HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-12-17 - WCM TOWN OF ULYSSES
WATER COMMISSION MEETING
DECEMBER 17, 2004
PRESENT : Supervisor Doug Austic, Town Councilpeople Lee Scott, Robert
Weatherby; Roxanne Marino and Don Ellis ; Town Clerk Marsha Georgia; Deputy
Supervisor Richard Coogan.
Supervisor Austic called the meeting to order at 8 : 00 AM and stated that the purpose of
the meeting is the annual Water Commission meeting to report on and discuss Water
Districts #3 and 4 in the Town of Ulysses.
Superintendent ' s Annual Report 2004
Overview of the Water District
Construction was completed and Department of Health approval was granted for Water
District No . 3 in April of 2004 . At that time, the Water District was turned over to the
Town of Ulysses and residents in the water district began to connect to the municipal
system beginning in April of 2004 . The system is approximately 9. 5 miles long, has 83
hydrants and hydrant valves, and 82 gate valves (gate valves are in the process of being
documented) . The monthly water use as measured by the water pumped through the
master meter on Woolf Lane is just over 1 ,000, 000 gallons (based on October and
November usage) and of this amount the residents in the Town of Ithaca use
approximately 250,000 gallons .
As of December 6 , 2004 (based on the second scheduled meter reading) there are a total
of 370 . 3 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs) that make up the district. One EDU is based
on a single-family resident (SFR) typical usage and is used to calculate the tax
assessment for repayment of project debt and operation and maintenance of the system.
The assessments for businesses and apartments were initially determined by engineering
{ studies for comparable usage in other established water districts . These EDUs may be
adjusted after Ulysses has compiled usage data of its own with Water Commission
approval . The number of individual accounts in the district is 294 . This represents
separate billing addresses . The number of accounts is less than the number of EDUs
because an account may be assessed more than one EDU . In no instance is any account
assessed less than one EDU. As of this date 126 of the 294 accounts have connected to
the water line . The 168 accounts that are inactive are assessed repayment of debt and
operation and maintenance but are not billed for water consumption. There are also 100
properties in the Town of Ithaca that use the water from the pumping station/tank that
were installed as part Water District No . 3 that was a part of system design, and
intermunicipal cooperation. As part of the cooperation agreement and deed transfer of the
pumping station, the Town of Ithaca assumed the responsibility, operation costs, and
maintenance for the pump house . The Town of Ithaca supplies potable water to Ulysses
with residual chlorine levels established by the Tompkins County Department of Health.
Between April and the end of August the primary role for the Town was assisting
residents of the district in connecting to the system by issuing permits and conducting the
inspections as required in our Local Law NO . 1 of 2003 - Town of Ulysses Public Water.
The Town acquired meter reading hardware and billing software and training. The first
meter reading was done on August 30th of this year.
The Town also purchased a buried pipe/cable locator and metal detector for locating the
water main and valve covers in order to fulfill the requirements of Dig Safely New York
for marking locations of buried infrastructure. Other equipment purchased included
I hydrant wrenches, hydrant meter, and flushing nozzles . Part of the start up of the district
entailed flushing the system to ensure that there were sufficient residual chlorine levels
throughout the system . The hydrant meter was purchased to monitor the amount of
flushed water and also used by the local water hauler, Willy's Water, to enable the Town
to bill for his usage. The water used by Willy's Water was obtained at the last hydrant on
Cold Springs Road, which helped in moving the water through the entire system during
the summer months .
On September 1st, 2004 the Town of Ulysses began the daily sampling of residual
chlorine in the water district, monthly sampling for coil form/E. Coll, and submitting the
necessary reports to the Tompkins County Department of Health. In order to assume this
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responsibility,I Ulysses had to have a certified Class D licensed water district operator on
staff Water Si perintendent, Douglas Austic, has completed the course and has been
issued his Class D license. The locations for testing for residual chlorine were agreed
upon by the Town of Ulysses and the Tompkins County Department of Health. Test sites
include the fir fit hydrant in the Town of Ulysses, the hydrant at the water tank, and the
each of the hydrants that are at dead ends in the system (Jacksonville Road, Swamp
College Road, Colegrove Road, and Cold Springs Road) . Daily testing includes the tank
hydrant and one of the dead end hydrants . In addition, the first hydrant in Ulysses is
tested for residual chlorine the day before the pumps fill the tank and the day after to
verify that the water being supplied to the Town is in compliance with the Department of
Health requirements .
This year privately owned vehicles were used for water district inspections , testing, and
maintenance at a cost of $0 . 375/mile. The Town did an analysis of the cost and
determined that it was less expensive to purchase a vehicle for water district use and
shared Code Enforcement/Building Inspection use (cost per mile was calculated on
12 ,000 miles a year - federal guidelines for mileage for 2004 is $0 . 375/mile and the cost
for a Town owned vehicle is calculated to cost $0.22/mile) . The new vehicle is expected
to arrive around the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005 .
Water District Operation
The Ulysses Water District No . 3 is currently supplied water by the City of Ithaca by their
Six Mile Creek reservoir. The Town of Ithaca is a water distribution system that is
managed by Bolton Point. In 2005 this will change, Bolton Point will become the water
supplier as well as being the system distribution manager for the Town of Ithaca. The
Town of Ulysses does not have statistical data on the water district operation prior to
taking over the responsibility of the district in September. In September it was noticed
that the residual levels of chlorine in the main line and tank was below the recommended
levels . Since chlorine levels decrease over time, we were advised to flush the lines at the
ends to bring the chlorine levels up . Further investigations revealed that the water being
pumped into the tank was below the recommended levels and that the water level
in the tank was being kept at approximately 25 feet with additional water being added .
every day to maintain this level . Barton & Loguidice, the design-engineering firm for the
system, stated that trying to maintain the tank level was inconsistent with the design
parameters for the water district in Ulysses . This incorrect practice of maintaining the
tank at a constant level precluded turnover, which resulted in poor water quality. The line
from the pumping station to the tank holds approximately 77,000 gallons of water and by
pumping daily to maintain this level was not pumping enough water to add freshly
chlorinated water into the tank. The optimum system operation would be to allow the
tank to empty to a level of 10 to 15 feet then have the tank fill to 36 feet with a cycle time
between fillings being 2 to 3 days thus allowing for turnover. This would provide the
ideal operation for fresh chlorinated water in the system and would comply with system
operation procedures as outlined by the Statewide Aqua store to minimize the risk of the
tank being damaged by freezing during the winter months .
On October 14th, 2004 there was a meeting at the Tompkins County Department of
Health that included Commissioner of Health, the Town of Ulysses, the Town of Ithaca,
Barton & Loguidice, and Bolton Point (contract agent for system operation by Town of
Ithaca) . At this meeting it was decided that Bolton Point was to reset the pumping cycles
to allow tank turn-over and that the water being delivered should have a minimal residual
chlorine level off 2 . 0 mg/1 . The water in the tank was to have a residual chlorine level of
2 . 0 mg/1 as well . The Health Department minimum requirement for potable municipal
water at the ends of the line is a minimum residual chlorine reading of 0 . 2 mg/l . While
Bolton Point was making the necessary adjustments to bring the residual chlorine levels
in line with thee recommendations, the Town of Ulysses was instructed to add additional
12 . 5 % chlorine to the tank in a quantity recommended by Barton & Loguidice based on
residual chlorine readings . Since the middle of October, we have been adding addition
chlorine to the hank to maintain a residual chlorine level in the tank between 1 . 65 mg/1
and 1 . 88 mg/l . The Town of Ulysses mapped the residual chlorine in WD #3 in order to
gain abetter understanding of the water flow in the system. The system has a redundant
loop West on Perry City Road and North on Jacksonville Road where it rejoins the main
line at the corner of Jacksonville Road and Trumansburg Road. The flow on this segment
was marginal because of current water demand in the system. As a corrective measure,
the gate valve at the corner of Trumansburg Road and Perry City Road is manually
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opened and closed every few days to divert the flow of water to ensure both branches of
the line receive fresh chlorinated water .
Issues for Consideration
During the design process, ISA Babcock had a large facility at the end of the line on Cold
Springs Road and had requested municipal water for this facility. Since the water
requirements for the Babcock facility were significant, the anticipated usage would have
kept the water in the line moving throughout the system, and since the location would
allow the Village of Trumansburg to easily connect to the district as a second source of
water as required by the Department of Health; the designers extended the line out Cold
Springs Road. ISA Babcock made the financial decision to relocate their operation to
Canada and closed all their offices and facilities in the Town of Ulysses shortly after our
Water District became operational . Without the anticipated usage at the end of Cold
Springs Road, the system will require periodic flushing to move a sufficient volume of
water through that line unless another operation with a large water user locates on the
ISA Babcock property or water is supplied to the proposed Water District No . 5 and the
Village of Trumansburg via Cold Springs Road.
This issue is further exacerbated because only 126 of the 294 accounts are connected to
the system. Reasons range from "our well water is fine " , to waiting for the registered
contractors to find the time to install the line to the house and disconnect the well . Our
local law that was adopted to form the district does not include provisions for mandating
that residents connect to the system. The lower demand results in tank filling cycle times
that are less than optimal and also results in the need to flush the system to keep the
residual chlorine at the necessary levels at the end points in the system. The operation and
maintenance aspect of the system took into account the need for some routine flushing of
the system for sampling, fire flow testing, hydrant tests, etc as well as leaks . In
established systems the amount of water that is unaccounted for (not billed to a user) is
usually about 10 to 12% of the total water usage for a given period. The amount of water
that must be flushed in Ulysses is considerably higher than this amount. We did pay for
the initial flushing for the system as part of startup at our first billing from the Town of
Ithaca. The first billing indicated that the town used 4, 716, 700 gallons of water with
1 , 319,600 gallons being metered for residents, which left 3 , 397, 100 gallons of water
being flushed to keep the chlorine levels in line .
With the increased chlorination of the tank and in the line most of the end points in the
system are close to the required chlorine levels with just some minimal flushing. Cold
Springs Road is a problem . Very few residents North of Halseyville Road on Cold
Springs Road have connected to the system and this leaves a very long segment of the
system without adequate flow unless large quantities of water are dumped at the end of
the line. Cold Springs Road was increased from the original design of 8 -inch main to a
10-inch main to serve as a second source for the Village of Trumansburg and the houses
along this road have large frontages . To better understand the issue, the average
household of four people uses approximately 200 to 250 gallons of water a day and the
line from Halseyville Road intersection to the end of Cold Springs Road holds about
21 ,000 gallons of water. In order to keep this line in compliance we need to flush 15 ,000
gallons or more once a week to keep the chlorine levels up . Over time chlorine levels
dissipate in the line and continual testing is needed to ensure proper chlorination at the
end points in the system . Extending the line to the Village of Trumansburg and increasing
the usage may be the only long-term solution to stabilizing system operation. The Town
of Ithaca recognizes that this last billing quarter, they had not met the necessary chlorine
levels and have indicated that they may adjust the water bill to the Town of Ulysses.
However, starting next year, we will be responsible for all water used whether it is billed
to residents or not . This may mean that the cost of operation and maintenance may need
to be increased to spread the cost of flushing to all residents in the district unless we can
significantly increase the number of users (EDUs) connecting to the system .
When the system was installed, the valve covers and curb stop covers were set at ground
level or even slightly below grade . This year it was fairly simple to see the where the
lines were from construction work. We expect that next spring it will be more difficult to
find many of these covers since the vegetation will cover the construction and many
property owners have regarded around and, in several cases, over these covers . As part of
the maintenance plan for the system, all hydrants, hydrant valves, and gate valves have
been numbered on the master plan. We will need to find all these components and mark
them with the corresponding number in order to track maintenance in the system as well
as having simplified method of logging locations in the record book. System maintenance
requires that all valves be exercised (closed/open) twice a year and all hydrants lubricated
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at least once a year to keep the equipment from locking up and becoming non- functional .
Also scheduled for next summer is to raise any buried valve covers and mark the
assigned numbers on all hydrants and valve covers .
Water District No. 3 was designed and built for a total cost of $ 3 , 150,000 which was
within the parameters established by New York State Environmental Facilities
Corporation (NYSEFC) for a total annual user cost of $ 500 based on a 30 year level
payment loan. When the district was completed and the bond was ready to be finalized,
the NYSEFC changed the repayment structure from level payment to the 50% rule and
reduced the bond term period from thirty (30) years to twenty (20) years . This change in
repayment terrns will increase the annual payment in 2005 from $ 89 ,000 to $ 107 ,000 .
Furthermore, the new 50% rule increases the annual payment periodically over the life of
the bond term with a final annual payment of $ 159 ,000 . In addition to the increased
annual repayment cost for the zero interest loan, there was an interest payment of $ 8 , 800
on a construction bond anticipation note that the Town used to begin construction of the
water district until State funding was secured. These repayment increases and the
construction than interest payment will need to be assessed to and paid by the residents in
this water district. Hopefully most of the increase cost over the coming years can be
absorbed by having new users added to the district, which may result in a relatively
constant infrastructure annual cost to each user.
In conclusion, the vast majority of the people who we have talked to during the
installation inspection process and during daily testing have been excited with the
prospect of having clean, safe, and abundant drinking water. In the long run, Water
District No . 3 may turn out to be the most significant recent improvement to the quality of
life in the Town of Ulysses .
Conclusion of Annual Report
Water Commission Meeting
The Commission discussed the need to have more residents finalizing their connection to
Water District No . 3 . The increased demand for water would make a positive difference
in the all aroiund performance of Water District No . 3 . One point of discussion was the
feasibility of offering an incentive to residents to connect to the water main. The concern
is that an incentive to the owners who have delayed making the connection would not be
fair to the residents already connected.
Mr. Scoot said that he felt a better course would be to extend the link to the Village of
Trumansburg from Cold Springs Road and connect. Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services
(Alpha House) to the system in order to increase water demand instead of incentives to
residents .
Mr. Austic stated that because of the low chorine at times (below DoH recommendation
of 0 . 2 mg/1) it has been necessary to draw additional samples for micro -bacteriological
tests . To date all micro-bacteriological tests have been negative .
The Commission asked questions regarding the zero interest loan and the state
requirements for a maximum cost per year to the residents within the district . The District
charges to the residents within Water District #3 was $256 . 00 for the loan repayment and
$73 . 00 for operation/maintenance on their 2004 tax bills . On the 2005 tax bills these
charges will be $288 . 95 and $ 81 . 02 respectively.
Mr. Austic informed the Commission that there was still approximately $ 80,000
remaining from the State Revolving Drinking Water Fund loan for the construction of
WD#3 . This money could be returned to reduce the amount of the loan or used for
enhancing the water district. It cannot be used to purchase spare parts such as hydrants,
values, or other equipment to maintain the system but could be used towards extending
the water line.
Ms . Marino commented that when the district was formed, the water main was defined to
where it would go and who it would service . She then asked if extending the main would
require the same process and is construction of an extension a task that the Town could
manage without an outside construction firm.
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Mr. Austic said that the Town could define and construct an extension .
Ms . Marino asked if an extension could be financed with the original loan (remaining
$ 80, 000) or can this money only be used for what was originally mapped out for the
original WD#3 ?
Mr. Austic stated that there is a small stretch (half mile or so) of Cold springs Road
between Jacksonville Road and Route 96 (Mr. Austic pointed it out on the map) that
would create a loop in the system that would eliminate a dead end on a spur line . It was
not done originally because of the expense and only two houses to pay for it .
Mr. Austic explained the process to the Commission that would be needed to extend the
line
Mr. Scott stated that it might be an advantage to the Town to put in this line because it
would remove one of the dead-end spur lines . The Commission discussed the other
problem areas relating to spur lines and dead-ends .
Ms . Marino asked Mr. Austic about selling the water that was dumped as part of flushing
to maintain chlorine levels .
Mr. Austic explained that in the summer Willie ' s Water Wagon used the hydrant at the
end of Cold Springs Road to fill his truck and this water was metered through a portable
hydrant meter. This use helped move the water to the end of Cold Springs Road but that it
is seasonal activity — water cannot be flushed from the main in the winter or that very
little will be because of weather conditions .
Ms . Marino asked if connecting the Village of Trumansburg to our water system would
help with the low chlorination levels on the spur lines?
Mr. Austic stated that it would only help if the Village of Trumansburg used the water
from our system and currently the Village is considering the connection to WD#3 as a
backup source. When the Village connects to our system, it could be in a position to offer
water to more people then it currently can and, if Water District #5 was formed, there
would be even more people available who could connect to municipal water.
Mr. Austic pointed out where the lines are now on the map and showed where the Town
could extend the system without adding additional pumps or tanks .
Ms . Marino asked if everyone within District #5 would vote to be in this water district?
Mr. Austic answered yes that they would vote or it could be done by permissive
referendum . Mr. Austic said that he felt there would be an advantage to these people to
form WD#5 because the rate charged for water may be less than the Village charges now .
Mr. Scott stated his concern that the Town would need to be certain that the water lines
that the Village has now in this proposed area are in good condition and meet current
requirements .
Mr. Austic informed the Commission that Barton & Loguidice (Engineers for Water
District #3 ) has suggested that the Village maintain the lines for a certain period of time
so that the Town could be assured that the lines are in good repair and meet current
requirements .
Ms . Marino asked about the appointment and term of the Water Commissioner and when
was the position reviewed . Ms . Marino also pointed out that there was a line item in the
budget for additional help to operate and maintain the system and asked if this is
something that the Town Board going to consider at a later date .
Mr. Austic stated that he was appointed Water Commissioner when the District was
approved and as long as you keep going and get the thing done you might not need help .
The district is still in its startup phase and this spring all the values need to be exercised
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(opened and closed) and marked for easy reference. There are several hundred valves in
the system .
Ms . Marino asked if Mr. Coogan' s time is billed to the water district .
Mr. Austic said that at this time none of Mr. Coogan ' s time is billed to WD#3 because
there is no line item for the charges .
Ms . Marino feels that should be corrected if he is spending time doing district water
work.
Ms . Marino would like to see these jobs documented and the duties assigned and billed
accordingly starting in January 2005 .
Mr. Austic informed the Water Commission that he now has his Class D water
distribution operator' s license .
The Commission discussed running additional water lines and who would pay for these
lines .
The Commission discussed the need for Taughannock Park to find a second source of
drinking water and their request to extend WD#3 to the Park.
Mr. Ellis said that he would like to resolve the following items ; the negotiation with the
Village of Trumansburg for extending the line and Bolton Point requirements for
providing properly chlorinated water to our system .
Mr. Austic promised to obtain more information on both of these issues for the
commission.
Mr. Austic said that he had received a call from the person who purchased David Kline ' s
house and is interested in water because his doctor told him not to drink his well water.
The waterline does not currently run by this property and this resident was wondering
about an extension of the District to include his property. Mr. Austic explained the
process to him saying that he would have to go out and petition the neighbors that would
be affected . Mr. Austic also suggested purchasing a small connecting piece of property
on Cold Springs Road, which is in the district, and brings the water in from that direction.
Mr. Ellis said that he has no problem with people connecting to the district as long as
everything gets done in a straightforward manner.
Before the meeting adjourned Mr. Austic asked the Commission to inform him of times
they would ibe available for additional meetings .
Other Business
Ms . Marino stated that she would like to discuss times for the interviews for Planning
Board. She said that she could not attend interviews if held on Saturday and she would
like to see either a different day. If that could not be arranged then she could talk to the
applicants independent of the interviews .
Mr. Austic said that he would have Mr. Coogan arrange a mutually agreeable time during
the week.
Ms . Marino said that she had asked Mr. Wertis to complete an analysis of absences from
the Planning Board meetings .
Hearing nO further business Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis to adjourn the
meeting. Unanimously approved meeting adjourned at 9 : 20 AM .
Respectfully submitted,
Marsha L. Georgia