HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Water Resources Advisory Committee - 12/03/2015 Minutes of Water Resources Advisory Committee
held 9:30 a.m.Thursday, December 03, 2015
j Water Utilities Building Choke Canyon Conference Room
2726 Holly Road*Corpus Christi, Texas
Attended by:
Voting members: Sally Gill, Landscaping, Robert Kunkel, Port Industries, Sam Sanders, Lg. Commercial Customer;
Rocky Freund, Nueces River Rep., NAS Representative.,Brian Williams, Wholesale,Lucia Sosa at-large
Ex-officio Members:None.
Staff. Dan McGinn, Brent Clayton, Itzel Ojeda of City Environmental & Strategic Initiatives, minutes taken by Itzel
Ojeda and compiled by Brent Clayton
ITEM 1: Call the Meeting to Order
Chairman Sam Sanders called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. with a quorum of five members
attending.
ITEM 2: Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the September 17 meeting were unanimously approved. Ms. Rocky Freund confirmed
suggested changes to the minutes were done.
ITEM 3: Review of Reservoir System Statistics
Brent Clayton began with the review of Reservoir Capacity which is 48.1%. Combined capacity went
down around 2%. Lake Texana is full in reservoir capacity. Choke Canyon dropped to 34.5% and Lake
Corpus Christi is slightly below 85% of its full capacity.
Brent Clayton then reviewed a series of Power Point slides that showed U.S. Drought Monitor measure
for the Coastal Bend on past months compared to last year. He commented the current EI Nino is the
strongest on record. He also included Southern part of the country will get more rain than normal and will
be below normal on temperature and some of the Northern parts will be above normal. Brent clarified it is
a 60% chance of rain being above normal.
ITEM 4: Update on Drought Contingency Planning and Water Supply Index
Mr. Clayton went over Corpus Christi Current Capacity Index through the years since 1984. He explained
that the different colors represent current Drought Stage categories.
He introduced a new concept Water Supply Index (WSI) for communicating the drought category of
regional water conservation. WSI is a surface water supply (numerator) and demand (denominator) ratio
that accounts for available (Corpus Christi Reservoir—CCR) raw water surface supply divided by regional
supply consumption.
The WSI ratio does not account for surface water evaporation, firm yield or safe yield considerations. It
provides a communication indicator of which measure of Drought Stage response could be in play.
Example was given for inter-basin transfers (i.e. Lake Texana @ 42K AF/year and Lower Colorado @
35K AF/year) contributions as directly reducing the supply demand (denominator), which increase the
WSI ratio which. These illustrated demand adjustments resulted in a range of different Drought Stage
considerations. Comparison of Drought Stage response were shown for three different situations:
• WSI for CCR (1998-2014)
• WSI with Lake Texana (42K AF/year 1998-2014)
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• WSI with Lake Texana (@ 42K AF/year 1998-2014) and Colorado River (@35K AF/year 1984-
2014
Brent Clayton mentioned the Drought Contingency Plan would require revisions (changed Drought
Stages) in concert with the revised WSI and conservation stages. The Drought Contingency Plan must
still adhere to the drought restrictions of the Agreed Order. The WSI indices will be set high enough to
ensure Agreed Order compliance. He suggested that both items would be presented to City Council for
consideration after MRPP2. Color coordinated scales use are important to educate the public for
consistency and understanding.
Green —Conservation Stage; Stage 1 Drought Watch, Stage 2 Drought; and Stage 3 as Severe or Critical
Drought. The Stage 3 initiation at WSI ratio of 2 suggests a 2-year window of water left to provide time to
get an alternate source of water supply up and going; and, WSI value 6 (Stage 2) is set for a CCR lake
level set at 40% per Agreed Order.
ITEM 5: Drought Measures
In last meeting the motion was accepted by the committee to having Corpus Christi residents select their
own watering day. It also directed staff to investigate the technology feasibility of such a measure. Brent
Clayton informed the committee right now the city is on transition period of software (INFOR) for the
present time is not going to be possible. It is something that is definitely possible in the future.
Brent Clayton went over the Drought Measures chart of a particular house in Corpus Christi over Ocean
Dr. in the middle of summer showing daily consumption from August and September. This measurement
can show when irrigation day is or when a big irrigation was done. This illustration suggests how data
collected can be used to analyze local consumption for purposes of communication and corrective
measures if applicable. The program illustrated is Star (from AMR real-time data download); Infor will
have ability to incorporate exceptions; but staffing resources may not be in place. Sometime next year
was suggested when this software could be in place.
Inquiry made if Council request made to be pro-active in communicating to community to continue to
encourage conservation year round; with the use of these water consumption diagnostic applications.
Concern raised about slipping back into poor water conservation efforts within the community.
Suggestion made to advise the community to please water your lawns just once a week on the day of
your choice and please be responsible. Offers the opportunity for the City's willingness to empower our
citizens to be responsible for their water use.
Mr. Clayton explained that the City staff has the authority to initiate or terminate Drought Measures. The
City suspended Stage 2 measures in September 2015 with no plan to remove suspension so people can
water any day they wish. Plan is to continue until the new Drought Contingency Plan and WSI is
presented to City Council. Strong encouragement to continue our outreach and communication efforts.
Message: Please only water once a week, pick your day. Discussion ensued on methods to improve
water use communication within the community.
ITEM 6: Updates on Water Supply Projects and Studies
MRPP2 supposed to be done in June 2015 is pushed back to January 2016. Weather and concrete
availability were two of the major contributors in delay. Discussed elements of work within the Booster
Pump Station and internal SCADA monitoring system.
Desalination Pilot Project TM-2 Draft near completion. TM-3 and TM-4 are underway. Demonstration
project (18 month exercise) to be located in near vicinity of the Broadway WWTP. Intake/Discharge
anticipated from the Corpus Christi Ship Channel through alignment of a City storm water easement.
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Aquifer Storage and Recovery(ASR) study for storage of water. Study looking in Corpus Christi Area for
a water bearing zone for recharge of treated water for storage (evaporation loss protection). Initial
assessment through well logging study of areas of interest. Looked at ONS, Greenwood WWTP and
Corpus Christi International Airport. Potential reuse line from Greenwood WWTP to Industrial Area.
Corpus Christi International Airport provides land and proximity to potential re-use distribution. Oil and
Gas well logs provide less stratification information.
Next step is to do some test wells and confirm depth of sand stratification. Study will assess size of
system withdrawal capacity (initial estimate approximately 5 MGD). Recharge from Greenwood for high
season withdrawal to Industry. Studies on water quality and geo-chemistry are also part of the study of
potential impacts of injected water to in-situ geology.
ITEM 7: Set next meeting date
The next meeting was scheduled for 9:30 AM or 12:00 PM on Thursday, March 10, 2016.
ITEM 8: Adiourn
The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Sanders at 10:52 AM.
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