LL SEE, WE, WE WON'T SEE US, UH, KIND OF HAVING THAT FAST GROWTH FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING WE'LL SEE US BEGINNING TO DENSIFY AND, AND REDEVELOP.
AND THAT'LL HAPPEN AT A LITTLE BIT SLOWER PACE.
SO, UM, IN THE LAST, IN THE WATER FORWARD 18 PLAN FROM 2070, I THINK TO 2115, THE GROWTH RATES WERE HELD CONSTANT.
AND SO THAT'S WHY YOU SEE KIND OF IN THE, IN THE CUMULATIVE POPULATION PROJECTION, THAT PURPLE LINE SEEMS LIKE IT'S GOING UP A LITTLE BIT FASTER, BUT IT'S JUST THAT THE GROWTH RATE WAS HELD CONSTANT AND THAT CONSTANT GROWTH RATE IS BEING APPLIED TO A POPULATION THAT'S INCREASING OVER TIME IN THIS, UM, ITERATION OF THE POPULATION PROJECTIONS, OUR GROWTH RATES ARE DECLINING SOMEWHAT.
UM, AND SO THAT'S WHY YOU SEE KIND OF A LEVELING OUT, UM, IN THE POPULATION OUT AND TOWARDS THE FUTURE YEARS.
NOW, THE RANGE OF POPULATION, UM, PROJECTIONS BETWEEN THE LOW AND THE HIGH THAT WE INCLUDED WAS TO TRY TO GET SOME SORT OF MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION, UM, BETWEEN OUR, OUR POP PROJECTIONS AND ULTIMATELY OUR DEMAND PROJECTIONS.
I GUESS ANOTHER QUESTION SINCE I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS IS, UM, YOU KNOW, DEPENDING ON WHAT THE CLIMATE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE, THERE COULD BE A FEEDBACK ON THE POPULATION NUMBERS.
LIKE IF IT BECOMES UNBEARABLY HOT TO LIVE HERE MM-HMM.
UM, IS THAT, IS THAT CONSIDERED AT ALL?
[00:25:01]
I THINK, YOU KNOW, WHILE IT'S NOT EXPLICIT WITHIN OUR PROJECTIONS, US TRYING TO USE A RANGE IS ACKNOWLEDGING, UM, SOME OF THOSE UNCERTAINTIES.IF IT BECOMES UNBEARABLY HOT, MAYBE FOOC, IT'S, THIS BECOMES A LESS, UH, ATTRACTIVE PLACE FOR IN MIGRATION.
UM, BUT AS WELL, THERE'LL BE OTHER IMPACTS IN OTHER AREAS.
SO FOLKS MAY STILL BE TRYING TO MOVE TO AUSTIN, UM, IF THERE ARE MORE EXTREME FLOODING EVENTS, FOR EXAMPLE, IN COASTAL REGIONS.
YEAH, SO WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE CERTAINLY TRYING TO INCORPORATE MORE OF A RANGE OF POSSIBLE FUTURE, UH, POPULATION GROWTH.
UM, AND FOR THE FIRST 80 YEARS AT LEAST, UM, THE, OUR, OUR HIGH PROJECTION DOES MATCH UP, UM, FAIRLY CLOSELY WITH THE WATER FORWARD 18.
SO WE'LL STILL ESSENTIALLY BE ABLE TO KIND OF TRACK THAT KIND OF GROWTH CURVE UP UNTIL ABOUT ABOUT 80 YEARS FROM NOW.
AND AGAIN, WE'LL BE, WE'LL BE REFINING THESE NUMBERS, UM, UPDATING THEM ON, ON THE FIVE YEAR CYCLE.
I CAN'T SEE THE OTHER TASK FORCE MEMBERS THAT ARE ONLINE.
SO IF YOU ALL HAVE A QUESTION, YOU MAY NEED TO JUST PIPE UP.
CAUSE I DON'T WANNA MISS SOMETHING.
IF YOU DO HAVE A QUESTION, I'M ONLY SEEING THE SLIDE AND NOT YOUR FACES ON THE SCREEN RIGHT NOW.
I DO HAVE A QUESTION ACTUALLY, UM, JUST WHILE WE'RE ON THIS, UH, POINT, CAN Y'ALL HEAR ME? JENNIFER? THIS IS PAUL.
UM, WELL, WHEN MARISSA WAS MENTIONING, UM, SORT OF HOW THE, THE NEW DEMOGRAPHER HAS APPROACHED PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE, UM, IN AND AROUND AUSTIN, I WAS KIND OF PICTURING THE, THE SORT OF SERVICE AREA MAP FOR AUSTIN WATER.
AND I GUESS, TELL ME IF I'M WRONG, IF THIS IS, THIS IS A, A LAYMAN'S UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THIS MIGHT WORK, BUT YOU GUYS, IN A SENSE OF SORT OF MAPPED OUT, LIKE IN THE GREATER AUSTIN AREA, UM, WHERE YOU THINK CERTAIN AREAS WILL DEVELOP DENSIFY, WHAT'S GONNA GO WHERE, SORT OF, SO DO, DO YOU HAVE SOME IDEA OR SOME, I MEAN, WITHIN A RANGE YOU'RE LIKE, HERE'S GONNA, THERE'S GONNA BE A MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT, YOU KNOW, FIVE MILES TO THE EAST, UH, AND THERE'S GONNA BE ACTUALLY LIKE A NEW SAMSUNG FACTORY.
I'M MAKING THAT UP, SOME KIND OF FACTORY OVER HERE.
THERE'S A MAJOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT THAT'S GONNA REQUIRE X AMOUNT OF WATER.
UM, IS, DO YOU, IF YOU HAVE LIKE A, A, A KIND OF A MAP LIKE THAT? OR IS THAT NOT HOW IT WORKS? THAT'S NOT QUITE HOW IT WORKS IN THAT WE DON'T HAVE, UM, PROJECTIONS OR ESTIMATES OF LAND USE CHANGE FOR PARTICULAR PARCELS.
UM, AND WE HAVEN'T LOCATED, YOU KNOW, ON, IN A, IN A VERY GRANULAR SENSE, KIND OF THE LOCATION OF NEW INDUSTRIES.
UM, WE USE THESE, THOSE DTI POLYGONS THAT I THINK WE'VE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE.
AND WE HAVE A KIND OF A HIGH LEVEL MAP, UM, OF THAT, UH, ON ONE OF THE SUBSEQUENT SLIDES WITHIN THIS PRESENTATION.
IT DOESN'T SHOW THE DTI POLYGONS IN A LOT OF, UH, WITH OUTLINES, BUT THEY'RE, UM, ABOUT THE SIZE OF CENSUS TRACTS.
AND SO OUR PROJECTIONS FOR POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT ARE GENERATED AT THAT LEVEL OF GEOGRAPHY.
SO FOR, IF YOU CAN IMAGINE THE SIZE OF A CENSUS TRACT IS, GOSH, I MEAN, IT VARIES ACROSS THE CITY, BUT IT WE'RE TALKING LIKE BROADER THAN NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE LEVEL OF GEOGRAPHIES TO CREATE, UM, UH, UH, KIND OF ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT POTENTIAL GROWTH BASED ON HISTORICAL GROWTH, BASED ON, UM, UH, WHAT KIND OF, UH, DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY WE'RE SEEING THERE IN TERMS OF SERVICE EXTENSION REQUESTS OR, UM, UH, UH, OTHER DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION.
AND THEN JUST KIND OF KNOWN, UH, KNOWN DEVELOPMENTS THAT MAY BE COMING INTO A PARTICULAR AREA, WHICH A LOT OF THAT IS CAPTURED THROUGH, LIKE SITE PLAN, SUBDIVISION PLANS, THINGS LIKE THAT.
OH, AND THE ANOTHER FACTOR INTO THAT IS OUR IMAGINE AUSTIN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.
SO THAT IS, UM, WAS DEVELOPED AN APPROVED IN 2012.
IT'S, YOU KNOW, A A A LITTLE MATURE AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
UM, BUT WE DO, UH, OVERLAY OUR CORRIDORS AND CENTERS, GROWTH CENTERS, UM, THAT THE CITY HAS IDENTIFIED AS A PART OF THAT COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING PROCESS.
SORRY, THESE ARE SORT OF ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS.
WE'RE JUST TRYING TO GET A PICTURE IN MY HEAD.
THIS IS, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THIS PRESENTATION IS FOR, JUST TO GET US ALL ORIENTED TO HOW WE'RE DOING THIS WORK.
SO YES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO, UM, PIPE UP IF ANYBODY HAS ANY MORE QUESTIONS.
SO I DO HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THAT.
THIS IS SARAH, CAN YOU HEAR ME? YES, YES, SARAH.
YEAH, JUST ON THAT LAST POINT YOU MENTIONED, IMAGINE AUSTIN AND I DON'T HAVE A GREAT UNDERSTANDING, BUT I MEAN, WE DO, I
[00:30:01]
KNOW WE HAVE FUTURE LAND USE MAPS AND THERE'S SOME THINGS THAT THE CITY HAS BEEN WORKING ON RIGHT NOW THAT ARE, UM, ABOUT INCREASING DENSITY IN CERTAIN AREAS.SO COULD YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT, A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW YOU USE THE, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAPS THAT WE DO HAVE AND THE AREAS THAT ARE IDENTIFIED FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT AND HOW THAT OVERLAYS WITH THIS DEMAND PROJECTION? YEAH, SO THE PLUMS, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAPS ARE GENERATED FOR, UH, ONLY A PORTION OF THE CITY.
UM, SOMETIMES THOSE ARE FOR PARTICULAR NEIGHBORHOODS.
UM, AND IN A KIND OF COLLABORATION WITH THE, UM, UH, NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS AND, AND NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING GROUPS.
UM, PRIOR, I WAS GONNA SAY THERE WAS A LOT MORE ACTIVITY ON THE FLUBS AND KEEPING THOSE FLUBS UPDATED IN THE TEENS, THE 20 TEENS.
AND, UM, SINCE THAT TIME THERE HAS BEEN KIND OF LESS ACTIVITY IN THAT AREA.
SO THERE A L UH, HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF A, AN OLDER FLAVOR IN SOME CASES.
UM, WE HAVE TRIED TO, UM, YOU KNOW, THROUGH BUY INCORPORATING THE, UM, IMAGINE AUSTIN COMPREHENSIVE, UH, PLAN.
WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO KIND OF REFLECT THAT EXPECTATION FOR BROADER GROWTH.
UM, THE FLUS, UH, WE HAVEN'T NECESSARILY INCLUDED, UH, MORE GRANULAR ASSUMPTIONS FROM THE FLUS JUST BECAUSE, LIKE OUR PLANNING HORIZONS TEND TO GO OUT A LITTLE BIT FURTHER.
AND WE'RE DOING THE PLANNING AT A, AT A MORE, UH, UH, UH, KIND OF A LARGER GEOGRAPHY.
SO LIKE OUR FIRST, UM, PLANNING HORIZON IS 2040.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE'RE GOING FROM 2020 TO 2040 AND THEN 2080 AND, UH, 2120.
AND SOME OF THOSE, UH, THINGS THAT ARE MORE RELATED TO LIKE LAND USE, UM, AND ZONING OUR, UH, FOR A NEAR TIME STEP, UM, PLANNING HORIZON.
AND SO WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THERE AS VERY MUCH, WOULD YOU SAY THAT THERE'S VERY MUCH INTEGRATION BETWEEN THIS TYPE OF PLANNING AND OUR LAND USE PLANNING? OR IS IT THAT, UM, THE DEMAND PROJECTION IS LONGER, LONGER RANGE, BUT SOMEWHAT REACTIVE? AND DO WE, AS A CITY, IS THERE ANY SORT OF INTEGRATION OF THIS IN OUR LAND USE PLANNING? UM, SO I WOULD SAY THAT OUR, UH, APPROACH TO PLANNING IS TO TRY TO PLAN FOR WHAT WE EXPECT, UH, YOU KNOW, KIND OF OUR BEST EXPECTATION OF WHAT IS COMING DOWN THE PIPE BASED ON TRENDS, BASED ON THE CITY'S COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.
UM, AND BASED ON, UH, YOU KNOW, OUR, UH, HISTORICAL GROWTH FROM LIKE, UH, KEY, UH, CENSUS YEARS, UM, WE DON'T NECESSARILY, LIKE IN TERMS OF INTEGRATION, IF YOU'RE KIND OF THINKING OR, UM, IF YOU ARE ASKING WHETHER OR NOT, YOU KNOW, LIKE OUR ESTIMATES OF DEMAND ARE INTEGRATED INTO OUR DECISION MAKING PROCESS ABOUT FUTURE LAND USE, THAT'S NOT, WE DON'T NECESSARILY DO THAT.
I GUESS IN THAT SENSE YOU WOULD TERM IT AS US BEING A LITTLE BIT MORE KIND OF REACTIVE, ALTHOUGH WE ARE TRYING TO BE PROACTIVE IN PLANNING FOR WHAT WE THINK MAY BE COMING DOWN THE PIKE.
RIGHT, AND UM, I THINK I'D LIKE TO ADD THAT WE DO HAVE THIS, THESE POPULATION PROJECTIONS THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, HAPPEN KIND OF AT THE MACRO SCALE WHERE WE THINK THE, LIKE THE SERVICE POPULATION IS HEADED, UM, BUT THROUGH OUR DELPHI PROCESS WHERE WE PUT A, A BUNCH OF, UH, AS MANY EXPERTS AS WE CAN IN THE ROOM TO TRY TO, UM, DESEGREGATE THAT, WHERE THAT, WHERE THAT POPULATION PROJECTION, UM, IS GONNA HAPPEN.
SO WHERE THAT GROWTH IS GONNA HAPPEN.
AND, AND THAT OCCURS AT THE, AT THE DTI LEVEL.
AND THAT INCORPORATES, UM, ALL SORTS OF FACTORS INCLUDING, UM, YOU KNOW, NON DEVELOPABLE AREAS IN, UM, IN A PARTICULAR DTI, UM, YOU KNOW, UM, S SCR, R REQUESTS, UM, CURRENT, UM, BUILD OUT TYPES, UM, ALL SORTS OF, ALL SORTS OF GOOD STUFF.
I'M GONNA DO A QUICK MIC CHECK FOR TODD, BART TODD, UM, WE CAN, UM, WE SEE YOU AS A PARTICIPANT ON THE WEBEX.
SO GOING, UH, GOING BACK TO OUR DISAGGREGATION AND A LITTLE BIT ABOUT, UM,
[00:35:02]
MODEL IMPROVEMENTS, UH, THIS IS, UM, AN IMPROVEMENT THAT WE'VE, UH, CARRIED OUT WITH THIS, UM, IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER FORWARD PLAN IS THAT OUR POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT ESTIMATES, UM, ARE AT, ARE HAPPENING AT THE PARCEL LEVEL WHERE BEFORE WE WERE ESTIMATING, UM, POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT AT THE DTI LEVEL.SO, UM, A A A A NICE ASPECT OF THIS IS THAT WE'RE ABLE TO AGGREGATE UP DEMAND TO VARIOUS SPACIAL SCALES.
SO IN THE CASE OF THE WATER FORWARD PLAN, IT'LL BE THE, UM, THE DTIS OBVIOUSLY, BUT, UH, THIS IS ALSO USEFUL FOR OTHER PLANNING PURPOSES.
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, UH, WITH THE IMPACT FEE UPDATE, WE AGGREGATED UP OUR, OUR POPULATION, UH, USING THE SAME DATA SET, UH, DOWN TO THE PRESSURE ZONES FOR WATER AND THE SUB CATCHMENTS FOR WASTEWATER.
AND, UM, THIS DATA SET WAS PUT TOGETHER, UM, FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES, UH, INCLUDING THE HOUSING AND PLANNING LAND USE DATABASE.
UH, THE CITY OF AUSTIN ADDRESSES DATABASE, UM, OUR OWN WATER BILLING DATABASE AT AUSTIN WATER AND AUSTIN ENTITIES, UH, METER ACCOUNT DATA.
SO TRY TO BETTER UNDERSTAND, UH, WHERE OUR, OUR POPULATION IS AND IN WHAT KIND OF HOUSING IT IS IN TERMS OF SINGLE FAMILY AND MULTI-FAMILY.
AND THEN THIS ALSO GETS AT OUR DISAGGREGATION A LITTLE BIT.
SO THIS ACTUALLY SHOWS, UM, A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW OUR, UH, DTI POLYGONS OUR CENSUS TRACK POLYGONS, UM, YOU KNOW, COME TOGETHER THE LEVEL OF DESEGREGATION THAT WE HAVE THERE.
UH, AND IT ALSO EXPLAINS A LITTLE BIT OF WHY WE FEEL THAT THAT, UM, POPULATION GROWTH IS GONNA TAPER OUT A LITTLE BIT COMPARED TO, UH, WHERE IT WAS IN WATER FORWARD 18.
SO THESE TOP FIGURES HERE, THEY SHOW POPULATION PER ACRE, AND THE YELLOW REALLY SHOWS KIND OF OUR, OUR URBAN CORE.
SO ON THE FAR LEFT, YOU HAVE OUR, OUR 2020 URBAN CORE REALLY KIND OF, UM, LIMITED MORE SO TO DOWNTOWN, A LITTLE BIT NORTH OF THE RIVER.
AND THEN YOU SEE HOW THAT URBAN CORE EXPANDS AS AS TIME GOES ON.
SO WE FEEL THAT, UM, THERE'S GONNA BE LESS EASILY DEVELOPABLE LAND, UM, AS WE GO FORWARD.
AND THAT'S WHY OUR, OUR POPULATION WILL, WILL KIND OF TAPER OUT A LITTLE BIT.
UH, OUR NEXT COMPONENT IN THE MODEL IS OUR WATER USE ANALYSIS.
SO THIS IS WHERE WE TAKE HISTORICAL BUILD USAGE AND HISTORICAL MEASURES OF SIZE TO, UH, COME UP WITH OUR WATER USE FACTORS.
SO WITH THIS, WITH THIS NEW UPDATE, WE HAVE FIVE MORE YEARS OF, UM, MONTHLY BILLING DATA THAT WE'VE INCORPORATED TO REFINE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF, UH, HOW EXACTLY OUR CUSTOMERS ARE USING WATER.
AND WE DISAGGREGATE THIS DEMAND NOT ONLY AT THE, AT THE DTI LEVEL, BUT WE'RE ALSO DESEGREGATING DOWN TO THE SECTORS AND THE SUB-SECTORS AND DOWN TO THE END USES.
SO HERE YOU SEE THAT THE BIG PIE CHART OF HOW, UM, AT THE UTILITY SCALE OUR WATER DEMAND, UH, BREAKS DOWN.
AND IT'S, IT'S, AGAIN, IT'S USEFUL TO GET DOWN TO THE END USE LEVEL BECAUSE WE'RE BETTER ABLE TO NOT ONLY PROJECT DEMAND, UM, YOU KNOW, INDOOR VERSUS OUTDOOR IMPACTS OF WEATHER, UH, AND SO FORTH, BUT ALSO, UM, HOW OUR WATER DEMAND STRATEGIES WILL TARGET AND WHAT THE SAVINGS WILL BE, UH, ASSOCIATED WITH THESE STRATEGIES.
AND THEN FINALLY, THIS ALL COMES TOGETHER IN THAT WE HAVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF, OF WATER USE OUR, OUR WATER USE FACTORS, AND THESE GET MULTIPLIED BY OUR, UH, POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS TO GET AT OUR, UM, WATER USE OR OUR WATER DEMAND FORECAST.
UM, SO THIS IS ACTUALLY ONE OF OUR NEW POWER BI, UM, OUTPUTS FROM THE RECENTLY REVAMPED, UH, DISAGGREGATED DEMAND MODEL.
UM, BUT WE'RE STILL, WE'RE STILL WORKING ON THOSE PRELIMINARY DEMANDS, UH, MAKING SURE THAT, UH, WE'RE FULLY COMFORTABLE WITH, UH, THE RESULTS.
SO IT'S AN ONGOING QA QC PROCESS FOR THE MOMENT.
AND, UM, YEAH, WE CAN TAKE SOME QUESTIONS TO THE, WE CAN SEE MY FINGER
[00:40:01]
SO ON THE, ON THIS PRETTY PLOT THAT YOU JUST SHOWED, UM, SO, SO IS THIS LIKE A GOOD REPRESENTATION OF WHAT MIGHT BE COMING OUT OF THIS AT THE END? YOU KNOW, WITH THE COMMERCIAL? I DON'T THINK, I DON'T THINK WE'RE QUITE READY.THAT'S WHY THERE'S NO ACTUAL NUMBERS.
YEAH, WE, YEAH, I WOULD HOLD OFF ON THE TWEETS.
JUST, YEAH, WE DO WANNA MAKE SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, UH, ALL OUR TS ARE CROSSED AND OUR DYES ARE EYES ARE DOTTED.
MAKE SURE THAT OUR, BOTH OUR, OUR POPULATION EMPLOYMENT, UH, INPUTS LOOK RIGHT AND, UM, OUR WATER USE FACTORS AND HOW THAT COMES INTO PLAY.
CUZ IT IS, UM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S SO MANY DIFFERENT DTIS, IT'S JUST A LOT OF DATA.
IT'S A ULTIMATELY A VERY BIG MODEL THAT, UM, TAKES, TAKES A BIT OF TIME TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE GETTING EVERYTHING RIGHT.
SO, SO YOU THINK THIS IS A PATTERN WE MIGHT SEE, I MEAN, I GUESS, YOU KNOW, THERE'S, THERE'S, AUSTIN IS GROWING, BUT OF COURSE THERE'S GREATER AUSTIN, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, PROBABLY GROWING AT, AT THE SAME RATE IF NOT MORE.
UM, SO, SO I WAS JUST KIND OF WONDERING ON THE COMMERCIALS THAT MORE PEOPLE COMING IN AND THEN GOING BACK OUT TO THE CITY LIMITS.
I WOULD SAY THAT, UH, FOR THE RESIDENTIAL WE, WE UH, DEFINITELY SEE A CLEAR TREND TOWARDS MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING.
UM, ON THE COMMERCIAL I WOULD HOLD OFF A LITTLE BIT.
I THINK, UM, I, I LIKE THIS DATA VISUALIZATION.
WE'VE BEEN PLAYING WITH LOTS OF DIFFERENT WAYS TO SHOW DATA AND THIS IS A, UM, A GOOD ONE.
UH, WE'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THIS ONE TOO, AND I THINK IT'S REALLY HELPFUL AND ESPECIALLY IN SHOWING CHANGES OVER TIME.
AND THEN THE KIND OF WHAT PIECE OF THE PIE IS EACH PIECE HAS.
UM, Y I THINK IT WAS ONE OF THE PREVIOUS SLIDES THAT, UM, IT HAD JUST LIKE A LITTLE BULLET POINT ABOUT IT, BUT LOOKING AT KIND OF LIKE 10 YEAR PROJECTIONS ON THE WATER USES IN EACH OF THE DIFFERENT AREAS, IF I'M GETTING THAT RIGHT.
I'M, I'M JUST, I HAVE A QUESTION, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT PLACE TO ASK IT IS.
ABOUT, UM, ABOUT WATER USE TRENDS OR CHANGES LIKE ON THE KIND OF POLYGON SCALE.
I KNOW I'VE, THEY'VE HEARD ME TALK ABOUT THIS MANY TIMES, BUT LIKE AS WATER USE CHANGES SWITCH OVER, LIKE THERE'S LOTS OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS GOING IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE THERE'S NEVER BEEN ANY BEFORE, UM, IN CENTRAL EAST AUSTIN.
UM, AND THERE'S, I KNOW OF TWO PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD GETTING PAYING POOLS, THINGS THAT HAVE NEVER EXISTED OVER THERE.
UM, AND SO LIKE CAN YOU CAPTURE THOSE TYPES OF CHANGES? IT SEEMS LIKE IF IT, IF IT CONTINUES TO ADD UP THAT, THAT LIKE THAT POLYGON AND, AND THE WATER USE, YOU KNOW, PLANNING THAT YOU'RE DOING THERE, THAT THAT COULD KIND OF FLIP IT ON ITS HEAD IF, IF THE HISTORICAL TRENDS ARE NOT, ARE BEING KIND OF CHANGED AND THE TYPES OF HOUSING AND, AND THE WATER AMENITIES GOING IN ARE DIFFERENT.
UM, I WOULD SAY THAT WE ARE, WE, WE, WE'VE SET THE STAGE FOR LOOKING AT THOSE TRENDS A LITTLE BIT BETTER WITH THE, WITH THE LATEST ITERATION OF THE MODEL.
UM, WHERE WE ARE, WE HAVE MORE, WE HAVE MORE BILLING DATA, SO WE'RE UP TO, UM, EIGHT YEARS OF BILLING AND WE ARE ABLE TO, TO LOOK AT THAT EIGHT YEARS OF BILLING.
UM, BUT WE'RE STILL REFINING WHAT THAT TREND PROCESS LOOKS LIKE MM-HMM.
UM, SO, BUT, BUT WE'RE, WE'RE DEFINITELY LOOKING AT IT AND WE'RE LOOKING TO, UM, INCORPORATE MORE OF IT AS WE GO.
AND AS, AS WE BECOME MORE COMFORTABLE WITH, AND THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS EVERY FIVE YEARS, BECAUSE WHILE IT MAY SEEM PRETTY OFTEN TO, TO SOME PEOPLE, I MEAN, I THINK IT'S APPROPRIATE TO DO IT OR REFR CUZ THEN YOU CAN CAPTURE THAT TYPE OF STUFF IF YOU'RE CONTINUING TO ADD BILLING DATA AND, AND STUFF AND SEE WHERE TRENDS ARE KIND OF CHANGING OR GOING OUTSIDE OF WHAT YOU'D EXPECT.
AND, UM, I THINK, WELL, ARE THERE ANY MORE QUESTIONS ON THAT OR IF NOT, I, I'LL PASS IT OVER TO JACKIE.
I, UH, AND IF FORGIVE SOMEBODY ELSE HAS ANOTHER QUESTION AND WANTS TO JUMP IN, BUT, UM, JUST ON THIS, THIS IS AN AMAZING, UH, VISUALIZATION AND IF I'M UNDERSTANDING IT CORRECTLY, IT'S KIND OF LIKE MIND BLOWING, LIKE MAYBE THAT'S WHAT ROBERT WAS GETTING AT A LITTLE BIT.
AND SO HELP ME UNDERSTAND THIS.
UM, IS THE IDEA THAT, CAUSE I GUESS PART OF THE, PART OF WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE IS SINGLE FAMILY USAGE RIGHT NOW IS, UH, THE HIGHEST CONSUMPTION IS BY SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
[00:45:01]
AND THEN IT, IT TAPERS OFF AND, UH, WE HAVE SO MUCH INCOMING COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT THAT IT'S LIKE, UH, I GUESS I JUST, IN PART OF OUR, PART OF OUR STRATEGY HERE IS LIKE REDUCING THE DEMAND PER CAP, UH, PER CAPITA.THAT'S LIKE, WE HAVE ALL THESE STRATEGIES LIKE TO REDUCE DEMAND USAGE AND, AND USAGE PER PER CAPITA IN AUSTIN AT THESE SINGLE FAMILY HOMES.
BUT IS THERE, LIKE, IS THERE A COMPARABLE REDUCTION IN LIKE, UH, CONSUMPTION PER COMMERCIAL UNIT, WHATEVER THE COMMERCIAL UNIT IS, IF IT'S NOT CAPITA, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS.
UM, IF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE, LET ME KNOW.
AND THEN ALSO, LIKE, WHAT IS, WHAT'S GOING ON IN 2030? WE, WE BASICALLY DOUBLE OUR CONSUMPTION AT THAT POINT OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS BETWEEN 20 30, 20 40 AND DON'T SEE A SIMILAR KIND OF INCREASE, UM, A SIMILAR KIND OF DOUBLING OVER A 10 YEAR PERIOD AGAIN.
UM, SO I WONDER KIND OF WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR THAT AND THE PROJECTIONS.
SO I HAVE LOTS OF QUESTIONS, BUT UH, IF WE COULD START MAYBE BY UNDERSTANDING A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT, UM, THE COMMERCIAL UNIT OF MEASUREMENT, IF THAT MAKES SENSE.
SO I JUST WANNA CLARIFY THAT THIS GRAPH IS INTENDED AS, UH, AN EXAMPLE OF THE TYPE OF RESULTS THAT WE MIGHT SEE, BUT IT IS NOT ULTIMATELY OUR, OUR BASELINE DEMAND PROJECTION.
WE'RE STILL WORKING ON DEVELOPING THOSE BASELINE DEMAND PROJECTIONS.
SO THIS IS INTENDED TO BE AN ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE, UM, OF SOME OF THE RESULTS THAT WE'LL BE LOOKING AT IN FUTURE TASKFORCE MEETINGS.
UM, AND THEN THE, THE, THE STYLISTIC NATURE OF THIS GRAPH MAY ALSO BE, UM, PROVIDING SOME, UH, KIND OF CONFUSION AS WELL WITH THE RIBBONS AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO, WE'LL, WE'LL HAVE TO WORK ON SOME OF THE, THE VISUALIZATIONS, BUT I JUST WANTED TO MAKE CLEAR THAT, YOU KNOW, THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY OUR BASELINE DEMAND PROJECTION.
WE'RE NOT READY, UM, TO ROLL THAT ONE OUT JUST YET.
LIKE MIGUEL SAID, WE'RE STILL WORKING THROUGH A QA QC PROCESS.
OUR UNIT FOUR PROJECTION OF THE, UH, COMMERCIAL SECTOR IS THE EMPLOYEE.
UM, ON THE RESIDENTIAL SIDE WE USE SINGLE FAMILY AND MULTI-FAMILY UNITS.
WE TRANSLATE OUR PROJECTIONS OF EMPLOYMENT INTO A PROJECTION OF, UM, SINGLE FAMILY, MULTI-FAMILY, UH, RESIDENTIAL UNITS WITH SOME ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HOW THE SHARE OF UNITS, UM, MAY SHIFT BETWEEN THOSE TWO SECTORS.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE DO ANTICIPATE HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE IS THAT THE SHARE OF MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL UNITS WILL GROW LARGER AS WE TEND TO SEE PEOPLE, UM, LIVING IN, UM, MORE TWO PLUS UNIT TYPE OF, OF DEVELOPMENTS.
UM, THE, ON THE COMMERCIAL SIDE, WE BREAK THOSE EMPLOYEES UP, UM, INTO SECTORS AND SUB-SECTORS.
AND I THINK, WE'LL, YOU KNOW, WE, WE HAVE PROVIDED SOME OF THAT INFORMATION I THINK ON IN PREVIOUS UH, PRESENTATIONS, BUT WE CAN ALSO TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT IN THE FUTURE ABOUT HOW WE DO THAT, UH, DESEGREGATION.
AND A LOT OF IT IS BUILT OFF OF, UH, EXIST, UH, HISTORICAL, UM, UH, KIND OF BREAKDOWNS OF COMMERCIAL SECTOR COMMERCIAL SUB-SECTORS USING AN A I CS CODES.
AND UM, I WOULD ALSO ADD THAT YEAH, EVEN THOUGH THIS, THIS FIGURE'S OBVIOUSLY NOT, IT'S NOT FULLY QA QCD, WE'RE NOT, IT'S NOT OFFICIAL, IT'S JUST A, IT'S JUST A PICTURE.
UM, WE, UM, IT'S ALSO TRYING TO REPRESENT, UM, A, A BASELINE OF DEMAND.
SO IT DOES INCLUDE SOME OF THE, SOME OF THE TRENDS THAT WE'VE TALKED ABOUT.
LIKE, UM, SOME PASSIVE TRENDS IN WATER USE, UM, ARE INCORPORATED INTO THIS BASELINE DEMAND, BUT IT DOESN'T INCORPORATE ANY OF OUR ACTIVE WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, WHICH DO TARGET NOT ONLY RESIDENTIAL, BUT THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR FOR SAVINGS.
SO, SO THEY'LL BE SAVINGS THROUGHOUT, UM, ALL OF THESE, ALL OF THESE RIBBONS.
BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS FIGURE'S TRYING TO TRY TO SHOW.
THAT'S A REALLY GOOD POINT IN THAT THE WAY THAT KIND OF WE GO THROUGH THIS RESOURCE PLANNING PROCESS IS TO DEVELOP OUR PROJECTIONS, UM, WITHOUT THOSE ACTIVE CONSERVATION STRATEGIES EMBEDDED.
WE FIRST WANNA KIND OF GET A PICTURE OF WHAT COULD THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE AND THEN THAT HELPS US TO IDENTIFY WHAT ARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAYERING ON ADDITIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGIES, REUSE STRATEGIES, WHETHER THAT'S THROUGH ONSITE REUSE, DECENTRALIZED RECLAIMED OR THE CENTRALIZED RECLAIM SYSTEM.
AND THEN WITH THAT REDUCED DEMAND
[00:50:01]
THAT WE'RE LEFT WITH, THEN HOW DO WE, HOW ARE WE MEETING THAT REDUCED DEMAND FOR POTABLE DRINKING WATER, FOR EXAMPLE, THROUGH OUR COLORADO RIVER AND HIGHLAND LAKES SUPPLIES? OR DO WE NEED TO BRING ON ADDITIONAL POTABLE SUPPLIES TO MEET DEMANDS? YEAH, AND I, I WOULD LIKE TO REITERATE THAT THIS GRAPH IS JUST A SNAPSHOT OF, UH, ONE OF THE SCENARIOS THAT WE'LL BE USING.SO THE UM, HIGHLIGHT OF THIS NEW UPDATE IS THAT WE WILL HAVE DIFFERENT SCENARIOS IN THIS POWER BI DASHBOARD THAT YOU CAN FLIP THROUGH, SUCH AS LIKE THE HIGH, MEDIUM AND LOW POPULATION PROJECTIONS OR IF WE'RE INCORPORATING ACTIVE OR PASSIVE CONSERVATION, UM, AND INCLUDING WEATHER VARIATION IN THAT.
SO THIS HASN'T BEEN RUN THROUGH THE QA QC PROCESS AND IT'S JUST LIKE ONE, UM, SPECIFIC SCENARIO.
SO IT COULD BE LIKE THIS, IT COULD NOT BE LIKE THIS.
UM, MORE TO COME ON THAT, BUT I GUESS I CAN TAKE IT FROM HERE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES.
CAN I ASK A QUESTION PLEASE? THANKS.
UM, WELL I JUST WANTED A COUPLE OF NOTES.
ONE THING IS, UM, JUST A REMINDER THAT SINCE THIS IS, UM, YOU KNOW, PUBLISHED ON THE WEBSITE, IT MIGHT, AND THERE IS A LOT OF SORT OF CAUTIONS ABOUT THE SLIDE IN PARTICULAR.
IT MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO PUT LIKE A, YOU KNOW, A WATERMARK EXAMPLE OR DRAFT OR SOMETHING.
UM, JUST TO NOTE CUZ I, YOU KNOW, IT IS OUT THERE IF IT'S, UM, NOT QUITE READY.
I KNOW IT'S SAYS ONGOING Q A Q C, BUT YOU MIGHT WANNA MM-HMM
AND THEN I GUESS I JUST WANTED TO POINT OUT THAT AS I WAS LOOKING AT THIS, THE IMMEDIATE QUESTION I HAVE IS, UM, LIKE WITHIN SINGLE FAMILY, HOW MUCH OF ARE, ARE WE CARRYING FORWARD WITH LIKE A 25% OUTDOOR WATER USE ESTIMATE? AND SORT OF, AS SOON AS I SAW THIS, I WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH IS OUTDOOR? UM, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ASSUMPTION IS IN THE SINGLE FAMILY CATEGORY.
UM, WE DO HAVE A WHOLE SLIDE ON THE OKAY.
OUTDOOR AND INDOOR SPLIT IF OKAY.
YOU WANNA STAY TUNED AND THEN WELL, YEAH, AND THAT, THAT'LL PROBABLY COME UP.
BUT THE OTHER THING I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT IS, UM, IT, YOU KNOW, IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE ALSO GONNA SEE PROBABLY ALONG WITH LIKE MORE MULTI-FAMILY, WE'RE GONNA SEE, UM, SMALLER SUBDIVIDED, SINGLE FAMILY LOTS.
SO, YOU KNOW, I'M JUST THINKING ABOUT HOW THAT WORKS WHEN YOU HAVE SINGLE FAMILY THAT'S PROBABLY GONNA HAVE MUCH SMALLER WATER USE THAN WHAT WE'VE TRADITIONALLY SEEN, ESPECIALLY IN, UM, CENTRAL AUSTIN WHERE WE'VE GOT, YOU KNOW, SOME REALLY LARGE LOTS CURRENTLY.
SO ANYTHING GREATER THAN A DUPLEX, IF I'M CORRECT.
SO ANYTHING, IF A LOT IS SPLIT UP INTO THOSE SUBDIVISIONS, THAT WOULD BE LOOPED INTO MULTIFAMILY VERSUS SINGLE FAMILY.
I DON'T KNOW WHY A SINGLE FAMILY LOT WOULD BE MULTI-FAMILY, BUT, AND TO YOUR POINT, THE, UM, WE ARE LOOKING TO INCORPORATE THESE TRENDS LOOKING AT OUR HISTORICAL BUILD USAGE AND PART OF THAT INCORPORATES, UM, WHAT'S THE IMPACT OF NEW DEVELOPMENT, WHEREAS, UM, WHAT ARE OUR, LIKE MOST RECENTLY BUILT CONSTRUCTION, WHAT'S THAT WATER USE LOOKING LIKE? SO THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF THIS ONGOING PROCESS OF TRYING TO INCORPORATE THOSE NOT ONLY PASSIVE CONSERVATION TRENDS, BUT UM, DEVELOP AND DRIVEN TRENDS.
UH, UM, THANK YOU FOR THE HELPFUL RESPONSE, MARISSA.
UH, SO I'LL TAKE, YEAH, TAKE ALL THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT AND WAIT TO SEE THE BIG PICTURE.
BUT JUST TO CLARIFY ON, AGAIN, THIS IS NOT, IT'S NOT THAT THIS IS A, UM, SAMPLE SLIDE.
IT'S A DRAFT SLIDE, RIGHT? IT'S NOT LIKE WE JUST THREW IN A BUNCH OF RANDOM NUMBERS TO COME UP WITH THIS OR LIKE, IT'S LIKE A PHOTO THAT YOU BOUGHT IN A FRAME AND YOU JUST THROW IT AWAY.
THIS IS LIKE A, THIS IS REAL, THESE ARE REAL NUMBERS, WE JUST HAVE TO REFINE THEM.
BUT THEN I GUESS THIS IS ALSO KIND OF LOOKING AT, UM, THIS FROM ONE SCENARIO AND IN THE BASELINE CONDITION.
SO LIKE, LET'S JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND TOO.
YES, THE BASELINE CONDITION INCORPORATES SOME LEVEL OF PASSIVE CONSERVATION BASED ON HISTORICAL TRENDS, BUT IT DOESN'T INCLUDE ACTIVE STRATEGIES.
SO EVEN THE ACTIVE THIS CONSERVATION STRATEGIES THAT WERE INCLUDED IN THE WATER 40 18 PLAN, IT
[00:55:01]
DOESN'T INCLUDE, UH, IMPLEMENTATION OF THOSE STRATEGIES.THOSE HAVEN'T BEEN LAYERED ON YET, OR LIKE GROWTH OF OUR CENTRALIZED RECLAIMED SYSTEM OR, UM, CONTINUED UPTAKE OF ONSITE REUSE.
IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THAT COMPONENT.
SO YOU ARE MENTIONING LIKE WE ARE, WE HAD TARGET OUR STRATEGIES AT LIKE REDUCING PER CAPITA RESIDENTIAL USAGE.
WILL WE DO THE SAME OR ARE WE DOING THE SAME FOR COMMERCIAL? A GOOD NUMBER OF OUR STRATEGIES ARE TARGETED AT COMMERCIAL REQUIREMENTS OR REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW, UH, COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT, SUCH AS CONNECTION TO OUR CENTRALIZED RECLAIM SYSTEM, MANDATORY, UH, INSTALLATION OF ONSITE REUSE FOR LARGER DEVELOPMENTS.
AND THEN THERE'S A, A SUBSEQUENT PHASE OF THAT STRATEGY THAT WOULD POTENTIALLY LOOK AT BRINGING DOWN THE THRESHOLD, UM, FOR THAT REQUIREMENT.
THERE'S OTHER, YOU KNOW, UH, KIND OF EFFICIENCY CONSERVATION OPTIONS THAT WE CAN LOOK AT FOR COMMERCIAL.
AND THAT'S THE NEXT STEP OF THIS PROCESS WHEN WE'LL BE LOOKING AT WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, UH, TO HELP EITHER REDUCE THESE DEMANDS THROUGH CONSERVATION AND REUSE OR TO MEET THEM BY, UM, OUR, OUR EXISTING OR ADDITIONAL SUPPLY STRATEGIES.
WELL, I THINK THE THING TO KEEP IN MIND HERE IS THAT THIS IS A DRAFT.
UM, THERE'S NOT ANY, UM, NUMBERS ON THIS EXCEPT FOR THE YEARS.
IT'S, IT'S, IT SHOWS WATER USE INCREASING AND RELATIVE DIVISION BETWEEN DIFFERENT USE FACTORS.
SO THERE'S NOT ACTUALLY A LOT OF INFORMATION ON HERE EXCEPT FOR THE SHAPE OF THE GROWTH, BUT, UM, IT WOULD PROBABLY BENEFIT FROM A DRAFT IF Y'ALL FEEL THAT YOU WANT TO DO THAT.
UM, AND LET'S, UH, LET'S KEEP GOING AND WE CAN LEARN MORE AND ASK MORE QUESTIONS, BUT WE ALSO WANNA PRESERVE TIME AT THE END, UM, OR THE LAST 30 MINUTES OF THE MEETING SO WE CAN HEAR FROM, UH, FROM SHERRY WHO'S HERE JOINING US HERE TODAY ABOUT, UM, THE LAND USE WORK.
WELL, OKAY, SO YOU CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
UM, I WAS INITIALLY BROUGHT ON TO THIS PROJECT AS AN INTERN AND BASICALLY BROOKE HANNU, WHO PIONEERED THE DDM, HE HAD THE ENTIRE MODEL SPLIT UP BETWEEN THREE DIFFERENT SPREADSHEETS AND YOU HAD TO OPEN THEM ALL AT THE SAME TIME OR ELSE SOME OF THE LINKS WOULD BE BROKEN.
UM, IT WAS A LITTLE BIT OF A MESS AND KIND OF HARD TO NAVIGATE THROUGH CUZ THERE WERE SO MANY TABS AND ALL THE INPUTS WERE ON THERE AND THE OUTPUTS.
SO I WAS BROUGHT ON TO MIGRATE THIS WHOLE PROJECT INTO A PYTHON ENVIRONMENT BECAUSE I, UH, MAYBE FOOLISHLY SAID THAT I KNEW PYTHON IN MY INTERVIEW.
AND SO THEY SAID, YOU'RE HIRED
UM, SO BASICALLY I WAS BROUGHT INTO THE TEAM TO RUN ALL THE CALCULATIONS IN PYTHON SO THAT IT'S LESS, UM, CHAOTIC ON THE SPREADSHEETS AND YOU JUST GET THE OUTPUTS AND WE'RE USING POWER BI TO DISPLAY THE OUTPUTS FOR THE CALCULATIONS THAT WE DID.
UM, SECONDLY, WE HAVE ADDED A MONTHLY TIMESCALE CONVERSION TO THE DDM.
SO NOW, SO NOT ONLY HAVE WE SPLIT THE CONSUMPTION AND THE WOLFS INTO INDOOR AND OUTDOOR COMPONENTS, BUT WE ALSO SPLIT UP THE OUTDOOR SPECIFICALLY INTO A MONTHLY WOLF.
SO NOW WE CAN LOOK AT IT AT A MORE GRANULAR SCALE AND SEE HOW MUCH WATER IS CONSUMED ON A MONTHLY TIME SCALE.
AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE INCORPORATED A NEW TYPE OF PROJECTION, UM, WHICH ALLOWS FOR US TO LOOK AT WEATHER TRENDS AND HOW THAT IS AFFECTING THE WATER USE.
SO PYTHON, UM, AS Y'ALL KNOW, MAKES EVERYTHING A LOT FASTER AND IT ALLOWS US TO ADD A LOT OF DIFFERENT COMPONENTS TO THE MODEL THAT WE PREVIOUSLY THAT WOULD'VE REQUIRED A HUGE, UM, LABOR W WOULD'VE REQUIRED A LOT OF LABOR TO IMPROVE.
SO WITH PYTHON WE CAN ADD DIFFERENT THINGS SUCH AS DIFFERENT ACTIVE CONSERVATION MEASURES.
D WE CAN CHANGE THE PASSIVE CONSERVATION ESTIMATES, WE CAN CHANGE THE DEMOGRAPHICS AS WE EDIT THOSE IN THE FUTURE.
UM, I'M CURRENTLY IN WATER CONSERVATION AS A DATA ANALYST AND I'M ANALYZING WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMS THAT ARE ONGOING AND HISTORICAL THAT WE'VE CLOSED.
AND USING THAT WE CAN GET BETTER ESTIMATES OF HOW MUCH WATER ACTIVE CONSERVATION SAVES.
SO WE CAN INCORPORATE THAT INTO THE MODEL, UM, MORE EASILY SINCE IT'S ALL IN PYTHON.
UM, AND ALSO WE HAVE PYTHON OR POWER BI DASHBOARDS, WHICH, SO WITH EXCEL YOU COULDN'T REALLY, UM, DIG INTO THE DATA.
WHAT YOU SAW WAS, IT WAS JUST THE GRAPH OF THE DATA.
UM, BUT WITH POWER BI YOU CAN DIG INTO IT AS YOU CAN SEE WITH,
[01:00:01]
SO THAT FIRST, UM, RIBBON CHART THAT WE SAW AT THE BEGINNING, UM, THAT IS WITH ALL THE SUB ALL THE SECTORS DIVIDED UP, SINGLE FAMILY, MULTI-FAMILY, COMMERCIAL, WHOLESALE AND CITY OF AUSTIN.AND THEN THAT NEXT PICTURE IS JUST, YOU CAN'T SEE THE, UM, THE TEXT, BUT IT IS JUST COMMERCIAL SPLIT UP INTO THE DIFFERENT COMMERCIAL SUB-SECTORS.
SO WITH POWER BI WE'LL BE ABLE TO ZOOM IN AND GET MORE GRANULAR DATA OF HOW, HOW MUCH WATER IS BEING CONSUMED ON THE SUB-SECTOR LEVEL AND THEN ON THE END USE LEVEL AND THEN ON THE DTI LEVEL.
SO IT JUST ALLOWS FOR MORE, UM, NAVIGABILITY, IF THAT'S THE WORD,
AND ALSO IF YOU SEE THE BOX AND WHISKER CHART AT THE TOP, SO THAT IS THE DISTRIBUTION OF WATER USE ON THE DTI LEVEL.
SO WITH THAT CHART WE CAN SEE WHO IS, WE CAN PLAY BIG BROTHER IN A WAY, UH, TO SEE WHO IS LIKE THE BIGGEST HEAVY, WHICH DTI IS USING UP THE MOST WATER OR THE LEAST.
AND SO ABOUT THE MONTHLY TIME SCALE CONVERSION.
SO THIS CHART IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE MONTHS DIVIDED UP IN TERMS OF THEIR WATER USE.
SO WE CAN SEE EASILY THAT AUGUST, UM, IS THE HIGHEST CONSUMER HIGHEST WATER CONSUMPTION MONTH.
UM, AND THIS IS VERY HELPFUL FOR TARGETING WATER OR TARGETING WATER CONSERVATION STRATEGIES, UH, ESPECIALLY FOR THE OUTDOOR SECTOR.
SO IN ADDITION TO THE MONTHLY, THE PYTHON, THE MONTHLY CONVERSION, THE PYTHON INTEGRATION, UM, I WANNA SPEAK A LITTLE BIT ON HOW WE CALCULATE THE MONTHLY ESTIMATES.
SO THIS IS A NEW PRODUCT BASICALLY FOR THIS ITERATION OF THE DDM, AND WE APPLY A MINIMUM MONTH METHOD TO TEASE OUT THOSE INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SPLITS OF WATER USE.
AND UM, ADDITIONALLY WE HAVE INTEGRATED A TRENDING HISTORICAL WEATHER, NORMALIZED DEMAND FORECAST.
AND WHAT THIS DOES IS IT INCORPORATES WEATHER DEMAND OR WEATHER VARIATIONS INTO THE PROJECTION OF WATER USE.
AND WITH THAT, THAT IS JUST ONE OF THE SCENARIOS THAT WE CAN LOOK AT TO SEE HOW WEATHER IS AFFECTING THE WATER USAGE.
SO AS I SAID EARLIER, UM, WE ARE STILL DOING THE QA QC PROCESS.
UM, IT IS ONGOING BUT IT'S GETTING BETTER EACH EACH TIME WE LOOK OVER IT.
SO WE ARE ALSO, UM, INCORPORATING DIFFERENT DEMAND SCENARIOS SUCH AS HIGH, MEDIUM AND LOW POPULATION PROJECTIONS.
AND WE ARE ALSO INCLUDING WEATHER AND WE ARE ENCOURAGING, UM, USERS OF THE DDM DASHBOARD TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK ON HOW THEY WANT THE DATA TO TO BE DISPLAYED.
UM, AS WE SHOWED EARLIER, THE RIBBON CHART IS PRETTY COOL.
I, I REALLY LIKE IT JUST BECAUSE IT STACKS EVERYTHING IN ORDER OF LIKE LOWEST TO MOST CONSUMPTION AND I THINK IT'S JUST VERY EASY TO PICK OUT.
UM, ASSUMING IF WE WERE TO ASSUME THAT, YOU KNOW, THE QA QC PROCESS WAS DONE, IT WOULD BE EASY TO SEE THAT THE COMMERCIAL, UM, FAR EXCEEDS THE MULTIFAMILY AND SINGLE FAMILY SECTORS INTO THE FUTURE.
AND IT WOULD BE GOOD TO SEE THAT AFTER THE QA QC PROCESS IS DONE.
ANY QUESTIONS? UM, YOU TALKED A LOT ABOUT THE WOLFS, BUT I DIDN'T HEAR YOU TALK ABOUT MUNICIPAL EMERGENCY ONSITE WATERS.
IT'S REQUIRED, I HAVE TO MAKE THAT DUMB JOKE EVERY TIME THE WOLVES COME UP
ROBERT, UM, DO WE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FROM THE TASK FORCE MEMBERS THAT ARE ONLINE? I BELIEVE YOU ALL HAVE ANSWERED ALL OF OUR QUESTIONS.
I DO HAVE TO JUST MAKE A NOTE THAT, UH, HISTORICALLY WE HAVE SEEN THAT RESIDENTIAL CONSUMPTION IS THE LARGEST COMPONENT OF OUR, OF OUR SEC OF OUR OVERALL CONSUMPTION.
SO, UM, COMMERCIAL HAS NOT HISTORICALLY EXCEEDED OUR RESIDENTIAL CONSUMPTION AND I DON'T THINK THAT IN THE
[01:05:01]
PROJECTIONS WE ANTICIPATE THAT THERE WOULD BE A, A TREMENDOUS SHIFT IN, YOU KNOW, THE, UH, COMMERCIAL, FAR EXCEEDING OUR RESIDENTIAL.UM, IT SHOWS THAT WAY ON THE GRAPH BECAUSE THEY'RE SPLIT OUT INTO SINGLE FAMILY AND MULTI-FAMILY.
BUT WE CAN CLARIFY THAT IN FUTURE PRESENTATIONS.
YEAH, AND I THINK, UM, I, THERE WASN'T ANY AC ANY ACTUAL INFORMATION ON IT, BUT THE, THE, YOU KNOW, REGARDLESS ALL THE WATER USE FACTORS ARE GONNA BE GROWING INTO THE FUTURE.
I ASSUME, I DON'T KNOW IF WATER USE, BUT I MIGHT HAVE USED THAT WRONG.
THE, UH, WATER DEMAND IS GONNA GROW IN THE FUTURE.
UM, AND SO BEING ABLE TO, ESPECIALLY FOR COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL, I WOULD EXPECT TO BREAK THAT DOWN INTO SUB-SECTORS BECAUSE WATER IS USED UM, DIFFERENTLY IN EACH OF THOSE.
IT'S NOT JUST LIKE, UM, YOU KNOW, WHETHER, WHETHER IT'S A HOSPITAL OR A CHIP MANUFACTURER OR A HOTEL ARE ALL GONNA USE WATER VERY DIFFERENTLY.
SO IF YOU KINDA LOOK AT THE GROWTH OF ONE OF THOSE OVER ANOTHER, THEN YOU CAN TARGET PROGRAMS TOWARDS THE NUMBER PLAN.
SO, SO THE, THAT'S GONNA BE REALLY IMPORTANT IN THE FUTURE TO BE ABLE TO BREAK THAT DOWN.
Y'ALL TALKED A, YOU BOTH TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT, UM, YOU USED THAT ACRONYM THAT I CAN NEVER REMEMBER THE, THE IDENTIFIER TO SHOW WHAT KIND OF, WHAT IS IT? YEAH, THE N A I C S CODE.
UM, SO ANYWAY, MORE TO, MORE TO COME ON THIS.
SO WHAT'S THE TIMELINE FOR THIS BEING? UM, YEAH, WHAT TIMELINE ARE WE ON, ON THIS? SO I THINK DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS, UH, THE TEAM INTERNALLY IS GONNA BE COMPLETING THAT QA, QC, AND THEN WE'LL HAVE THE PROJECTIONS, WE'LL BE DEVELOPING THOSE PROJECTIONS AS WELL.
I WOULD IMAGINE IT'D PROBABLY BE A MONTH OR SO BEFORE ALL OF THAT WORK IS COMPLETED FOR ALL ALL OF THE SCENARIOS.
AND THEN WE'LL WANNA COME BACK TO THE TASK FORCE TO SHOW THOSE DRAFT BASELINE DEMAND PROJECTIONS, AGAIN, NOT INCLUDING ANY ADDITIONAL ACTIVE OR, OR CONSERVATION STRATEGIES.
UM, AND THAT'LL HELP TO INFORM OUR CONVERSATION AS WE'RE ALSO DISCUSSING WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, UH, TO HELP MEET THOSE, UH, THOSE FUTURE DEMANDS.
UM, EVEN JUST THINKING AS I'M WATCHING THE PRESENTATION, I WAS THINKING, YOU KNOW, OUR NEXT MEETING IS GONNA BE IN JULY, JULY 11TH, IF THERE WAS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR, YOU KNOW, UH, US TO MEET US TO HAVE SOME MORE CONVERSATION ABOUT THOSE DEMAND PROJECTIONS AND WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AS PART OF A SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING.
OR IF THERE WAS INTEREST IN HAVING A, A SPECIAL CALL MEETING IN, UM, THE SECOND WEEK OF JUNE, FOR EXAMPLE.
I THINK THAT MIGHT BE A, A USEFUL THING TO DO TO KIND OF KEEP THIS CONVERSATION GOING.
IT'S GONNA BE A REALLY IMPORTANT, UM, PART OF OUR PROCESS MOVING FORWARD.
AND YEAH, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE HAVING CONVERSATIONS OPENLY TOO, UM, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT THERE'S A LOT OF, UH, INTEREST IN THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR.
I MEAN, WE KNOW THE CONVERSATIONS THAT ARE HAPPENING AROUND, UM, FUTURE GROWTH IN THAT SECTOR AND THE CONCERNS THAT THERE ARE.
SO, YOU KNOW, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE ALL HAVE KIND OF OUR, UM, THE ABILITY TO HAVE, UH, A CLEAR CONVERSATION ABOUT THAT AND THAT WE'RE, UM, CONTINUING TO WORK IN A WAY THAT WHERE WE ALL FEEL LIKE WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO TALK OPENLY ABOUT, UM, HOW WE DO OUR PROCESS, HOW WE'RE TRYING TO INCORPORATE THOSE PROJECTIONS, AND THEN HOW WE CAN TARGET STRATEGIES TO, UH, TRY TO MAKE THOSE FEATURE DEVELOPMENTS AS EFFICIENT AS POSSIBLE.
SO, UM, AND, AND IF YOU ALL, IF THE TASK FORCE MEMBER'S NOT AWARE, MARISSA IS, UM, THE ONE SENDING AROUND SCHEDULING INFORMATION, I WAS ABOUT TO SAY ACTING AS YOUR OWN, UM, ASSISTANT, BUT THAT ISN'T WHAT, WHAT JANE L WAS.
BUT JANE L WAS HELPING WITH THAT AND THAT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS.
BUT MARISA IS, IS CARRYING THE WATER ON THAT RIGHT NOW.
SO, UM, IF THERE IS ANY SCHEDULING STUFF THAT'LL BE COMING FROM MARISA.
MIGUEL, THIS IS, UM, REALLY FASCINATING WORK THAT Y'ALL ARE DOING AND UM, JACKIE, THANK GOODNESS YOU KNEW PYTHON.
SO, UH, WE CAN
AND STEPH, SO LET'S GO AHEAD AND MOVE ON TO THE
[4. Overview of Colorado River Land Analysis, presented by Austin Water staff]
COLORADO RIVER LAND ANALYSIS WITH SHERRY.AND I DON'T KNOW IF YOU HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING.
SHERRY CAN TAKE IT RIGHT AWAY.
UM, WELL, I'M SHERRY COOL AND I'M THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE OFFICER FOR AUSTIN WATER.
AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE OFFICE IS ANOTHER AREA OF KEVIN CRITTENDEN'S GROUP.
SO WE WORK CLOSELY WITH THE SYSTEM PLANNING GROUP AND WE HAVE ALSO THE CLIMATE
[01:10:01]
CHANGE WORK FOR AUSTIN WATER AND TWO OF OUR KIND OF HISTORIC LAND CONSERVATION PROGRAMS, THE BS CANYON LANDS PRESERVE AND THE PERMITTING FOR THAT AND THE WATER QUALITY PROTECTION LANDS.SO WE WERE TASKED WITH THIS IDEA OF LOOKING NOT ONLY AT THE 100 YEAR WATER SUPPLY, BUT HOW MIGHT WE WORK TO PROTECT THE WATER QUALITY OF THAT A HUNDRED YEAR WATER SUPPLY.
SO WE'RE CALLING THIS THE COLORADO RIVER LAND ANALYSIS, IS THIS PROJECT WE'VE WORKED ON, AND IT'S BEEN A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE OFFICE AND THE SYSTEM PLANNING GROUP, WHICH HAS BEEN GREAT.
I CHANGED IT MYSELF, BUT IT DIDN'T CHANGE FOR Y'ALL
SO, UH, WE'RE GONNA, THESE ARE JUST THE THINGS I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT A LITTLE BIT TODAY.
UM, THE HIGHLAND LAKES, AUSTIN'S WATER SUPPLY, I WON'T DELVE INTO THAT VERY MUCH CUZ OBVIOUSLY THIS IS A VERY INFORMED AUDIENCE ABOUT THAT.
UM, POTENTIAL CHALLENGES THAT WE'RE FACING FROM URBANIZATION AND THEN ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES, UM, WHAT WE DID IN THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT WITH THE LAND ANALYSIS SCOPE, HOW WE CAN IDENTIFY PRIORITY CONSERVATION AREAS AND THEN NEXT STEPS.
AND FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS AS I GO ALONG.
SO HERE'S A GRAPHIC OF THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
UM, AS YOU KNOW, AUSTIN, HISTORICALLY, ALMOST A HUNDRED PERCENT OF OUR WATER SUPPLY HAS BEEN FROM THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
UM, WE'VE BEEN FORTUNATE THAT THIS AREA HAS BEEN LARGELY RURAL AND WE HAVE VERY GOOD WATER COMING INTO LAKE BUCHANAN AND LAKE TRAVIS.
SO WE'VE HAD A VERY, UM, HIGH QUALITY WATER SUPPLY OVER TIME.
UM, WE'RE SEEING MORE AND MORE URBANIZATION THROUGHOUT THE HILL COUNTRY AND ALSO WITHIN OUR WATER SUPPLY WATERSHEDS.
SO WE WANTED TO LOOK AT, UM, WHAT IMPACTS MIGHT WE BE SEEING YEARS AND HOW MIGHT WE TRY TO, UM, CONSERVE THE QUALITY OF THAT WATER SUPPLY.
SO THIS IS JUST A BEAUTIFUL PHOTO OF LAKE TRAVIS IN LAKE AUSTIN AT, UH, MANSFIELD DAM.
JUST SHOWING YOU THAT BEAUTIFUL, CLEAR WATER.
SO, URBANIZATION, UM, AS YOU KNOW, OUR POPULATION IS GROWING RAPIDLY ALL THROUGH THE I 35 CORRIDOR, BUT ALSO OUT INTO THE HILL COUNTRY.
UM, THE GOOD NEWS IS THERE'S LOTS OF EFFORTS GOING ON TO TRY TO PROTECT, UM, THE THINGS THAT WE ALL LOVE ABOUT THE HILL COUNTRY, THE HILL COUNTRY CONSERVATION NETWORK THAT, UM, I KNOW SOME OF YOU'RE INVOLVED WITH, UM, ALL OTHER COMMUNITIES.
A LOT OF COMMUNITIES OUT IN THE HILL COUNTRY ARE LOOKING AT DARK SKIES AND LAND CONSERVATION AND WATER CONSERVATION.
SO WE'RE TRYING TO LOOK AT SOME OF ALL THOSE EFFORTS THAT ARE GOING ON.
UM, WE'RE SEEING OVER TIME, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU HAVE URBANIZATION, YOU HAVE MORE IMPERVIOUS COVER, LESS VEGETATIVE COVER, SO LESS INFILTRATION OF WATER, UH, MORE RUNOFF, MORE RAPID, UH, RUNOFF OF POLLUTANTS.
UM, ALSO OTHER WATER QUALITY IMPACTS THAT COME WITH GROWTH.
AS WE'VE SEEN THROUGHOUT THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN, WE HAVE SAND AND GRAVEL MINING AND THE ALLUVIUM OF THE RIVER, THAT'S WHERE THE SAND AND GRAVEL COMES FROM.
SO A LOT OF THAT WAS IN EASTERN TRAVIS COUNTY NOW IS MOVING DOWN TO BASTROP, UM, QUITE A BIT, UH, BUT ALSO UP UPSTREAM.
SO WE HAVE SOME CURRENT PROTECTIONS IN PLACE THAT I'M SURE A LOT OF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH.
THE, UH, DISCHARGE BAN INTO THE HIGHLAND LAKES HAS BEEN A HUGE BENEFIT TO PROTECT THE QUALITY OF THAT WATER.
UH, WE HAVE L C R A HAS THEIR HIGHLAND LAKES, UH, WATERSHED ORDINANCES, THEIR TWO ORDINANCES, UM, IN PLACE.
AND SO IT'S ALSO GONNA BE CRITICAL TO KEEP THOSE TYPES OF PROTECTIONS IN PLACE AS WE MOVE FORWARD.
SO IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL FRONT, UH, CHALLENGES OF COURSE CLIMATE CHANGE LOOMS, UM, VERY HIGH, UH, THAT, UH, AS WE KNOW IS THE PREDICTIONS ARE FOR HIGHER TEMPERATURES OVERALL IN OUR REGION.
ALSO, THAT THE HIGHER TEMPERATURES LEAD TO LOWER, LOWER SOIL MOISTURE, UH, LONGER PERIODS POTENTIALLY OF DROUGHT CAN LEAD TO TREE MORTALITY.
SO IT'S KIND OF A COMPOUNDED EFFECT OF THE HIGHER TEMPERATURES.
AND THEN THE LOSS OF VEGETATIVE COVER, POTENTIAL LOSS OF SOIL, WE'LL HAVE FLASHIER BIG STORMS WITH, UH, HIGHER RAINFALL.
UH, WE SAW THAT IN 2018 WITH THE FLOOD IN THE LANO RIVER, THAT WE HAD THAT HUGE SEDIMENT PLUME THAT MOVED DOWN INTO AUSTIN AND CREATED CHALLENGES FOR WATER TREATMENT.
[01:15:02]
UH, WE ALSO HAVE KIND OF ECOLOGICAL SHIFTS AS WE'RE CALLING 'EM, JUST UNKNOWN INVASIVE SPECIES THAT CAN MOVE INTO THE AREA OR OTHER, UM, ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES.WE HAVE ZEBRA MUSCLES NOW IN THE HIGHLAND LAKES THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE BEFORE.
WE HAVE THE HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS, SO WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WHAT'S YET TO COME WITH THAT.
WE HAVE SOME OTHER MUSCLES, QUA MUSCLES NOW THAT FOLKS ARE TALKING ABOUT.
SO ALL UH, INVASIVE SPECIES IN GENERAL, I THINK, UM, ARE, WILL BE AN ONGOING CHALLENGE.
SO OUR, OUR SCOPE STATEMENT WAS BASICALLY HOW CAN AUSTIN WATER, UM, BEST WORK TO IDENTIFY, UM, WAYS TO PROTECT OUR DRINKING WATER QUANTITY AND QUALITY, UH, THROUGH LAND CONSERVATION APPROACHES, LAND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES.
SO WE LOOKED FIRST TO IDENTIFY WHAT, UM, SOME OF THE THREATS WOULD BE TO WATER QUALITY AND WATER QUANTITY.
WE WANNA LOOK AT OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROTECTION, ANALYZE THOSE THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES, AND THEN EVALUATE PRIORITY, UH, LAND CONSERVATION OPTIONS.
THAT CAN BE A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES.
UM, IN OUR OTHER LAND PROGRAMS, WE'VE DONE FEE SIMPLE ACQUISITION OF QUITE A BIT OF ACRES AND ALSO CONSERVATION EASEMENTS.
WE HAVE ABOUT 48,000 ACRES OF LAND BETWEEN FEE SIMPLE AND LAND CONSERVATION IN THE BALCONIES.
CANYON LANDS PRESERVE, UM, THE AUSTIN PORTION OF THAT AND THE WATER QUALITY PROTECTION LANDS.
BUT THAT'S AN EXPENSIVE, UM, APPROACH.
UH, CONSERVATION EASEMENTS ARE MORE, UM, COST EFFECTIVE THAN PURCHASING AND ENVY SIMPLE, WHERE WE JUST BUY THE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS AND WE HAVE RESTRICTIONS THAT PROTECT WATER QUALITY AND WE GO OUT ONCE A YEAR TO WORK WITH THE RANCHERS OR THE LANDOWNERS TO MAKE SURE THAT WATER QUALITY IS PROTECTED.
BUT IT CONTINUES TO BE, UM, IN, UH, THE USE OF THE CURRENT LANDOWNER.
UM, WE ALSO CAN WORK ON EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS. THERE'S A LOT OF MONEY NOW GOING INTO NRCS PROGRAMS, HEADWATERS CONSERVATION BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES.
THAT'S ANOTHER APPROACH WHERE WE COULD POTENTIALLY, UH, JUST WORK WITH PARTNERS ON THOSE TYPES OF THINGS.
UM, AND THEN ALSO JUST AS I MENTIONED, THERE'S A LOT OF GROUPS WORKING ON CONSERVATION UP IN THIS, UH, IN THE LAKE TRAVIS AND LAKE BUCHANAN WATERSHED.
SO WE CAN PARTNER WITH THOSE GROUPS.
UM, SO IN THE END, THIS IS, WE'VE JUST DONE THE FIRST PART OF THIS ANALYSIS THAT I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT A LITTLE BIT, AND THEN WE'RE ALSO GONNA LOOK AT ECONOMIC FACTORS AND SOCIAL FACTORS.
AND THEN WE'LL COME UP FINALLY WITH RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH WATER FORWARD 24.
SO WE LOOKED, WE DID, UM, KIND OF A GIS RASTER ANALYSIS TO HELP, UM, UNDERSTAND THOSE AREAS THAT MIGHT BE MOST IMPORTANT TO PROTECT.
UH, LAKE TRAVIS WATERSHED IN, IN IS HUGE
UM, THERE WE WANTED TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY PRIORITY AREAS THAT WE COULD PROTECT SINCE WE, OBVIOUSLY WE CAN'T, UH, WORK ON CONSERVATION IN THAT WHOLE AREA.
UM, AND THEN ALSO FIGURE OUT WHICH AREAS, UM, MIGHT, UH, MIGHT BE THE GET THE MOST BENEFIT FROM.
WE LOOKED AT A NUMBER OF WATER SUPPLY FACTORS, WATER QUALITY, WATER QUANTITY FACTORS.
UM, WE DID LOOK AT WATER QUANTITY, EVEN THOUGH WE REALIZED THAT THIS ISN'T REALLY A WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY PER SE, OF A LARGE AMOUNT OF WATER.
BUT WE WANTED TO LOOK AT MAYBE SOME KEY SPRING AREAS THAT ARE CRITICAL, ESPECIALLY WHEN INFLOWS ARE LOW, UM, TO THE RIVERS THAT FEED INTO LAKE TRAVIS AND LAKE BUCHANAN, THAT SOME OF THOSE PRESERVING THOSE SPRING HEADS MIGHT BE CRITICAL.
WE LOOKED AT, UM, RIPARIAN AREAS, OTHER, UH, WELLS, WELLS WERE YOU LOOKED AT IN TERMS OF A POSITIVE THING.
AND THEN ALSO OIL AND GAS WELLS, THAT WOULD BE A NEGATIVE THING THAT WE'D WANNA STAY AWAY FROM.
UM, WE LOOKED AT A NUMBER OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS, ALL THE RIPARIAN AND FLOODPLAIN AREAS AND PERVIOUS COVER.
AGAIN, SOME THINGS WERE POSITIVE AND SOME WERE NEGATIVE IN THE RASTER ANALYSIS.
OTHER CURRENTLY PROTECTED LANDS AND THEN SLOPE, UM, AND VEGETATION COVER.
[01:20:01]
SO WE DID ALL THIS GIS REST ANALYSIS, UM, STRATEGICALLY TO TRY TO LOOK AT WHAT WOULD RISE TO THE TOP FOR PRIORITY CONSERVATION.SO THIS IS JUST A CONTEXT SLIDE TO SHOW YOU THE AREA THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.
UM, IN CENTRAL TEXAS, QUITE A LARGE AREA, UH, THAT FEEDS INTO OUR WATER SUPPLY.
UH, IT'S ABOUT 20 COUNTIES, I THINK THAT AT LEAST HAVE A PARTIAL AMOUNT THAT FEEDS INTO OUR, UH, WATER SYSTEM.
OF COURSE, AS YOU GET FURTHER SOUTH, SOME OF THAT FEEDS INTO OTHER RIVER SYSTEMS. UH, WE HAVE THE COURSE, THE MAIN STEM AND THE COLORADO RIVER.
AND THEN WE HAVE THE, UM, TWO COMPONENTS OF THE LANO RIVER AND THEN, UH, SAN ABA, THE PER MALICE, KIND OF THE KEY RIVER FLOWS.
UM, THIS IS JUST TO SHOW THOSE WATERSHEDS OF THOSE MAJOR RIVERS.
AND THEN JUST RELATIVE UP, RIGHT? OH, SORRY, THIS IS VANESSA.
I WAS JUST GONNA SAY, YOU JUST OVERLAY THAT DROUGHT MAP AND THAT'S RIGHT WHERE WE HAVE OUR EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT.
ESPECIALLY THAT LOWER PORTION.
UH, UM, THIS IS JUST CLOSER UP TO, SO YOU CAN GET A VIEW OF THOSE COUNTIES AND WE JUST INCLUDED ALL THE COUNTIES THAT HAD A PORTION OF THOSE RIVER SYSTEMS WITHIN THAT COUNTY.
SO SOME OF THOSE COUNTIES DON'T FEED INTO OUR WATERSHED, THE LOWER PORTION IN THE UPPER PORTION.
UH, THESE ARE THE WATERSHEDS, UH, THAT FEED IN JUST SHOWING THOSE MAJOR RIVER SYSTEMS. UM, NEXT SLIDE PLEASE.
AND JUST TO GET THE RELATIVE SCALE, THIS IS SHOWING THE BARTON SPRING ZONE NEXT SLIDE, UM, WHICH IS ONLY ABOUT 371 SQUARE MILES.
UH, THE LAKE AUSTIN WATERSHED IS ALSO QUITE A BIT SMALLER THAN LAKE TRAVIS AND LAKE BUCHANAN.
UH, JUST SHOWING THE CITY OF AUSTIN'S INCORPORATED AREA TOO, THAT LOOKS REALLY SMALL COMPARED TO
THAT'S JUST SHOWING THOSE, AGAIN, THE SIZE IN TERMS OF SQUARE MILES.
UM, SO THIS IS JUST ILLUSTRATING WHAT WE DID WITH THIS RASTER ANALYSIS.
WE TOOK ALL THOSE FACTORS AND WE PLUGGED THEM INTO A GIS ANALYSIS AND SOME THINGS, UM, WERE POSITIVE AND THEN ONLY A COUPLE THINGS WERE NEGATIVE, LIKE ROADS AND PERVIOUS COVER OR OIL AND GAS WELLS.
AND THEN WE RANKED THEM AS A GROUP.
THE STAFF WE JUST SAID, YOU KNOW, THESE THINGS ARE HIGH PRIORITY, THESE ARE MODERATE, THESE ARE LOW.
AND THEN WE PUT IT ALL INTO THE GIS MODEL AND RAN IT.
SO THIS IS BASICALLY ILLUSTRATES THE PRIORITY CONSERVATION AREAS ARE THE DARKER PURPLE, THE DEEPER PURPLE COLOR.
SO NOT SURPRISINGLY THE PERALES RIVER RISES TO THE TOP AS A PRIORITY AREA.
UM, AND THEN ALSO JUST AS YOU MOVE UP THE COLORADO RIVER INTO THE, UH, ALONG THE MAIN STEM OF THE COLORADO INTO THE HIGHLAND LAKES AREA, UM, THAT LARGE AREA IN THE MIDDLE IS THE KIND OF LANO UPLIFT GRANITE AREA WHERE THERE'S NOT AQUIFER, UH, SYSTEM.
AND SO THAT, UM, RANKED LOWER, YOU CAN SEE AS YOU MOVE OUT.
UM, THERE'S ALSO ON THE SOUTH LANO, THERE WAS AN AREA THAT CAME UP PRETTY HIGH JUST BECAUSE OF THE SPRING SYSTEMS THAT ARE THERE THAT ARE REALLY IMPORTANT TO THE ATLANTA RIVER FLOW.
AND AGAIN, UP IN THE HIGHLAND LAKES AREA, THERE WAS SOME LIGHTER SHADES OF PURPLE.
BUT THE PEROS RIVER, UM, WAS DEFINITELY THE HIGHEST PRIORITY AREA.
AND ONE OF THE FACTORS I DIDN'T MENTION IS WE ALSO HAD DISTANCE TO OUR INTAKES.
SO THE THINGS THAT WERE CLOSER INTO OUR WATER INTAKES, RIGHT.
CAN I ASK A QUESTION REAL QUICK? UHHUH
SO THIS IS AN INTERESTING MAP HERE AND UH, IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE A MAP THAT WAS PREPARED FOR THE NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT, WHICH I THINK YOU'VE PROBABLY SEEN THAT GOT A, A LOT OF, A LOT OF FLACK, BUT MAINLY CUZ OF THE, THE AREA THEANO UPLIFT.
UM, SO ANYWAY, BE PREPARED FOR THAT, BUT, UM,
BUT, UM, SO IT'S INTERESTING BECAUSE AN IMPORTANT AREA IS A
[01:25:01]
SOUTH LE RIVER, OF COURSE.AND THERE'S WONDERFUL SPRINGS THERE, WHICH WE KNOW AND LOVE AND THE RIVER ITSELF MM-HMM.
UM, SO THE LENA RIVER ITSELF IS IMPORTANT.
IT'S AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE INFLOWS INTO THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
UM, IS IT, I CAN'T REMEMBER THE ROBERT, MAYBE HE'S PROBABLY LOOKING IT UP RIGHT NOW.
WHO KNOWS ING ONE OR THE OTHER, BUT, UM, BUT SO THAT'S AN IMPORTANT FACTOR.
SO THE FACT THAT THE ELANO UPLIFT REGION THERE LIKE DOESN'T SCORE LIKE HIGH PRIORITY, IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE ATLANTA RIVER AND THE INFLOWS FROM THAT RIVER ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO OUR WATER SUPPLY.
IT JUST, IT DOESN'T SHOW UP AS PURPLE BECAUSE IT, ONE OF OUR FACTORS WAS AQUIFER RECHARGE.
SO THAT'S THE REASON, BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT AREA'S NOT IMPORTANT FOR CONSERVATION FOR YEAH.
AND I KNOW THAT THESE ARE JUST SLIDES, BUT I'M JUST LIKE, UM, IT'S INTERESTING WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU GO OUT TALKING ABOUT IT WITH THE MAPS FIRST WITHOUT THE CONTEXT FOR THE MAPS, BECAUSE THEN PEOPLE JUST HAVE THE MAPS AND THEN THEY FREAK OUT ABOUT THE MAPS.
BUT IT, LIKE, THE CONTEXT OF THE THING THAT I THINK WOULD BE REALLY GOOD TO GO WITH THIS IS MAYBE THE CONTEXT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RIVERS AND THE RIVER FLOWS AND THAT, UM, SURELY ALL THOUGHT OF ALL OF THIS, BUT, YOU KNOW, AND THE, THE CONTRIBUTIONS AND YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT THE FLOWS OF THESE RIVERS, WHETHER IT'S, UM, FED BY, BY RAINFALL, THAT AND THE, AND YOU KNOW, RUN OFF INTO THE RIVERS OR SPRING FLOW AND BASE FLOW WHEN WE'RE NOT GETTING THE RAINFALL ARE, ARE HUGELY IMPORTANT FACTORS TO, TO THE WATER COMING INTO THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
AND THEN THESE ARE FURTHER, FURTHER THINGS TO ENSURE THAT THAT, THAT THE, THAT THAT HAPPENS WHETHER IT'S WATER QUALITY OR QUANTITY.
AND WE HAVE WRITTEN UP SOME TECHNICAL MEMOS, BUT I THINK HAVING SOME CONTEXT AND SOME MORE WRITTEN UP TO GO WITH THIS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA.
AND I THINK THAT'S A GOOD SUGGESTION.
AND, AND I GUESS JUST FOR THE FOLKS FOLLOWING AT HOME, THAT BIG WHITE AREA IN THE CENTER OF THIS MAP IS THE LANO UPLIFT AREA, SO YES.
SO ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT? IT'S ALL IMPORTANT.
IT'S JUST A MATTER OF WHERE, WHERE WE FEEL LIKE WE COULD FOCUS OUR EFFORTS TO GET THE MOST CONSERVATION BENEFIT.
UM, SO THIS ONE JUST SHOWS IT A LITTLE MORE CLEARLY WITHOUT THE OTHER COLORS ON THERE.
THAT THE PANOS RIVER, UM, REALLY ROSE TO THE TOP AS A PRIORITY AREA FOR CONSERVATION.
UM, AND THE AREA NORTH, UH, OF THE HIGHLAND LAKES, JUST IN THE HIGHLAND LAKES AREA.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THERE ARE A LOT OF PROTECTIONS IN PLACE IN SOME OF THIS AREA.
YOU KNOW, THE L C A WATERSHED ORDINANCES, THAT'S WHERE THEY'RE APPLIED.
I KNOW HOW WELL YOU CAN SEE THIS ONE, UM, ON THE SCREEN, BUT THIS, UM, SLIDE JUST SHOWS EXISTING CONSERVATION LANDS.
SO THAT'S ALSO SOME MORE GOOD NEWS.
UM, AS I MENTIONED, THE BAS CANYON LANDS PRESERVED, UH, IT WAS ESTABLISHED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES, BUT THE ENDANGERED SPECIES THAT ARE PROTECTED OR THE HABITAT IS ALL IN WESTERN TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND SO ALL OF THOSE PRESERVES ARE WITHIN EITHER THE LAKE TRAVIS OR THE LAKE AUSTIN WATERSHED.
THERE ARE SOME DOWN IN THE BARTON SPRINGS WATERSHED.
UM, AND THEN ALSO, SO THAT'S THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS ABOUT 13, 14,000 ACRES IN THAT TRAVIS COUNTY IS OUR PARTNER ON THE PERMIT THAT PERMITS DEVELOPMENT OUTSIDE OF THOSE PRESERVES.
THEY HAVE ABOUT AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF LAND.
AND THEN WE HAVE SOME OTHER PARTNERS, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, TRAVIS AUDUBON, UM, THAT HOLD LAND IN THE B'S CANYON LANDS PRESERVE AS WELL.
AND THEN THE B'S, CANYON LANDS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE IS A FEDERAL SYSTEM THAT WAS ALSO SET UP AT THE SAME TIME TO HELP PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES, BUT IT'S ALSO UP IN THE, UH, BURNETT, UH, TRAVIS COUNTY AREA.
SO IT'S ALSO LAND WITHIN OUR WATERSHED.
UM, THIS ALSO SHOWS THE WATER QUALITY PROTECTION LANDS.
IF YOU SEE THE GREEN BARTON SPRING ZONE, UM, THOSE WERE ESTABLISHED PRIMARILY TO PROTECT BARTON SPRINGS.
BUT OF COURSE THEY ALSO PROTECT GROUNDWATER RESOURCES IN HAYES COUNTY.
UM, AND POTENTIALLY FUTURE AREAS OF WATER SUPPLIED DOWNSTREAM.
UH, ALSO THERE'S A SMATTERING OF ORANGE AROUND THE MAP, UH, SMALL, HARD TO SEE AT THIS SCALE, BUT THERE'S SOME STATE PARKS, ELLIS
[01:30:01]
FALLS, STATE PARK, AND SOME OTHER STATE, UH, MANAGED AREAS THAT ARE PROTECTING LAND OUT IN THOSE AREAS.THIS DOESN'T HAVE ALL THE CONSERVATION EASEMENTS ON IT, SO THERE'S ADDITIONAL LAND THAT'S PRESERVED THROUGH CONSERVATION EASEMENTS.
THAT'S JUST A LITTLE CLOSER VIEW.
YOU CAN SEE IT A LITTLE BIT BETTER.
THOSE CONSERVED AREAS ARE ORANGE, WHICH DOESN'T SHOW ON THIS SCREEN VERY WELL, SO WE'LL TRY TO MAKE THAT MORE CLEAR.
UH, AGAIN, JUST THE RELATIVE SIZE OF THE BARTON SPRING ZONE NEXT SLIDE, AND THE LAKE AUSTIN WATERSHED.
OH, THERE'S THE CONSERVATIVES.
NO WONDER THEY WEREN'T SHOWING, THEY WEREN'T THERE YET.
SO THE, THAT LOOKS GOOD TO ME.
I MEAN, I'D LIKE TO SEE ALL THAT LAND THAT'S ALREADY PROTECTED, THAT'S IN THAT KIND OF PRIORITY AREA.
UM, AND THIS IS JUST TO SHOW THAT, UH, ABOUT 33% OF THE RECHARGE ZONE AND 14%, UM, OF THE, UH, BARTON SPRING ZONE ARE PROTECTED WITH THE WATER QUALITY PROTECTION LANDS.
AND THAT WE'VE SPENT ABOUT 238 MILLION ON THAT PROGRAM.
SO JUST TO GIVE YOU A FEEL FOR HOW MUCH LAND WE CAN REALLY PRESERVE WITH THESE SIMPLE ACQUISITIONS, OR EVEN WITH CONSERVATION EASEMENTS, IT'S GETTING HARDER AND HARDER.
YOU KNOW, EVERY YEAR YOU CAN LOOK AT, UM, HOW MUCH LAND WE'VE GOTTEN FOR HOW MUCH MONEY WE'VE SPENT.
UM, JUST IN TERMS OF THE COST OF LAND, WE WERE FORTUNATE BACK IN THE EIGHTIES AND THE EARLY NINETIES WHEN THESE PROGRAMS WERE STARTED WAS KIND OF A DOWNTURN IN THE ECONOMY.
AND IF YOU REMEMBER THE RESOLUTION TRUST CORPORATION OWNED A LOT OF LAND IN AUSTIN AND WE GOT A LOT OF THE BALCONIES.
CANYON LANDS PRESERVED LAND FOR VERY LOW PER ACRE COST, BUT THOSE DAYS ARE, ARE OVER.
NEXT SLIDE IS THE BARTON SPRING ZONE.
IS THAT THE CONTRIBUTING ZONE PLUS THE RECHARGE ZONE? DO YOU KNOW, UM, IS THAT WHAT THAT IS? YES, I THINK SO.
SO NEXT STEPS, UM, WE'RE GOING TO BE ANALYZING THIS, UM, ALL THE THREATS AND, UH, PROTECTION OPPORTUNITIES.
WE'RE GONNA BE LOOKING AT KIND OF A DIFFERENT TIERS OF ECONOMIC, UH, POTENTIAL ECONOMIC IMPACTS, SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS.
WE'RE GONNA LOOK AT HOW WE COULD WORK WITH OUR PARTNERS, UM, ON THIS PROJECT.
YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES IT'S GOOD FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN TO BE KIND OF IN THE BACKGROUND HELPING, UM, WITH LOCAL.
I THINK IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE LOCAL, UM, COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT ARE KIND OF LEADING THE CHARGE FOR WHAT WE'RE DOING IN SOME OF THESE COMMUNITIES.
UM, WE ARE GOING TO TRY TO BENCHMARK AGAINST OTHER COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE DONE THIS.
THERE'S A LOT OF SOURCE WATER PROTECTION PROGRAMS AROUND THE COUNTRY AND SOME WHERE THEY'VE PARTICULARLY HIGHLIGHTED LAND CONSERVATION.
SO WE'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THOSE AND KIND OF STUDYING, UH, SOME OF WHAT THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO DO.
WE'RE CONTINUAL TO REFINE OUR PRIORITIES.
UM, WE'RE GOING TO DO KIND OF A ANALYSIS OF WHICH PROGRAMS WOULD WE FEEL LIKE WE GOT THE MOST BENEFIT FOR THE COST AND WHICH ONES MIGHT BE MOST EFFECTIVE IN PARTICULAR COUNTIES IN PARTICULAR AREAS.
AND THEN WE'LL BE, UM, MAKING SOME RECOMMENDATIONS, AS I MENTIONED, THAT WOULD GO FORWARD WITH WATER FORWARD 24.
UH, WE'LL LOOK AT FUNDING OPTIONS, ALL THE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP FUND SOME OF THIS WORK.
THERE IS SOME FEDERAL MONEY, AS Y'ALL KNOW, I'M SURE, COMING, UM, DOWN RECENTLY THROUGH THE INFRASTRUCTURE ACT AND THE, UM, INFLATION REDUCTION ACT, WHICH ARE NEITHER ONE SOUND LIKE MONEY FOR CONSERVATION
UM, AND THEN WE'LL JUST CONTINUE TO, UH, WORK WITH Y'ALL AND GET YOUR INPUT AS WE MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS TASK UNDER WATER FORK.
SO THAT'S ALL I HAD, UNLESS MARISSA WANTS TO ADD ANYTHING THAT I MIGHT HAVE LEFT OUT.
NO, I THINK WE'RE DONE WITH THE PRESENTATION, BUT I JUST WANTED TO MENTION THAT, UM, MY APOLOGIES TO SHERRY.
I THINK I COPIED AND PASTED THE WRONG, UH, VERSION OF THIS PRESENTATION INTO THE, THE SET OF SLIDES THAT GET, UM, PUT UP ON THE SCREEN WITH IT.
UM, ALWAYS A PRO WHO'S JUST WENT RIGHT AHEAD AND GAVE THAT PRESENTATION ANYWAY,
[01:35:01]
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH,WELL, I'M HAPPY TO BE HERE AND I'M HAPPY TO, IF I CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.
WE'VE HAD SOME STAFFING CHANGES, PEOPLE LEAVE, SO WE'RE KIND OF DOING A CATCH UP NOW TO GET, UH, BACK ROLLING AGAIN.
BUT I'M EXCITED TO START WORKING ON THIS AND MOVE IT FORWARD.
I'VE GOT A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS.
CAN Y'ALL HEAR ME? YEP, GO AHEAD VANESSA.
UM, SO, WELL, I GUESS THE FIRST ONE IS MORE OF A COMMENT, UM, BUT IT, I WAS, IT FEELS TO ME LIKE, UM, PROTECTING LAND AND THE, UH, PER BASIN COULD BE, UH, LIKE A REALLY GREAT PROJECT, UM, FOR LIKE A, A CLEAN WATER STATE REVOLVING FUND LOAN.
HAVE Y'ALL LOOKED AT THAT? CUZ I KNOW THAT, UH, THAT PROGRAM, UM, YOU KNOW, HAS FUNDING OR, OR PROJECTS FOR SOURCE WATER PROTECTION ARE ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING UNDER THAT PROGRAM.
HAVE YOU GUYS LOOKED AT THAT AS AN OPTION? WE, WE HAVE THAT ON OUR LIST.
WE HAVE LOOKED AT THAT AND I KNOW SOME OTHER COMMUNITIES HAVE USED THAT FUND AND, UM, THERE'S A MATCH REQUIRED, BUT YOU CAN GET FORGIVENESS FOR A LOT OF THE LOAN IF IT'S FOR AN ENVIRONMENTAL, UM, PROJECT.
SO, UM, WE, WE DO HAVE THAT ON OUR, IN OUR TOOLBOX.
IT'S ONE OF THE THINGS WE'RE CONSIDERING.
I THINK SAN MARCUS MIGHT'VE DONE THAT.
ROBERT, DO YOU KNOW? OR JENNIFER? UM, YEAH, I THINK IT WAS SAN MARCO.
AND, UH, YEAH, I KNOW THEY'VE ARE, WELL, BILL MURRAY MIGHT WANNA CHIME IN ON THIS BECAUSE I THINK THAT HE HELPED, UM, HAYES COUNTY WITH SOMETHING SIMILAR.
UH, CWS, THE THREE 19 PROGRAM DEFINITELY WORKS FOR SURF WATER PROTECTION CITY.
SAN MARCOS WAS THE FIRST GROUP TO SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTE THAT PROGRAM.
A GOOD CREDIT CREDIT TO OUR FORMER CHAIRWOMAN CHARLENE LURE.
SHE WAS THE ONE THAT UNLOCKED ALL OF THAT MONEY BY BEING A, A PRETTY GOOD ADVOCATE AND GOT THE WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD TO ISSUE A POLICY CHANGE.
SO OVER THE ENSUING YEARS, I'VE SEEN APPLICATIONS ON BEHALF OF HAYES COUNTY, HOAL COUNTY, HAITI PRAIRIE LAND CONSERVATION, OTHERS OUT THERE.
AND YOU'RE RIGHT, A COUPLE OF WAYS.
THE DOLLARS CAN BE TURNED INTO GRANT FUNDS.
AND IF YOU WERE LIKE THE CITY OF SAN MARCOS IN THE PIECE OF LAND YOU WERE ACQUIRING WAS IN THE A DISADVANTAGED CENSUS TRACT, YOU COULD GET AN ENORMOUS PORTION OF IT FOR GIVEN, WHICH IS ANOTHER WORD FOR GRANT.
UH, THE WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD HAS NOT REALLY OPENED THE FLOOD GATES ON THIS SET.
THEY'RE SORT OF, THEY ACCOMMODATE LIKE ONE PROJECT A YEAR, AND I THINK WITH ALL THE MONEY THEY HAVE NOW, THERE MAY BE MORE.
SO GOOD TIME TO BE THINKING ABOUT THAT.
IT'S NOT A QUICK PROCESS EITHER.
I'LL SAY THAT VERY, VERY QUIETLY.
AND I GUESS I WAS JUST TRYING TO THINK ABOUT WHERE Y'ALL ARE IN THE PROCESS NOW AND SORT OF LIKE THE TIMING FOR ACTUALLY BEING ABLE TO LIKE SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR A PROGRAM LIKE THIS.
I MEAN, DO YOU GUYS HAVE AN IDEA OF, UM, WHAT THAT TIMING LOOKS LIKE? UM, WELL, WE'RE NOT AT THE POINT OF APPLYING FOR FUNDING YET.
WE'RE WORKING ON KIND OF THE OVERALL WATER FORWARD 24 TIMELINE.
SO WE FEEL LIKE WE STILL HAVE SOME MORE ANALYSIS TO DO, UM, AND KIND OF PUTTING TOGETHER ALL THE OPTIONS THAT WE WOULD PRESENT, UH, TO CITY COUNCIL.
YEAH, SO THIS WILL BE INCLUDED.
THIS IS A NEW PART OF THE WATER FORWARD PLAN, UM, NEW FOR 2024.
WE'RE INCLUDING THIS, UM, KIND OF AS A PARALLEL PROCESS.
IT'S NOT NECESSARILY A WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY THAT'S GONNA CONTRIBUTE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT TO WATER QUANTITY OR YIELD, UM, POTENTIALLY.
UH, BUT WE'RE IDENTIFYING THIS AS A STRATEGY MORE TO PROTECT WATER QUALITY AND JUST ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THAT IS GONNA CONTINUE TO BE A REALLY IMPORTANT, UM, UH,
[01:40:01]
PIECE OF THE PUZZLE WHEN IT COMES TO PROTECTION OF, OF SOURCE WATER, UM, AND PROTECTION OF, YOU KNOW, DRINKING WATER QUALITY OVERALL.SO, UM, THIS IS GONNA PROCEED ON THE SAME WATER FORWARD 2024 TIMELINE, UM, WITH THE INCLUSION OF THIS SET OF STRATEGIES, UM, IN THE ULTIMATE REPORT THAT WILL BE PRESENTED TO COUNSEL BY THE END OF CALENDAR YEAR 2024.
WELL, WE'RE HOPING TO HAVE, UH, KIND OF RECOMMENDATIONS PULLED TOGETHER BY, UM, MAY, JUNE, THE SUMMER OF, UH, 2024, UM, AND HAVE A PRETTY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT WE'D BE, UH, RECOMMENDING TO, TO CITY COUNCIL AT THAT TIME, AT THE END OF 2024.
WE WOULDN'T NECESSARILY BE ASKING FOR LIKE A FUNDING AUTHORIZATION, UM, FOR THIS PROGRAM AS A WHOLE.
IT'S JUST KIND OF THE NEXT STEP TO ESTABLISHING, UH, A SET OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND POTENTIALLY ESTABLISHING THIS AS A, A BROADER PROGRAM.
BUT THAT SAID THERE, YOU KNOW, SHERRY AND HER GROUP CONTINUED TO DO A LOT OF WORK AROUND LAND ACQUISITION IN A MORE KIND OF OPPORTUNISTIC WAY.
SO I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S SOMETHING THAT SHERRY WOULD WANNA SPEAK TO AS WELL.
WE, WE, UM, HAVE FUNDING RIGHT NOW STILL FROM THE, UH, FOR THE BARTON SPRINGS ZONE.
UH, WE ARE STILL HAVE SOME FUNDING FROM THE LAST BOND ELECTION, 2018 BONDS FOR THAT.
I KNOW TRAVIS COUNTY, UM, HAS ALSO BEEN FOCUSED IN THE NELLS AREA WITH THEIR CONSERVATION EASEMENT PROGRAM, AND THEY, I THINK THERE'S A COMMITTEE WORKING TOWARDS FUTURE BONDS ALSO FOR TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND I FEEL LIKE AT ONE POINT I KNEW THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION, BUT NOW I CAN'T REMEMBER THE ANSWER.
IS THERE A REASON WHY THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS NEVER GONE DOWN THE ROUTE THAT SAN ANTONIO HAS, I GUESS IN THE PAST WITH THE SALES TAX, UM, THAT THEY'VE UTILIZED, YOU KNOW, TO, FOR CONSERVATION EASEMENT ACQUISITION OVER THE EDWARDS? BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE, YOU KNOW, THE WORK THAT Y'ALL ARE DOING, UM, IDENTIFYING THESE PRIORITY AREAS AND THE RATIONALE FOR THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, IS SETTING UP A REALLY GOOD CASE FOR ANOTHER KIND OF LONGER TERM PROGRAM WHERE IF THERE WAS SORT OF FUNDING AVAILABLE ALL THE TIME, RATHER THAN JUST HAVING IT BE OPPORTUNISTIC, UM, THAT, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A GOOD CASE HERE FOR THAT.
DOES, SOMEONE'S NOT AN EXPERT ON THAT, BUT MY UNDERSTANDING IS SAN ANTONIO HAD SOME ROOM IN THEIR SALES TAX TO ADD THAT INTO THEIR SALES TAX.
AND I'M, MY UNDERSTANDING IS, AND WE DON'T, THE CITY OF AUSTIN DOES NOT, BUT, BUT WE'RE LOOKING AT ALL CREATIVE FUNDING, POTENTIAL FUNDING SOURCES.
CAN YOU HEAR ME? GO AHEAD, PERRY.
OH, THE, UH, I REMEMBER WHEN A ZEBRA MUSCLES OVERWHELMED EVERYBODY.
THE WATER SMELLED BAD AND THERE'S BEEN VERY LITTLE TALK ABOUT THAT.
HAS SOMETHING BEEN DONE TO MITIGATE THAT? WAS THERE SOME KIND OF PROGRAM TO END THAT OR IS IT JUST SORT OF FALLING AWAY OFF THE NEWS? KEVIN, DO YOU WANNA SPEAK TO THAT
UM, YEAH, THERE'S BEEN A VARIETY OF THINGS THAT THE UTILITY'S DONE TO TRY TO MITIGATE ZEBRA MUSCLES, UM, INCLUDING, UM, A STEPPED UP INSPECTION PROGRAM ON A REGULAR BASIS.
ALSO, UM, UNDERWATER DIVING CLEANING, SO ACTUAL PHYSICAL, UH, REMOVAL OF ZEBRA MUSCLES.
UM, IN ADDITION, UH, WE'VE ALSO ADDED, UH, I, I BELIEVE IT'S POTASSIUM PER MAGNATE, BUT CHECK ME ON THE ACTUAL CHEMICAL, UM, WHICH HAS BEEN SHOWN, UH, EFFECTIVE IN PREVENTING ZEBRA MUSCLES FROM, UH, ATTACHING AND PROLIFERATING.
SO THERE'S BEEN A VARIETY OF KIND OF ACTIVITIES AT THE OPERATIONAL LEVEL TO TRY TO PREVENT THAT THEY HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL, UH, SO FAR, BUT WE'RE KEEPING OUR EYE OUT.
AND THEN ONE OTHER THING WAS THE DUCK WEED WAS OVERWHELMING IN LAKE AUSTIN, AND I NOTICED, I DON'T KNOW THAT IT CONTRIBUTES TO BAD WATER, BUT I NOTICED IT TENDS TO BE MISSING.
HAS THE CITY DONE ANYTHING ABOUT THAT OR L C R A OR DOES ANYBODY KNOW? I MISSED THE LAST PART.
BARRY, UH, SPECIFICALLY YEAH, JUST WONDERING ABOUT THE DUCKWEED THAT WAS SO PERVASIVE AND THEY USED TO LET THE WATER DOWN EVERY OTHER YEAR SO PEOPLE COULD DEAL WITH THEIR DOCKS AND GET RID OF THE DUCKWEED AND SO FORTH.
[01:45:01]
IT'S A 10TH OF WHAT IT WAS A FEW YEARS AGO, AND I WAS JUST CURIOUS IF THERE WAS SOME FORMAL PROGRAM OR WHAT, HOW THAT ALL SORTED OUT.OF COURSE, YOU, YOU, YOU REFERENCED HISTORICALLY THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER AUTHORITY WORKING WITH US HAVE WORKED TO REDUCE OR DROP THE LAKE LEVEL ON LAKE AUSTIN ABOUT EVERY OTHER YEAR.
THE, THE HOPE WAS TO TRY TO TIME THAT WITH AN ANNUAL FREEZE TO TRY TO FACILITATE DIE OFF OF DUCKWEED LI WHATEVER PARTICULAR SPECIES.
UM, THAT IS, UM, I WILL SAY THAT IN MORE RECENT TIMES WE'VE BEEN A LITTLE BIT MORE PROTECTIVE OF WATER SUPPLY, AND SO WE HAVEN'T BEEN DOING THAT PROCESS.
L C R HAS ALSO HAD UNDERGONE A, UH, DAM MODERNIZATION PROGRAM ACTUALLY DOING SOME GATE REPLACEMENTS ON TOM MILLER DAM.
AND SO, UM, IN ALL HONESTY, I COULDN'T SPEAK TO YOU TODAY ABOUT KIND OF WHAT THE LOCAL PERSPECTIVE IS ON THE PROLIFERATION OF, OF DUCKWEED, UM, ON LAKE AUSTIN, BUT WE CAN CERTAINLY CHECK BACK WITH YOU.
USUALLY THOSE REQUESTS HAVE BEEN FUNNELED THROUGH PAR, I BELIEVE, THROUGH US MM-HMM.
UH, I HAVE A COUPLE QUESTIONS IF NO ONE ELSE DOES.
UM, THANKS VERY MUCH SHERRY, FOR THE PRESENTATION, AND I'M REALLY GLAD TO SEE LAND CONSERVATION AS A, UM, WATER QUALITY STRATEGY, ESPECIALLY IN THE WATER FORWARD PLAN AND IN THE FUTURE PLAN.
UM, ONE OF THE THINGS I WAS THINKING ABOUT IS I DON'T THINK I HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE OTHER WATER QUALITY PROTECTION STRATEGIES ARE THAT MIGHT BE IN THE 2024 PLAN.
SO IF WE'VE HAD A PRESENTATION ON THAT IN THE PAST, THEN SOMEONE COULD EMAIL IT TO ME, I'D LOVE LOOKING AT IT.
AND IF WE HAVE NOT, THEN THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE.
UM, IN PARTICULAR A DISCUSSION, I MEAN, WE JUST TALKED ABOUT THE ZEBRA MUSCLE MITIGATION THAT TAKES PLACE IN RELATION DIRECTLY TO THE WATER INTAKES, WHICH IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
AND I THINK MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT'S WHAT CAUSED THE TASTE IN ODOR ISSUES PREVIOUSLY.
HOWEVER, I THINK THERE'S ANOTHER WATER QUALITY IMPACT FROM ZEBRA MUSCLES, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, THEY CLEAN THE WATER, BUT THEN APPARENTLY IT'S SO CLEAN, THE SUNLIGHT COMBINES WITH THE PHOSPHORUS AGAIN, AND WE'RE, IT'S PART OF WHAT'S CAUSING THESE, UM, ALGAE BLOOMS. AND I DON'T, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE THE, YOU KNOW, CYTOTOXINS, UM, WHICH IT SEEMS LIKE SO FAR OUR STRATEGY FOR THE CYTOXIN BLOOMS, ESPECIALLY IN LADY BIRD LAKE, IS SORT OF TREATING THE SYMPTOM USING THE FOSS LOCK.
AND SO BACK TO THE, YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE OTHER WATER QUALITY PROTECTION STRATEGIES THAT COULD SAVE MONEY ON TREATMENT, UM, AND, YOU KNOW, HELP PROVIDE AS MUCH WATER AS POSSIBLE FOR OUR DRINKING WATER SUPPLY.
I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW WHAT, WHAT ARE THE OTHER STRATEGIES LIKE IN ADDITION TO LAND CONSERVATION, WHICH I THINK PROVIDES A LOT OF MULTI BENEFITS, BUT IS ALSO, YOU KNOW, VERY EXPENSIVE.
YEAH, I'LL, I'LL JUST SAY ONE THING AND THEN I'LL LET MARISSA SPEAK TO THAT.
BUT ONE OF THE THINGS I DIDN'T MENTION IS WE ARE PARTNERING WITH THE WATERSHED PROTECTION DEPARTMENT ON LOOKING AT THIS, UM, PROJECT.
AND ALSO WE HOPE TO WORK WITH EL CRE AND THEIR COLORADO RIVER ENVIRONMENTAL MODEL, KREMS MODEL TO PLUG IN DIFFERENT ASPECTS AND SEE WHAT, YOU KNOW, THAT OUTCOME MIGHT BE IN THOSE DIFFERENT AREAS.
BUT I KNOW THAT WE'VE HAD DIFFERENT COMMITTEES WORKING ON THESE VARIOUS WATER QUALITY, UM, IMPACTS AS WELL.
SO I'LL LET MARISA SPEAK TO THAT.
SO THE NEXT STEP, ONE OF THE NEXT STEPS FOR THIS WORK, UM, THAT WAS MENTIONED IN THE PRESENTATION, THE WORK ON MODELING WITH OUR PARTNERS, UM, OUR PARTNERS AT B L C A AND WE'D BE USING THEIR CLUM KREMS MODEL.
IT STANDS FOR COLORADO RIVER ENVIRONMENTAL MODEL, UM, TO LOOK AT DIFFERENT SCENARIOS IN DIFFERENT SCENARIOS OF, UM, WASTEWATER DISCHARGES, NOTING THAT THERE IS A CURRENT BAN ON WASTEWATER DISCHARGE IN TO THE HIGHLAND LAKES, UM, DIFFERENT SCENARIOS WITH OR WITHOUT THE HIGHLAND LAKES WATERSHED ORDINANCE, WHICH WE THINK IS, UH, REALLY IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE, UM, AS WELL AS OTHER POLLUTANT LOADINGS UPSTREAM OF, OF LAKE TRAVIS, UM, AND THE BENEFITS OF LAND PRESERVATION, AS WELL AS OTHER COMBINATION SCENARIOS.
SO THAT WATER QUALITY, QUALITY MODELING WILL BE REALLY HELPFUL AS A BASELINING EXERCISE.
UM, AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT, YOU
[01:50:01]
KNOW, WE, UH, THAT WE IMAGINE WILL COME OUT OF THAT WILL BE JUST, UH, HOW IMPORTANT THE CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO, UM, THINGS LIKE THE, THE WATERSHED ORDINANCE AS WELL AS THE, UM, DISCHARGE BAN WILL CONTINUE TO BE LIKE OUR, WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THOSE REQUIREMENTS, UM, AND, UM, TO, TO SUPPORT THOSE THROUGHOUT THE BASIN.AND THEN WE HAVE, UH, AN ONGOING, AS PART OF OUR, UH, PARTNERSHIP WITH L C R A, WE HAVE AN ONGOING, UH, COLLABORATION TO DISCUSS, UM, UH, WATER QUALITY ISSUES.
WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT DIFFERENT STRATEGIES, UM, PREVENTATIVE STRATEGIES AS WELL AS, UM, STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS ACTIVE HAPS OR HAPS.
UM, AND, UH, YOU KNOW, WHETHER THAT'S THROUGH PHYSICAL MITIGATION OR CHEMICAL MITIGATION.
UM, THE FO LOCK IS YES, ONE OF THE, THE STRATEGIES THAT WE'RE IMPLEMENTING RIGHT NOW TO, UM, YOU KNOW, ADDRESS, UH, POTENTIAL, UH, UH, UH, HAVES OR HAPS WITHIN THE NEAR TERM.
BUT THEN, YOU KNOW, IN TERMS OF PREVENTATIVE STRATEGIES, THINGS LIKE, UM, WATER QUALITY PROTECTION WAS, UH, A HUGE ONE.
UM, UH, VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, UM, UH, OFFERING INCENTIVE TO LANDOWNERS OR COST SHARING FOR, UM, DIFFERENT RE-VEGETATION EFFORTS, JUST THIS STRATEGY LAND, UH, PURCHASES, CONSERVATION EASEMENTS, PARTNERSHIPS WITH LANDOWNER, UM, UH, TO ENHANCE LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES.
UM, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, OTHER, OTHER STRATEGIES AS WELL, I GUESS, UH, WE HAVE, WE HAVE SEVERAL KIND OF EFFORTS THAT WE CAN PULL FROM TO DEVELOP A, A FEATURE PRESENTATION ON WHAT THOSE POTENTIAL STRATEGIES COULD BE.
UM, I'LL SAY THAT WITHIN THE WATER FOR 2024 PLAN, THIS IS KIND OF OUR FIRST FORAY INTO, UM, WATER QUALITY PROTECTION.
PREVIOUSLY, OUR, OUR GROUP ON MY TEAM IN PARTICULAR AND, AND THE FOCUS OF THIS PLAN HAS BEEN ON WATER QUANTITY.
UM, AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE'RE DEVELOPING OUR OWN KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE AND PARTNERING WITH OTHER GROUPS LIKE, LIKE SHERRY AND HER TEAM, UH, WHO HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE IN THESE AREAS AND PARTNERING WITH OTHER FOLKS IN OUR WATERSHED PROTECTION DEPARTMENT AS WELL AS WITHIN L C A, UM, L C FOLKS BEYOND THE LAWYERS DOING WATER RIGHTS, UM, UH, ISSUES.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE ARE TRYING TO BUILD UP THOSE COLLABORATIONS SO THAT WE CAN IDENTIFY HOW WE CAN BUILD OUT THESE TYPE OF STRATEGIES IN THE FUTURE.
I DON'T THINK WE'LL HAVE A COMPLETELY COMPREHENSIVE, UM, UH, APPROACH WITHIN THE WATER 4 20 24 PLAN, BUT WE'RE DEFINITELY GONNA BE MAKING SOME INROADS.
IF I CAN JUST MAKE ONE OTHER POINT REALLY QUICKLY, SORRY.
BECAUSE SHERRY'S PRESENTATION REMINDED ME AND YOU HAD THAT GREAT PICTURE OF LAKE TRAVIS WHERE YOU COULD SEE THE WATER CLARITY, AND WHAT IT REMINDED ME OF IS WHAT LAKE TRAVIS LOOKS LIKE TODAY COMPARED TO THAT PHOTO.
AND I'VE ALWAYS JUST WANTED TO MAKE THE RECOMMENDATION IF IN THAT, UM, THE FIRST PRESENTATION WE GET WITH THE WATER LEVELS AND THE PROJECTIONS, YOU PUT PHOTOS OF LAKE TRAVIS, YOU WOULD GET GASPS FROM PEOPLE, THE DRAMATIC CHANGES THAT YOU CAN SEE ON WATER LEVEL.
UM, SO IS THE CITY STILL GOING TO SEEK TO, TO CONSERVE LANDS IN THE, UM, CONTRIBUTING ZONE FOR BARTON SPRINGS? IT'S LIKE WONDERFUL THAT 33% OF THE RECHARGE ZONE IS, IS PROTECTED.
UM, SO THAT'S THAT, THAT DIRECT KIND OF INFILTRATION TO THE AQUIFER.
BUT, UM, 85, I THINK 85% OF THE RECHARGE TO THE AQUIFER IS FUNNELED FROM THE CONTRIBUTING ZONE.
SO, AND I KNOW THAT LAND IS REALLY EXPENSIVE AND YOU CAN GET A LOT MORE LAND I IMAGINE IN THE OTHER BASINS THAN, UH, ONION AND, AND BARTON CREEK, BUT, UM, BUT IS THE CITY STILL LOOKING TO INVEST THERE? YEAH, WE, WE HAVE A NUMBER OF OUR CONSERVATION EASEMENTS ARE IN THE, UH, CONTRIBUTING ZONE.
WE TRY TO KEEP OUR FEE SIMPLE LAND CLOSE TO OTHER TRACKS JUST FOR LAND MANAGEMENT PURPOSES.
IT'S NICE TO HAVE IT ALL MM-HMM.
BUT WE DO HAVE CONSERVATION EASEMENTS THAT ARE OUT MORE IN THE CONTRIBUTING ZONE.
AND RECENTLY WE JUST PURCHASED A CONSERVATION EASEMENT ON THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, SPARTON CREEK HABITAT PRESERVE.
SO THAT WAS A LOT OF ACRES THAT WERE PERMANENTLY PROTECTED BY.
WE'RE LOOKING, IF YOU HEAR OF ANY LAND, YOU KNOW, WE'VE HAD SOME VERY, UM, HIGH LAND ACQUISITIONS, I'LL SAY.
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PAYING A LOT FOR LAND OUT IN THAT AREA.
UM, THERE WAS A RECENT GOLF COURSE COMMUNITY PUT IN AROUND DRIFTWOOD, AND THEY'RE SELLING SOME LOTS FOR A MILLION DOLLARS.
UM, SO THE, THE PRICES HAVE JUST GONE WAY OUT.
[01:55:01]
A COMMENT THAT, UH, I'M TOLD THAT, UM, CORE OF ENGINEERS IS LOOKING AT ITS RESERVOIRS, YOU KNOW, WHERE THERE'S A, UM, CERTAIN AMOUNT OF STORAGE, IT'S FOR CONSERVATION STORAGE AND A CERTAIN AMOUNT IS FOR FLOOD STORAGE.AND WITH THE INCREASING FLASHINESS OF FLOODS, THEY'RE INVESTIGATING WHETHER THEY NEED TO INCREASE FLOOD STORAGE IN THOSE RESERVOIRS.
WHICH, WHICH OF COURSE WOULD LEAD TO A DECREASE IN CONSERVATION STORAGE.
SO, UM, NOW THOSE ARE CORE OPERATED RESERVOIRS.
I THINK SERRE OWN OWNS THEIR RESERVOIRS.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEIR PLANS ARE, BUT JUST YEAH, RESERV, I JUST POINT THAT OUT THERE.
JUST SOMETHING I HEARD IT WAS LIKE, OH, THAT'S INTERESTING.
YEAH, THAT'S HAPPENING IN NORTH TEXAS OKAY.
UM, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? OKAY.
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SHERRY.
UM, THESE ARE TWO BIG TOPICS, UM, THAT WE HEARD ABOUT TODAY.
I'M GLAD WE HAD A, I'M GLAD WE HAD A GOOD AMOUNT OF TIME TO SPEND ON THEM AND LOTS OF DISCUSSION.
UM, SO ONE OTHER ITEM, UM, IT'S NOT ON THE, I'M JUST GONNA DO AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT, UH,
SO, UH, TURNS OUT THAT TUESDAYS AT THIS TIME IS THE BEST TIME FOR EVERYONE TO MEET.
UM, AND THAT WAS THE REASON I MENTIONED PAUL BEING AT SCHOOL.
CAUSE I WAS LIKE, BUT WAIT A SECOND.
PAUL CAN'T, HE SAID THAT HE HAD TO BE AT SCHOOL DURING THIS TIME, AND THEN I REALIZED UT ENDS AND YOU'LL HAVE SOME OTHER CONFLICT LATER ON.
UM, AND SO MARISSA IS, YOU HAVE NOT DONE IT YET, RIGHT? I HAVE NOT DONE IT, BUT I WILL.
SO SHE'S GONNA BE SENDING OUT APPOINTMENTS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS AND THEY'LL BE ON TUESDAYS FROM NOON TO TWO.
UM, AND A SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS.
WE'RE RIGHT BACK WHERE WE, WHERE WE WERE.
WE HAD GOOD RESPONSE TO THE SURVEY.
UM, AND, UH, WE'RE GONNA GET THOSE THINGS ON YOUR CALENDARS FOR IN ADVANCE, SO HOPEFULLY YOU CAN, UM, UH, FEND OFF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE TRYING TO PUT THINGS ON YOUR SCHEDULE.