improving our infrastructure

SCMU Review
(schmoo ri-vyoo) n. items of interest and information from your Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities
No.60 FALL 2015 SANTA CRUZ MUNICIPAL UTILITIES 212 LOCUST STREET, SANTA CRUZ, CA 95060 (831)420-5220 scmu@cityofsantacruz.com
Message
from the
Director
I
T’S HARD
TO BELIEVE
THAT 2015
IS ALREADY
NEARING ITS
END. It seems like
only yesterday
that we were
celebrating the New Year. A lot has happened at
the Water Department in 2015. Between managing
the water supply during an historic and relentless
drought, completing several critical infrastructure
projects, and supporting the work of the
Water Supply Advisory Committee to develop
recommendations for the future of our water
supply, we’ve stayed very busy this year.
Drought. Can you remember a day this year
that you didn’t either hear or say that word?
Me neither. After promising early storms in
November and December, January 2015 proved to
be the driest January on record. February, March
and April, normally some of our wettest months,
continued the dry streak.
Had we not pumped water from the
San Lorenzo River to Loch Lomond
for a record number of days during the
early storms, we would have been in
bad shape heading into summer.
As it was, our reservoir was much fuller than
most around the state, and our customers were
much more conservative than most around the
state. Thus we entered our new “water year”
(October 1–September 30) with ten percent more
capacity in the reservoir than at the same time last
year. Please pat yourselves on the back for that!
Infrastructure. You hear a lot about
infrastructure these days. That’s because much of
the country’s critical infrastructure (water, power,
sewer) was installed at around the same time
(mid-twentieth century) and is now reaching the
end of its functional life span. Many cities across
America are now grappling with how to fund and
how to manage upgrading their eroding systems
— including Santa Cruz.
continues on page 2 >
IMPROVING OUR
INFRASTRUCTURE
I
NFRASTRUCTURE HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS A LOT LATELY. IT SEEMS LAST
YEAR’S HARSH WINTER IN THE EAST, AND THE ONGOING DROUGHT IN THE
WEST, HAVE PUSHED MANY OF THE COUNTRY’S INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS
TO THEIR LIMITS. From faulty and unreliable subway systems in Boston, to
a bursting water main on the UCLA campus, much critical infrastructure
is reaching the end of its useful life cycle. But unlike crumbling bridges and
potholed pavement, decaying water systems typically go unnoticed until they fail.
Much of Santa Cruz’s water infrastructure dates back to the pre-WWII era and one of the
challenges of operating Santa Cruz’s water system stems from a lack of redundancy. What
that basically means is that if parts of our system go down, we don’t have sufficient backup. We have only one raw water reservoir and one major treatment plant. Should anything
significant happen to either, our entire water supply could be disabled. However, we
completed three substantial projects in 2015 to both update our aging water delivery system
and to improve system redundancy.
BAY STREET TANKS
The Bay Street Reservoir was an open-air reservoir built in the 1920’s, prior to earthquake
codes. By the early 2000’s, so many modifications were needed to bring the reservoir up to
modern standards that it was determined the reservoir should be replaced with a state-ofthe-art tank system. In 2007, the reservoir was demolished and work began on new tanks.
$21 MILLION
continues on page 2 >
2
Water Infrastructure News
< Improving Infrastructure from page 1
This year, the project was completed and the two new six million-gallon
tanks joined our system in May. The new Bay Street tanks provide
significantly improved reliability as well as a level of storage redundancy,
which in turn enables the Water Department to perform maintenance
and other upgrades throughout the system, knowing the Bay Street tanks
can serve as limited storage back-up. Price tag: $21 million.
BELTZ WELL, NO. 12
$4.5 MILLION
Construction on a new well began in October of 2013, with the goal of
moving some of the City’s groundwater pumping further inland, where
it would be less vulnerable to seawater intrusion. The Beltz Well No. 12
is located off of Soquel Avenue, and the 650-foot-deep well is capable of
producing 500 gallons per minute. Though groundwater provides a small
percentage of Santa Cruz's drinking water, and the Beltz Well No. 12 is
permitted to only operate seasonally from May to September, it does so at
a critical time of year when we really need the water it produces.
Price tag: $4.5 million.
VALVE REPLACEMENT, OCEAN STREET MAIN
All water serving Santa Cruz and Live Oak residents comes from the
Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant through a single water main that
then branches out to other water mains throughout the system. Many
years ago it was discovered that a critical valve on this main, known as
< Director’s Message from page 1
However, in 2015 we completed
three critical infrastructure projects
including the new Bay Street tanks,
the Beltz 12 well, and replacement of
the Ocean Street water main valve.
(Plus we got going on major rehabilitation
of the filters at Graham Hill Water Treatment
Plant.) There’s more about those projects in
this issue of the SCMU Review.
Finally, as I write this the Water Supply
Advisory Committee is putting the
finishing touches on the Agreements and
Recommendations they will present to the
City Council for the future of Santa Cruz’s
water supply. After 18 months of hard work
this dedicated group of citizens has reached
broad consensus on the best ways to bridge
the water supply-and-demand gap. Now that’s
something to celebrate.
Rosemary Menard
Water Director
the Ocean Street main, was
stuck in the open position.
What that meant was that
if we had a significant event
such as an earthquake, we
would not be able to shut
down the main and would
then be vulnerable to a
catastrophic loss of water. In
order to replace the critical
valve, the treatment plant
needed to be shut down for
many hours and enough
water stored to serve the
City during the shut-down.
However until the Bay Street
$125,000
tanks were completed this
year, the City didn’t have
enough storage elsewhere to
complete the valve replacement project. On September 22, after months
of fastidious planning, the Water Department replaced the Ocean Street
main valve as well as two other significant valves, which was the most
intense undertaking in the department’s history. While completion of the
project was not without challenges, the operation proved successful and
the City of Santa Cruz has a water system that is significantly safer and
more reliable in the case of an emergency. Price tag: $125,000.
Water delivery systems have high fixed costs, mostly due to the cost of
infrastructure. There are 300 miles of water pipes in the SCMU system.
When you pay for water, you’re not only paying for the water itself but also
for the treatment and delivery of the water. While new bridges and new
roads are infrastructure improvements that you can see and touch, we hope
that when you turn on your tap and receive safe, clean water that you will
appreciate the investment you have made into your water delivery system.
“Why is My Water Pressure So High/Low?”
H
AVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY
SANTA CRUZ DOESN’T HAVE A
WATER TOWER LIKE SUPERMAN’S
HOMETOWN OF SMALLVILLE? The answer
is that we do — and we don’t. While we don’t
have Smallville’s iconic, logo-emblazzened
tower, we do have water tanks that are tirelessly
toiling in the hills above town, serving the same
purpose as Smallville’s water tower — to move
water through our system by gravity.
Water pressure is driven by a “hydraulic
gradient”, which in our system’s case is just a
fancy way of saying that gravity drives water
pressure. While some towns must rely on tall
water towers to create the necessary gravity for
their water pressure, we’re able to rely on the
hills around Santa Cruz to supply ours.
If you recall Pascal’s Principle from your
high school physics class, you’ll remember that
it states that a body of water in a container will
exert the same pressure at every point in that
container. Basically, our water distribution
system is one giant container and the water
WATER PRESSURE MANAGEMENT
inside the pipes in your home is trying to rise
to the level of the water tank they arrived from.
(In theory, every 2.31 feet of elevation equates to
one pound-per-square-inch (1psi) of pressure.)
So the next time you experience low water
pressure — or unusually high water pressure
— think about where your home is in relation
to the water tanks providing your water. If
you live on West Cliff Drive near sea level, for
example, chances are good you’re going to have
high water pressure. If you live in the Delaveaga
neighborhood in the hills, chances are good
you have moderate water pressure.
Fall 2015
No. 60
Public Works News
17 Anti-contamination Recycling Tips
C
ONTAMINATION IS A HUGE PROBLEM IN THE RECYCLING INDUSTRY. This includes our
recycling in Santa Cruz. When garbage gets mixed in with your blue bin, it can contaminate
an entire truck load of recyclables. Such loads end up as trash in the landfill.
Here are some tips to avoid recycling contamination:
•No food or yard waste in with
recycling
•Empty your containers, wipe and
lightly rinse
•Remove lids from glass jars and add
them separately
•Don’t conceal items
•Don’t place bottles or cans inside a
plastic bag
•Don’t place anything inside paper bags
•Flatten and fold clean cardboard only
•Pizza box tops: Yes!
•Pizza box bottoms: No!
•Rinse plastic bottles, jugs, jars and
tubs and replace the lids
•Separate elements of multiple-material
products
•Remove the inner plastic bag from
cardboard cereal boxes
•Remove plastic wrap around a
cardboard case of water bottles
•Rigid plastic items such as plant pots,
buckets, hangers and toys may not be
recycled in the blue bin
•If metal cans, foil wrap and foil trays
are not free of food residue, they
belong in the trash
•Bag your plastic bags!
•No loose, individual plastic bags in the
recycling bin
3
Collection Bin
Etiquette for Storms
O
UR REFUSE COLLECTION CREW
PICKS UP YOUR TRASH AND
RECYCLING RAIN OR SHINE. As the
winter months approach with predictions of
heavy rain, here are some things that you can
do to help.
On rainy days, place your carts 12
to 18 inches away from the curb —
especially if you are in an area prone
to flooding.
The back wheels of the carts should sit where
the concrete gutter ends and the asphalt street
begins. This will allow water to run down the
gutter behind your carts and prevent your carts
from being carried down the street in heavy rain.
It will also help to keep storm water flowing. It is also important that the lids on your carts
are completely closed to keep rain water
out. Please do not overload your carts so that
the lids don’t close completely. REMEMBER! Place your cart out 12 to 18 inches
from the curb and close the lids completely.
FOR CITY OF SANTA CRUZ RESIDENTS ONLY
November 21 is
Appliance and Bulky
Item Pickup Day
M
ARK YOUR CALENDAR for Bulky
Item/Appliance Pickup on Saturday,
November 21.
This biannual curbside City service requires
a reservation. Residents must call customer
service at 420-5220 by 5 pm on Thursday,
November 19, to schedule an appointment for
the November 21 pickup.
Customers may use their FREE service tags for all
pickup items. Attach one tag to each refrigerator,
air conditioner, freezer or other appliance; and
one tag to each couch, mattress, box spring or
other bulky item before placing curbside.
Mattress Recycling Program to Begin in 2016
A
WHOPPING 15–20 MILLION
MATTRESSES ARE DISPOSED OF
each year in the United States.
Eighty percent of the material they
are made of has the potential to be
recycled into useful products.
Thanks to California’s Used Mattress Recovery
Act of 2013, there is now a statewide mattress
recycling program. The Mattress Recycling
Council is the new product stewardship
organization whose primary goals are to
increase mattress recycling opportunities and
decrease the impacts of illegal dumping.
The City has contracted with the Council to
participate in the new recycling program. This
will allow you to deliver mattresses and box
springs to the Resource Recovery Facility at no
charge. The Mattress Recycling Council will
pay transportation costs and recycling fees,
saving the City and rate payer money.
This pilot program is scheduled to begin on
January 2, 2016.
SCMU Review No. 60, Fall 2015
Eileen Cross, Editor
Kyle Petersen, Customer Service Manager
Written and published twice a year by
City of Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities
212 Locust Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
www.cityofsantacruz.com
Customer Service: (831) 420-5220
scmu@cityofsantacruz.com
Some Good News
on Coho Salmon
W
HILE THE EXTREME DROUGHT
CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN
INCREDIBLY CHALLENGING FOR
MOST OF OUR NATIVE FISH SPECIES,
coho have benefited from concerted
conservation and recovery efforts here
in Santa Cruz. According to the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), this year
had the best return of coho they’ve seen in
ten years. NMFS has been working closely
with the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout
Project to bolster local coho populations at
their Kingfisher Flat hatchery facility and it
appears that — despite the drought — this
work is having some success in bringing
naturally-reproducing coho back to our
streams. This year, juvenile coho have been
found in Soquel, Scott, San Vicente, Waddell
and Laguna creeks. The Laguna Creek
finding should be especially interesting to
City of Santa Cruz Water customers since
this creek has been an important municipal
water source for over 100 years.
For the first time since 2005, recent
surveys show that coho salmon successfully
reproduced in lower Laguna Creek again this
year. City of Santa Cruz Water Department
staff found numerous “young-of the-year”
(YOY) coho in the lower reaches of the
Creek during early October surveys. This
work confirmed previous surveys by NMFS
researchers who also documented coho YOY
presence there earlier in the fall.
At the southern end of their range in
Santa Cruz, coho face numerous challenges,
including: a lack of habitat complexity in
stream channels that coho benefit from;
riparian corridors that suffer from a high
level of impact from development and roads;
stream flows that are frequently well below
critical thresholds required for properly
functioning habitat conditions; and high
water temperatures in some stream reaches.
Ongoing challenges with unauthorized
private water diversions, upper watershed
land use changes, lower watershed riparian
encroachment, the recent arrival of non-native
species and other stressors continue to hinder
coho recovery efforts on Laguna Creek.
The City of Santa Cruz has worked
very hard to improve conditions for coho
in Laguna Creek, including bypassing its
entire water right there during the last year
for coho’s benefit (under an agreement with
the Department of Fish and Wildlife), and
is working closely with state and federal
regulators to improve other conditions
in the watershed. While there has been a
relatively unending succession of negative
stories regarding drought impacts on the
environment, the recent findings of successful
coho reproduction in Laguna Creek should
give us hope for recovery of this species.
MORGAN BOND
CHRIS BERRY, WATERSHED MANAGER
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
SANTA CRUZ, CA
PERMIT NO. 11
The Water Supply
Advisory Committee
Completes its Work
T
HE CITY COUNCIL-APPOINTED
WATER SUPPLY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (WSAC) MEMBERS HAVE
REACHED CONSENSUS and signed on to
an Agreement and Recommendations to
secure the reliability of Santa Cruz’s water
supply. The Agreement and Recommendations, which were finalized at the WSAC’s
final meeting on Friday, October 2, provide
implementation and management guidance
for supply projects, and will now go to the
City Council for review and action.
WSAC members strongly support
recommendations including
additional conservation programs,
as well as groundwater storage
strategies known as “In-Lieu” and
“Aquifer Storage and Recovery,”
which involve storing excess winter
river flows in aquifers for future use.
Recycled water and desalination are
considered additional back-up strategies,
should the groundwater transfer strategies
prove infeasible or less successful than
expected.
The WSAC took eighteen months to
develop their recommendations. Next steps:
The WSAC will present its Agreements
and Recommendations to the City
Council during the Council’s meeting on
October 27. The Council will receive the
recommendations but will not take action
at that time. On November 10, the Council
and the City’s Water Commission will
hold a joint study session and take public
comment. The City Council is expected to
take action during its November 24 meeting.
For more information visit the WSAC’s
website at www.santacruzwatersupply.com