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ERMUSR Misc Issues 04-12-2005Elk River Municipal 13069 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 April S, 2005 ities To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Jerry Takle John Dietz James Tralle From: Bryan Adams Subject: Miscellaneous Issues 763.441.2020 l~~ax: 763.941.8U99 Enclosed is the packet for Tuesday, April 12, 2005 commission meeting at 3:30 p.m. We have been experiencing some voltage flicker problems from our West Bank #2 Substation. The transformer has been de-energized and Utility Plus (a local testing organization), is looking for the problem. Glenn will provide more information at the staff update. The Johnson Street water tower is being filled and placed back into operation in preparation to empty the Hillside Tower so it can be repaired and painted. The Johnson Street water tower is generally taken off line during the winter due to low usages. If it would be left in operation, we risk the possibility of freezing up this tower. Enclosed is the following information for your review. a) Memo to Michele McPherson, Director of Planning, concerning the School Districts desire to utilize the irrigation well on the proposed elementary school site in eastern Elk River. b) Article taken from March 2005, ASCE News titled, "Nation's Infrastructure Receives a "D" in ASCE's 2005 Report Card." c) Questionnaire used at the Elk River Chamber Business Expo, completed by visitors who wanted a free CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb). Vance Zehringer authored this questionnaire and it is a wonderful education tool. The Expo was April 3, 2005 and well attended. We had a lot of activity at our booth and gave away approximately 350 bulbs. We also received some good leads for security systems. Again this year, we are participating in the Education to Employment Math Mentor Project. With this program we host some 6t~' graders, explain our industry, and show them how we use math in our everyday work. This is a good program to expose these kids to an actual workplace and explain to them the importance of education and particularly math. On a final note, the PUC (Public Utility Commission) issued a disastrous rule for municipals in a service territory dispute between the City of Buffalo and Wright Hennepin. This ruling made the cost of acquisitions so expensive that it really prohibits municipals from acquiring territory as their cities grow. Once we get the actual written ruling, I will update you further. Elk River Municipal 13069 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 April 5, 2005 To: Michele McPherson From: Bryan Adams ~~ Subject: East Elk River Elementary School phone: 763.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 This memo is in response to the site plan review for the proposed East Elk River Elementary School located in the proposed River Park Development. There is an existing irrigation well on this property that school staff desires to continue using for lawn irrigation. I recommend this existing well be properly sealed and all water from this facility be taken from the municipal water system for the following reasons: a) The Elk River Municipal Utilities has located a municipal well adjacent to this school site, that will be constructed in the near future. Having a private high capacity well adjacent to the municipal well will have a detrimental effect on the municipal well. b) Elk River Municipal Utilities policy and City ordinance, requires all new facilities to connect to the municipal water system if the municipal water system is available, which in this case is. In existing residential areas where the municipal water system is extending into the area, customers are given an allotted time to connect to the water system but are allowed to keep their existing wells for irrigation. These wells are low capacity and often shallow wells. c) One of the goals of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Wellhead Protection Plan, is to seal all wells in the urban service district to prevent possible contamination of the aquifer. ities d) Ground water is a valuable and limited resource. The Elk River Municipal Utilities rate structure is designed to encourage customers to use water wisely and consciously irrigate only when necessary. Nation's Infrastructure Receives a D in ASCE's 2005 `Report Card' n the Cour years that have elapsed since nsce's last assessment oC the nation's infrastructure-which conferred an overall grade of D+-the nation has failed to heed the call.[ndeed,there has been further decline, as witnessed by the overall grade of D meted out in the 2005 Report Card forArncri- ca's lnfiastnicture. Released on March 9 at a press conference held in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club, this latest assessment suggests chat the nation's infrastructure- pnncipally its roads, bridges, drinking water systems, mass transit systems, schools, and sys- tems for delivering energy-may soon fail to meet sonety's needs, This is the third full report nsce has issued on the nation's infrastructure The first was in 1998. Additionally, the Pro~ress Report for Aniencn's Irrfraitrucuire, released in 2003, sur- veyed tievclopments in the hope of finding improvements. In part because of the effect of nsce's first assessment of national mfrastructure, the unpor- Lance of investing in this area has loomed larger in the deliberanons of legislators and govern- ment officals at the federal, state, and local lev- els. fn 2001 nscL estimated that it would take 813 trillion and five years to bang the coun- try's infrastructure to a satisfactory level. Two years later, however, the Society's progress report gave scant grounds for optimism. The advisory council that helped nscE pre- pare dus latest assessment comprises 24 distin- guished dvil engineers whose specialties and areas of expernse cover a broad spectrum. The performance and condition of each category of mfrastructure were assessed on the basis of fed- eral sources, and these sources also were used in the forecasts.The capacity of infrastructure and the current and pending levels of sWte,local, and federal funding were weighed against need. "Grades were assignaed on the basis of con- dition and capaaty, the funding versus the needs, and generally following a traditional grading scale," said Patrick) Natale, PE., nsCL's executive director, during the press conference. "By that t mean chat if seventy-seven percent of our roads were in good condition or better, that would earn a grade oCC Base grades were then reviewed by dae advisory council and adjust- ed-usually with a plus or nunus but some- times by as much as a full letter grade to reflect posuive or negative trends or the cnncal conse- quences should a catastrophic failure occur" [n the report, avil enguaeenng professionals maintain that conditions have worsened. Of the 14 mfrastnicmre categories assigned grades- aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, hazardous waste, navigable waterways, public parks and recreation, rail, roads, schools, solid waste, mass transit, and wastewater-10 receive grades in the D range. Of those 10, 7 represent- ed declines since 2001. hazardous waste, roads, and energy fell from a D+ to a D; wastewater and drinking water dropped from a D to a D ; mass transit went from a C- to a D+; and navi- gable waterways sank from a D+ to a D-, nsce estimates that a total mvesunent of 8].6 trillion will be needed over the next five years to make the necessary improvements. According to recent assessments, nearly 50 percent of the navigation locks on the more than ] 9,000 km of inland waterways operated by the U-S. Army Corps of Engineers are functionally obsolete. By 2020 analysts esti- mate that the percentage will have risen to 80. Yet despite the importance of U.S waterways to the global economy-the Height on these waterways amounting to (mntini+ed nu page 7J REPORT CARD (continued front pale 1) approximately 2.2 billion Mg per year-rnvestment to watei resources projects has failed to keep pace with economic and population growth. More than $125 billion will be needed to replace the current system of locks to accommodate present and Cuture levels of waterborne traffic, experts say. Given the substantial upsurge in ridership in recent years, pubhc transportation also cries out for implovement. The Federal Transit Adminis- tration estimates that more than $20 billion is required for mass transit systems to adequately meet demands.While America faces an $11-bi1- hon annual shortfall in the amount needed to replace aging dunking water infrastructure so that federal water regulations can be met, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (ern) estimates that the nation will have to invest $390 billion over the next two decades to build new wastewater management systems and replace old ones. More than $90 billion will be needed each year to improve roads, the parlous state of which requires Americans to sacrifice 3 5 billion hours each year to traffic delays. Moreover, according to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Energy, the nation's energy infrastructure "is in urgent need of modernization"The report acknowledges that the current U.S. energy transmission system "has become congested because growth in electricity demand and investment in new gen- eration facilities have not been matched by investment in new transmission facilities." Although investment in transmission lines over the next decade is expected to be at least $3-bil- Lon ayear, the miles of transmission lines added will be equivalent to dust one-third of the growth in electricity demand, according to the Consumer Energy Council of America. The infrastructure supporting hazardous waste cleanup is badly in need of federal fund- ing. Even though there are 1,200 toxic waste vies on the ten's National Priorities Ltst and more than 10,000 sites could end up in the Superfund program, federal subsidies for cleanup have decreased steadily since 199b, the level today being no higher than in 1986.What is more, the Govermnent Accountability Offce (formerly the General Accounting Office) recently estimated chat after 20 years and out- lays of more than $14 billion, the Superfund program has still not completed cleanup work on 42 percent of the nation's most severely con- tanunated hazardous waste sites. While the grades in this year's assessment for bridges (C), dams (D), and sohd waste (C+) matched those in 2001, the appraisals for avia- tion (D to D+) and schools (lll- to D) increased slitihdy. Although not assessed in 2007, rail and pubhc parks and recreation both earned a C-. The security of critical facets of our nation's infrastructure, also a new category, received an I (for incomplete) because the data needed for accurate evaluations are not readily available to engineering professionals. Such information would help engineers design, build, and operate infrasnucture that is more secure. "Just as President Reagan appointed the first national coinmisvon on the infrastructure, Icall on President Bush and Congress to demonstrate similar leadership through the appointment of a new federal canmission to develop America's infrasn ucture agenda for the twenty-first centu- ry;'said William P Henry, P.E., nsct's president. "With strong national leadership [ am confident chat our nation's infrastructure will once again provide the foundation for prosperity and the quality of Lfe that all Americans expect" For more information about nsc~'s 2005 Reyort Card for,9merica's Ir frasuucture, please visit www.infrastructurereportcard.org or e-mail reportcard@asce. -161ark Fitzgerald To Receive Your Free Compact Fluorescent Lamp From Please Answer The Following Questions. Name Electric Utility: optional) Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) Conneaus Energy (Anoka Electric) X-Cel Energy (NSP) 1. How did you fmd out about ERMU's Rebate Program that pays $30 to $800 to our customers for purchasing ENERGY STAR rated appliances? Star News, Utility Brochure, Expo, Dealer, I didn't know that! 2. How did you fmd out about ERMU's Rebate Program which pays $5 toward the purchase of compact fluorescent lamps for its customers? Star News, Utility Brochure, Expo, Store Clerk, I didn't know that! 3. How did you fmd out that ERMU pays its customers up to $65 to have their air conditioners tuned up every 3 years? Star News, Utility Brochure, Expo, Air conditioning contractor, I didn't know that! 4. Did you know that ERMU pays its customers $30 per year to participate in the Cycled AC Program? Yes, No 5. ERMU asks its customers to reduce use of electricity on hot, humid summer days. This voluntary Program is called "Wait Ti118". Were you aware of this Program? Yes, as of today, Yes, I heard about it last year, Yes, and I participate in it, I was not aware of it until now! 6. On a scale of 1 to 5, (5 being most important), how important do you think it is to participate in a program like "Wait Ti118"? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (circle). Would you be willing to set your air conditioning thermostat up 5 degrees at 5 PM on days when the temperature reaches 90F and the dewpoint exceeds 70F? Yes, No. 7. Do you think ERMU's odd/even summer sprinkling ban is a good idea? Yes, No. If No, why not? 8. Were you aware that ERMU offers a full line of security monitoring services and medical alert services? Yes, No 9. Were you aware that the monthly monitoring fee for our security program is only $17 per month and that it's the lowest rate in the region! Yes, No. If you want to sign up, or already have a security system in your home but would like to switch to our monitoring service to save money, simply print your name and phone number here! 10. Do you know that for just a couple extra dollars per month, you can purchase WIND POWER from your local utility? Yes, No Elk River .~ . Municipal Utilities Wright-Henn Coop Elect Assn Other (please list) 11. Did you know that 15% of Elk River electricity now comes from the landfill gas electric generating plant located at the Elk River Landfill? Yes, No.