Benicia City Council received Public Works Director Graham Wadsworth’s report on Benicia’s water consumption at its last meeting Nov. 18, and the news was good.

Since January the community has reduced its water use by 19 percent when compared to the same time frame in 2013, Wadsworth reported. And the numbers are even better since March, when the Council asked residents, companies and city employees to reduce water use on a voluntary basis by 20 percent.

The community actually exceeded that goal, reducing its consumption by 21.6 percent since March.

However, “The drought conditions remain very serious,” Wadsworth reported.

New water restrictions began Oct. 16, limiting sprinkler system use to before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m. on either Saturdays or Sundays, but not both days. Exceptions are made for those using water hoses with shutoff nozzles or drip irrigators. Also excepted are those watering container plants or recreation area turf.

Municipal operations are walking the water-saving talk, Wadsworth’s report noted. City-owned sites have reduced water consumption by 37 percent.

By comparison, the average reduction statewide through October is just 10 percent, though Gov. Jerry Brown asked Californians for the same 20-percent cutback.

“City of Benicia customers are making impressive progress toward reducing their water use,” Wadsworth wrote.

The city has been sending monthly reports to the State Water Resources Control Board, and Wadsworth wrote that Benicia’s per-capita water use in September was 146.1 gallons a day, which puts Benicia 155th of the 368 communities making similar reports.

In addition, Benicia has been chosen for a year-long pilot program in partnership with WaterSmart Software, also called the WaterInsight Program, which provides specific conservation information to customers, Wadsworth wrote. State grants are underwriting the program, he wrote.

The data will be tailored to each household of the randomly chosen 5,000, he wrote, which represent about half the city.

In addition, water audits are available through the WattzOn-Benicia Home Efficiency programs and the Solano County Water Agency.

In other business, the Water Treatment Plant data system is obsolete and needs to be upgraded, Wadsworth wrote in a Nov. 6 report, and the Council agreed Nov. 18, approving his request to award two companies the contracts needed for those improvements.

Of the two, DST Controls, a Benicia company considered the sole source of the service, has been contracted at $148,331 for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system upgrades, which hasn’t been done since 2008.

Neither products are supported any longer by their manufacturer, Wadsworth reported. Because the computers were last replaced in 2008, they require a $10,000 system upgrade to Windows 7 to accommodate the upgrades.

Telstar Instruments, a Concord company that was the only bidder, was awarded a $101,721 construction contract to replace a programmable logic controller, which had been installed in 1997 and has reached capacity, Wadsworth said. Design of the controller was started the previous fiscal year.

Both contracts were awarded by a single vote as part of the Council’s approval of its consent calendar.

Wadsworth’s report said the need to replace the programmable controller (PLC) first was identified in the city’s 2012 Water System Master Plan, which said the device was working at full capacity and was obsolete.

“A replacement PLC is necessary before future capital improvement projects (CIP) scheduled at the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) can be implemented,” he wrote.

The SCADA system also is out of date and “reached the end of its useful life,” he wrote.

The treatment plant has been using out-of-date software and needs to replace the computer work stations where SCADA is programmed, he wrote.

Replacing the controller and upgrading the data acquisition system simultaneously was planned to save money, he wrote.

Money from the city’s Major Water Capital Fund will underwrite three-quarters of the combined project, and the balance will come from the Water Connection-Capacity Fund, he wrote. Some of the money is carried over from the previous fiscal year, but the Council also approved a budget increase of $52,000 from fund reserves to complete the two projects.

“The programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is the heart or center of the Water Treatment Plant’s system control,” Wadsworth wrote. The device processes information from sensors, meters and gauges, adjusts valves, paces chemical feeds against flow rates and provides information for SCADA, he wrote.

The PLC and SCADA are combined technologies that allow a single operator to do the work of three, Wadsworth wrote.

By the same vote, the Council accepted the $422,803.97 Water Treatment Plant Influent Improvement Project, which upgraded the Water Treatment Plant’s metering, control and primary chemical treatment of untreated water.

It is the latest work on the plant, which was built during the 1970s, Wadsworth wrote. The project called for installing a new 42-inch butterfly valve and electric actuator to modulate plant influent flows.

In addition, the contractor, Spiess Construction Company of Santa Maria, installed new flow meters to measure raw water, plant influent and sediment basin flows. The company also made improvements to the chemical injection header pipe and other equipment.

By the same vote, Parks and Community Services Director Mike Dotson was authorized to spend $76,792.98 for a new restroom to replace one built on the city’s Little League fields in the 1970s.

The original restroom no longer works, Dotson wrote the Council Oct. 23. Portable toilets have been at the fields in the interim. Funds for the project are part of the 2014-15 budget.

Dotson said construction is expected to start at the end of February 2015.

The Council also approved a near status-quo extension memorandum of understanding with the police mid-managers. The pact gives the employees minimal increases in leave time and pay, but no ongoing salary increases.