City Council Agenda and Packet 2013 03 19

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City Council Meeting Minutes March 5, 2013 Page 10 of 14 and on to the Water Treatment Plants. The City's secondary source of water is the Colorado Big Thompson Basin. He presented graphs and statistics based on the past City's water consumption and the drought outlook. The model was based on the 2200 acre feet of water drawn from Boulder Creek during the 2002 drought. Normally the City's water consumption would be around 4000 acre feet per year. The CBT/Windy Gap water is based on water allocation and contingent upon the amount of water in the basin. He explained the City is currently in year two of a five year span for drought. They are watching closely the snowpack and monitoring the water supply projected by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. It is anticipated the water allocations in years of continued drought, will dwindle, which would include the CBT and Windy Gap basins. A water supply reduction would result in drought management measures of water restrictions or drought rate surcharges. All the factors combined complete the Water Supply Index, which is included in the Drought Management Plan. He reviewed the water supply projections for 2013 and noted it is better than 2012 and then in 2002, but overall the current outlook is it will continue to be dry along the Front Range. They continue to track the snowpack and watch for precipitation in the spring. Research performed post 2002 drought showed high volume outdoor watering customers are best controlled through water restrictions as they tend to be less price sensitive to water bills and rate surcharges. Normal volume outdoor watering customers were more responsive to rate surcharges. The first targeted customers for water conservation, high volume users, are best controlled by water restrictions. Staff believes an incrementally flexible approach to drought management would best serve the interests of the City, its residents and businesses. Such an approach would begin with water restrictions and progress to rate surcharges as deemed necessary and in accordance with drought severity and stage guidelines outlined in the Plan. In anticipation of a drought year, staff recommended updating the Drought Management Plan to provide flexibility in water conservation tools for drought management. The proposed modifications to the 2004 Plan include: • Removing mandatory rate surcharges and making them discretionary allows staff to implement measures tailored to a specific drought and observed conservation outcomes rather than committed to a mandatory measure, which may or may not be effective. • Addition of a case-by-case surcharge exemption, which would protect customers from severe economic impacts resulting from water rate surcharges. The Plan primarily targets reduction in outdoor usage and aims to avoid detrimental impacts to customers who rely on water for commercial or manufacturing processes. • Organization, clarifications/updates to outdated information in the existing Plan. 33