Agenda - Council - 12/13/2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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infrastructure under streets before completing improvements to the streets. Q: Is the WSP the right place to strengthen language regarding irrigation use? A: City codes and ordinances would be the proper vehicles for such regulatory controls. Other comments: A grammatical error occurs on page 26, table 13. The EPB members present(two were absent)unanimously recommend preliminary City Council approval of the City's draft Water Supply Plan as discussed. The Planning Commission reviewed the draft Water Supply plan at their December 1, 2016 meeting. They had the following questions: Q: What is the City doing about depletion of the aquifer? A: The City monitors the water level in monitoring wells placed around the municipal wells and provides this information to the MN DNR on a regular basis. The DNR must approve construction of all new wells and will not approve a new well if it would deplete the resource. Q:Can the City require homeowners with private wells to adhere to the sprinkling ban. A: Public Water Supplies are regulated by the DNR and Health Department and must implement water conservation measures. Private wells are regulated by the Health Department and do not have conservation standards at this time. Q: Has the City investigated using the Mississippi River as a drinking water source? A:The City conducted a pilot study in the mid 2000's and determined that it was technically feasible to draw water from the Mississippi River and treat it. It was determined that the treatment plant would be very expensive. The City Council removed the Surface Water Treatment Plant from the 2016-2020 CIP and replaced it with construction of a new well and pumphouse to meet demand when needed. Q: The commissioners thought that residential sewer charges are based on water usage, and since more water is used in summer for irrigation and does not go down the sewer,the excess sewer fees collected should be set aside for the future water treatment plant. They made this part of their motion when recommending the City Council approve the preliminary Water Supply Plan. A: Staff researched residential sewer fees after the meeting. Residential accounts are charged a flat rate for sewer which does not change seasonally. Commercial accounts are sewer fees are based on the water used,these accounts can request installation of an irrigation meter which is not used in calculating sewer usage. This can lower their bill for sewer. Water and sewer fees are credited to separate accounts and it is not possible to use sewer fees to pay for water improvements. Q: Has the spike in Maximum Daily Demand shown on page 17 of the report been investigated? A: Staff had not investigated the spike before the meeting. One of the commissioners did a quick search on weather and commented that 2012 was the worst drought since 1872. Staff has not been able to confirm that statement.Staff did find data for 2012 showing that August and September of 2012 were extremely dry,with less than 1 inch of rain in each month when the normal is approximately 4 inches for each month. These are prime months for lawn irrigation use so it would be expected there was more watering going on. Overall,2012 had average precipitation for the year with double precipitation in May and below normal totals in eight(8)of the months. Q: Has the City considered the potential for reuse of water for commercial irrigation or considered changing the landscaping standards for commercial buildings?Has the City looked at how and regions(Arizona, California) regulate landscaping. A: Staff stated that the EPB has started discussions about revising the codes to allow alternative commercial landscaping practices. The Planning Commission members present(there is one vacancy)unanimously recommend preliminary City Council approval of the City's draft Water Supply Plan as discussed.