When Will the Number of Allowed Connections Be Increased?
The number of connections is limited by the system capacity measured in ERUs.
For a community like ours it is typical to count each connection to a
home or business as one ERU.
It is important to note that at this time even based on an aggressive
growth rate of twice that projected by the county we have more than enough
capacity available to meet all connections anticipated for at least 2 or
3 years. The state DOH permit process takes about 6 weeks to increase the
capacity by 10 - 20% as described in 1 and 2 below (minimal if any capital
cost). Please note that the projected growth based on the member surveys (over
90% returned!) indicate a much more modest rate of growth. Even if the growth
rate is surprisingly high, all existing members will be able to connect to
the system in a timely fashion.
The state issues an operating permit based on the system capacity to
ensure that the system can reliably deliver sufficient water at the correct
volume under peak conditions.
There are two ways we can increase the number of allowed connections:
- Increase the (state DOH permitted) system capacity
- Reduce an ERU by demonstrating conservation with measured use.
The number of connections allowed will be increased over time in stages
as presented at the July 2002 meeting.
We would spend very little for the first stage, and only modest engineering
analysis costs for a second stage. The third stage might require some infrastructure
costs. The final stage is very long term planning with more extensive infrastructure
development [as previous plans did for our current needs] for the distant
future:
- A modest reduction in the definition of an ERU based on total measured
data resulting in (something like 10%) more connections.
- A more detailed analysis of individual metering data to allow us
to count a guest house as a fraction of an ERU (allowing more connections).
- A detailed analysis and demonstrated ability of the plant capacity
and minor infrastructure "catch up" improvements as needed. For example
we can now use real measured sand filter capacity rather than the conservative
design estimates. We can also document procedures to show we can
schedule sand filter cleaning at non peak times. The State DOH has been
very helpful in guiding us in this direction.
- "Long term infrastructure planning for build out capacity for which
our water systems is likely to be responsible eventually - even if many
years in the future."
The state DOH supports a staged approach, and this will allow us to develop
the capacity in a timely fashion as the demand increases, but avoids building
up excessive infrastructure that is not used at a reasonable capacity.
We are not using our existing water right to capacity and we have
two
additional water right applications pending with Washington Dept. of Ecology
7/31/1978 for 0.8 cfs
8/14/1991 for 0.3 cfs
OK, not much has happened to new surface water rights in Washington,
but believe it or not, the backlog of water right applications is finally
betting processed!
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