05-23-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM 6B STAFF ORIGINATOR: Michael Grochala, Community Development Director MEETING DATE: May 23, 2022 TOPIC: Consider Resolution No. 22-64, Authorizing 2023 LCCMR Application for Water Stewardship VOTE REQUIRED: 3/5 INTRODUCTION Staff is requesting City Council's authorization to submit a 2023 LCCMR application for funding implementation of Water Stewardship Program. BACKGROUND The City of Lino Lakes municipal water system currently provides drinking water to over 17,000 residents and over 200 businesses. The City draws its public water supply from the Prairie Du Chien/Jordan Aquifer. Concern over decreasing lake levels of White Bear Lake led to court imposed restrictions on municipal water appropriation permits and the formation of the North and East Metro Groundwater Management Area. The DNR identified the area, including Lino Lakes, as an area of specific concern where groundwater resources are at risk of overuse and degraded quality. Public education is an important component of the City's water conservation plan. One method, previously discussed by the City Council, is to provide timelier meter readings. More frequent access to data will allow residents to self -monitor water use and identify problems sooner and adjust accordingly. Better and timelier information is anticipated to result in a decrease in water use. In order to do this, additional hardware and software is required. Staff is currently proposing to implement a tower based radio read system that, coupled with 1 gallon resolution meters, radio transceivers and a customer portal, would enable real-time feedback on water use to residents. The system would also provide customer alerts base on use patterns and provide operating information to water utility staff. The Phase 1 project would include installation of an antenna and based station for city-wide continuous data collection, software for analytics and customer portal, and acquisition and install of Sensus SmartPoint radio transceivers. The City system currently has approximately 2,600 hundred meters that can be programmed to read at one gallon resolution. Of these approximately 800 already have the correct radio to begin use of the system. The plan would include equipping the remaining 1,800 programmable meters with the new radio system. The estimated cost of the Phase 1 program is $424,000 and would provide service to approximately 50% of municipal customers over a three year implementation period. The