03-25-13 Regular Meeting of La Porte City Council

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sewer to eliminate aging lift stations –particularly in the area north of Spencer (including Lomax) that is being pumped in stages toward the Fairmont Park subdivision (Lift Station #30 located at Wilmont and Fairmont), 4) respond to a potential increase in USEPA and/or TCEQ effluent standards for the wastewater treatment plantif/when new standards are enacted, 5) re- prioritize projects identified for construction in the city’s 2009 Water Master Plan and move forward with construction accordingly. 45% of the city waterlines (83-miles) are more than 40-years old. The cost to remove and replace 83-miles of water main is estimated at $50-million. With city crews replacing a portion of the mains each year along with an annual contract goal to replace an additional 2-miles of waterline per year, the inventory of 40(+)-year old watermain would be replaced over the next 30 – 40-years. Overall,the frequency of watermain failures on the system is lowto moderate at this point in time. With this in mind, Public Works staff believes a 30 –40 year replacement program to be reasonable until a greater frequency of watermain breaks dictates a more accelerated replacement rate. A significant percentage of the city watermain that is in excess of 40-years old consists of asbestos concrete (AC) pipe. A plot of the locations of watermain breaks repaired by city crews during the high point of the 2011 shows that the breaks were particularly concentrated on 10 –12 miles of AC pipe. In general, the failure rate of AC pipe is known to significantly increase with age beginning at about 30-years. 10 of the city’s 36 lift stations are 40-years or older. The anticipated service life of a lift stationis approximately 40-years. The value of the 10-lift stations and force mains is approximately $7-million. Staff is envisioning a potential $7-million - $10-million bond project in three to five years to construct a large diameter sanitary sewerextension designed to take perhaps up to six of these lift stations offline and is moving forward with a Preliminary Engineering Report to assess the feasibility and cost of this project. Staff recently submitted the city’s wastewater treatment plant discharge permit renewal to TCEQ. Past updates from TCEQ suggests that TCEQ may be considering more stringent effluent requirements for wastewater treatment plant facilities that discharge to Galveston Bay. If that is the case, staff will likely be notified with TCEQ’s comments to the city’s application for permit renewal. The comments could conceivably translate into additional wastewater treatment plant improvements. The city’s 2009 Water Master Plan identified 9 projects totaling $3.8-million to be constructed between 2010 –2017. (The project list is attached.) Two of the projects were constructed. Seven projects totaling an estimated $3.5-million have been set aside pending additional funding. Utility Budget and Billing Rates: The 1998 – Current rate history summary for the City of La Porte is attached. Residential utility billing rates remained the same or decreased slightly from 1998 to 2005; increased 40% over a 3-year period including 2005 (27.5% increase), 2006 (5.9% increase), 2007 (3.0% increase); rates have not changed since 2007.