RE: Water Conservation Notice

From: Gerald Fisher

Sent: Thu Jul 01 10:30:18 2021

To: Andy Peters; Dan Huff

Cc: Ryan Hepler; Jeff Mccrum; Adam Shultz; Darlene Bishop; Christie DeSantis; Chaunee Seifried; Frank Schoenfeld; Chris Long; Cindy Chauran

Subject: RE: Water Conservation Notice

Importance: Normal

We are moving forward with having the City Council adopt a resolution going into curtailment at Alert State 1 and allowing the City Manager to modify alert stage as needed until conditions change later in the year. Will have that to Christie today or tomorrow for the Council packet. Thanks.

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218

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From: Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 1, 2021 9:28 AM

To: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>; Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Cc: Ryan Hepler <rhepler@cityofmolalla.com>; Jeff Mccrum <jmccrum@cityofmolalla.com>; Adam Shultz <ashultz@cityofmolalla.com>; Darlene Bishop <dbishop@cityofmolalla.com>; Christie DeSantis <cdesantis@cityofmolalla.com>; Chaunee Seifried <cseifried@cityofmolalla.com>; Frank Schoenfeld <fschoenfeld@molallapolice.com>; Chris Long <clong@molallapolice.com>; Cindy Chauran <cchauran@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: RE: Water Conservation Notice

Current system demand is 1.7 MGD, we did our calcs assuming 2.0 MGD. The town has never seen higher than that. The plan does not define “90% capacity” so we defined it as “1 filter down 90% of 2.0 MGD, accounting for backwash: 1.8 MGD”. At that production rate we would last 6 days before we ran out of water, and 3 days before we would have to increase Chlorine to achieve Contact Times.

There may be an issue with the Table 12.1: the text on p. 12-2 that defines Alert Stage 1 as non- compulsory - mostly for warning the public and getting voluntary curtailment. But the TABLE 12.1 specifies compulsory Action Measures more consistent with Alert Stage 2. If we go by the text, this would allow us to move to a “friendly curtailment” posture at any time in the next month. We would be justified in doing so. I didn’t notice this at the time we reviewed the plan.

Andy

From: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 1, 2021 9:05 AM

To: Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>; Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: RE: Water Conservation Notice

Thanks Andy. Where are we at on usage?

Conditions for Alert Level 1

PI (-2 to -3). Condition met.

SWSI (-1.5 to -2.5). No data available.

Water use reaches 90% capacity for 3 days. Status?

Staff assessment. Assumed start date of July 22, 2021.

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218

From: Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 1, 2021 8:48 AM

To: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>; Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: RE: Water Conservation Notice

Folks, following up on this; right now Ops Staff is not worried, and we believe the City has at least 20 days before Water Curtailment measures should be initiated. This assumes no rain, and assumes 2 weeks as the time it would take to get true Curtailment Measures rolling. If anyone has an intuition that this may NOT be the case, please do let us know so can re-check our logic.

Andy and Ryan

From: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Friday, June 25, 2021 9:42 AM

To: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Cc: Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>; Ryan Hepler <rhepler@cityofmolalla.com>; Jeff Mccrum <jmccrum@cityofmolalla.com>; Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>; Adam Shultz <ashultz@cityofmolalla.com>; Darlene Bishop <dbishop@cityofmolalla.com>; Christie DeSantis <cdesantis@cityofmolalla.com>; Chaunee Seifried <cseifried@cityofmolalla.com>; Frank Schoenfeld <fschoenfeld@molallapolice.com>; Chris Long <clong@molallapolice.com>; Cindy Chauran <cchauran@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: RE: Water Conservation Notice

Darlene caught the think, in yellow below, should be thank already.  Must be Friday.

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218

From: Gerald Fisher

Sent: Friday, June 25, 2021 9:31 AM

To: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: RE: Water Conservation Notice

As an internal note, we are now in a Palmer Drought Index (PI) of D2 Severe Drought which is -3.0 to -3.9 and it changed quickly. That puts us in a Water Warning category Alert Stage 2 but we haven’t had the conditions to push us that direction quickly. With the excessive temperatures this weekend followed by another week of 90 degrees, the conditions may deteriorate quickly over the next two weeks depending on river conditions and water use by customers. We have shut down all non-essential watering and the park grass will likely not remail green for much longer. I will coordinate with Andy and Ryan to see if we need the Council to pass a Curtailment Resolution. If we get to that point then citations for not following the Action Measures in the attached tables will be in effect.

Here is the code language today:

13.04.055 Restricted use of water.

A. The City Council may, by resolution, at such times as it deems appropriate, restrict the use of City water.

B. It is unlawful for anyone to use water in violation of the terms of a water restriction resolution duly imposed by the City Council. Violation of such restrictions may be punishable by a fine not exceeding $100.00 for each day of the violation. (Ord. 1988-1 §1)

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218

From: Gerald Fisher

Sent: Friday, June 25, 2021 9:12 AM

To: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Cc: Darlene Bishop (Molalla) <dbishop@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: Water Conservation Notice

Hi Dan,

Because of ongoing drought conditions and the potential for flow in the Molalla River to decrease due to low rainfall and snowpack, I would like to get the community to start thinking about conservation for this summer. If this looks good then I would like to have Darlene post it to our website, FB, and Instagram. This is a precursor to the Water Curtailment Plan and the next step would be to go to alert stage #1, if necessary. Here is our notification below and I have attached the Water Curtailment Plan table from the master plan that shows the next steps if we need to go to more strict requirements.

Oregon Drought Conditions Continue – Water Conservation Recommended

The City of Molalla would like your help reducing water use by all customers. Due to continued drought conditions and the high potential for fire, Public Works is asking water users to begin conserving water for basic use and fire fighting activities. The City has not activated its curtailment plan at this time and the more conservation we do now the less likely we will have to move into the curtailment drinking water. We think you in advance for you help and for more water conservation ideas and tips please visit our Water Conservation Tip Sheet at https://www.cityofmolalla.com/publicworks/page/water-conservation-tip-sheet. There are recommendations to conserve water both indoors and outdoors, links to EPA water conservation tips, and a water use calculator to find individual strategies for conservation.

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218