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Home My WebLink About04.15.24 WRAB MinutesWRAB Minutes 04/15/2024 Page No. 1 CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING MINUTES Name of Board / Commission: Water Resources Advisory Board Date of Meeting: 15 April 2024 Contact Information for Person Preparing Minutes: Karen Sheridan, 303-441-3208 Board Members Present: John Berggren, Amy Broughton, Steve Maxwell, Lauren Koopman, Katie Bridges Staff Present: Joe Taddeucci, Director of Utilities Joanna Bloom, Utilities Deputy Director of Policy and Planning Chris Douville, Utilities Deputy Director of Operations Kim Hutton, Water Resources Manager Meghan Wilson Outcalt, Water Quality Senior Manager Karen Sheridan, Board Secretary Agenda Item 1 – Call to Order [6:00 p.m.] Agenda Item 2 – Swearing in of New Board Member: Katie Bridges [6:02 p.m.] Board secretary led new member, Katie Bridges, in taking Oath of Office. Agenda Item 3 – Election of Board Officers [6:03 p.m.] A. Chair Motion: Maxwell moved to elect Berggren as Chair Second: Broughton Motion Passes: 5:0 B. Vice Chair Motion: Broughton moved to elect Maxwell as Vice Chair Second: Berggren Motion Passes: 5:0 C. Secretary Motion: Maxwell moved to elect Broughton as Secretary Second: Koopman Motion Passes: 5:0 D. Greenways Advisory Committee (GAC) Representative Motion: Broughton moved to elect Berggren as Representative Second: Maxwell seconded Motion Passes: 5:0 Agenda Item 4 – Approval of 22 January 2024 Meeting Minutes [6:05 p.m.] Motion to approve: Berggren Seconded by: Broughton Vote: 4:0, Bridges abstained Agenda Item 5 – Public Participation and Comment [6:07 p.m.] Lynn Segal: What I wanted to speak about tonight is two things; the water treatment issue with Xcel Energy and Boulder’s Water supply in general, considering the growth that is upcoming with the state government. First of all, Xcel; we really need to have our own municipal electric supply. Xcel is completely out of bounds. They had full opportunity to down the electricity during the Marshall Fire; they did not. They even had a line that wasn’t disconnected but was messed up and it needed attention and they hadn’t attended to it in the year proceeding the Marshall Fire. An internal employee alerted them of this. Well, this affects you, and when we don’t have our own municipal electric supply, we cannot coordinate, we can react. And that is what Xcel does is react. And their reaction costs us who knows how much this last event that when truly, in fact, we have had winds like this for decades and they have never had an outage. I had a tree down on my property on December 30, the day of the Marshall Fire. They did not come for 3 days. The tree fell on my line, so for three days I was terrified that it could break and then I would have a live event starting at my house. So even when they know what is going on they don’t do anything, and then they overreact with a smaller event. And it has not been super dry by any means; meteorologists have proven that in this last event. So, the other thing is just having good enough, you know. And then when we have our own municipal electric supply we can WRAB Minutes 04/15/2024 Page No. 2 coordinate with any generators that we need. Maybe we’re going to not have such huge reactivity-type events and we aren’t going to need the type of generators we need to keep the water treated. And as far as growth, I am working lately on demolishing houses, which seems to be Boulder’s plan lately. And the cost of this and the subsidy this is to the developers to build more and just tear things down and build them up without a water supply that can take care of that. So, do something. Staff Response to Public Comment: • Comment that there will be a brief update tonight under Matters from Staff about the Xcel outage. Agenda Item 6 – Water Supply Update [6:12 p.m.] Kim Hutton, Water Resources Manager, presented this item. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This memo provides an update on 2024 water supply conditions and the city’s drought stage determination procedures as set forth in the Drought Plan. While an official determination is not made until early May per that Plan, at this time we do not anticipate declaring a Drought Alert Stage or implementing water use restrictions in 2024. Snowpack above the city’s watershed is slightly above average, and reservoir storage is currently trending just below normal and is expected to fill during runoff. The city will continue to monitor conditions closely and will encourage efficient water use throughout the year. The purpose of this memo is to provide a water supply update and an opportunity for the board to ask questions. WRAB Board Discussion Included: • Question about the current PSI. • Question if the renegotiation of some of the management control of the river will impact the availability of water to us and other CBT users. • Question if there are plans for onsite signage identifying the pilot project area. • Question if there are additional state funds coming in for turf removal this year. • Question who currently provides water conservation education. Agenda Item 7 – Industrial Pretreatment Enforcement Response [6:52 p.m.] Memo only, no staff presentation EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The city’s Industrial Pretreatment Program (IPT) has modified its Enforcement Response Plan (ERP) to provide clearer guidance to staff on what enforcement actions to take in the event of a violation of the industrial pretreatment section of the Boulder Revised Code (BRC). This update was made in response to a 2019 audit finding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which directly oversees the city’s program. The ERP does not change code and is in line with previous practice. EPA requires the city to issue public notification of these changes and offer an opportunity for the public to provide comments. WRAB Board Discussion Included: No questions or discussion. Agenda Item 8 – Matters from Board [6.53 p.m.] No matters presented. Agenda Item 9 – Matters from Staff [6:53 p.m.] • Xcel Power Outage Event - Grid power lost to critical facilities. - Betasso ran on onsite emergency generator. - 63rd water treatment plant offline for construction. No impacts. - Hydro facilities taken offline during power outage. - Water Resource Recovery Facility experienced power shutoff to both substations. - City management and department management and operational staff crucial to averting environmental disaster. WRAB Minutes 04/15/2024 Page No. 3 -Impacts to traffic, recreation centers, other city services. -Xcel will attend council meeting this week. -Question if city and Xcel will collaborate on planning for appropriate future responses. •Industrial Pretreatment -Packet memo satisfied EPA requirement. -Program ensures discharges into sanitary system from industries and businesses meet certain standards and do not cause harm. -Updates made to industrial pretreatment code in Boulder Revised Code in 2023. -Enforcement Response Plan updated in 2024. -Public notification made directly to industries, through public notice in Daily Camera, and in conversations with businesses. -Comments accepted for next three weeks. •New PFAS Drinking Water Standard (EPA) -EPA finalized standards for six PFAS compounds in April 2024. -Manmade class of compounds, ubiquitous in environment, used in a lot of household products. Anything oil, water, or stain resistant may have PFAS chemicals in it. -City monitored for 29 compounds, including the 6 not regulated, and all were nondetectable. -No additional treatment should be required for the new standards. -Additional monitoring and reporting requirements begin in 2027. •Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) -Originally found in 2022 in Boulder Reservoir, increasing in density in 2023. -Collaborative management options with Parks & Recreation (P&R) and Northern Water. -Impacts currently mostly on recreation. -P&R exploring treatments focused on mechanical removal, possible movement of swim beach. -No current impacts to water quality. EWM not near intake and reservoir is used only as backup water supply. -Long-term management options being explored including routine vegetation surveys, exploration of treatment options. -Working with consultant with extensive background in treatment of EWM in reservoirs. -Unlikely to be eradicated. Agenda Item 10 – Discussion of Future Schedule [7:15 p.m.] •May: Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Introduction. •June: Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Discussion, Feedback. •July: Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Recommendations; Water Service Line Inventory Update •August: No meeting Agenda Item 11 – Adjournment [7:20 p.m.] Motion to adjourn by: Broughton Seconded by: Koopman Motion Passes 5:0 Date, Time, and Location of Next Meeting: The next WRAB meeting will be held in hybrid format on Monday, May 20, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. APPROVED BY: ATTESTED BY: Board Chair: _________________________ Board Secretary: ____________________________ Date: _______________________________ Date:______________________________________ An audio recording of the full meeting for which these minutes are a summary is available on the Water Resources Advisory Board web page via the Access Meeting Agendas and Materials link. Water Resources Advisory Board | City of Boulder (bouldercolorado.gov) 5/21/2024 5.21.2024