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October 22, 2002 Work Session 286 A Worksession of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors and the Frederick County Sanitation Authority was held on October 22, 2002, at 2:00 P.M., in the Board of Supervisors' Meeting Room, County Administration Building, 107 North Kent Street, Winchester, Virginia. PRESENT Chairman Richard C. Shickle; Robert M. Sager; Margaret B. Douglas, Gina A. Forrester; Lynda J. Tyler. Supervisor Reyes arrived at 2:55 P.M. ABSENT Supervisor W. Harrington Smith, Jr. was absent due to illness. STAFF Administrator JohnR. Riley, Jr.; Assistant Administrator Kris C. Tierney; and Deputy Clerk Carol T. Bayliss. SANITATION AUTHORITY Chairman James T. Anderson; Darwin S. Braden; Robert P. Mowery; and John V. Stevens, and Director Wellington H. Jones. Chairman Shickle called the worksession to order. Administrator Riley explained the Board of Supervisors at it's last meeting, through Supervisor Douglas, had requested a worksession with the Frederick County Sanitation Authority in order to be brought up to speed as to the plans the Sanitation Authority were currently undertaking with regard to the exploration on availability o[water. It was also felt a general question and answer session with the Authority on a number of issues that have come up over the last few months would be good. Supervisor Sager advised that this session was originally scheduled for noon. He is disappointed that he has to leave in order to attend a mandatory board meeting at 3:00, this does create a problem for him. He does take issue with the fact that he will not be present for the entire meeting, and advised that some of us do work for a living. Director Jones thanked the Board for the opportunity to address them concerning the availability of water in Frederick County, and the Sanitation Authority's use of ground water as a source for their water supply. Director Jones introduced Earl Sutherland of Gilbert W. Clifford and Associates, having Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 287 worked with the Sanitation Authority for almost thirty years. He participated in the studies conducted in 1987 and 1995 and explained the elements ofthese studies. He further advised that he feels anyone that is looking at fifteen years from now as far as the water supply in the County is looking at a cloudy crystal ball. He advised what was looked at during these studies, census date, housing data, and the rate of growth ofthe various neighborhoods. They tried to isolatc and project the anticipated demand for both water and waste water service in those areas. The second is the capacity ofthe infrastructure, both to extract the water, to store it, to transmit, to distribute it, collect it, pump it, treat it and discharge it. He further advised that he has no expertise in ground water geology. He introduced Dr. Ray Martin who was a classmate of his years ago at Virginia Tech. He has recently retired from Snopple Engineering and one of his fields of expertise is of ground water studies. He further advised that he has been retained as a subcontractor by the Sanitation Authority. Dr. Ray Martin advised that he became involved in this project about a month ago. It was agreed at that time that they would look at the Stephens City Quarry arca, basically as an initial beginning part ofthe study that was to be done. He has met with Mike Hoffler who is with SAIC and also Tom Burbey at Virginia Tech. As a result of thesc meetings they have come to an agreement on basically what needs to be done to evaluate the ground water resource in that area. The detailed plan has not been worked out, but wi 11 be done within the next three to four weeks. The idea would be to develop a testing plan for that quarry system. This will be possible because the treatment plant in the Clearbrook area will be on line in about thirty days, which means the system can be shut down in the Stephens City area shortly thereafter which would allow those quarries to recover. At that time a very detailed pumping test from the quarries would be conducted wherein an evaluation of the inter connections between the quarries and the effect of the pumping on the ground water aquifer. There will also be additional monitoring wells drilled south ofthe quarry area where there are not a lot at this time, and in some areas, yet to be determined based on the study that will be done. He believes a ground water numerical model is essential to manage the aquifer and this is something Dr. Burbey recommended and he will be doing the model for them. SAIC will do the field collection of data for this testing program which will be rather extensive and long term tcsting. Their goal is to develop a sustainable yield for the quarry system. Something they know, Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 288 if they continue to pump at a particular rate, given the recharge and the rain fall, that they will not negatively affect the aquifer system. They will be checking any kind of mitigation that may be necessary for anyone that might be on ground water wells in the area. The actual study will be done the first part of next year, probably for a period of six months to complete it. Supervisor Sager asked for an explanation of a monitoring well. Dr. Martin replied a monitoring well does not pump water, it only provides information. Supervisor Tyler advised that she feels this is encouraging news for Stephens City, but discouraging news for Stonewall District. Asked Dr. Martin to give her some idea of what the residents to the north are looking at. Mr. Sutherland explained that in practical terms the northern water treatment plant can only produce a million gallons a day. That is not because of the limitation in the quarries, that is all that can be taken down the road, and this will be true for some time. Chairman Shickle asked if anyone had questions about the Burbey Report, ifthis is the time to ask them? Director Jones, replied yes. He explained the draft report was not distributed. The final report was made public. Chairman Shickle asked ifthere were any differences between the draft and the final report? Dr. Martin replied no, it is essentially the same. Chairman Shickle stated that it was difficult for him to tell, when reading the report, whether Dr. Burbey was for, against, or neutral on the use of ground water as a water source. Dr. Martin advised that he spoke with Dr. Burbey last week, at which time he asked him the same question, do you have any concerns about this particular site, and he said no. Chairman Shickle asked about the USGS study. Dr. Martin advised the USGS is doing a very general study which is going to be very good from the County's prospective because it will identify those areas where ground water can potentially be obtained for a resource. He further advised what they are planning on doing will be much more detailed then what the USGS study will do. Director Jones advised this long range water plan is probably three or four months, which will be into February before they will be finished. He addressed the drought advising that it has Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 289 impacted ground water and stream flows. Droughts of this severity generally occur every thirty years. Chairman Shickle stated that quarries are considered ground water. Director Jones advised that was correct. He further advised they have entered into an agreement to do exploratory drilling on four sites, three of them are west of Middletown with one being on Poor House Road west of Winchester. They expect to start the exploratory drilling on at least two ofthese sites some time in late November, and it could be late summer ofncxt ycar before the final two sites are done. Chairman Shickle asked what happens if they are successful in locating water? Director Jones advised in drilling the exploratory wells and water is located and the hydro geologist feels it is sufficient to merit further investigation, then it will be developed. He further advised there is no water being taken from any wells at this time. Dr. Martin advised that he has spoken with Dr. Burbey about whether the Authority should proceed with these additional wells, and he feels as Dr. Martin does, that they should proceed with doing them now. The more data points that are available around the County, the better the model can be with respect to looking at it as a management tool. Director Jones advised that should any ofthe four sites that he has talked about prove to bc good for a production well, it should be noted that these sites are fairly remote compared to their existing water treatment facilities. They would identify the resource, or the source for water, but they are not planning to put them on line in the near future. Supervisor Tyler, we know the drought will be back, and this is one of her concerns and she feels we need to plan in drought times and not in best case times. She asked about the exploratory wells and the ninety-six-hour draw down test that are currently used. The suggestion that the times on these need to be expanded, she wondered ifthis will be done on the exploration previous to the evaluations and new information. Dr. Martin advised that ninety six hours is probably not what they want to do here, as they want to do something significantly longer than that. The quarry could be pumped for two months. They will be looking to see what the draw down effects are. He eXplained what they are doing is an aquifer test, it is not just one well test. Minute Book Number 28 Board of Snpervisors Worksessioll with the Sanitation Authority t 0/22/02 290 Supervisor Forrester asked Dr. Martin ifhe concurred with Dr. Burbey's report, with his conclusions? Dr. Martin replied that his conclusions aren't a whole lot different from SALe's conclusions except to the extent that he is recommending, or he is stating, that he did not feel there was sufficient data to make the recommendations that they made. He is using the same kind of information, the one variation is the model, and he would agree the model is required. If you look at what SAIC did they did the standard kind of things that most ground water firms do when you investigate ground water. Dr. Burbey is suggesting that we look at it more on a regional basis, and use the model to do that. Supervisor Forrester asked if the aquifer did not go over the entire regional area? Dr. Martin replied they could become compartmentalized, but generally speaking, if you look at the carbonate aquifer that comes down the Valley, it is the best aquifer in the State of Virginia, there is no doubt about that. There is more water there than most anywhere else. Supervisor Forrester referred to what Dr. Burbey said on the summary page, and to her, this means that we do not know what our sustainable yield is. Dr. Martin replied that is correct, and he would agree. He asked Dr. Burbey what he meant by this and he replied there is not enough information in the report. He has no opinion at this point as to the sustainable yield, but he would agree with Dr. Burbey there is not enough in the report to evaluate it. He has a lot more information since reading the report. Supervisor Forrester asked ifthere was a flaw, if we are only going to consider residential demand and not industrial demand in our projections for planning in Frederick County. Dr. Martin advised that he knew nothing about this and referred it to Mr. Sutherland. Mr. Sutherland advised that all demands will be considered, otherwise there would be no point in doing the study otherwise. He advised the residential have been pretty consistent; however, the industrial have not changed that much and are hard to call. Supervisor Forrester stated that at present we are not even attempting to project our industrial demands, is that correct, other than the Hood and Kraft expansion. Mr. Sutherland advised that all the previous studies attempted to project commercial and industrial demands. Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 291 Director Jones advised when the consultants did their report they tried to put into their projections industrial demands. He advised that she was referring to his five-year plan and he states right in the plan that he did not include any projected industrial demands except those that he knows. He suggested maybe the County's Planning Department could give the Authority projections for industrial demands. Supervisor Forrester asked Director Jones why he excluded this from his five-year plan? Director Jones replied that he has difficulty figuring out when thesc large industries are going to come in. Right now it is pretty easy because he does not know of any large industry that is looking here; therefore, he does not see any industrial demands other than what they are going to get from the expansion at Hood and Kraft. He advised from the Authority's standpoint if they project they are going to have an industrial demand of a two million-gallon increase over the next five years. They build that capacity and it doesn't come, then their current customers have to pay the bill. They do not want to do that. Administrator Riley advised that when industry seeks to locate and they visit the area there is a detailed evaluation done by those providers of electricity, natural gas, water, sewer capacity on the availability ofthe system to sustain whatever the projected use may be. This is almost taken on a case by case basis whether the utility can support the use. If it is a Pepsi Cola Bottling Plant there could be an issue there that Frederick County cannot meet that demand based on what we have. Director Jones advised that over the lastten years the County's water consumption has grown about 190,000 gallons a year which means that 60,000 of this is residential and about 130,000 has been industrial growth. Supervisor Forrester referred to what Administrator Riley said about the utility companies doing their own analysis whether or not they can support the business that is thinking of coming to Frederick County. In our case the water authority does not know what their sustainable yield is, and that is why we are having this report. The Board makes land use decisions to rezone land for industrial use not knowing, and the very person we are depending on to know ifthere is a sustainable yield does not know. She asked if she was missing something here? Administrator Riley advised she was not missing anything, he thinks in most cases where the County is looking at a specific industry coming into the area it has to be evaluated on the merits Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 292 ofthat industry. If you are putting in a speculative industrial park on a rezoning with no known user, you can estimate, but you are not going to know the specific use until that use gets here whether the County can provide the service or not. Supervisor Douglas advised that she had many constituents ask her about dams, are there any in the future? Mr. Sutherland advised if you think you need a dam twenty years from now you should start planning for it tomorrow. All suitable reservoir sites will be identified. There are good sites in the western part of the County. Supervisor Forrester asked Mr. Sutherland to repeat the four points that they will try to cover in the new study that is being done. Mr. Sutherland advised that the task is broken down into four sub tasks. I. Study of source. 2. Ten year projections of demand on the system. 3. Look at both the supply and demand study. 4. Look at infrastructure in order to implement this. Supervisor Forrester asked when they would hope to have some data for the Board? Mr. Sutherland replied eight weeks. Director Jones stated that he feels the Sanitation Authority has an excellent program under way concerning the development of water. This program does not have to rely upon one source. Next month two water plants will be on line, one at each end of the system pumping to the center, this is the best way to be. They will have a treatment capacity, on their part, often million gallons a day. He addressed the current contract with the City of Winchester that Chairman Anderson successfully negotiated this Spring which allows the Authority to draw up to two million gallons a day without question. If it is available, they can draw an additional two million gallons a day for a total of four million, if it is available, and right now it is, as they are drawing about three million gallons per day. Supervisor Reyes arrived at this time. Supervisor Forrester stated that due to the fact the County has had to purchase so much water from the City recently, will this be noticed in the rates? Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors w orksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 293 Director Jones advised that over a year ago the Authority went through a substantial rate increase with the City because of a previously negotiated contract that fortunately was extended for a longer time under better terms. Due to this, a grave impact was projected on their budget, and the Authority adopted new rates which adjusted their rates July l, 2001, and January 1, 2002. The rate increase was about 16% last year. This was the first rate increase since 1995. On the average since this time the water and sewer rates have increased an average of under 1 % per year, which they feel is pretty good. With the northern water line coming on, the Authority's dependence on the City will be reduced. Chairman Shickle advised that he has had a number of questions concerning how Frederick County Sanitation Authority's rates compared to other localities. He advised them that he did not know. Director Jones advised that he just received this report yesterday, as this is an annual report, and he would be happy to share that. He advised the average rate in the state ofthose surveyed was for 5,000 gallons of water a month is $l7.28 and for sewer is $l8.77. The Authority's rates for water is $l9.62 and for sewer $23.63. Chairman Shickle asked Director Jones when he felt a repeat session would be most timely? Director Jones replied some time in ApriL The effects ofthe drought, we are currently in, will not be known until that time. Supervisor Reyes asked Director Jones why he withheld the Burbey report? Director Jones explained that it was in draft form and it needed to be put in final form before being made available. He advised this was explained earlier in the meeting in more detail by Dr. Martin, whom again explained his thoughts on this to Supervisor Reyes. Supervisor Forrester stated that up until the Burbey Report carne in, this Board was dependent upon the Sanitation Authority to come before them to assure them one way or another whether the County has a sustainable yield of water. What it is now hearing is that the County is going to develop this plan, and we are going to find out what our demand projections are. But, we did not know them the night we extended the sewer and water service area, although the Authority assured us that we were fine, and she has a really big problem with that. Chairman Shickle asked Director Jones ifhe could speak to the process and the approval Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksessioll with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 294 process when either body enters into this. Director Jones advised that from the Sanitation Authority view point, and from his view point of twenty-eight years of experience, the Board of Supervisors incorporated the Sanitation Authority to provide water and sewer service throughout the entire County of Frederick However, the Board controls the area that they operate, that they provide service by designate in the County's Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the sewer and water service area, urban development area. There is where they have a license to operate. Chairman Shickle asked, if suppose the area within the water and sewer service area, the Authority did not have sufficient capacity to serve, what would you do? Director Jones replied that he is sure the area within the water and sewer service area, the capacity they have available to them today, is insufficient to fully build out that area. But likewise, probably the County's ability to house school children from a fully developed urban development area is insufficient. You simply do not build classrooms for students that are going to come along thirty, forty or fifty years from now. Chairman Shickle asked Director Jones if within the water and sewer service area you receive a demand for water that exceeds your capacity, are you required to furnish it? Director Jones, no we are not required to furnish it, we are not legally bound. Supervisor Forrester asked for clarification. Director Jones explained where the Board of Supervisors ' control lies is in the zoning. Ifthe Authority has the capacity they cannot deny the request. They cannot refuse anyone service unless they do not have the capacity. Administrator Riley advised that is correct. If the Authority cannot provide the service, the answer is no, it's that simple. Supervisor Forrester disagreed and used as an example the Rutherford Farm rezoning, stating if a business wants to come in there the Board has lost their control to tell them no. Administrator Riley advised that he disagrees. Plant ABC wants to come into the County and they use six million gallons of water a day, Mr. Jones is going to tell them we cannot supply you, and they move on to somewhere else, where they can receive this amount of water. Supervisor Forrester feels we are currently making decisions piece meal because we do not Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02 295 know what our sustainable yield is in Frederick County. THIS CONCLUDED THIS WORKSESSION. ~~ Richard C. Shickle Chairman, Board of Supervisors Minutes Prepared By: t"''''DL..T \-rkj tc",,,) Carol T. Bayliss Deputy Clerk, Board of Supervisors Minute Book Number 28 Board of Supervisors Worksession with the Sanitation Authority 10/22/02