WIWSA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE NOVEMBER, 2014 Last night (October 25th), a windier than usual storm blew over a utility pole near our community. Power was out for about 15 hours – 8 hours of which were night time after 9 pm so there didn’t seem to be any urgency in providing emergency power for our pump house. With the coming of morning, however, water pressure was dropping fast as our members took their showers and brewed their coffee. Fortunately, a few years ago we purchased a small emergency generator (5.5 kW) and stored it in a small shed near our pump house. We did think to also store a small amount of gasoline, fortified with Stabil, in that shed. Instead of going completely dry while waiting for our State-certified water manager to rig something we were able to hook up the generator ourselves and power our small (one HP) distribution pump. This sufficed for our routine needs but, of course, a longer power outage (days not hours) would require us to power-up our well pump and larger distribution pumps. We recently purchased a 10 kW generator which will handle those larger electrical loads and we will soon erect a new shed – carefully sited consistent with our Wellhead Protection Plan. Given the possibility of some more troublesome problem (think earthquake!) here on Whidbey Island, we think we are being prudent. You might give this some thought. Warm regards, Jim Patton Driving Directions to Race Road Fire Station: At intersection of SR 525, SR 20 and Race Road there is a big sign, Port Townsend Ferry goes West on SR 20, Race Road goes East. Fire Hall is at the top of the hill on left along Race Road. Cookies and Coffee at 5:30 PM. Whidbey Island Water Systems Association Tech Talk;Emergency Generators By Mark P Greaves In the past we have touched on Emergency Generators. Most common of these is the “Portable” Emergency Generator. These are the type you would buy at a big box store and keep in the garage or nearby location in case you need it. They typically run on gasoline and require you to add fuel, hook them up to something like your pump or electrical panel or plug something into it. Then you have to manually start it up and keep fuel in the tank to keep it running. They can be a great asset to have around and a wonderful back up plan. But they are not normally automatic and they require your active management. But what if you want something a bit more sophisticated? Something that is permanently installed and ready to go automatically in the event of a sudden power outage. If that’s the case then you would be looking for a “Standby” Emergency Generator. A “standby” generator is not a “portable” generator. Standby systems are permanently mounted outside on a pad, in some form of enclosure and are hard wired directly to your electrical panel. It will need a fuel source that is plumbed directly to it as well. They can be fueled by; gasoline, diesel, natural gas or propane gas. It is even possible now to run them with solar charged batteries, waterwheel or even methane gas collected from farm animal wastes. Since most areas in the islands are not served by natural gas pipes a dedicated propane tank or liquid fuel source is the most practical way to go. Beware; liquid fuel tanks will need to be located safely away from your wellhead or other sensitive areas and must be properly contained. The key to the Standby system is they are permanently connected to the pump’s main electrical panel. When power outage occurs they automatically start up and keep your system running with little to no power interruption. Because of this they must be installed by a licensed and insured standby-generator contractor. Once properly installed they will safely “kick in” supplying electrical current as needed but should not allow a dangerous situation to develop whereby your operators or utility workers are exposed to electrocution hazard from unexpected sources. Also you want your system to be protected from an oversupply of current that could burn up pumps and wires etc. when the grid power comes back on. GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING (Official Annual Meeting) DECEMBER 17, 2014 -6:00 PM TO 8:00 PM AT RACE ROAD FIRE STATION, COUPEVILLE, WA. AGENDA Call to order Member and guest introductions Quorum call Veriﬁcation of membership Approve Agenda Motion to approve Agenda Review and Approve Budget for 2015 Motion to approve Budget Nomination and election of Directors Motion to elect Directors First Guest Speaker: Mr. Blair Burroughs, Executive Director, Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts. SUBJECT: Beneﬁts of Consolidating Small Water Systems into Water Districts Under RCW Chapter 57 Second Guest Speaker: Mrs. Betty Vance, Commissioner, Valley Water District. SUBJECT: The Realities of Operating a Water District Note 1: Each speaker will make a 20-25 minute presentation followed by a ten minute opportunity for Questions and Answers. Bottom line: Standby generators are a big investment, but the beneﬁts they provide may well be worth the cost to your community. Depending on your requirements you should expect to spend ﬁve thousand dollars or more just for the basic equipment and easily that much again for installation depending on your fuel source and infrastructure requirements. Since this is emergency equipment you may want to consider using the best equipment and contractors in the business. Below are a few names of companies I know work in this area. To the best of my knowledge they are reputable. Since I have no immediate experience with any of them I cannot recommend any one in particular. Please do your homework and check them out ﬁrst; Note 2. Mrs. Jennifer Kropack, Regional Planner, Northwest Regional Ofﬁce, DOH, Ofﬁce of Drinking Water, will be on hand to answer questions about the beneﬁts and problems associated with consolidation of small water systems into water districts. Bel-Red Energy Solutions – Mukilteo – 800-519-2110 Cascade Machinery – Seattle – 800-289-0500 Washington Electric – Seattle – 206-407-3120 Washington Energy Services – Seattle – 800-398-4663 Secretary’s Report Joe Waldrup will present the Minutes for the September 17, 2014 General Membership Meeting. Motion to approve the Minutes. Another good source would be to walk the regional Home & Garden shows. As always check with others in your area to ﬁnd out who has done this type of work before and what they did. Good Luck. Stay Safe, Warm & Dry this winter. Keep it Flowing. Treasurer’s Report Joe Waldrup will present the Treasurer’s Report. Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Best regards, Mark Greaves greaves_seattle@msn.com Note 3. Mr. John Lovie, VP, WIWSA, will be on hand to report the status of the Consolidation Survey undertaken by the WIWSA. Floor open for general discussion Adjourn Meeting was called to order at 6:07 p.m. there were 30 members in attendance. • Patton gave a brief overview about the guest speakers and there presentations. • Patton then asked members to introduce and to also state the association they represent. • Motion to approve the agenda for the September 17, 2014 general meeting was made by Patton. seconded, without discussion, the agenda was approved. First guest speaker: Chris McCord, Manager, Drinking Water Capacity Section, WA DOH, division of Environmental Public Health, Ofﬁce of Drinking Water. Subjects: Meeting the challenge of recruiting and training certiﬁed water systems operators. Items discussed: • Concerns from Associations about the future of the qualiﬁed certiﬁed operators. • Operator Certiﬁcation revisions effective January 4, 2014. • Succession plan, future operators, a goal to create a pool of future operators. • Patton acknowledged and thanked Malcolm Bishop for his many years of service as the Vice President of the Whidbey Island Water Systems Association (WIWSA). Patton then introduced acting Vice President of the WIWSA, John Lovie. Second guest speaker: John Lovie, Vice President, Sun Vista/Sunlight Beach Water Association, Board Member of the WIWSA. Subject: Setting rates for water systems. Items discussed: • Modeling a rate structure for conservation. • Rates based on usage, sends message to users that water is “valuable”. • Four budgeting points: annual expenses, Reserves (annual, emergency, capital) • Collection of Data. • Prices based on budgetary needs. • Rate inﬂation • Lovie then presented a case study (Sun Vista/Sunlight Beach Water Association) to the members demonstrating how to establish a rate structure. Approval of Minutes • Motion to approve the minutes for the June 18, 2014 general meeting, then seconded by. Without discussion, the Minutes were approved unanimously. Treasure’s Report • Waldup read the Treasures report. • The current account balance as of September 8, 2014 is $16,901.98 Motion to approve the Treasurer report, then seconded by. Without discussion, the Treasures report were approved unanimously. The next General Membership Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday December 17, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. at the Race Road Fire Station. The next Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for October 8, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. at the Economic Development Council, 180 NW Coveland Street, Coupeville (ground ﬂoor). Mr. Patton made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Brotherson seconded the motion. Adjourned at 7”48 p.m. Association • P.O. Box 1636 Oak Harbor, WA 98277 The whidbey Island Water Systems Association General membership meeting Minutes September 17, 2014 Water News December 2014