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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Water Resources Advisory Committee - 10/16/2014 * Minutes of Water Resources Advisory Committee held 11:00 a.m. Thursday, October 16, 2014 ° Water Utilities Building —Choke Canyon Conference Room 2726 Holly Road * Corpus Christi, Texas mPluplio Attended by: Brian Williams, San Patricio Water District;Jeff Edmonds,Residential;Sally Gill, Green Industry;Robert Kunkel, Lyondell Basell;Lucia Sosa, at-large;Rocky Freund, Nueces River Authority;Bill Green, Brent Clayton, Wes Nebgen,Alexa Fulbright of City Environmental&Strategic Initiatives;minutes taken by Lori Bryant, Water Utilities Chairman Jeff Edmonds called the meeting to order with a quorum of five members attending. The minutes from the August 21 meeting were approved. He began by addressing the ongoing membership issue. Wes has approached the City Secretary with the committee's suggestion to keep the Apartment representative, while adding Rocky as a Water Supply rep; the Secretary advises to keep an odd number of members. Bill asks if the group would want to add another member to have an odd number. Sally comments that since they are an advisory group which doesn't often vote, and members are often absent, odd/even numbers are not that important. Rocky has submitted her application to the City Secretary's office. Wes reported that the ordinance must be changed to allow apartment managers rather than owners. The current ordinance allows for representatives from residential, large commercial, wholesale treated, schools, Port, green, military, at- large and Council. A motion was passed to submit to the City Secretary and the Council the following: o Add Rocky as a Watershed representative; o Change the Apartment rep to a Small Business rep; OR o Keep the Apartment rep, and add a Small Business rep Brent proceeded with his presentation (a copy has been e-mailed to members), updating the committee on the following: Reservoir System Statistics: A handout was distributed which uses a new, easier-to-read format that includes Lake Texana figures. Sally feels the public needs to be better informed—most don't realize Choke Canyon's larger capacity, and also are under the impression that rainfall inside the City improves reservoir levels. Jeff suggests adding some information that reflects the time needed for upstream rainfall to reach the reservoirs. Currently the data is available on the Nueces River Authority website, and is included in the Council's weekly report. Current Drought Status and Projections: To date, 203 work orders have been issued to investigate violations; 62 of those received warnings. No repeat warnings have been issued, which indicates either conservation awareness or threat of fines is effective. Climatologists believe we are in the middle of a ten-year drought. Page 1 of 2 Water Resource Management Ordinance: Staff is preparing to present to Council a proposal to continue in Drought Stage 2 until reservoir levels fall below 25%, rather than moving to Stage 3 at 30%. The City Manager has the authority to do this already. Reasons for this measure include: o Consumption levels remain low; the original goal of Stage 3 has already been exceeded by the 16% drop from the previous five-year average. o Consumption and evaporation both drop in winter months. o Revised capacity measurements include Lake Texana levels. o Mary Rhodes Phase 2 is scheduled to come online in June 2015,just a summer usage increases. o The Agreed Order requirements for Stage 3 have already been met in Stage 2. The Agreed Order affects conservation response also. Staff would like Council to approve once-weekly watering as a permanent measure. Sally comments that landscapers already recommend that; homeowners need to realize that dormant lawns in August are normal. While not pretty, they are still alive. Water Supply Projects: The revised Reservoir System report can be adjusted to show figures with or without Mary Rhodes 1 and 2; Desalination and Re-use supplies can also be included when they go online. However, the ratios do not figure in evaporation and Rocky adds that it does not include interruptible amounts, the 12,000 ac-ft set aside. Brian asks what happens if Texana water is curtailed or unavailable due to upstream needs. Bill answers that is considered under reliability rather than supply, and has been factored into the historic average. Brian also believes industry will have concerns about availability if Stage 3 drought restrictions are delayed. Next Meeting Date: The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, December 11, with an alternate date of January 15 (The date was subsequently moved to January 22, 2015). Page 2 of 2