October 18, 2006 - Top Stories
One of the most recognizable water district employees, the meter reader, is going to be replaced by Robby the Robot!
That’s not actually true. But meter readers ARE going to do a lot of their work at a distance and they won’t have to spend so much time on the road.
It’s all part of a series of VC Municipal Water District cost savings measures that combine high tech facilities monitoring and automatic meter reading with increasing pump efficiency and more efficient leak detection.
Most of these measures require up front investments that will be recovered over time in cost savings.
The biggest savings, says Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant, will be in automated meter reading.
But significant savings should also occur through increased pump efficiency and pump system upgrades. Such upgrades could pay for themselves in three to five years.
“The district is always looking at new technologies to reduce operating costs,” he said.
Automated Meter Reading
For many years district personnel have every month gone from meter to meter to take readings. There are 10,000 such meters in the district.
However, in recent months the district has completed installing equipment on Old Castle Road, Lilac Road and Circle “R” Road. It is working on installing the equipment along Valley Center Road.
Over the next two fiscal years, they will install 2,000 more AMR (Automated Meter Reading) units, with the entire system converted over a five year period.
This will cost $2.6 million over the next five or six years.
Once the program is implemented it will forestall the need to add employees in the Meter Services Division and allow more staff resources to be shifted to maintenance and water conservation.
It will reduce the time spent reading meters. So, as VCMWD grows it won’t have to add new meter readers.
“We can avoid hiring new meter readers, because we will have this in place,” said Arant. “If we can hold hiring two or three meter readers as we grow over eight to ten years we will recover the cost and that will continue,” he said.
Once the investment is paid off, the district should save $300,000 each year in avoided labor costs.
SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System
The SCADA system, when fully installed, will improve the ability to remotely operate and watch over water and sewer systems and make operational decisions based upon efficiency.
VCMWD has over 80 facilities, reservoirs, pumps and pressure reduction systems.
District techs can choose just the right moment to use pump systems, and which pumps to use to move water, based on electricity prices.
It takes advantage of the fact that SDG&E charges different rates to large customers depending on when they use the power.
Keeping track of levels in reservoirs and which pumps are pumping and where, is called telemetry. The district has had versions of this system for years, but never at this level of technology or speed. It’s also never had this ability to analyze data.
In addition to reducing what the district pays to pump water, the SCADA system increases the district’s ability to visually monitor its facilities and watch out for bad guys and other intruders.
“The main area where SCADA saves us money is its ability to monitor relative pump efficiency and pick the proper pump to run,” said Arant. “We think it will provide more efficiency and better security.”
The radio frequencies and band width is large enough to carry video images.
When the SCADA system is fully implemented it might be possible to use the SCADA Radio Network to read most if not all of the district’s water meters.
GIS - Geographical Information System
With this system is realized the old saw that “the map is not the territory” is less and less true.
The GIS system at the water district incorporates several levels of information into a computerized map.
Instead of rolling out a large physical map and consulting it, a district engineer or tech can call up a map on the computer screen of a particular area or parcel and see where pipelines, utility lines, rights-of-way run, and how old the facilities are and when they were last maintained. The system can be used to schedule parts replacements.
“This adds efficiency to how we can access our information about our water and wastewater systems,” said Arant.
The district is sharing this technology with the community. It is working with the fire department to add data of interest to firefighting to the system.
The district trained staff from the fire department and added a layer of information for their use.
A tech from the district will be working with the school district, which recently received a grant to introduce GIS technology in the classroom.
The parks district has also been invited to share in the program.
Pump Efficiency
Although the price for energy to run pumps has risen, the district has saved some of that increase through regular testing of pumps, annual pump and pump motor maintenance, replacement and upgrades.
Cutting Water Loss
Every water district loses a certain percentage of its water to leakage and inefficient meters. Whenever a meter doesn’t read properly, customers aren’t charged for all the water they are using. The source of most unaccounted water is slippage in meters. Note: According to the district, it is impossible for a customer to be overcharged if a meter is less efficient.
The district’s water loss levels have been around 5%, which is about average.
However, it is in the district’s interest to decrease that amount since for every percentage point of loss, it loses $200,000.
“We think it’s possible to reduce it another percent to 3.5 percent to four percent, which would be outstanding,” said Arant.
This year to try to make that happen the district both created a new position and shifted a worker from another department to increase the time devoted to this area.
These construction maintenance technicians will spend their time testing meters in the field and changing parts on faulty meters. Rather than replace the entire meter, a new register is installed in most cases.
Currently the large ag meters and 1-3 inch meters are tested every two years. The higher volume meters they test every year.
The smaller 3/4 inch meters are simply replaced.
“As we are able to shift more labor resources into meter maintenance and meter change out efforts, we will reduce unaccounted for water and lost revenue,” said Arant.
Integration of Data Processing and Management Systems
Databases in different departments are being linked and made accessible by different departments, increasing customer service efficiency.
Retirements
Immediate savings are provided when workers who retire are either not replaced or else their functions are restructured and reorganized within the organization.
Recent retirements and pending retirements have given the district the ability to redefine positions and responsibilities and shift staff resources.
This allowed the district to defer a new position and postpone filling a vacancy.
Deferrals of Employees
Because of the slowing of the housing market the district deferred hiring three new employees.
Seven of the ten new positions approved to be hired in the two year FY 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 were tied to and primarily funded by the new development that had been anticipated.
The two year budget had ten positions. Seven were tied to rate of new development. Shortly after the budget was developed D.R. Horton withdrew from the Orchard Run project and the district staff felt that a housing slowdown might be occurring.
“We decided to hold back on a number of those positions. When the board adopted the budget they made clear that in the second half we would have to justify those positions.”
The board adopted these changes in October.
“District staff will monitor development activity and in some point of the future we will go back to the board and get their approval for those staff increases,” said Arant.
Savings from restructuring and deferrals totalled $390,000.
Mark Hanson, the Democrat running to unseat Dennis Hollingsworth in the 36th Assembly District, tells The Roadrunner, “I’m running to bring good jobs, effective schools and provide more residents with affordable health care. I’d also like to implement programs in public safety with an emphasis on fire prevention.”
The candidate dropped by The Roadrunner office last week.
Hanson has been a teacher, charitable organization founder, jobs development coordinator and business leader.
He is founder and President of the Heartland Foundation, which gave grants to Project Destination, which teams potential dropouts with union workers. They mentor the kids towards union apprenticeships, which they can’t get unless they graduate.
After his home burned in the 2003 wildfires, Hanson raised money through the foundation to help fire survivors rebuild. He obtained donations of cars, computers, etc. to assist those who lost homes and businesses.
Hanson lives in Lakeside with wife, Jackie, and two daughters.
Alternate Energy
Hanson is brimming with ideas and talks rapidly and enthusiastically about them.
He supports incentives for alternative energy production.
He supports a national program to develop clean energy. He says this would generate 3 million manufacturing jobs, 460,000 in California and potentially 80,000 in the 36th District.
He wants to promote a plant to design and build solar cells and to make tax credits available to develop geothermal energy.
He would encourage research and development of alternative energy. “Our universities have people who have done research that hasn’t been implemented,” he says, noting that Germany is introducing a hydrogen car and “the Japanese have the best technology on hybrids.”
He would encourage telecommuting and “cyber offices” i.e. corporations and smaller businesses encouraging employees to work from home.
Prison Reform
Hanson sees promising models of prison reform in Europe. “Prisoners earn five to ten thousand dollars a year for the economy. Ours costs $70,000 per year per prisoner.”
He likes programs where prisoners produce high tech goods, not license plates. “When they leave prison they would, for instance, be electricians who have jobs waiting for them.”
The money saved could fund affordable catastrophic health care insurance for low income people. “There would be no tax increase, but a shifting in funds.”
Education
He also points to Europe for a program that identifies students with an affinity for a profession in the early teens and connects them to an industry. In Germany auto makers partner with schools to create programs for students beginning at age 13.
“When they leave school they know a lot about cars,” he says. “ Corporations provide training schools and get highly qualified workers.”
He suggests offering tax credits to industries to offer similar programs in California.
“We need more students majoring in things that drive the economy. So that more students can go right into the economy.
“We need to look at our educational system in terms of economic productivity. Not cancel things like creative writing. But give incentives in math and science.”
That includes incentives for qualified math and science teachers. “We are not getting good teachers in math and science departments. By and large a seventh grader will have a teacher who hates math. That’s repeated across the country.”
He would make more room at the universities for Americans by reducing tuition for residents and increasing it for foreign students who get free tuition and then return home to use their knowledge. “That’s a very critical drain,” he says.
When Hanson talks about “grants” for such things he’s talking about corporate grants.
“I’m not for raising taxes,” he says. ‘Every program I have has a way of playing for itself.”
The grants he got after the 2003 wildfires were corporate grants. “We could bring a lot more corporate funding. We can’t let education stay like it is and we can’t raise taxes. If we do we’ll have business going under. This idea of ‘taxing the rich’ doesn’t cut it,” he says.
Public Safety
“What happened in the 2003 fires can’t happen again,” says Hanson, who has several ideas on the subject. “Hurricane Katrina, the Cedars wildfire and the 9-11 attacks show that government needs to do a better job at preventing and responding to disasters, whether from fires, floods, earthquakes or terrorism,” he says.
He would increase vigilance at ports to screen all cargo shipments and keep more National Guard troops in California for rapid response to disasters.
He wants prisoners to once more be allowed to clear heavy fire trails, so that the the brush in the backcountry doesn’t grow back to dangerous levels.
He would take money that voters authorized for both fire and police, and evenly divide it. Most of it now goes to police.
The Roadrunner asked Hanson if he favors Prop. 83, “Jessica’s Law.” “I’m completely in favor of it. I’m in favor of protecting children. I don’t see any reason not to support it,” he says.
He also supports Prop. 90 the “Save Our Homes” initiative. “I have property in the backcountry and I’m pretty annoyed at bills that prevent me from building,” he says. Cutting density in the backcountry drives development into cities, he says.
Hanson would also guarantee appropriate relief and response time for survivors of all disasters
He criticizes how many wildfire survivors who haven’t rebuilt are being evicted from temporary trailers. He also dislikes the red tape and added expense being imposed on them.
“We lost our home in the fire and had to put in a new driveway for $140,000. There was nothing from insurance for that. I didn’t like using my retirement for that,” he says.
He points to a woman in Harbison Canyon who can’t get permits or a contractor, and without them can’t negotiate with her insurance company.
“Fire survivors need more time to recover,” he says, accusing incumbent Hollingsworth of voting against last year’s SB (senate bill) 2 that would have given an extra year to rebuild and allowed them to be paid a percentage of their estimated value inside of the house instead of having to itemize each loss.
Hanson has no campaign events planned in VC. He challenges VC Democrats to host a one for him. Call his campaign at 619-447-4455, 619-316-0657, 619-729-3277 or visit his Web site at www.hanson4senate.com/
The County is considering using drought-resistant native plants on the 8,000 foot median planned as part of the VC Road widening project.
Brendan McNabb, project manager for the county Dept. of Public Works and the architect the county has hired to design the median, made a presentation on the proposal Monday to the VC planning group.
The County is using xeriscape (low water use) plants on all its new projects, so it was decided to go back and reexamine the VC Road project.
One obvious benefit is that far less water would be needed. This means that the cost to maintain the median will go way down. So far down, it appears, that the County will be able to shoulder the new cost. Previously the San Pasqual Indian band had pledged to pay for any maintenance on the median. Now that money will not be needed.
Once the plants are installed, the County will water them for several years until they are established.
Jim Quis Quis, a member of the San Pasqual band, wondered aloud if there might be other cost savings on the project that perhaps remain to be discovered. “What other monies might there be to be discovered. We might look at other things that the county might be able to come up with.”
Besides native plants the median will also include textured pavement. Once the plants are put in it will be five years at least before the plants grow to any significant height, and as much as ten or 15 years before they reach their planned height.
The County is considering raising the PLDO (Parkland Dedication Ordinance) fee for individual houses from $800 to $3,850 or some number in between.
For many years the County’s Dept. of Parks & Recreation has collected this fee every time a building permit is pulled within the County.
The fees were last revised in the 1980s.
The current plan is to phase in this increase over the next three years. At the November meeting the VC planning group will take a position on this proposal. The VC Parks & Rec. District, the local agency that would benefit from the proposal, is requesting that the planning group endorse the proposal.
The parks district uses PLDO funds to pay for capital improvement projects and land purchases.
Al Sherr is running for the VC Municipal Water District board in Division 3.
Sherr has been a driver with UPS since 1979 and has lived in Valley Center since 1994.
He and his wife, Denise, have four boys, Harley, Hudson, Hank and Hayes. They live in Sky Ridge Estates near the high school.
You’ll see his election signs around town. They call for voters to “Just say no to higher water rates.”
Sherr has three main election issues: water rates, director representation on the San Diego County Water Authority Board and holding costs down.
Sherr is running, he says, “because I’m very tired of the rate increases. When I first started looking at them I realized that the board had approved ten new employees for the new fiscal year 2007-2008.”
Stable rates cannot be maintained with ten new employees, he says.
“The first thing I thought of was that an independent outside auditor should come into play as far as the spending, and to look at that and put a freeze on it.”
Hiring new personnel commits the district to pensions and benefits for many years. “The burden to the district is lifelong,” he says.
“What came to mind was what happened in San Diego and the overhiring in that city,” he says.
He also argues that the district should be represented on the water authority board by a director, not the general manager. Note: This change of sending G.M. Gary Arant to represent the district was made in April.
SDCWA is governed by representatives from county water agencies. It buys water from the Metropolitan Water District to sell to member agencies.
“How can you have your best representation if you show the other directors you are not willing to attend and instead send your manager in your place?
“I’m not saying that Mr. Arant is an unneccesary staffer. When he’s away at these meetings, who is doing his work, or is it not being done?” says Sherr.
“This can also show the other directors that there could be a complacency or apathy of not wanting to attend, and the voice of Valley Center can be lost.”
Sherr thinks this is particularly true because of new issues of growth. “I feel a director needs to be at those meetings.”
Attending these meetings, he says, is connected with holding down costs. You see what other districts do to keep costs in line.
“One thing some other districts have done is to share costs in labor and equipment. Sometimes there is a need to buy a special piece of equipment that’s not cheap,” he says.
Instead of one district purchasing such equipment several can buy it together and share it.
This could be done with personnel too, he says. “Some agencies share labor. Instead of hiring new people who may not have a full work load, agencies that have the same need bring in new people and share the labor between two or three districts.”
Sherr is also concerned about water quality.
“We had a cancer cluster scare a few years ago. It was shown to be negative, which was good. However, going back to my participating in the county water authority I would see to it that all the water is of the highest level, and sometimes we can do better than standard,” he says.
When new purification technology is installed, “I would see to it that Valley Center’s voice is represented by a director and they would continually look for ways to bring in a better quality water, rather than just standard.”
He adds, “There is no endless supply of water and there is talk of desalination plants coming into play.
“By participating in the water authority board I could fight for water to be at the highest standard and quality that can be produced.”
Sherr also wants to keep labor costs down by further automating the process, such as using automated meter reading.
“They have this technology and Valley Center is not using it. Without that you have to continually hire more and more staff.
“Other agencies using automated meter reading have cut labor costs dramatically. In some cases when people retire they don’t need to replace them.
“With that you can maintain costs rather than watch your water bills match and in some cases exceed your utility rates.”
The Roadrunner asked if it wasn’t true that the district has committed to automated meter reading.
Sherr replied: “They are in the process of looking into it, but with all of our rate increases in the past I think they have been behind in getting this done.”
The Roadrunner asked if Sherr feels other districts do a better job of holding down rates than VCMWD, and, if so, could he name one.
“I feel that water rates are too high. You can’t compare rates district to district. That’s comparing apples to oranges. My focus is on the current direction of the water district.
“The knowledge is out there. It is public knowledge at water authority meetings. One district I know of lowered its rates for the first time in a long time. That was done using some of these ideas that I’m sharing.”
Sherr was asked if he gets his knowledge from attending water board or water authority meetings.
“I get a lot of knowledge shared to me about the water authority meetings. I’m a student of water authority matters,” he said.
He has a friend who is on the water authority board, Mark Muir. Muir is a director of the Olivenhain water district, and, says Sherr, will be endorsing him for this election.
Gary Broomell is running for a tenth term on the Valley Center Municipal Water District. When he finishes this upcoming term he will have served 36 years.
Broomell represents the ratepayers of Division 3.
Broomell’s philosophy as a director is to keep out of the day-to-day affairs of the district, and to concentrate on setting policy.
“It’s one of those things where everybody has a different idea of sitting on a board,” he says. “Our job is to set policy and go home. Valley Center has been extremely fortunate in the last two managers, who have both been outstanding. I believe in letting them do their jobs.”
Asked why he is running for yet another term, Broomell told The Roadrunner, “I think it’s been a long haul on getting a sewer to serve the people along Valley Center Road. Although I’m not a proponent of sewers, I would like to see the one completed on Woods Valley, so the people in that area can do with their property what they want to do.”
Broomell is one of three growers on the board. “Being one of the agricultural representatives on the board, we keep the district on the straight and narrow and try to keep the costs down.
“Of course, we only control fifteen percent of the budget,” he says. “The rest is controlled by the Metropolitan Water District [the big agency that sells water to all of Southern California] and the San Diego County Water Authority.”
When they raise their rates, agencies on the lower end of the food chain are required to follow suit.
“Everybody is concerned about their water bills,” says Broomell. “But if you look at how much of it we control we do a pretty good job of keeping it down. It’s an up and down system. So there’s a lot of pumping, which we have to pay the energy bills for, and our water bills might appear larger than they are in flat city.”
During the interview Broomell took a moment to praise the current water general manager, Gary Arant.
“In the years that Gary has been with us, he has done an outstanding job and I think our lack of employee turnover would vouch for that.
“We’ve lost a couple of people, but it was going to higher paid jobs elsewhere. When you have a very stable organization and people don’t leave, then something must be right.”
Broomell, who until last April served as the water district’s representative on the San Diego County Water Authority board, says that he’s pleased that the board recently appointed Arant to that position.
“After serving as the representative on the water authority, I think it would be better for everybody if the general managers of all the districts were represented down there. It might eliminate some of the politics that goes on down there.”
Broomell’s goals in his next term are “to give people a water district that is reliable. We have set out goals to maintain infrastructure. Since we are a fifty-year-old district, we have lines that have to be replaced. I think we are doing a good job of taking care of our infrastructure. And of course, we are always concerned about the price of water.
“One of the big things we have done is maintain stability. Without a lot of infighting and problems that come from people with different interests.”
Ideas for what to name The Roadrunner Kids’ Page are still pouring in.
We’re going to call a halt to the submissions this week and go with one of those. The winner will get $25, as promised.
Now, we’d like to get you kids out there to put on your thinking caps and write us some stories (hopefully more original than “putting on your thinking cap”).
And just to get you in the proper frame of mind, the story that we choose to feature in the first edition of the Kids Page (or whatever we call it) will earn the young author $25. Normally we won’t be paying for the stories, but just to prime the pump and build up a little excitement, this time we will.
In addition editor Dave Ross, the stingiest of men, will buy ice cream sundaes at Country Junction for any of the kids whose pieces we use in the first Kids Page, and maybe the second one too.
Now, here’s the final list of name suggestions. If you don’t see yours here, then be sure and tell us that we left you out and we’ll add you to the list.
Jasen E. Armstrong put forth these names: Kids News, VC Kids scoop, Kids Town News (KTN)and Kids Best of the Best News.
Kelly Stickler, 12 years old, who suggested that we call it “VC Kids’ Corner” or “Kids’ Mini-Roadrunner.”
Eighth grader Dayna Wallace, who suggested, “Kids View,” “VC Kids,” VC Kids Corner,” and “VC Kids View.”
Jacob Beeson contributed “Youth MATTERS” and “Small Town Business.”
Jared Kelly, 12, had a bunch of suggestions, including “Coyote Tales,” “Rattler Page,” “Quail Scratches,” “Rattlesnake Squiggles,” “Kids Klub,” “Kids Korner,” “Valley Kid Scribbles,” “Valley Center Scribbles,” “Valley Center Scrawls,” “Little Jaguar Doodles,” and “Quail Gazette.”
Other suggestions: Nichole Barnes in 11th grade offers: “Minor News,” “In Short Notice,” “Minor Update” and “Mini Hut.”
Lisa Chavez suggested, “All about Kids.”
Fifth grader Matt Barnes suggests “Kids ComMents,” “Kids Corner,” “Valley Blah-blah” and “Valley Express.”
Megan Power, 9, gave us these: Country Kids, The Pony Page, The Kid's Corral and The Tree House!
Seventh grader Mike Barnes suggests “Valley Center Kids,” “Kids Thoughts,” “Sprout-n-Shout,” and “Valley Tallyho.”
Remember, kids, we want you to write about subjects that interest you and your friends. We hope to get enough of these articles to publish a kids page once a month.
Send your articles to editor@valleycenter.com or call the editor at 749-1112.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
Copyright © 2006, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.