Discussion: Water Resources Master Plan Draft Scope of Work

In compliance with City Council's adopted policy (2014) of completing master planning efforts to preserve the public's trust in our water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, staff has been engaging the Water Commission to develop a scope of work to update our Water Resources Master Plan. This draft Scope of Work was recommended by the Water Commission to be forwarded to the City Council for your consideration at their December 19, 2019 meeting.

Staff worked with Brown & Caldwell (B&C), Phoenix, Arizona, to design a scope of work that addresses Council goals of an inclusive and engaged community, environmental stewardship, and sustainable and innovative infrastructure. These goals, together with those of the Regional Plan and various City initiatives, are embraced by the five arenas for action informed by this planning effort, known as a "One Water Roadmap": Reliable & Resilient Utilities, Thriving Cities, Competitive Business and Industry, Social and Economic Inclusion, and Healthy Environments.

The attached Scope of Work is comprised of several elements staff feel are necessary to have a plan that is supported and inclusive of the Flagstaff community, City Council, Commissions, and City Staff across departments. Those elements are: Stakeholder Engagement and Public Outreach, Water Demand Projections, and Water Supply Alternatives Assessment.  The work details outlined in the Scope of Work include traditional water demand projections, supply, and cost assessments of multiple supply alternatives to meet that demand in terms of present value, unit cost, energy cost, cost per acre-foot, project-phasing cost considerations, life-cycle and operation and maintenance costs.  The Scope of Work also includes a very focused and intensive outreach effort to address community issues, concerns and values. Another component of the Scope of Work is the development of a policy tool that staff and Council can use to make informed decisions that involve how various water end-uses (business attraction, rezone applications) align with the Regional Plan model for a sustainable city, including employment and revenue per gallon of water used. The Scope of Work also addresses the highly-polarized opinions of reclaimed water end uses today and how we use excess reclaimed water in the future. The result will be a Plan that balances water supply management options per the City's Designation of Adequate Water Supply, community values as per the Regional Plan definition of a Sustainable Flagstaff, and climate mitigation goals as per the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

Studies of water availability and supply options have been a driving aspect of supply-reliability for the Flagstaff community, going back to the City's first water source from the Inner Basin over a century ago. Review of these reports demonstrates the importance of planning for a variety of future conditions through time. Flagstaff is a testament of this planning as we are a thriving city with a reliable and resilient water supply. The three most significant events in water management and planning in the last 25 years include the introduction of reclaimed water to the majority of the city in 1996, the purchase of Red Gap Ranch in 2005, and being permitted with a Designation of Adequate Water Supply in 2013.

Water management in Flagstaff began a new chapter when permitted by the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) as having a Designation of Adequate Water Supply. At the direction of City Council in 2009, staff pursued this voluntary program that is available to cities outside of the Active Management Areas (AMA) and is the State's only program that links growth to water availability and proper planning (note that inside AMAs it is the mandatory Assured Water Supply Program). The program encourages cities to meet "safe yield" by replenishing pumped groundwater with reclaimed water or surface water, when it is available. For AMA cities, surface water is derived from the Colorado River via Arizona's only regional infrastructure and delivery network for recharge, the Central Arizona Project (CAP). Due to such issues as cost, logistics, and water rights, the utilization of CAP water is not feasible at this time for many water providers outside an AMA, Flagstaff included. As a Designated City, all plats are provided with a stamp for a 100-year water supply from Water Services, and Staff reports to ADWR the status of our short term (annual) and long-term (20 year) water resource outlook. Should ADWR ever deem the City as not having resources in place to meet demand, the responsibility may end up on individual developers to provide water for their individual subdivisions.

The most recent Water Resources Master Plan (WRMP) was conducted in-house and remains as a draft from 2011. The plan was concurrent with the application to become a Designated city, and therefore, included an evaluation of water demands based on land uses as per the 2001 Regional Land Use and Transportation Plan. The water demand calculations based on projected population growth and land use estimates indicated a need for an additional 12,000 acre-feet per year (af/yr) of additional new water supplies, which equates to the mid-point between all scenarios (7,700 to 16,500 af/yr).

Council adopted Water Policies in 2014 that suggest all elements of the Integrated Master Plan be updated every five years (Water System, Wastewater, Water Resources). It's important that these plans coordinate as they inform other efforts going on in the city, such as regional plans, area plans, development proposals, etc.

Water Services has conducted several studies in the past 5 years that will provide important information for the WRMP. These include the Water Supply Alternatives Costs Technical Memo (Carollo, 2017), Advanced Water Reclamation Feasibility Study (2018), and Water Conservation Strategic Plan (Maddaus Water Management, 2020). The Water Supply Alternatives Costs study was the first to compare the cost of all water supply options at a very high level that includes Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) and various other reclaimed water options. This study helped staff learn about the logistics, considerations, and challenges of implementing these new options. The Carollo study developed a general water balance for each of the options, such as the daily and seasonal fluctuation of wastewater plant influent, reclaimed water demand, and the resulting water available for DPR. The Advanced Water Reclamation Feasibility Study determined how DPR could integrate into the City's existing infrastructure at its two water reclamation plants, whether there is space on the City's property for DPR, and a slightly more detailed cost estimate to implement DPR at the plants. These costs, and those being completed by Jacobs, will fold into an apples-to-apples cost comparison of all water supply ideas, otherwise called alternatives. Costs of the alternatives will be compared with the current costs to: provide reclaimed water, expand the purple pipe system, water conservation options, and drill a new well. Costs will include calculations and comparisons such as present value, unit cost, energy cost, cost per acre-foot, project-phasing cost considerations, and life-cycle and operation and maintenance, for example. Lastly, the Water Conservation Strategic Plan provides a strategic, quantitative approach to drive water conservation as a water supply. The Strategic Plan will influence the water demand model and planning futures.

With Arizona lifting the prohibition on DPR in early 2019, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is drafting regulations and an application process to allow a water provider to apply for a DPR facility. Should DPR regulations take effect, Flagstaff will be positioned to implement DPR sooner than if we were not investigating in studies that include DPR as a water supply alternative. Concurrent studies with the WRMP that will inform aspects of its development include a Water Production and Well Optimization Study (Carollo) and the Red Gap Ranch Feasibility Study (Jacobs). Other important studies to integrate into the planning include the City's 2018 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan and the Regional Plan 2030.

An important aspect of this plan is communication and integration with the public. Water Services staff, the Water Commission, and City Council are routinely are asked to address conflicting opinions, information, or concerns around reclaimed water and the cost or desire for various supplies (e.g. Red Gap Ranch). Staff would like to properly address these issues and come to a consensus on how to approach these in the planning process. Staff will work with Brown & Caldwell, Southwest Decision Resources, the Water Commission, Council, and a stakeholder group to determine the issues and a path for acquiring community input. This may include development of effective graphics to demonstrate various ideas for a sustainable water supply, water balances, and other concepts, then allowing us to identify ways to engage the community, such as one-on-one opportunities, talking with local organizations, holding functions, developing surveys, and bringing in experts to lead discussions on larger issues such as compounds of emerging concern. This Scope of Work also proposes to team with West Water Research, Phoenix, Arizona. They will be tasked with framing how various water resource ideas could be funded and the impact to our customer's water bills. They are also tasked with developing policy that aides in making sustainable-city decisions, namely the return in employment and revenue and other values per gallon of water used, as per the Regional Plan and definition for a Sustainable Flagstaff.