For City Council Meeting and Rialto Utility Authority [November 27, 2018]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Ahmad R. Ansari, Interim City Administrator
FROM: Thomas J. Crowley, P.E., Utilities Manager
Title
Request City Council Receive and File the 2016 Water and Sewer Operations Tri-Annual Inspections Review Reports.
Body
BACKGROUND:
In 2012, the City of Rialto and Rialto Water Services/Veolia entered into a service contact referred to as the Concession Agreement (CA) for the design, construction and financing of capital improvement upgrades and the operation and maintenance of the Rialto Utility Authority facilities.
The CA requires every three years, "...a full-scale inspection and review of the state of repair, working condition and performance capability" of the facility, "including testing of equipment to determine its physical and operational conditions, and inspections of the general status of repairs of all equipment and structures, grounds, utility lines, spare parts, inventories, and operation, maintenance, repair and replacement records..." be done.
The objectives of the tri-annual review are to verify that the Operator has met the compliance requirements in the CA related to, operations, maintenance, renewal and replacements, spare parts and other compliance requirements.
A Tri-Annual Inspection Review Plan (Plan) was prepared by the City's consultant and submitted to Veolia West Operating Services, Inc. (Operator) on January 18, 2016. The purpose of this Plan is to obtain agreement on the protocol for the Tri-Annual Inspection Review. The Plan is based on industry standards and available public domain information for typical inspection procedures. A list of public domain publications is included in the report. Copies of the reports and Executive Summaries are included as Attachments 1 through 4.
The Plan developed the following tasks based on the terms and conditions of the CA:
• Full-scale inspection and review of the state of repair;
• Working condition and performance capability of the facilities, including visual equipment and inspections to determine physical and operational conditions;
• Inspection of the general status of repairs and replacement records and asset management practices to ascertain on a comprehensive and focused basis the extent to which the facilities are properly maintained, repaired and replaced in accordance with the CA; and,
• Concurrent review of all relevant data, records and reports.
This report was presented to the Utility Commission at the March 20, 2018, meeting. At that meeting, the Commission requested the item be brought back with the report authors, West Yost, in attendance.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
The 2016 Tri-Annual Inspections Report was prepared in accordance with the CA. For wastewater, the review included the following operations and maintenance topics:
• Operations and Maintenance Activities
• Asset Management Practices
• Equipment Assessments
• Inspections of the facility performance
• Billing and Customer Services
• Regulatory Compliance
• Collection System and Lift Station Operations and Maintenance Activities
• Solids Handling and Disposal
• Electrical, Natural Gas, and Reclaimed Water Usage
• Wastewater Treatment Plant Energy Management
• Staffing
• Record Documents and Operation and Maintenance Manuals
• Laboratory Data - 2013, 2014 and 2015 Annual Reports
For water, the review included the following:
• Full-scale inspection and review of the state of repair
• Working condition and performance capability of the water facilities, including visual equipment inspections to determine physical and operational conditions
• Inspection of the general status of repairs of all equipment and structures, grounds, utility lines, spare parts and inventories
• Operations, maintenance, repair and replacement records and asset management practices to ascertain on a comprehensive and focused basis the extent to which the water facilities are properly maintained, repaired and replaced
• Concurrent review of all relevant data, records and reports
Scoring for each component was done on a "red," "yellow" and "green" system with red as a poor score up to green which is good.
For wastewater services, the overall performance was reported as yellow and stating the Operators were in general conformance with good industry practices except in regards to delivering the Facility Improvement Plan (capital projects) and asset management practices. For water services, the overall performance was again reported as yellow except for asset management practices. Regarding water facilities, they are reported as being functional and maintained with the exception of vandalized and inactive facilities, which the inspector felt could be brought back into production and could be in better condition that they were during the inspection.
RWS was given an opportunity to review the draft report. Their response is included as Attachment 5.
On October 3, 2018, the City’s consultant provided a response to the March 3, 2018 RWS letter. A copy of the response is included as Attachment 6.
The 2016 Water and Wastewater Tri-Annual Inspection Reports were presented to the Utilities Commission on October 16, 2018, and to the Water Subcommittee on October 24, 2018. Both the Commission and the Subcommittee recommended staff present the reports to the City Council to be received and filed. A copy of the presentation delivered to the Commission is included as Attachment 7.
At the end of this year, we will begin process for the second Tri-Annual Inspection Reports by reviewing requirements established by the CA and developing the inspection parameters with the intention of having the process completed by July of 2019.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The request is not a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a) of the CEQA Guidelines, a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b) of the CEQA Guidelines, a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
The availability of adequate water and wastewater infrastructure is an important component of the City’s economic development strategy as outlined in the General Plan. Approval of the proposed action complies with the following City of Rialto Guiding Principles and General Plan Goal:
Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.
Goal 3-6: Require that all developed areas within Rialto are adequately served with essential public services and infrastructure.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed and approved the staff report
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact for the requested action. The proposed action is an administrative action to receive, review and file a performance report related to the operation of the water and wastewater utilities.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and file the 2016 Sewer Operations Tri-Annual Inspections Review Report and the 2016 Water Operations Tri-Annual Inspections Report.