Update on Global Water Rate Case.

Great news. I am currently at the Maricopa City Council meeting. Mayor Smith gave his report on the GW rate case. He reported that the ACC approved a GW reclaimed water rate increase from $0.33/1000-gal to $0.50/1000-gal instead of the $2.00/1000-gal requested by GW. that is a relief for our budgets. Many other items are also in the decision. Look for us to update when available from the ACC.

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ACC Decision on Global Water Rates - Finalized

Good afternoon Maricopians. I just got a call from Lupe at the ACC. She stated that the case passed yesterday with several "modifications" of the administrative law judge's order. She stated that once the decision is written up and signed by all commissioners then the decision will be available on edocket (see my previous post on how to access). She was unable to give me any specifics.

I will be at tonight's City Council meeting and will ask around and provide any updates I get.

Take care,

Emery

Global Water Rate Increase

As you should know Global Water has requested a rate increase for their water rates, sewer rates and reclaimed water rates. Check our local news sites for more info and background on the story. Yesterday was a meeting at the ACC (Arizona Corp Commission) to discuss the rate increase. This was a deferred special meeting after their monthly meeting on 24 Aug 2010. To keep yourself up to date of the progress of this story follow these links.

ACC edocket:

https://edocket.azcc.gov/

You will see a small "search by number" box in the upper right corner. To obtain documentation filed in the case type in W-20446a-09-0080. This will give you access to all filings from angry homeowner emails to responses to questions by Global Water. To date no "decisions" have been listed. You may subscribe to a RSS feed to get updates when new documents are posted.

I have also called the ACC this am and the admin person answering the phone could give me no update on yesterdays meeting. She directed me to a phone (not telling me whose) to be greeted by a general answering machine mailbox. I have also emailed one of the persons listed in the case as a "contact" and have yet to hear any response.

Will keep you updated when I find out more info.

Now that I have provided you the facts...here is my opinion:

I have assisted small utilities in rate analysis projects. In a nutshell rates are typically (at municipalities, Districts and not for profit utilities) a function of customer payments to cover expenses, operating costs and reserve accounts. In the case of Global Water they also a private company and thus are in business to turn a profit. Thus their rates are higher than typical utilities in the State.

To view rate study by AZWIFA (governmental funding authority where systems obtain loans for system infrastructure) documenting rates throughout the state see:

http://www.azwifa.gov/?pageid=publications

I think the major point that has been missed here by our neighbors over at GW is that they need us just as much as we need their water...since we are the "disposal" mechanism for their wastewater treatment system effluent. In college we learned that when you typically design (as a engineer) a wastewater treatment plant it goes in the lowest elevation of the town near the river where you dispose of the water. You treat the water cleaner than the river / creek / stream and everyone is happy. Here out in the west it is quite a bit different. We (engineers) are not able to just dump water into a dry wash. This creates a "non-native" habitat that is not going to be approved by AZDEQ (some have been allowed...mostly due to grandfathering...but in the last number of years very few and only for special cases). Thus we make sure that there is a balance of green space within a development to "dispose" of the treated wastewater (reclaimed water) by irrigation of the green scape.

As I have previously posted when talking with AAM there is a simple solution to this rate case:

HAVE THE WHOLE TOWN PARTICIPATE IN A "WATER" FLU.

Let Global know who their "customer" is and that we will not stand for these extreme increases. Global where then will you put your effluent if we refuse to take it??? I know you have a NPDES permit but expect that this is not for consistent use.

I have on NUMEROUS occasions tried to rally our HOA to work to this end. They however have refused to discuss it with me...nor do anything in our perspective about this.

Feel free to contact me for more info. Hope this has helped you review the info and make your own decision. Also we would be happy to help your home, business or HOA by performing a water audit of your property.

Food for thought: When moving into our home we made some easy adjustments to our water system that showned a ROI (return of investment) in several months. These changes cut our water bills significantly. I am also working on some simple home greywater modifications to further lower our home water use. Look for us to market this as a new business offering here soon in our City.

Where to File Your Dirt Complaints

Rancho Mirage neighbors,

If you are interested in filing complaints regarding the dirt runoff issues that I discussed yesterday please contact the following:

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) - Air Quality:

http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/

ADEQ Online Complaint Form:

http://www.azdeq.gov/function/compliance/complaint.html


Pinal County - Air Quality

http://pinalcountyaz.gov/DEPARTMENTS/AIRQUALITY/Pages/Home.aspx

Great discussion (with pictures) of what is PM2.5 and PM10 and how it effects our health.

http://pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/AirQuality/Dust/Pages/Dust.aspx

Pinal County Online Complaint Form:

http://pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/AirQuality/Pages/FileaComplaint.aspx


Please feel free to contact these governmental agencies to assist in the cleanup within our development. If you have not had a chance please read previous posts regarding stormwater. The post is to further clarify the issues discussed and give each of you the opportunity to be "heard". Most especially if more than 1 or 2 homeowners are contacting these agencies then maybe they will pressure the developers / landowners in our community to ensure they keep our vacant lots stabilized correctly. Then if a "mess" is made post storm they will be here quickly to clean it up.

Feel free to contact me directly with any questions.

Take care,

Emery

P.S. I am on the phone with the ACC trying to find out what is going on with the Global Water Rate Case hearing from yesterday. More posts to come regarding this topic.

Storm Mess due to SWPPP plan failures

As most of you know we had a significant monsoon event on Saturday evening. Let me bore you with some technical background related to my concerns.

(Photo along Merced St just E of RM Blvd)

Although the storm seemed very significant let me educate you with some stormwater basics. A "design storm" is a storm where (in this area) 2.42 inches of water falls within 1 hour. Thus the stormwater / drainage systems within our subdivison are designed to this standard. As such to see a storm that drops about 0.3-0.6-inches over 1 hour (unsure of exact number here in our subdivision but this was what I was seeing reported in the area) create such major stormwater runoff issues (i.e. erosion damage) is concerning to me and in my professional opinion is due to the lack of the builders in maintaining the proper "during construction" stormwater BMP's (best management practices). See http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/swppp.cfm for more info. In short SWPPP plans are what the contractor is required to prepare to show the US EPA and Pinal County how they will protect the site during construction when it rains...i.e. how do you keep a land that is partially constructed upon (scarred from grading) from allowing water to wash off the site and move sediment around as erodes the construction property.

I have since moving into Rancho Mirage (almost 2 years ago) voiced comments and concerns because I see the lack of compliance by builders to the typical EPA Stormwater and Pinal County Dust Control regulations. Some months ago I attended a meeting in Pinal County were a representative of EPA Region 9 discussed the new "non-attainment" status of our area due to the continual violations of air quality regulations...also in attendance was the Director of Pinal County Air Quality. As such I quickly sent pictures (taken of the post-Jan storms) and concerns to these speakers related to non-compliance within our subdivision of SWPPP plans...and their contributing to the Air Quality issues. Fairly quickly a gentleman from the County was assigned and asked me questions by email. Following his investigation he provided me with an email update of his findings. I have yet to date heard back from AZDEQ.

I have attached the email feed of the discussion between myself and the Pinal County investigator. See below:
Rancho Mirage - Air Quality Complaint

My concerns / issues with what I am seeing is that due to the erosion of sediments:

• Dirt is in roadways that becomes air entrained and creates air quality issues. This dirt will cause respiratory issues due to high PM2.5 and PM10 violations that are notorious in Maricopa.
  
• Dirt is being washed and blown into my (and most of our) property and creates more landscape work for myself (i.e. homeowners) and thus costs.
  
• Dirt is being washed into the lake that can damage pumps and aerators.
• Dirt is being washed into drywells in stormwater retention basins. This will quickly clog the drywells and basins and create long term increases in costs (and potential for damage to our homes) that will be shoulded upon us as homeowners. Not to mention if a true design storm comes and the drywells will not operate efficiently / effectively our homes (properties) could become subject to localized flooding issues.
  
• Dirt is eroding basins, scuppers, irrigation boxes and thus creates costs due to the need for repair and cleaning of our site.
• Dirt in the roadways is just plain ugly and annoying.

I have attached some photos for any who did not see the "aftermath" These photos were taken on Sunday 29 Aug 2010, approximately 1230 then again some at 1630. This represents 12-18 hours post-storm.

Significant amount of "offsite storm water" had to enter our basin to erode several tons of sediment into our basin. I could see irrigation pipes, drip emitter lines, irrigation boxes all exposed due to the several locations of erosion in this 1 basin on the E side of RM Blvd.

See all the sediment being left. Looks like chocolate soup. The first photo at the top of the post is along Merced is where the stormwater enters the basin along Merced...carrying a significant amount of sediment from bare undeveloped lots into the basins.


Photo above is few hundred feet south from previous photo


Photo above is few hundred feet south from previous photo with RM Blvd in the foreground.


Photo above is same as previous except closer up to see the major sediment erosion.


Photo above is few hundred feet further south of previous picture.


Photo above is few hundred feet further south of previous picture.


Photo above is of the ball fields. There was significant tree damage near the park in the background.


Stormwater carried a lot of sediment into the streets...which then goes into the basins.


Photo above shows stormwater pushing sediment OVER the stormwater control bmp (waddle).


Picture above shows stormwater eroded under the silt fence eroding a signifigant amount of sediment on the street, etc.


Picture above is similar to the previous picture. Across the street is the scupper to the soccer field.


Stormwater BMP (waddle) failed and shows why these controls should be used "in conjunction" with each other and not individually.


Photo above is similar to previous...different view.


Scupper is to the soccer field and suffered severe "undermining" erosion from what appears to be water running through silt fence and along edge of scupper.


Scupper showing why stormwater controls are important. Half worked...Half failed. You can see the sediment is in the failed left side washing into the basin area but being held back in the un-failed area on the right side.


Sediment erosion from unprotected lots


Sediment erosion from unprotected lots


Sediment erosion from unprotected lots


Sediment erosion from unprotected lots


Sediment erosion from unprotected lots


Sediment erosion from unprotected lots

Above photo shows sediment erosion and failed silt fence. Sediment directly enters drainage system as shown.


NOW...lets see some "not as bad" photos. I was impressed by the controls placed in the Shea home area on the W side of RM blvd near Honeycutt. You can see this yourself along Olivo and W Vera Cruz. As you will see below there is much less sediment in the roadway which means they are doing something right here. Although there are several locations that the controls need repair. After a long hot summer the silt fence material is becoming very brittle and breaking easy. I do like however the better way the silt fence is anchored using fence posts every 8-12-ft to brace the fence from our high winds.


Above photo shows considerably less "runoff" of sediment in street.


Above photo shows little "runoff" of sediment in street.



Scupper at corner of Olivio and Pratt that empties into "small" lake has good BMP backup when dirt, trash, etc. tries to enter lake.


Reason that I see the better working BMP. The builder actually left a berm to "enclose" the flat part of the graded future home site. This allows 6-8-in of water to "pond" instead of directly running off the site. Thus silt fence only has to handle flow of water from the approximately 20-ft sloped portion of the lot. Water ponding on site is seen in the photo background.

4 Peaks Grass Cutting - Please Stop the SCALPING!

The attached document is the field report that I prepared to document my inspection after 4 Peaks cut the grass in our development. It is my professional opinion that the issues that we keep seeing in our development related to the grass is because the landscapers cut it too short. This creates a uncomfortable surface for our children as well as many issues related to runoff...stormwater erosion...overwatering to keep alive...etc. See below for the report:

10 0825 Site Visit Report

This document was provided to David Wisnowsky of AAM as well as the Shea Representative (Mr. David Garcia) and to date I have yet to hear any response.

HOA Meeting...the Day After.

First thing Wednesday AM I got an email from Dave:


Good morning Emery,

I was hoping to talk with you at the meeting either before or after, but didn’t get the chance. I have attached you list of questions along with answers. You list was too long to present at the meeting with the time constraints we were under. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the answers and I’ll do my best to clarify where needed.

Best regards,

Dave Wisnosky
Community Manager
AAM, LLC
(602) 288-2609 (direct line)
(480) 821-2334 (direct fax)
(602) 957-9191 (main line)
www.AAMAZ.com
“Setting the Standard of Excellence for 20 Years”


Below is the response to my letter of items to be discussed at the HOA meeting:

HOA Meeting Question Response by AAM

I was surprised to find a list of my questions answered with short brief comments...I felt that it was mostly saying "this is not our problem" or "this is not a problem". Below is my response to his email:

David,

I am available anytime you are in the neighborhood. A courtesy call the day or 2 before to set an appointment would be best instead of stopping unannounced since I do travel to job sites on random occasions.

I did not feel that yesterday's meeting was the right place to discuss my concerns. The room provided was very uncomfortable as well as you and most of your staff (representatives) were very defensive, abrasive and in some ways just spreading non-factual backed "opinions" as reasons for the mis-management within our community (except for the times when you quoted my information). As a professional that is in the field of development I can see through the propaganda of "mis-information" spread at last nights meeting and was not about to reduce myself to arguing with a company that has little concern for the homeowner...as long as our dues are being paid. Since the role of a builder managed HOA (whose customer is the developer / builder...not homeowner) it is your role to "protect" and "serve" builders to be immune from the frustrations of homeowners in the name of cost savings, reputation protection and headache management.

I find it sad that you answer to our concerns of water management and GW fee increase is to do nothing till we see what GW will do. Who will this benefit? Definitely GW...Definitely not us (homeowners). Why are you willing to perform your business and our community in "crisis management" mode? How effective could we be (if you were really concerned about the cost increases of water) if we decided to team with all HOA / Communities across Maricopa and have a 1 week, no water day. What message would be sent to GW if we as a city could team together and cut our water use by 50 % for the coming month. What would we say to GW if we decided to not water most common areas and allow it to go dormant now before winter overseeding in Oct? What would GW see in their sales if we decided to only water trees, bushes and winter grass and forget having summer grass except for the entry way and thus cut our water bill significantly since it is too hot (and 4Peaks cannot cut it correctly to allow it to grow right) to enjoy right now anyway.

What would GW do if a majority of the HOA / Communities came together and had a "water flu". Would they not realize that we are their customers and they cannot charge a 6x increase in water (by the way why would a 6x increase [$0.33 to $2] in water fees create a annual budget increase of 7x [$60k to $420] instead of $60k x 6 = $364k???). As a professional in the field of water / wastewater treatment I know that we are a necessary "customer" of GW and they need us for disposal of their wastewater treatment effluent. Thus we have rights and more importantly we have power to say no we will not accept such a high rate / cost for obtaining your water.

Not to mention why have we not worked to secure additional irrigation rights? Wouldn't it be beneficial to be the "first in line" to talk with Maricopa-Stanfield irrigation District? They have wells right across the street from our lake that could be rehabbed and used to provide water. There are wells currently on the Rancho Mirage property that are available, with water from the previous ag activities here. Don't you think this would be best to do before "everyone else" wants water too since they played the "wait and see" game on the GW rates.

As I previously discussed it is this type of what I call "mis-management" is what proves to me that AAM HOA is not here to serve us the homeowners...only the builder and other "big guys" such as Global, Orbitel, etc. by being their "bean counters" and "enforcement officers" of us "little guys".

I have attached my field observation report of your landscapers grass cutting today. As discussed last night it is obvious that the grass is being cut too short. This enhances evaporation, creates more need for water to keep the grass thriving, encourages run-off from sloped areas by decreasing the runoff coefficient of the ground...which then requires more watering creating more runoff, and the grass does not create a mulch bed or root zone which further decreases water retention, increases evaporation, and increases runoff, etc... It is very easy to observe. I would suggest that you come with me some day after mowing (without their knowledge) such as Wednesday about 8-9am near my home / pier area.

An additional concern that I have is the AAM mis-representation of the quality of reclaimed water. For this water to be used in lawn irrigation it meets ADEQ Class A standards for reclaimed water use. Within my profession we are working hard to help the public understand that this is a viable and safe alternative to using drinking water for irrigation, car washing, animal water, etc. Question...do you play golf? Did you know that most all golf courses in AZ are watered with recalimed water. Do you see the same issues as cited today on my field report on the golf courses you see? Due to the status of Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, etc AMA's (active management areas) establised due to our water shortages and high use in specific areas potable water for golf course irrigation. The technology used to clean the water to Class A standards is top of the line and used effectively and efficiently to remove the "sewage" from the water. Yes there is a bit of extra nitrogen that creates some algae growth in the ponds but that is another issue that is related to the low circulation of the lake and thus mis-management of the lake resource to maintain low cost energy bills. To have you and your staff comment that they refuse to let their dog drink the reclaimed water is nothing short of a uneducated scare tactic. This is not a professional nor technical opinion or correct comment that should be uttered in a professional meeting. If anything the water quality poor nature is due to 2 things. 1. The poor quality of the initial groundwater used in our homes that is high in TDS (i.e. salts). and 2. The crap that homeowners flush down the toilet / sewer as well as the salt from softeners and RO reject water that concentrates these already present salts. If there was a need (i.e. water shortage) I would and could make a quick sand filter from some PVC pipe, play sand and small gravel to quickly filter the water to remove the algae and add a few drops of bleach to chlorinate (as our drinking water systems already do) to remove any fecal bacteria from the wildlife and use the water for drinking / cooking use.

I appreciate you sending me the responses to my questions. I will review your responses more closely but most of them seem to be quickly put together poor reasons / excuses from my first read through.

It is pretty frustrating that we are still asking for resolutions to the same issues now for 2 annual meetings in a row. If you need we can provide a better (and much cooler) meeting location for future annual meetings as well as refreshments.

If I have any questions I will follow up.

Feel free (as I stated several times) to contact me directly for further discussion.

Thanks,

Emery

--

Engineered With Layton, P.L.C.

Value Engineering through Reasonable Fee's, Attention to Detail and Honest Hard Work.

N. Emery Layton, P.E.
480.244.3355
www.engineeredwithlayton.com

The field report from the grass cutting discussed in the above email will be in my next post.

HOA Meeting Documents

We attended our annual meeting on Tuesday evening 24 Aug 2010 at the Global Water building. We endured the "sweatbox" with several of our community members. With almost 180 homes we were disappointed that so few of our neighbors showed up. I think there were about 40 persons were in attendance.

Good Points:

• Meeting Mr. Garcia of Shea Homes - thanks for making us feel heard.
• Updates by Maricopa building inspector - thanks for your work related to keeping our streets junk car clean, walls graffiti clean as well as the other volunteer work you are involved in within the community.

Bad Points:

• Sweatbox - the room AC was inoperable.
• Defensiveness of AAM - we felt that in whole those running the meeting were very defensive and made "excuses" regarding our concerns... All in all we felt that we were just being "endured" instead of listened to.
• Non-professional behavior of AAM and their subcontractors - we were unimpressed by the angry and abrasive responses to simple questions especially by Mr. 4Peaks (name unknown)...and the incorrect information spread especially by Ms. AAM (name unknown).
  
• Budget items - we would appreciate being able to see the budget prior to the meeting...instead of being given 10 minutes to review then moving on. At some point we used to get this quarterly or semi-annually by mail.

Attached are the documents handed out by AAM. See below:

Hoa Meeting Handout

As you can see a couple of my comments, questions and concerns are discussed (most likely since others asked the same thing) however a majority of my questions were unanswered or discussed at the meeting.

When we were discussing water use / misuse I mentioned how scalping the grass creates issues with overwatering. He also told me that they do not scalp the grass and cut it 1/3 of the height every time. I will discuss more on this in a few minutes.

A bit later Mr. 4Peaks (owner...unknown name) mentioned that he would like us to provide a list of drippers without plants and other items that were being discussed (by the other homeowners)...suggesting that we send a list to Dave and he would obtain and work to resolve. I then commented that I sent Dave a list of my concerns and please contact him. He got visibly angry and animated and told me that he saw the list and my concerns were incorrect.

Mr. Layton's HOA Meeting Questions

As requested by AAM we provided a list of questions regarding our community. See below:

10 0816 HOA Meeting Questions

Interesting enough after this document was provided I could see evidence of several trades in our community addressing our complaints. Thus I felt my time was somewhat worthwhile. I was however interested in how AAM would address our questions. Unfourtantely as discussed later we felt ignored.

HOA Annual Meeting Coming Up

All homeowners. This is the letter sent from our HOA regarding the annual meeting.

Hoa Meeting Question Request