City of Lawrence

Department of Utilities

Memorandum

 

TO:

Dave Corliss, City Manager

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager

FROM:

Mike Lawless, Assistant Director of Utilities

CC:

Dave Wagner, Director of Utilities

Philip Ciesielski – Asst. Director of Utilities

Beth Frailey Krishtalka – Management Analyst

DATE:

May 13, 2009

RE:

May 19, 2009 City Commission Study Session on Utilities Master Planning

 

This memo provides background information for the City Commission Study Session on Master Planning for the Utilities Department.

 

Why are new Master Plans needed?

  1. The 2003 Water and Wastewater Master Plans are more than five years old and based on limited technical information more than seven years old.
  2. The existing Master Plans were based on one growth scenario within the UGA as defined in 2003. Both rate of growth and location of the growth have either not been realized or have not followed this scenario.
  3. The UGA has been revised since the completion of the Master Plans. New or updated sector plans have been prepared for the Farmers Turnpike, Farmland, West of K-10 and the Airport. These plans are not appropriately represented in the current Master Plans.
  4. More than $70 million in Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects have been constructed or are currently underway since the completion of the Master Plans.
  5. Typical life of a master plan is five years. Beyond the five year timeframe, CIP projects become less reliable and accurate.
  6. New CIP projects are being proposed that have not been evaluated or prioritized in the Master Planning process; e.g. Farmers Turnpike, west of K-10, and Farmland Sector Plans.
  7. System flow and rainfall data has been collected since October 2006 at 32 and 13 locations respectively in anticipation of a new wastewater master plan.
  8. Wholesale water customer contract changes that remove meter limitations are not included in the current Water Master Plan.
  9. Accurate asset location information is available from the GIS for the water and wastewater systems, which will allow the entire systems to be modeled.

 

What are the benefits of new Master Plans?

  1. New flow data will allow basins to be modeled on flow and peaking factors specific to each basin. This provides better information to evaluate proposed improvements, which are based on characteristics of the individual basin.
  2. The new models will be of the entire water and wastewater systems and not just the transmission or trunk systems.
  3. Intermediate and build-out scenarios will be modeled in each plan.
  4. Multiple criteria will be used to develop a methodology to determine when to construct improvements. 
  5. Updated review of legislative issues that may affect Utilities operations.
  6. Provides reliability and credibility to regulatory agencies when addressing regulatory issues such as the recent NPDES permitting discussions on blending at the WWTP.
  7. The cost of new Master Plans can be offset by the savings from constructing projects proposed with more accurate information.

 

Wastewater Master Plan

The broad description of tasks and deliverables advertised in the Wastewater Master Plan RFP provided respondents the ability to show their unique approach to delivering a quality Master Plan for the Utilities Department. The proposal provided by the consultant selected as the most qualified respondent will be used as the beginning point for negotiating a final scope of services along with the fee. An excerpt from the proposal received from the team of Burns & McDonnell/BG Consultants regarding scope is provided for review and discussion during the City Commission Study Session. It should be noted that the rate information provided in the proposal is from 2008.  Typically, during the negotiation phase, the scope would be further refined and specific cost estimates developed related to the scope.  If acceptable to the City Commission, City staff would recommend receiving further direction from the City Commission regarding scope during the study session and then staff could work with the consultant to develop an associated cost proposal and then bring back the scope and cost in a proposed agreement to the City Commission for authorization.   It should also be noted that the wastewater master plan is budgeted at $325,000 in the CIP and staff would work to bring the agreement within the budget. 

 

Water Master Plan

A draft outline for the Water Master Plan RFP is provided for discussion.  The water master plan is budgeted at $225,000 in the CIP.