Consent Calendar Item 4g
STAFF REPORT
City Council Consent Item
DATE: August 1, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Brendan Byrd, Public Works Director
SUBJECT: Public Works/Engineering Department Monthly Report STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Receive report as an informational item.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Public Works Director/City Engineer
12 Street Prop 1 Integrated Stormwater Enhancement Project Staff have executed the contract with our engineering consultant and are preparing to advance the current 60% design plans. In July, staff will be working with our consultant to selectively paint 12th Street with Underground Service Alert (USA) marks to identify various potential utility conflicts to inform design. After USA marking, City staff will be performing selective utility potholing.
12th Street Undergrounding Project
In June, AT&T began their work to perform final power pole removal along 12th Street. This operation is expected to continue over the next several months. Once the poles are fully removed and restoration work is completed, staff will work with the City’s contractor, Spencer Electric, to install the remaining solar light poles along 12th Street (those that were blocked by AT&T wires).
NPDES Compliance Project
In June, the City’s engineering consultant completed the updated site specific anti-degradation analysis for the proposed treated effluent disposal site across the river. At this time, the results are inconclusive and indicate that many of the concerns present with the City’s current use of the percolation ponds may develop over time with the proposed site across the river. With these findings, staff have been in contact with the Regional Water Quality Board to discuss the results, and identify potential next steps for the project.
Jameson Creek Fish Passage Project
In June, staff worked to close out the Prop 1 grant with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The project’s second grant with the Wildlife Conservation Board will be closed out later this year (deadline of November).
Well 5 Replacement Project
In February, the City’s contractor completed installing and developing of the new municipal well, in addition to performing the initial round of water quality testing per Title 22. The resulting samples results came back indicating elevated levels of manganese in the groundwater for the well.
Consent Calendar Item 4g
With this result, staff are working to develop a secondary scope of work with our engineering consultant to perform some additional sampling and analysis to determine how to best bring the well online with the remainder of the City’s well field, and to assess if well blending, in addition to the existing aeration towers, will be adequate to address the manganese concentrations.
Utilities Division- Utility Lead
Service Call Summary
In the month of June, the Utilities division completed 88 service calls by operators. Figure 1 below shows the distribution of service calls by type. The division completed 57 Underground Service Alert (USA) mark and locates with no miss-marks, resulting in zero broken utilities.
Figure 1. Utility division service calls by type in June.
Water Distribution System
The Utilities team read water meters and completed the meter worksheet. The Utilities team installed four new services to the system in the month of June. In June there was three water leaks, resulting in an estimated 37,800 gallons of water loss.
Table 1 below shows a summary of annual lost water for 2022. In the month of June, the Utilities team changed out 22 dead water meters. Paved water ditches.
Attended fork lift and CPR/First aid training.
Replaced three old thin black poly services.
The Utilities crew is currently down two full-time positions. Due to being short staffed, utilities focused on general maintenance of trucks, equipment, and buildings. 0 5
10 15
20 25
30 Connect Disconnect Occupant Change Service Action
Number of Calls
Service Call Type
Consent Calendar Item 4g
Table 1. Water leak rate and water loss estimates for June, 2022.
Wastewater Collections System
The Utilities team didn’t get to televise any sewer main this month as we are short staffed. The Utilities team had three sewer plugs in the month of June with no overflows. Utilities cleaned 4,000 feet of sewer main.
Miscellaneous Tasks
The Utilities division performed monthly maintenance on the division’s heavy equipment, including greasing and checking all fluids.
Water Treatment/Wastewater Division- Chief Plant Operator Tesla Corrosion Control Facility Battery Project: Tesla contractors completed the installation of the stairs and railing on the elevated pad for the battery units at the City’s water wells site. City staff will soon work with Tesla on commissioning the units before PG&E can give them permission to operate.
California Drought: As of June 10th, the City is under a State-wide drought mandate to enact Stage 2 of the City’s Water Shortage Contingency Plan. The City will send out an informational flyer with the customer bills that will make clear the required regulations. Staff continue to closely monitor the groundwater levels on a weekly basis.
Date Location Pipe
Information
Estimated
Leak Rate
(Gallons per
Minute)
Leak
Duration
Total
Estimate
Leak
Volume
(Gallons)
6/7/2022 Hillrass way at
Airport Rd.
4’’ Blue bell 10 24 Hours 14,400
6/15/2022 500 Block of O St. ¾’’ Thin
Black Poly
50 3 Hours 9,000
6/27/2022 425 14th St. ¾’’ Thin
Black Poly
1 10 Days 14,400
Consent Calendar Item 4g
System Inspections:
The County Division of Environmental
Health inspected two of the City’s potable
pump stations and one sewer lift station to
assess the storage and handling of hazardous
materials onsite. All items and facilities were in
compliance.
Certified diving and coating contractors
arrived late in the month to clean and videoinspect two of the City’s potable water tanks:
Hillside and Campton Heights (see photo inset
left). American Water Works Association
recommends that utilities conduct this task
every three to five years. The last time the City
did so was in 2018. This task is important to
remove any build-up of sediment in the tanks,
and to assess the need for steel-coating
rehabilitation.
Training: Staff attended two biennial trainings
this month. Chief Rus Brown of the Fortuna
Fire Department instructed staff on Forklift
Safety and CPR/ First Aid.
Wastewater Treatment
Table 2. June wastewater plant effluent flows for the past five years in Million Gallons (MG) and Million Gallons per Day (MGD).
Figure 2. June wastewater plant effluent flows for the past five years in Million Gallons (MG) and Million Gallons per Day (MGD).
0 5
10 15
20 25
30 35
0 0.2
0.4 0.6
0.8 1
1.2 1.4
1.6 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Total Flow, MG
Flow, MGD
Total Monthly Flow, MG MAX Daily Flow, MGD AVG Daily Flow, MGD Year 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Total Monthly Flow, MG 27.346 31.204 29.177 25.380 29.560 Maximum Daily Flow, MGD 1.088 1.390 1.207 1.000 1.350
Average Monthly Flow, MGD 0.912 1.040 0.973 0.846 0.985 Consent Calendar Item 4g
Wastewater Events & Maintenance Tasks Completed:
A mysterious red liquid entered the treatment plant in June over the course of two days, staining the water, but otherwise causing no issues. Staff searched the sewer collection system for the source of the unknown material. The City’s Utilities division and Code Enforcement assisted in the investigation. It was ultimately found to be safe and non-toxic, red food coloring dye for strawberry ice cream.
One of the anaerobic digester gas valves to the boiler failed early in the month. This allows for heating of the digester through the use of its own gas. Natural gas heated the digester until staff installed a temporary replacement valve later in the month. Staff conducted routine cleaning maintenance of the chlorine contact basins and recycled water hydropneumatic tank.
Staff switched secondary clarifiers for process optimization and routine cleaning and inspection.
Staff drained and cleaned one of
the three primary clarifiers for
seasonal inspection and
maintenance.
Chemical suppliers arrived at the
wastewater treatment plant with
a trial tank and pump, plus 750
gallons of magnesium hydroxide
(see photo inset right). The City
has committed to a 90-day trial of
this product to compare it to the
current practice of feeding
sodium hydroxide. This
important chemical addition acts
as a buffering agent in the water, which is necessary due to biochemical reactions in the treatment process. Magnesium hydroxide is a far safer chemical than sodium hydroxide, plus it’s more inexpensive and may have other ancillary benefits yet to be determined.
Water Treatment
Table 3. June potable water production for the past five years in Million Gallons (MG).
Year 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Total Production, MG 38.384 40.184 42.266 42.583 34.341 Maximum Daily, MG 1.795 1.810 1.838 1.931 1.464
Average Daily, MG 1.279 1.339 1.409 1.419 1.145
Consent Calendar Item 4g
Figure 3. June potable water production for the past five years in Million Gallons (MG) and Million Gallons per Day (MGD).
Table 4. Average June depth-to-groundwater static levels in the City’s active wells for the past five years in feet.
Figure 4. Average depth-to-groundwater static levels in June for the City’s active wells for the past five years in feet.
As shown in the graph above, the depth to water level this year remains consistent with previous years.
Water Events & Maintenance Tasks Completed
Humboldt Fence Company completed work at the Corrosion Control Facility, recessing the South entrance gates. This will allow larger vehicles, such as the City’s Vac-Con truck, to pull safely off the road while unlocking the gate.
Staff replaced soffit vent screens on the Well #2 pump-house building due to corrosion and bird intrusion.
The Utilities crew assisted staff in repairing a broken water line to the eyewash/ shower station at the CCF.
0 0.5
1 1.5
2 2.5
0 10
20 30
40 50
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Flow, MGD
Production, MG
Production Max Daily Avg Daily
0 10
20 30
40 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Static Level, ft
Well #1 Well #2 Well #4 Well #5
Year 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Well #1 28.5 23.2 28.2 29.8 28.5
Well #2 25.5 19.8 25.2 26.9 25.3
Well #4 31.1 26.4 30.7 31.8 31.0
Well #5 33.4 26.1 32.6 35.1 32.9
Consent Calendar Item 4g
General Services and Streets - General Services Superintendent The following is a list of scheduled assignments completed by the General Services staff in June:
Staff prepared traffic control measures
for the special event, First Friday’s. The
event happens on the first Friday of the
month. Staff returned the following day
to place traffic control for Citywide
Yard Sale between the hours of 6 AM to
2 PM. Both special events were held on
Main Street. Staff prepared traffic
control measures for the July 3
Fireworks Event at Newburg Park.
Staff removed and replaced asphalt
concrete on new driveway approaches
for alleys. The replacement of the
asphalt was accomplished after the new
approaches were completed. (See photo
inset right).
Staff worked on the rodeo grand stands.
The remaining broken seatback risers
and back boards were removed and
replaced due to vandalism. Failing
floorboards and stair treads were also
replaced and installed. (See photo inset
right).
Staff had the assistance of Park staff to
eradicate the invasive plant species
along the Rohner Creek drainage. The
removal is part of the 5 year monitoring
of the new drainage system.
Staff assisted the Park staff in
preparation of the rodeo arena for a special event.
Staff participated in a scheduled forklift training.
Staff continues to mow city right of ways, city lots, and easements with an emphasis near the area of the July 3rd Firework event.
Staff painted red curbs on Main Street and side streets near the Monday Club.
In addition to the special tasks noted above, staff also engaged in the following regular routine maintenance activities including USA’s, street sweeping, recycling and trash management, road Consent Calendar Item 4g
maintenance, vegetation management, and safety training and inspections. Staff is available for questions, requests, and emergency responses to the community.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Receive Public Works Department Monthly Report. Consent Agenda vote.