AgdaPkt 2010-02-22 clsd and jnt - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

REPORT 6.1E age 1 To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the Cit Mana er February 22,2010 SUBJECT Redwood City Water Conservation Program - Professional Services Agreement RECOMMENDATION Approve by motion a professional services agreement with KorTech Consulting for Water Use Allocation Program design and development services for Redwood City's Water Conservation Program and authorize the City Manager to sign Agreement. BACKGROUND The City of Redwood City, through KorTech Consulting, implemented a Water Use Allocation Program (WUAP) for Redwood City residential customers in 2001. WUAP provides a fair and equitable way to distribute water during possible future droughts by taking into consideration individual customer needs and their conservation efforts. WUAP uses factors such as weather data, the number of people in a household, the size and type of landscape, size of swimming pool, and any other special water needs to calculate water use budgets. The City originally hired KorTech Consulting to develop the WUAP for calculating water budgets for residential accounts; however, staff subsequently employed KorTech to redesign WUAP to allow it to calculate budgets for customers with dedicated landscape irrigation meters as well. This was an effort known to staff as the "Budget-Based Rates Project (BBRP)." Similar to residential accounts, water use budgets are now calculated for sites given their landscape area and weather conditions, among possible other factors (e.g., quantity and type of plant materials at a site). In January 2009, staff implemented the BBRP and began monthly billing for landscape irrigation accounts using a rate structure consisting of inclining rate block tiers. The purpose of the BBRP was to improve irrigation efficiency and reduce water waste by rewarding property managers, homeowner associations, and other businesses that use irrigation water efficiently and to create incentives for those who do not. The first year of BBRP implementation was a tremendous success. A recent study revealed that water consumed for the sole purpose of landscape irrigation in Redwood City decreased by 15% following the implementation of the Program. This equated to an annual water savings of 246 acre-feet (about 80 million gallons) during calendar year 2009. As part of the BBRP, a new technology called Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) was implemented that allowed staff to automatically read water meters through a fixed network. In addition, new irrigation meters were installed which provide hourly water use information and leak detection. This enabled staff to post water use information for irrigation customers online and provide them with automated alerts when they exceed their water budget or when a leak has been detected at their site. KorTech Consulting provided the services required to make the hourly water use information accessible to customers and develop the automated alerts with which they receive.