EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: March 15, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Jaime M. Fontes, City Manager
BY: Adrian Biggs, Associate Engineer
Glen March, Senior Engineer
Humza Javed, City Engineer
SUBJECT: Water System Asset Management Plan
Recommendation
Approve the Water System Asset Management Plan
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 1: Enhance Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Priority No. 3: Increase Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Priority No. 4: Improve Public Facilities and Infrastructure Priority No. 5: Improve Communication and Enhance Community Engagement Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Background
On January 30, 2020, the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water (DDW) issued the City Permit No. 02-17-20p-4110024 for the operation of our water system.
This permit included a condition that the City prepare and submit to DDW an Asset Management Plan (AMP). This plan also will address the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) prepared by DDW. Some of the requirements of this CAP include increased water storage (water tanks), water system upgrades, and other physical improvements. Alongside the physical improvements, the CAP requested a Water System Asset Management Plan to address the City's maintenance and monitoring requirements.
Analysis
On November 17th, 2020, the City awarded a contract to Harris & Associates to prepare the City’s Asset Management Plan (AMP). The AMP is a strategic plan that combines multi- disciplinary management techniques (including technical and financial) to determine best practices for operating, maintaining, and replacing assets over the life cycle of the assets in the most cost-effective manner to provide the agreed level of service (LOS).
The AMP describes the risk-based asset management approach to planning the replacement of existing assets. The approach considers the criticality of each asset and the condition of each asset. Those assets whose failure would have the greatest adverse consequences and that are in the poorest condition and more likely to fail are prioritized for replacement.
The implementation of the AMP provides a strong foundation for making wise financial decisions about how to operate, manage, and improve the water system. The implementation requires Veolia to collect and input a significant amount of data into their asset management software system. As the amount of asset information becomes available to staff, staff’s ability to prioritize investments in the water distribution system improves.
Staff worked with the Consultant, Harris & Associates, to develop an AMP that works as a “living” document that can be refined and updated as the plan is implemented. This was accomplished by preparing a core framework for the plan that references technical appendices. This will allow City, Veolia, and DDW staff to recommend changes to the Appendices without changing the core framework of the plan.
Staff intends to request the City Council approve a contract amendment to Harris & Associates’ existing contract in the near future to further define the data to be collected for each asset, work with Veolia to customize their software system for the required data, and audit the data collected and input by Veolia.
The AMP will initially be implemented in three ways:
1) Monthly audit meetings with Veolia Staff to audit performance and ensure compliance with the AMP
2) Work to develop a robust asset register by collecting asset data and ensure updates are added in a timely manner
3) Update the AMP as work continues.
A draft AMP was submitted to DDW for review. Their comments have been incorporated in the final plan. Upon City Council approval of the AMP, it will be forwarded to DDW for approval.
Fiscal Impact
No fiscal impact. The AMP does not make any budgetary requests. The AMP will be used alongside the Water System Master Plan to inform future budget requests.
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo Co. Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The action being considered does not constitute a “Project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378 (b)(5), in that it is a government administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Resolution
2. EPA Water System AMP