‘Impressive progress’ made, City Council told
Benicia City Council on Tuesday will hear interim Public Works Director Steve Salomon report that Benicia water customers have cut back their consumption by 21.6 percent, exceeding the reduction requested by both the city and Gov. Jerry Brown.
California is in a severe drought. Brown has asked state residents to cut their water use by 20 percent. Benicia City Council, in addition to imposing landscape water restrictions, has asked its own staff as well as the community at large to cut back 20 percent as well.
Municipal metered water use from March to August 2012, the original base year city officials had been using, was 164 acre-feet, Salomon wrote. Consumption during the same time in 2013 was 190 acre-feet.
This year, consumption has dropped to 118 acre-feet of water, he wrote.
“During the month of August, Benicia citizens are conserving 25 percent more water than this same period in 2012,” he wrote. “Valero raw water demand is projected to be 4,650 acre-feet due to increased conservation efforts on their part. The total demand by the city and Valero is projected to be 9,300 acre-feet of water.”
Drought conditions “remain very serious,” Salomon wrote. “The city has taken a variety of actions in the short term to deal with the challenges.”
Besides imposing the water restrictions, the Council also authorized spending up to $900,000 on additional water purchases after the state of California announced that contractors of the State Water Project would get little of their reserved amounts of water. Though Benicia obtains water from several other sources, it normally gets the bulk of its supply from the State Water Project.
The city has been conserving as much Solano Project water as it can store in Lake Berryessa, and has made the most of its Lake Herman water storage and delivery, Salomon wrote. In addition, it has authorized water infrastructure expenditures “to ensure reliability and redundancy,” he wrote.
Based on projected demand, Benicia will draw about 7,320 acre-feet from the State Water Project, from both the 5 percent of the city’s allotment the Department of Water Resources has released and the city’s carryover water it didn’t use in previous years; and 1,750 acre-feet of Solano Project water, for a total of 9,070 acre-feet. Lake Herman will provide another 400 to 500 acre-feet of water to Valero Benicia Refinery, which uses both treated and untreated water.
Benicia also used its remaining 300 acre-feet of Mojave Water Agency water it had banked, Salomon wrote.
He wrote that Benicia will carry over approximately 4,750 acre-feet of State Water Project and 11,100 acre-feet of Solano Project water into 2014, and with the availability of 600 acre-feet in Lake Herman each year, Benicia should be able to handle demand in 2015, so long as residents conserve.
“There are no plans to pump Solano Project water for the remainder of the year,” he wrote.
While some areas of the state have seen consumption increases instead of declines, Benicia has managed the 21.6-percent cutback from March through August, compared to consumption numbers in 2013, Salomon wrote in his report.
“Benicia customers are making impressive progress reducing water use, and their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated,” Salomon wrote.
“If the city continues to conserve at 20 percent, the total treated water demand will drop to 4,700 acre-feet in 2015. If Valero can continue to conserve 5 percent of their raw water demand, they are projected to only use 4,500 acre-feet in 2015.”
If the projected demand in 2015 can drop to 9,000 acre-feet, Benicia would start 2016 with nearly 9,300 acre-feet of water, enough to supply both treated and untreated water demand that year.
In other business, the Council will consider authorizing a license for a wind power study by Exelon Energy Company on city-owned property north of Lake Herman Road.
Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani wrote Sept. 8 that the company has proposed a five-year lease, at $5,000 a year, for access to the property to conduct meteorological and environmental tests to determine whether wind turbines can be built there.
During the studies, the company would place trailer-sized equipment on the land, and would provide the city with quarterly reports on its progress, Giuliani wrote.
In addition to examining the winds, the company would explore whether and how a wind turbine project would comply with land use restrictions, including Benicia’s urban growth boundary and concerns by Solano County and Travis Air Force Base that the turbines could interfere with the base’s radar installations.
The Council also will consider adopting a resolution that continues the declaration of emergency because of last month’s magnitude-6.0 South Napa earthquake.
Outgoing Benicia police Chief Andrew Bidou will ask the Council to authorize the purchase of three utility vehicles to replace other department cars that have racked up plenty of miles.
In an Aug. 20 report, Bidou wrote that the older vehicles are scheduled for replacement.
“Police vehicles are used seven days a week and 24 hours a day, and must be maintained in top condition,” Bidou wrote.
But high-mileage vehicles not only experience severe performance and maintenance problems, they also can be a safety concern during high-speed responses, he wrote.
Each of the three Ford Crown Victoria police interceptors he wants to replace with police interceptor utility vehicles has more than 100,000 miles on its odometer, Bidou wrote.
Benicia would be piggybacking on the state of California vehicle contract with Folsom Lake Ford, which has a bidding procedure similar to that of the city, Bidou wrote, so the purchase would be allowed under city codes.
“This purchase is budgeted, and funding for replacement vehicles is included in the (Fiscal Year) 2014-15 budget,” the chief wrote.
He explained that the city’s Internal Services Fund Vehicle Replacement Account money would be used for the purchase, and the estimated cost, $98,543, is below the $130,000 the Council approved when it adopted the current budget.
“The majority of the remaining funds in this account will be used to outfit the vehicles with emergency equipment,” Bidou wrote.
The Council will meet in closed session at 6 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the lease of the Commanding Officer’s Quarters. The regular meeting starts at 7 p.m.