Let’s take a look at some of the other information relayed to the public during the last LDPCSD Monthly Board of Directors Meeting held July 18, 2016 at the Lake Don Pedro High School Multi-purpose room.
Board President Danny Johnson thanked “Public Members” for making their comments stating the board learns from them. Johnson’s presiding officer’s report indicated the board has been asked again and again about its work and Danny once again stated that for himself, he got on the Board of Directors to try and improve the district, and had no other agenda than to try and make it better for this community.
{LEW VIEW: The point of contention (as mentioned previously during a Public Comment) is the concept of what constitutes “the community” regarding water service and Johnson’s appears to include other properties outside the Place of Use under WL11395 which has always quite clearly identified where Merced River water can be legally diverted and used without relying on a ground water substitution program to replace the transferred Merced River water. This special benefit (of using ground water substitution) has been, is currently, and is planned to continually be paid for by the 99% of legal Merced River water using customers of the subdivision who do not require ground water substitution for their water service. (The new ground water wells are supposed to be used for water production during drought emergencies – not sold as a special benefit to properties not otherwise entitled to Merced River water.)
One of the most common excuses for this continuing push for expanded water service Outside the POU (Place of Use) for decades is that the Merced Irrigation District (MID) filed an incorrect District service map with the State of California which did not include all the properties entitled to water. But this reasoning fails to consider the clear language of WL 11395 as well as the terms of SIERRA HIGHLANDS WATER COMPANY transfer of facilities and assets to the new LDPCSD formed in August of 1980, because those documents also clearly indicate only those properties currently served water were included as part of the LDPCSD’s inherited customer base.
You must also realize that this very issue (wrong map being filed) was brought up at the time, considered, and denied. One of the reasons previously shouted by those demanding water was that the subdivision/golf course had over 5,000 acre feet a year under the water license, used less than a quarter of that approved amount, and it was simple selfishness that prevented further water service outside the subdivision/golf course area.
Fortunately, most of those people have finally come to understand the facts of the situation: Merced River water pumped from Lake McClure must be used withing the MIDPOU which is based on the restrictive language of water license 11395 which the MID is responsible for obeying as holder of that license. Please also consider that the 99% legally entitled users of Merced River water own property in a subdivision that is not even half developed yet. So right off the bat a prudent person evaluating that 5,160 afa figure would more than double the current high water demand to reflect the demand for a full build out of the subdivision in the future. The golf course is closed but never-the-less entitled to some of that water as well – who knows what might happen in the future?
The South Shore project off Bonds Flat Road has been the ONLY SWRCB (STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD) AND MID (MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT) approved annexation to the LAKE DON PEDRO COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT. (There were many other required approvals such as County LAFCos, Planning Departments, EPA, etc.) Approved were 2,010 acres for a residential subdivision and golf course complex and 772 acre feet a year of MERCED RIVER WATER consumption. Unfortunately, though approved that project failed to develop even though it is legally annexed to the LDPCSD and 772 af of MERCED RIVER WATER is set aside for the property. NOTE: Insult to injury? The District, although spending much money on that lengthy approval process, does not receive a thin dime from that failed development which is the huge area west of the original subdivision.
Heck, the MID even picked up a State water audit from its enforcement division during the process due to an unrelated mistake in MID’s mandated environmental water releases. Following that, Place of Use issues of Merced River water in Lake Don Pedro became more important because any violations by the LDPCSD could result in significant State enforcement fines against the MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT.
Thus our original Ranchito Drive well (which a previous GM recently advised was constructed for emergency drought use for the subdivision) became the REMEDY FOR VIOLATIONS OF WL11395. A ground water substitution program basically means that for every unit of MERCED RIVER WATER that leaves Lake Don Pedro subdivision/golf course property (entitled under license) that river water must be replaced with an equal/greater amount of ground water, which as we all know, is produced from very expensive ground water wells. The wells recently constructed and developed by the LDPCSD were funded with public grant money obtained by using over a million dollars of LDPCSD funds to qualify and were supposed to be used for the benefit of existing customers as a result of the emergency drought and NOT FOR CREATING NEW SPECIAL BENEFIT WATER SERVICE!}
Johnson stated all business and technical questions should be directed to Pete Kampa as he is the voice of the district.
KAMPA is also the President of a professional management company which simultaneously services multiple clients. KAMPA has been directing District activities towards further development of special water service benefits outside the POU of WL11395 while guaranteeing the employment of his KAMPA COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS, llc, for many years to come. (IN FOR A DIME….IN FOR A DOLLAR!) Read the resolutions, do you honestly think our local board of directors created those? Read the original KAMPA contract for services and what is now paid by the District. What has happened to, and is currently happening, with our original employees? For whose benefit is our SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT BEING RE-CONFIGURED?
MONTHLY REPORT BY GM PETE KAMPA
Kampa advised his report had a number of attachments including color graphs (unfortunately the black and white copies again made distinguishing between the various shades of grey difficult) of the often requested water loss report which identifies how much water is actually lost between the treatment plant in route to customers (known as unaccounted for water, which differs from that which is used for back flushing filters, water hydrant testing, etc,). Kampa stated the losses increased when lake pumps are used due to the higher pressures and volume of water within the pipes. (Translation: Regular leaks become worse.)
Johnson noted that in May the district lost approximately 10af of raw water (untreated) and then 6af due to leaks during delivery of water to customers.
LEW’S VIEW: An acre foot of water doesn’t mean much to the average customer so I have converted those units into something more familiar like cubic feet and gallons.
1af= 43,560 cf or 325,853 gallons
therefore;
10af = 435,600 cubic feet or 3,258,530 gallons, and
6af =261,360 cubic feet or 1,955,118 gallons
16af total loss of water pumped: 5,213,648 gallons
Kampa also advised some of the loss was from the large water tanks overfilling and spilling water but some contractors would be coming out to fix that electrical problem with the equipment. Service line leaks, raw water pipeline leaks, tank over fills, all are being addressed. Johnson advised the distribution meters in the community (AKA SUBDIVISION) have not been calibrated yet (to check water loss amounts) but will be done in the near future.
SUBSTANTIAL WATER LOSS FOR DECADES – and the District finally has access to millions of dollars for PRIMARY INFRASTRUCTURE repair/replacement, yet the money is spent by KAMPA AND KOMPANY to expand District special benefit water service even further beyond the LEGAL PLACE OF USE UNDER L11395.
THE DOLLAR STORE WATER SERVICE ISSUE
KAMPA advised it was not the District’s decision whether or not to serve water for the project, but the county – if there is no controversy as to supplying the water.
LEW’s VIEW: BS! How can this be true if the District provided incorrect information in the first place? The County evidently failed to confirm that the District EVEN HAD THE WATER TO MEET WATER DEMANDS FOR PROPOSED PROJECTS WHICH THE COUNTY APPROVED. “Not our job”, “if a water district employee says they can supply the water, we approve the project”. ???? Is that how it works when money talks and legal requirements walk?
The District evidently intentionally concealed the fact such properties could only be served ground water from very expensive ground water wells it could not afford. Some annexations to this district may have even been “defaulted approved” as the District never even replied to multiple requests for proposed annexation comments from the county! Cute huh? District wants the properties annexed by the county but doesn’t want to explain how the district cannot serve Merced River water pumped from Lake McClure but only ground water of which the district does not have enough. So….when the county asks for comments on the proposed development (or the county will just go ahead and “default approve the annexation”), the district sighs in relief and throws the county request for annexation comments in the trash. PRESTO! Another property annexed into the district without controversy or even the public’s knowledge of the process?
Kampa stated it was a matter of whether the properties meet the district’s rules and regulations regarding connection such as annexation and whether outside the Place of Use. Kampa advised the district just responds to the county as to whether the project development meets district regulations. Kampa said the project development officials would have to submit plans to the county and if approved those would be sent to the LDPCSD for approval.
WHOA THERE KAMPA — Weren’t you the one advocating annexation of these properties when you started your water industry career here in Lake Don Pedro in 1994-1997? You knew what the legal PLACE OF USE was under water license 11395 then, and now. How can you now imply the District must just go along with your “sleeper plan” of special benefit water service paid for by the majority of innocent entitled users of Merced River water?
ALSO: Does it make sense for the District to accept a ground well from an outside place of use property so that all customers will be responsible for the maintenance, repair and replacement in the future? Heck, if a contract for water service clearly laid out the condition that all expenses for that ground well would be born by the land developer and future owners and beneficiaries for perpetuity, things might be more understandable. But even then, if the property owner claims financial hardship and they can’t afford a new well, you know as well as I— once the district starts furnishing water it will continue and never stop. No matter how expensive to the rest of us. Whether a simple single family dwelling, cattle ranch or other commercial business or enterprise. How many other expensive ground wells will district customers eventually financially cover for private third party special benefit and increased profit margins? While our original subdivision property is passed over by purchasers in favor of “newer gated communities” created with our designated water?
Would someone please explain to me at the next monthly meeting:
WHY SHOULD 99% OF LEGAL MERCED RIVER WATER CONSUMING CUSTOMERS IN THE LAKE DON PEDRO SUBDIVISION SUBSIDIZE GROUND WATER SUBSTITUTION PROGRAMS FOR MERCED RIVER WATER TRANSFERS OUTSIDE THE PLACE OF USE UNDER WATER LICENSE 11395 FOR PRIVATE SPECULATIVE LAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS?
HOW CAN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA CONTINUE TO PERMIT INNOCENT SUBDIVISION WATER CUSTOMERS TO PAY FOR A SPECIAL INTEREST WATER SERVICE OF WHICH THEY RECEIVE NO BENEFIT?
Kampa stated the CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY would be discussed at the evening meeting, but he was going to keep it active for now (AKA NOT REPORT CURRENT RESULTS) in an attempt to gather some more responses.
(LEW’S VIEW: You can now access the survey without providing addition personal information on the LDPCSD website, yet the results are still not available.)
Johnson questioned publishing the results on the website as previously stated.
TROUBLE WITH LAKE PUMP START-UP
Kampa stated one of the pumps is not working correctly and believes the pump casings and columns are nearing complete failure and the engineer’s recommendation is complete replacement but there will be more information available after inspection.
Director Russell Warren asked about the status of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) equipment [AKA, electronic control equipment for remote monitoring and control]. Kampa advised some missing parts caused the project to halt but will be resuming shortly by getting the Medina well and well #5 connected. Director James Sult asked about pushing progress with the meters and monitoring. Kampa advised some of the programming dates back to the 1990s and needs to be upgraded also. Kampa said once installed, and functioning, the district would be able to control equipment including cameras for monitoring the functioning of the wells. Kampa stated our equipment would not store data but only reflect real time activity of the equipment.
LEW VIEW: All this emphasis on ground wells and SCADA while our SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT PRIMARY TRANSMISSION LINE HAS BEEN LEAKING HORRIBLY FOR DECADES – NOT TO MENTION THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO THE LEGAL SUBDIVISION.
Has a PROPER COMPOUND WATER METER been installed as a “CHECK METER” on the PRIVATE WATER LINE running between GRANITE SPRINGS and HWY 132 yet? Theoretically, there could be a number of other OUTSIDE MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT PLACE OF USE diversions from that line (which doesn’t even have a district maintenance easement) operating for the last four decades. There is a lot of “unobserved” property where our 30% – 50%+ water loss could be going, but gosh – there are so many other important things to do to set up the infrastructure in order to sell our newly developed emergency drought water outside the place of use.
Director James Sult questioned Kampa about several leaks on the intake pipeline from the lake to the treatment plant to which Kampa advised the major one had been repaired but the line will be subject to further failures. Kampa said the leaks are showing up about every month. The matter was the expense in replacing the line and the crew to do the work, not just walking the line and discovering leaks.
Kampa stated there was no longer a long list of leaks to be repaired and he would be making a report in August about the matter.
Board President Johnson asked about the new LDPCSD website and whether or not it could be used for customers to report leaks that they observe. Johnson said he has not seen any water running down the streets as in the past and does not know where our water has been going.
HERE’S A POSSIBILITY: Hint, sounds like “utility left”.
KAMPA says customers should call directly to the office to report leaks now because he did not want to take the chance of missing an electronic report somehow.
I mentioned a report I had made regarding water flowing down the ditch along Ranchito Drive to which Syndie advised the district had addressed that the same day. Johnson mentioned the line replacement program to which I commented replacing the entire line made sense when there were already 7-9 repair bands (on one section of pipe).
President Johnson started to introduce the CHIEF PLANT OPERATOR’S REPORT but Wes Barton asked if public comment was allowed after the last GM report. Johnson acknowledged Barton could speak. At this time a request was made to turn on the air conditioning in the large multi-purpose room (gym to us old folks) lol.
FOLKS THIS FORMERLY ROUTINE REPORT, THAT WES BARTON IS TALKING ABOUT BELOW IN HIS PUBLIC COMMENT, IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. KAMPA STOPPED ACCOUNTING FOR OUR “SHRINK” (WATER LOSS) SOON AFTER HE ARRIVED BECAUSE IT IS THE UGLY TRUTH. HIDING IT FROM CUSTOMERS IS SHAMEFUL AND A CLUE TO THE TYPE OF MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES WE HAVE BEEN RECEIVING.
WES BARTON commented
“Of course the staff is not recommending a controller – then we would know what the numbers were, that they were right and we would have them in-house and we wouldn’t have some of these questions that we’re are talking about with these wells.
In the old days, when we weren’t hiding Randy and Randy came to meetings he had a report that included all the changes on the wells, it said how much water came out of the intake, it said how much water was sold, it should how much water when the tanks went up and down, and we assumed that the pipe’s were relatively fixed, and water loss. And then dumb people like me could look at that and say, this is what we produced, this is the up and down in the pipes, I mean the tanks, this is what we sold, then we know pretty quick how much water we have lost. Now I know that’s dumb – it’s not pretty, but it’s factual and a hell of a lot better than playing shell games.”
For your information, according to the money, OK, the money, accounts payable, excluding the water from the wells, because I don’t have that (Board President’s timer beeps) I have no idea how much water was wasted from the wells (beeper continuing) in my numbers, in the month of May your percentage was 65% waste plus the total that came from the wells this is just a forced number, just a number to play with to get a perspective, not how to solve it, to get a perspective, in June it was 33% plus all the water that came from the wells, OK, it’s not a fun number, it’s ugly as hell, it’s not pretty, but it’s a fact, or, your, what you’re going to pay MID (Merced Irrigation District for the water pumped out of Lake McClure) for what you sold is wrong.” (beeping in background)
Director Emery Ross asked Wes what his question was. Wes asked Emery “what question?” Emery said Wes was asking for an answer to his question and Emery wanted to know what the question was. Wes Barton explained he was merely clarifying the issue because the District does not know the answer to its amount of water waste and he was just trying to clarify the issue to help out. Emery, under his breath, asked if Barton knew the answer to the waste problem. (Wes had returned to the audience chair.)
With no further comments Board President Johnson introduced the Chief Plant Operator’s Report portion of the meeting.
GM Kampa stated he apologized (beeping in background) because he received a message from Randy this morning and that Randy had personal issues and was not going to be at work for the day. (Isn’t Randy the only certified employee remaining that can legally supervise the running of the treatment plant?) Kampa said – we will continue to strive to have Randy come and be able to explain about operations and he (Kampa) was really sorry he (Randy) was not here today to talk about it because (cross talk) we don’t have the reports (audience cross talk) spelling out the good work that they have been doing.
Kampa said he has had extensive conversations with the operations folks (perhaps involving the re-establishment of Post Retirement Medical Benefits as well?) and was confident they had a story to tell above and beyond what the district is hearing all the time – that the District just wasn’t good at telling their own story for whatever reason.
WHAT? Are you kidding me? That’s all customers ever hear from the District – what a great job the District is doing for customers!
Good title for a book about the LDPCSD: “Some Public Members Spoke Anyway”
He said they were “getting to” much more maintenance than they ever have in the past and are making routine inspections and are making upgrades, and completing the reads on time (Reading meter consumption of customers with the drive by AMR (automatic meter reading system) that get us the documentation for our water loss. That employees are responding to a number of after hour problems right now and Kampa had questions from board members about such over time pay and what makes up that expense and what was going on.
Kampa said he would try to pull the information together and make some kind of report that makes sense, but at the same time wanted to assure the board they would be receiving some kind of operations report but he could not fix it right then while sitting in the board room.
Board President Johnson commented that “when we started our journey” they (the board) wanted to put procedures and protocols in place and understood they were works in progress with the Strategic Plan but his perceived accountability is if “they are not telling their story – they are hurting themselves”. Johnson said he wasn’t trying to throw anyone under the bus but they needed to understand so they could be supportive of operations. Johnson felt everything would be much better once those matters were addressed for operations as they had been for administrative issues in the office.
Kampa then apologized again for not addressing the separate report within the Strategic plan update. He had intended on doing it next month and was glad he had been reminded about it last night as he was able to get it done this morning. Kampa backtracked to the second page of his written report and mentioned some of those items, ie, water loss, maintaining infrastructure, upgrades, capital improvements, state and federal requirements, etc. Johnson stated there was little accountability for the operations portion of the district. Johnson said next month should be interesting since Kampa was aware of what the board was looking to see accomplished.
I commented that Randy missing so many meetings was very curious as he was one of the few original employees left. It was confirmed that attending meetings was part of his job duties. I asked what the disconnect was and one of the directors replied Randy was absent to which I replied I knew that – but why absent for so many other meetings? Johnson referred the matter to Kampa so I asked if GM Kampa wanted Randy to attend meetings to which he replied absolutely, no doubt.
NEXT THE CONSENT CALENDAR FOR THE JULY 18th, 2016 Meeting
My best to you and yours, Lew
