Municipal Water Leader November/December 2018

Volume 5, Issue 10

LARGE-DIAMETER STEEL PIPELINES

A CONVERSATION WITH SCOTT MONTROSS

November/December 2018

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Municipal Water Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by

STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Nicole E. Venable, Graphic Designer SUBMISSIONS: Municipal Water Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

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LARGE-DIAMETER STEEL PIPELINES: A CONVERSATION WITH SCOTT MONTROSS

Contents

November/December 2018 Volume 5, Issue 10 5 The Pipeline Issue

By Kris Polly 6 Large-Diameter Steel Pipelines: A Conversation With Scott Montross

24 The Advantages of the P3 Model: A Conversation With Scott Parrish 32 Providing Water Amid Fire: Las Virgenes Municipal Water District

CIRCULATION: Municipal Water Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors.

Please send address corrections or additions to Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright Š 2018 Water Strategies LLC. Municipal Water Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Municipal Water Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Municipal Water Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Municipal Water Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

MuniWaterLeader

COVER PHOTO:

Scott Montross, chief executive officer of Northwest Pipe Company.

Photo courtesy of Northwest Pipe Company.

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE COMPANY.

10 Meeting Fort Worth’s Growing Demand: The Integrated Pipeline Project

16 Providing Water to the Navajo Nation: The NavajoGallup Water Supply Project

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The Pipeline Issue

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By Kris Polly

his issue of Municipal Water Leader focuses on the manufacturers, engineers, and builders who make and install pipelines on a massive scale. In our cover story, we talk to Scott Montross, the chief executive officer of Northwest Pipe. This year, Northwest purchased Ameron Water Transmission Group and became North America’s largest manufacturer of steel water pipe systems.

We also explore three major pipeline projects in the American Southwest. The Tarrant Regional Water District, which serves Fort Worth, Texas, is partnering with the City of Dallas to build a 150-mile-long, large-diameter pipeline project to link the growing metro area to the district’s reservoirs in east Texas.

In Arizona and New Mexico, the Bureau of Reclamation is getting back to its roots as a large-scale construction agency with the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

This 300-mile pipeline project, which includes 19 pumping plants and two water treatment plants, will bring water to customers in the Navajo Nation, some of whom do not currently have water supplied to their homes, as well as benefiting the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the city of Gallup, New Mexico.

We also speak with Scott Parrish, the president of Garney Construction, about his company’s Vista Ridge project, which will boost San Antonio’s water supply with

a new well field, 142 miles of transmission line, and three pump stations. Vista Ridge is funded through a publicprivate partnership (P3) agreement—an arrangement that holds both promise and challenges for companies and municipalities considering major projects.

Finally, this issue of Municipal Water Leader features a story ripped from the headlines: We speak with three managers from the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District about how their agency reacted to the devastating Woolsey Fire in November 2018. Not only did they have to repair damaged infrastructure and maintain service through the disaster, they also played an important role in ensuring firefighters their all-important water supply.

Serving big cities and large areas means big projects, large-diameter pipeline, and large-scale planning. We hope you find this issue of Municipal Water Leader informative and inspiring. M Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies.

He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

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Steel pipeline.

Large-Diameter Steel Pipelines: A Conversation With Scott Montross

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orthwest Pipe Company is North America’s largest manufacturer of steel water pipe systems. Since 2013, Scott Montross has been chief executive officer of the company. In this interview with Municipal Water Leader Editor-in-Chief Kris Polly, Mr. Montross speaks about the history of Northwest Pipe, recent developments in the large-diameter water-transmission pipe market, and the future of the public-private partnership (P3) funding model.

Colgate and was involved in the football program, and he sent people to Colgate every year to interview for candidates to come and work for National Steel Corporation. That is how I got into the steel business.

Kris Polly: Would you please tell us about your background?

Kris Polly: Please tell our readers about your background and the history of Northwest Pipe.

Kris Polly: Did you grow up in a steel family?

Scott Montross: Actually, no. My father was a state police officer and a sheriff. When I went to Colgate, where I played football, one of our alumni, Pete Love, was chairman of the board for National Intergroup, which owned National Steel Corporation. He had gone to

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Scott Montross: I have 24 years of experience in the steel business with both National Steel Corporation and Oregon Steel Mills in various commercial and operating positions, from inside sales rep to vice president and general manager of a steel plant and ultimately executive vice president of multiple plants. For the last 7½ years, I have been at Northwest Pipe, starting out as a chief operating officer in 2011 and taking over as chief executive officer in 2013.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO'S COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE COMPANY.

Scott Montross: I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, outside of Scranton. I attended Colgate University in upstate New York.

Scott Montross, chief executive officer of Northwest Pipe Company.

When you look at the history of Northwest Pipe, it is 2014. The line-pipe plant in Atchison, Kansas, was shut a company that started here in Portland, Oregon, over down at the end of 2016 and sold at the end of 2017, and 50 years ago with one pipe mill. That mill got into the at that point we became a pure-play water business. water transmission business, which is and has been the Starting in 2015, the water business went into bedrock business of the company. The company grew hibernation, with very low demand. We also saw some through acquisitions of additional water transmission nontraditional entrants into the market, and it really put an plants. In 1984, the company built ugly spin on our water business. We divested a new plant in Atchison, Kansas, “In July, we closed on the our Denver, Colorado, water transmission launching its tubular business plant and went through a rough 3 years. purchase of the Ameron producing agricultural and sprinkler During that period, we focused on shoring Water Transmission group up the balance sheet, and we were able pipe. The company went public in and created a company with to build up cash by monetizing under 1995, and in 1999 it purchased two additional tubing plants, one performing assets. After a slow first half of a bigger footprint and in Texas and the other in Louisiana; 2018, we are now seeing the business start additional product both were converted to energy tubular to improve. With a strong balance sheet, we capabilities.” plantsin 2008. The plant in Atchison had the ability to purchase one of the bigger was converted into an energy-tubular — SCOTT MONTROSS players in the water transmission business plant in 2006, which is when and to create synergies and additional we entered the energy-tubular strengths through consolidation. business full force.

In 2013, we realized that we were a relatively small Kris Polly: In July, Northwest Pipe Company acquired player in the energy business—number 7 or 8. We decided Ameron Water Transmission Group, making Northwest to focus solely on our core business, the water transmission Pipe the largest manufacturer of water transmission steel pipe business. In 2013, we began the process of divesting pressure pipe in the United States. Why did this acquisition our energy-tubular business and ultimately sold our oil take place, and what does it mean for the large water country tubular business at the end of the first quarter of transmission pipe market?

Pipe being installed.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Scott Montross: The water transmission business has had many players, many competing companies. We have recognized for a number of years that there would be tremendous synergies between Ameron and us if we could combine the companies. Frankly, we have been talking about this union for a number of years; it was not just a recent discussion. The company that owned Ameron made the decision to move on from its water transmission business and put it in the hands of a company that was in the business for the long term. In July, we closed on the purchase of the Ameron Water Transmission Group and created a company with a bigger footprint and additional product capabilities. It puts us in a much stronger position to better serve our customers.

Kris Polly: What changes or trends do you see taking place in the large-diameter water transmission market?

Scott: Montross: Our business is providing engineered systems to our customers, not just making pieces of pipe.

We went through a period from 2004 to 2014 where we saw significant demand in the water transmission business.

We are one of the only companies that reports financial results publicly in our market segment, and because during the 2004–2014 period results were strong, outsiders started to take notice. As a result, we had some nontraditional players that chose to enter the water transmission steel pressure-pipe market just as the market started to enter a downturn—a downturn that lasted from the beginning of 2015 all the way through the first part of 2018. It was a challenging period for all the traditional players in the market. However, after 3½ years, we are now seeing an upward trend in the volume of bidding opportunities.

Total demand in 2018 is stronger than we have seen in many years. The nontraditional players that came into our market decided this was not the place for them and promptly exited the business. Along with the improving demand, we are seeing growing industrywide backlogs, which helps create a stable bidding environment Kris Polly: How has the large-diameter pipe market changed from the design-request perspective? Given that many of the pipe systems in America are reaching the end of their life cycle, do see you an increased interest in life-cycle considerations for longevity, coating, safety, and the like?

Scott Montross: There is always an interest from the engineers in creating and designing engineered pipe systems that will last longer, are safer, and can handle higher pressures. We have seen enough water main breaks

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to know the damage they cause. In the western United States, there is interest in designing pipe that can better withstand geologic events like earthquakes.

Kris Polly: What factors should water agencies keep in mind when planning large-diameter pipelines?

Scott Montross: Getting projects from the planning phase to the construction phase faster is going to be key in keeping our country’s water infrastructure viable.

A significant amount of our water infrastructure in the United States is beyond its useful life. Our water infrastructure in this country continues to deteriorate faster than we are replacing it. When you look at the current replacement rates, it will take twice the estimated lifespan of the existing system to replace. We are losing ground on this, so we need the project planning and execution to accelerate.

Kris Polly: Looking beyond the traditional funding mechanisms for infrastructure projects, how has the P3 model affected project development? Are P3 projects the future?

Scott Montross: We believe that they are going to be a part of the future. P3s appear to be more prevalent on the water treatment side of the business at this time. We have not yet seen a significant number of P3 projects in the water transmission business, except for the Vista Ridge Project that Garney Construction did with the City of San Antonio. However, we are hearing from California that the Santa Clarita Valley Water District’s $1 billion Pure Water Program will potentially be a P3 project. We have found that there are a significant number of private entities ready to invest in the water business, but water has been relatively inexpensive. The question is, “Is there enough return for the private investor to justify investing in the business?” We think that it is going to be a part of the future. We are not quite there yet, but we appear to be heading in that direction.

Kris Polly: What is your message to Congress regarding water infrastructure?

Scott Montross: There has been a lot of discussion about the administration’s new infrastructure program. Part of that program would focus on shoring up the country’s water infrastructure. We would like to see the discussions turn into actions. M For more information, visit nwpipe.com.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Meeting Fort Worth’s Growing Demand: The Integrated Pipeline Project One of the IPL's booster-pump stations.

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he Tarrant Regional Water District has been providing flood-control and water supply services to the city of Fort Worth, Texas, for nearly 100 years.

The rapid growth of Fort Worth and its sister city, Dallas, has necessitated the construction of ambitious new reservoir and pipeline projects. Most recently, Tarrant Regional Water District and the City of Dallas have collaborated on the immense Integrated Pipeline (IPL) project, which is projected to supply 350 million gallons of water per day to Fort Worth, Dallas, and other water users.

In this interview, Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill speaks with Alan Thomas, the deputy general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, and Dan Buhman, the assistant general manager, about the history of the district, the purpose and scope of the IPL, and the challenges of building this historic project.

Alan Thomas: I have a degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington; at the Tarrant Regional Water District, I started out in the accounting department and moved up from there. I took over administration at one point, and in early 1990 I took over operations.

That position evolved into the assistant general manager position; later on I became deputy general manager.

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Dan Buhman, assistant general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Dan Buhman: I studied civil engineering at Brigham Young University and then completed graduate studies at Colorado State University. After my graduate work, I was a consultant for about 14 years. For a lot of that time, I worked with Tarrant Regional Water District, doing long-range water supply planning. It was a natural fit to join up with the water district: I joined as the assistant general manager 5 years ago.

Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about the history of the Tarrant Regional Water District?

Alan Thomas: We were created back in 1924, primarily for flood control and water supply. In 1930, we built MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO'S COURTESY OF TARRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT.

Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your professional backgrounds.

Alan Thomas, deputy general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

two reservoirs on the west part of the Trinity River, one at one pump station would put 85 percent of our water at Eagle Mountain and the other at Bridgeport. When supply out of commission. We did a study and came up the big flood of 1949 happened, we issued bonds and with a route that goes south of the existing pipeline and upgraded the levee system in Fort Worth on the west side actually puts us on a separate power grid. of the Trinity. The levees are built to protect against an During the same period of time, the City of Dallas was 800-year flood and to prevent the kind of flooding that working on a similar problem: It had contracts for the occurred in 1949. Once the area started growing, the Eagle water in Lake Palestine and needed to bring that water Mountain Lake and Lake Bridgeport Reservoirs were not to its customers. We decided to work together on what is sufficient. There was not enough rainfall in the West Fork now the IPL. We are on a different power grid, so there watershed. In the 1960s and 1970s, we is no single point of failure, and Dallas moved east and built the Cedar Creek “This project connects is sharing the cost for a large portion of Reservoir and pumped water back into pipeline. The pipeline is designed for all the water supplies in the Fort Worth via our first pipeline, which a capacity of 350 million gallons per day this fast-growing met- (MGD); our capacity is 200 MGD, and was 72 inches in diameter. Later on, we ro area. It brings new Dallas’s is 150 MGD. If one party is not expanded that pipeline to make it high capacity by adding one more pumping water to the area and it using its full capacity, the other has the right station and expanding the existing pump adds a level of reliability to use the difference. As for construction station. Then we built another reservoir cost sharing, everything east of Cedar Creek and resiliency to our Reservoir is 100 percent paid for by Dallas in east Texas, the Richland Chambers system.”

Reservoir. Just to give you a comparison, and everything north and west of the city Lake Bridgeport is about twice as big — DAN BUHMAN of Midlothian is 100 percent paid for by as the Eagle Mountain Lake Reservoir; Tarrant Regional Water District.

Cedar Creek is about twice as big as Lake Bridgeport; and Richland Chambers, the last reservoir that Joshua Dill: How large is the area that you serve, and we built, is about twice as big as Cedar Creek and is the how many people live there? third-largest reservoir in Texas. When demand dictated, we built pipelines and high-capacity pump stations to Dan Buhman: We supply water to over 2 million people get water up to the metroplex. We add to our system as in an area larger than Rhode Island and a just a little bit demand dictates and try to keep the costs as low as possible smaller than Connecticut. It comprises 11 counties. We so that everyone can afford it. also provide flood protection to over $1 billion in property It is expensive to pump water from east Texas, and our throughout Fort Worth, and recreation infrastructure, like pumping capacity is not able to meet real-time demand. trails, throughout our levee system.

To address that issue, in 1998 we completed something we call the Benbrook connection, which moves water all Joshua Dill: What purpose does the IPL project serve? the way from east Texas to the Benbrook Lake Reservoir, which is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Dan Buhman: We had more water in our reservoirs in We move the water during the winter so that it will be in east Texas than we had pipelines to move that water. Our Tarrant County, where 95 percent of our water is used, strategy is to build the reservoirs first and phase in the when summer hits. The next step was to build the Eagle pipelines as demand grows. We already had one pipeline Mountain connection in the mid 2000s, which takes water from the Cedar Creek Reservoir and one pipeline from all the way from east Texas to the Eagle Mountain Lake the Richland Chambers Reservoir, and we needed a third Reservoir. The City of Fort Worth, our largest customer, pipeline that would connect those two and allow us to fully has two plants that are fed by Eagle Mountain Lake. Then convey all that water. It also has a little extra capacity for it was time to build a third pipeline. Our plans for east peak or high-demand periods. As Alan explained, it is a Texas have always included three pipelines: one from the joint project with the City of Dallas: Growing demand also Cedar Creek Reservoir, one from the Richland Chambers dictated that a pipeline to the Lake Palestine Reservoir be Reservoir, and one that would bring in supply from both built. This project connects all the water supplies in this Cedar Creek and Richland Chambers. We realized that fast-growing metro area. It brings new water to the area, if we built it according to our original plans, we would be and it adds a level of reliability and resiliency to our system. putting all of our eggs in one basket. One natural disaster We have begun our testing phase, and we are pumping in MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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A segment of the IPL.

the pipeline currently. We will have a grand opening in the spring to celebrate the successful startup of this project.

pump stations along the pipeline (only one of those is being built in the first phase).

Joshua Dill: What were the changing conditions that made this project necessary?

Dan Buhman: The project involves three lake pump stations, three booster pump stations, and a balancing reservoir in the middle of the pipeline that will be able to store 450 million gallons. One booster pump station is online now and two more will come online in the future.

The balancing reservoir is at the high point of the pipeline; basically, the water is pumped uphill to the balancing reservoir and from there it flows downhill to its major delivery points in Tarrant County. There are deliveries along the way as well.

Dan Buhman: Because of growing demand, we were maxing out our system. There were times when we could not take a pipeline down for maintenance because we were pumping at the maximum level. Obviously, that was during times of drought and therefore high demand. The original plan was to have all the pipelines done by 2018. Our conservation efforts have been so successful that we have been able to defer segments of the pipeline until much farther into the future when demand dictates the need for those segments. Our demand-growth line is much flatter than it used to be because of efforts to use water more efficiently in the area.

Alan Thomas: The entire project, including the segment from Lake Palestine and the Dallas segment, involves about 150 miles of pipeline. The first phase of the project, which is about to start operating, is a little over 80 miles.

All but about 12–15 miles of that is 108-inch pipe and the remainder is 84-inch pipe. There will be three booster-

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT.

Joshua Dill: How large is the new IPL project in terms of length and size of pipe?

Alan Thomas: We also have two smaller reservoirs near the booster pump stations that are 40 million gallons each.

We may build two more in the future as well, depending on the demand on the system. This gives us more ground storage than we have ever had before. Our largest budget item is power; that kind of reservoir storage lets us take advantage of time-of-day pumping so that we can save money by pumping during off-peak hours. The sheer size of the pipeline means that we can pump a lot more water using the same amount of energy. The first phase of the pipeline will allow us to pump 20–40 MGD more while using the same amount of energy, and once we finish phase 2 of the project, which connects the Cedar Creek Reservoir, we will be able to pump about 120 MGD more

while consuming the same amount of energy as we do now.

The savings on power costs will be a huge benefit.

Joshua Dill: What advice do you have for water districts considering similar projects?

Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about some of the challenges of working on such a large project in terms of design, engineering, and planning?

Alan Thomas: One piece of advice is to construct your system based not on what you need today, but on what you are going to need in the future. Having the foresight to plan for major upcoming projects and partnerships can be critical to success.

Dan Buhman: From the beginning, one of the challenges was bringing together Dallas and Tarrant Regional in a partnership. These are two different entities with different ways of doing things and different governing bodies.

To come together and build a $2.3 billion water project required significant effort. There was a long planning effort to put together a partnership that was acceptable to both parties; to get both governing bodies on board; and to determine who was going to own it, operate it, and maintain it. Our effort to solve those challenges has been successful. Both partners were optimistic and worked well together in creating a partnership that has been extremely successful.

The other challenge has been that it is such a large project that we have had to split it up into a lot of different segments and give those segments to different engineering firms and contractors. We ended up hiring 10 prime engineering firms. Just putting together a programmanagement structure that could handle that complexity and that worked within the Tarrant Regional culture was a challenge. We are a technically sophisticated organization and do a lot of our own work, so bringing in a program manager who could work with us and handle that level of complexity was a big challenge. Producing design standards and technical standards for those teams to adhere to was a key to making the different segments work as one whole.

Alan Thomas: We have had a few hiccups here and there, but overall, the project has gone smoothly. We have not had as many issues as I thought we would. We are in the process of starting up those booster stations, which will bring further challenges. Getting all the settings, gate closures, and valve closures right will be a challenge.

Dan Buhman: Land acquisition was a significant challenge. We are buying easements for a 150-footwide right of way across 517 parcels, wide enough to accommodate 3 pipelines. It has required significant effort, but we only have 31 parcels left to acquire.

Alan Thomas: With the significant growth in our region, we know that land acquisition for public infrastructure will only get more difficult, so we are buying enough right of way to build pipelines in the future as well.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Dan Buhman: When you are planning, it is essential to get stakeholder engagement right from the beginning.

Those stakeholders include your governance, partners on the project, and local officials. The beginning is often easy: People see the need for more water and give their approval to build something rather quickly. But there may come a time when you need to spend your political capital to move something forward. You want to build that capital from the beginning; you don’t want to need it and not have it.

Joshua Dill: What else would you like to tell our readers about this project?

Dan Buhman: We took an environmentally sustainable approach to this project. We did not have to mitigate any environmental damage because we avoided those impacts entirely. We also are not taking out any places of residence except for one: In all 517 parcels, only one residence is being relocated. We worked for a long time to ensure social and environmental sustainability. We do everything we can to work with landowners during land acquisition.

We use eminent domain as a last resort, and even after we exercise that power, we continue to negotiate. The vast majority of the time, we strike a deal instead of going to court. I consider that social responsibility: working with landowners to make sure that they are justly compensated as we go through their property. We restore their property, and since we know we will have a long-term relationship with these landowners, we treat them fairly from the beginning.

We received an Envision Platinum Award for our work on this project, which makes it Envision’s highest-ranked linear pipeline ever. It is a reflection of our efforts to have a positive effect on the triple bottom line of environmental, social, and economic considerations. In addition to the project’s environmental accomplishments, the IPL received the highest scores for leadership/regional partnership; life-cycle cost considerations; energy efficiency; and sustainable, long-lasting design. M For more information about Tarrant Regional Water District, visit trwd.com.

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Graffiti on an abandoned building serving to remind all of the importance of water on the Navajo Reservation.

Providing Water to the Navajo Nation: The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project

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he Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project is a major construction project being undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation as part of the 2005 Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement. With 300 miles of pipeline, two water treatment plants, 19 pumping plants, and numerous storage tanks spread across an area the size of New Jersey, the project will bring a clean and reliable surfacewater supply to members of the Navajo Nation, some of whom currently do not have water directly delivered to their homes, as well as to beneficiaries in the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the City of Gallup.

Patrick Page, a deputy construction engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation, spoke with Municipal Water Leader writer Tyler Young about the history and details of the project, its significance, and how it is progressing today.

Patrick Page: I have been the deputy construction engineer for the Four Corners Construction Office of the Bureau of Reclamation in Farmington, New Mexico, since 2011, and in that capacity, I also serve as the project manager for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

Prior to that, I was the water management group chief in

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Tyler Young: Would you provide a brief history of NavajoGallup Water Supply Project?

Patrick Page: Navajo-Gallup will provide a domestic, municipal, and industrial water supply to 43 chapters within the Navajo Nation, the southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, and the City of Gallup.

The concept of Navajo-Gallup has been around for decades, and has had various levels of support throughout the years. In 2009, the stars aligned when Public Law 111-11 authorized the construction of Navajo-Gallup and other elements of the Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement in New Mexico. There are several MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

Tyler Young: Please tell us about your background in the water industry and about your time at Navajo-Gallup.

Reclamation’s Western Colorado Area Office in Durango, Colorado. I worked in that office for 21 years before I came down to New Mexico. During the last few years of my work in Colorado, I started working with Navajo-Gallup in some of the preconstruction agreements. Mainly, I was involved with the negotiation of the Navajo Settlement Agreement and Contract and the two repayment contracts we have. So, I have been involved with Navajo-Gallup now for over 10 years and have had the opportunity to work with the Navajo Nation and other tribes in the area pretty much my whole career.

components of the Settlement Agreement, but Navajo2040 population projection, but it has to be functional and Gallup is the cornerstone and is the one Reclamation operational by 2024. It is going to be oversize until that is responsible for. The project consists of 300 miles of future demand comes to fruition. pipeline, 2 water treatment plants, 19 pumping plants, and numerous Tyler Young: You mentioned that the storage tanks. The project area project covers an area the size of New Jersey. encompasses an area the size of the How many people live in that area? state of New Jersey.

The construction, which began in Patrick Page: A rough estimate of the 2012, is currently active along several current population in the service area would fronts of the project. The project be around 125,000. essentially consists of 2 separate pipelines. Each pipeline serves a Tyler Young: How many people will the different area of the Navajo Nation, project serve? which is why there are two water treatment plants. Construction is Patrick Page: The project is designed to currently underway on both laterals, provide enough water to serve a the Cutter Lateral and the San Juan 2040 population of approximately Patrick Page, deputy construction engineer at the Bureau of Reclamation.

Lateral. The first water delivery is 250,000 people. It’s important to note that set for the Cutter Lateral for the the water won’t all be going to individual end of 2020. The full project construction is expected to residences. One of the main purposes of this project is to be completed by 2024, which is also the congressionally spur economic development opportunities on the Navajo mandated deadline. The current estimated cost of the Reservation, so we expect large commercial and industrial project is approximately $1.16 billion, at the October users as well.

2018 price level.

As I mentioned, this is part of the Navajo Water Rights Tyler Young: What initiatives and projects are you Settlement Agreement, so the Navajo Nation’s share of completing at the moment? the costs is forgiven and paid for by the United States.

We do have two other project participants, the City of Patrick Page: As I mentioned, we have started Gallup and the Jicarilla Apache Nation, that will benefit construction on several fronts. We are building this project from the project. They both have the obligation to repay a in reaches, or sections. Right now, Reclamation has portion of their allocated construction costs, and so they two active pipeline contracts going, one on each lateral. are prepaying those costs to avoid incurring interest during Construction of our first water treatment plant is scheduled construction. In addition, the State of New Mexico, as a to start in early November. We are also working with signatory to the Water Rights Settlement Agreement, is partners on this project that are receiving funding from obligated to provide $50 million in cost-share toward Reclamation through financial assistance agreements. the project.

Through these agreements, the Navajo Nation, the City of Gallup, and the Indian Health Service are designing Tyler Young: You mentioned that there was a federally and constructing certain features of the project. There mandated completion date. Why is that? is construction going on with those entities as well. We maintain the overarching responsibility for the completion Patrick Page: We have a completion deadline and we also of the project, but we work with others through these have an appropriations ceiling—in other words, we have financial assistance agreements to allow us to meet that a limited amount of money and a limited amount of time 2024 deadline. I always tell people that when we started, to get the project completed. The deadline is for everyone: 2024 sounded like a date from a futuristic sci-fi movie, but No one wants a lingering project that is never completed. now it is just 6 years away.

We want to cross the finish line and meet our obligations I should mention that all the design for the to the Navajo Nation as far as the settlement goes. It does Reclamation-constructed portions of the project is being create its own challenges: We are building this project not done out of our technical services center in Denver. The only to meet current demands but to meet future demands. only exceptions are the water treatment plants: Those will We are designing and constructing the project around a be designed and constructed through the design-build MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Tohlakai Pumping Plant, the first pumping plant constructed as part of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

process. We currently have a contractor on board for the coordinator. One of the requirements of that position is to Cutter Water Treatment Plant, where construction will be bilingual in English and Navajo. Most of the meetings begin in November 2018. The design-build contract for that we attend on the reservation are conducted, at least in the San Juan Water Treatment Plant, a much bigger plant, part, in the Navajo language. With the help of our outreach will be awarded in late 2019 or coordinator, we are able to better communicate at these early 2020. functions. Also, a group of us in the “I struggle through it, but each One of the most interesting office have learned how to introduce time I have introduced myself ourselves in Navajo—with help, of aspects of this project is the spiritual and cultural element. The phrase in Navajo, I've gotten applause course. It has been a great way for us “water is life” carries with it a special to show respect and it has been a great from pretty much everyone and deep meaning in Indian country. icebreaker too. I struggle through it, in the meeting.”

We as an agency are trying to be but each time I have introduced myself sensitive to that; we are trying to do in Navajo, I’ve gotten applause from — PATRICK PAGE what we can to respect and protect pretty much everyone in the meeting. those spiritual beliefs. Before we break ground on the water Tribal members and tribal government folks have been very treatment plants, we’ll be participating in a traditional positive in their reactions to this, and it helps in building blessing ceremony on the site. That just goes to show the trust and earning respect. That is a unique part of this cultural and spiritual significance of what we are doing. It is project, and it reflects the bigger things that this project important to the Navajo tribal members, and we try to do is about. what we can to respect and protect those beliefs.

Along those lines, for the first time in Reclamation’s Tyler Young: What are some of the biggest challenges you history, we have hired a Navajo public-outreach are facing?

Workers prepare the foundation for an air chamber at Pumping Plant No. 1, with Regulating Tank No. 1 in the background, on the Cutter Lateral.

Patrick Page: We have a lot of challenges, a lot of bumps in the road—every day, it seems. The great thing about this project, though, is that we have continued to move forward; no bump in the road has turned into a roadblock. Going from an appraisal-level design to a final design has been a big challenge. The project was authorized in 2009, and at that time we only had an appraisal design—an estimate.

With our 2024 deadline, we had to get right to work, even though there was still some administrative work left to do. We still had to complete the environmental impact statement (EIS), for one thing. We also recognized that we did not have the time or the financial resources to follow the normal Reclamation process of taking the appraisallevel design to the feasibility level, and then taking that and making it a final design. We are having to go from not much more than a line drawn on a map showing the proposed pipeline alignment, with little to no design data from the field, to a final design and specifications in 2½ years. That has been a challenge because as we get out in the field and start obtaining design data, new information becomes available and we have to tweak our alignment. It might mean that we have to go back and do MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

additional cultural-resource surveys, or geologic surveys, or revise our right-of-way needs. The designers then have to revise their designs. It really has a snowball effect.

I mentioned earlier that we are designing the project to have capacity for future projected growth, but we have to have it completed and capable of delivering water by 2024, whatever the demand is. That leads to some engineering and water quality challenges. We have to factor all that in.

This is a drinking water project, and historically Reclamation has not been involved in the treatment of water. Historically, we have provided raw water to a municipality or a water provider, which then has the responsibility to treat and deliver it to its customers. In this case, we are treating the water, passing it down the system, and then dropping it off for the municipalities and utilities to deliver. We are not in the water delivery business, but with this project, we are very much in the water treatment business. Along those lines, we have to deal with multiple regulatory agencies when it comes to compliance with drinking water regulations: two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Enviornmental Protection Agency

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Local, state, tribal, and federal representatives look on during a traditional Navajo Blessing Ceremony held to commemorate the initiation of construction on the Cutter Lateral Water Treatment Plant.

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Navajo Trust land is held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and acquiring it involves a two-step process. First you have to get consent from the Navajo Nation, and then you have to submit a right-of-way application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and go through its review and approval process. We also have private parcels, state lands, and other federal lands, and all these other lands have different requirements and different processes. In some cases, there are state statutes regarding land acquisition that directly conflict with federal land acquisition laws. We have been working through all those issues. Fortunately, the people we work with in the other agencies have an appreciation for and an understanding of the significance of this project, and we’ve been able to work through all our conflicts thus far.

The last challenge is that we always have to be mindful of the appropriations ceiling associated with the project, as well as the congressionally mandated deadline of 2024.

Tyler Young: Where do you see the water supply industry going in the future?

Patrick Page: This project is an unusual one for Reclamation in the current day because it is the construction of a large-scale water development project.

Reclamation’s mission has really shifted to focus on MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

regions, the Navajo Enviornmental Protection Agency, and the New Mexico Environmental Department. There are a lot of folks in the room when we have regulatory meetings.

Cultural resources compliance is another challenge for us. We are in the Four Corners region, known for places like Mesa Verde National Park and Chaco Canyon National Historic Park. It is the archaeological epicenter of the United States. Cultural resources compliance wasn’t completed prior to authorization of the project, so that is something that we are having to clear on the way, in some cases immediately prior to construction. That puts a lot of pressure on us. Also, we’re not just working with the Navajo Nation on cultural resources compliance, even though it is on their reservation. We’re also coordinating with over 20 other tribes in the region that have an interest in the area, along with all the different state and federal agencies that are responsible for ensuring compliance with various cultural resources regulations.

Another challenge is obtaining rights of way for this 300-mile pipeline project. The legislation actually requires the participants—the Navajo Nation, the City of Gallup, and the Jicarilla Apache Nation—to donate any land that is needed for the construction and operation of the project.

Since a majority of this land is on the reservation and is mostly Navajo Nation land, there is no cost there, but we still have to go through the land-acquisition process. The

A valve being installed at the Tohlakai Pumping Plant on the San Juan Lateral.

operating, maintaining, and managing our existing facilities, and also figuring out how to modernize our aging infrastructure. Navajo-Gallup, by contrast, is a brand-new project, harkening back to the days when Reclamation was a big construction agency. I don’t really come from a construction background, so this has been new to me, but it is rewarding. I believe our staff shares that feeling as well, because we all know that the big reward will come at the end of the project when we are able to see Navajo tribal members getting water at their homes, in many cases for the first time.

Tyler Young: What advice do you have for your peers in the industry?

Patrick Page: Having taken on a project of this magnitude, even as a federal agency, we work with a multitude of tribal, local, state, and federal agencies to make it happen. This project is not shy on having meetings.

We have a lot of them—but that is because we need them.

It takes a lot of coordination and sometimes it takes some hand-holding. There are politics involved, and because of past broken promises that we had nothing to do with, there is an inherent lack of trust when it comes to the federal government. All that coordination, cooperation, and perseverance is essential to getting something like this MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

built. Even with the challenges that we face, it is a great project to work on, because we know what it means for the Navajo Nation, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the City of Gallup. We know that the challenges are going to be worth the rewards. We are bringing a clean and reliable water supply to people who currently do not have it. The purpose of this project is not to find an additional water supply to meet the increased demand of a sprawling metropolitan area. It is quite the opposite: It aims to bring water to people who live in this country but do not have access to water. To say that this project is going to have a positive effect on the Navajo Nation, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the City of Gallup is a huge understatement. It is going to have an incredible effect and will give the project beneficiaries great opportunities for economic advancement for decades to come. This project will make a difference.

Everyone involved knows that they have a role in reaching the end goal of delivering clean reliable water to people, and that is something that makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Tyler Young: Could you please describe how people in the project area are currently getting their water?

Patrick Page: Some houses are hooked up to distribution systems that are supplied by groundwater; others haul their

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24-inch pipe being installed at pumping Plant No. 1 on the Cutter Lateral.

presentations on the project in communities in the project area, the audience was skeptical. Now, when we go to these meetings, I just tell folks to look outside and they’ll see construction equipment putting pipe in the ground. This project is definitely becoming a reality, and it will soon be providing the benefit that so many people have waited so long for. M

Tyler Young: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

For more information on the Navajo-Gallup Project, please visit https://www.usbr.gov/uc/.

Patrick Page: We always like to tell the people whom we interact with on a day-to-day basis that this project is not a pipeline going through your community—it is a pipeline coming to your community. We are providing water to the Navajo Nation to help it for the future. It is an exciting time, because 8 years ago, when we’d be giving

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

water from water stations. Currently, there is no surface water source. The groundwater is of limited quantity and is in many cases questionable in terms of quality. This project will replace that groundwater with a clean and reliable surface water supply and will provide a water supply for individuals who currently don’t have any water coming to their homes and have to haul it in from various locations.

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The Advantages of the P3 Model: A Conversation With Scott Parrish

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ista Ridge, a major project that will supply the city of San Antonio, Texas, with water for the next 30 years, is the largest municipal public-private partnership (P3) project in the United States. Garney Construction, a company with long-standing expertise in laying water pipeline, is currently the majority owner and developer of the project and has taken out loans totaling nearly a billion dollars to build it.

In this interview with Municipal Water Leader Editorin-Chief Kris Polly, Scott Parrish, the president of Garney Construction, tells us about the company, the status of the Vista Ridge project, and the advantages and unique challenges of the P3 funding model.

Kris Polly: Please tell us a bit about your personal background.

Kris Polly: Where was Mr. Garney from?

Kris Polly: Tell us about Garney, its history, and what the company is all about.

Scott Parrish: Charles Garney was from Kansas City, Missouri. He worked for his dad at Garney Plumbing; Garney Construction was spun off from that company.

The plumbers installed everything from the mains to the houses, and Charles started our company to install the water and sewer mains themselves.

Scott Parrish: We were founded by Charles Garney in 1961. Charles started our employee stock ownership plan

Kris Polly: What is Garney’s geographical range of operations?

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GARNEY CONSTRUCTION.

Scott Parrish: I’m from Pawnee City, a small town in Nebraska. My real and ongoing education came from Garney Construction. I started in the field as a laborer in 1988. August 20 marked the start of my 31st year as an employee-owner.

in 1986. We became 100 percent employee owned in 1995 when the employees bought the remaining shares from Charles. Everyone from the new hire on the blister end of a shovel to the chief executive officer is an owner and Scott Parrish, president of shares in the benefits and Garney Construction. obligations that company owners experience. We’ve had slow and steady growth over the company’s history: There are currently approximately 1,400 employee-owners working from coast to coast.

to provide the city of San Antonio with 50,000 acre-feet of water per year for 30 years. The infrastructure for the project includes 142 miles of transmission line—roughly 25 percent is 54 inch and the other 75 percent is 60 inch.

There is a well field containing 18 deep wells that are drilled roughly 1/2 mile into the aquifer. There are three pump stations: a high-service pump station near the well field that pumps the water roughly a third of the way down the transmission line as well as two intermediate pump stations. Finally, there is a delivery point, which is called the terminus site.

Kris Polly: Is this the biggest project that Garney has ever done?

Scott Parrish: It sure is.

The Vista Ridge terminus site.

Scott Parrish: The core of our business is in the United States, from coast to coast.

Kris Polly: Let’s say you have a project. Do you move people? Do you hire people? How does a typical project work?

Scott Parrish: All of the above. We have 17 regional offices covering the United States, and we try to keep our workers within a region, but we have to go where the work is. If we don’t have resources where the project is, we move a core group of experienced employee-owners to the area and then hire locally to meet the staffing requirements.

Kris Polly: Would you say that laying pipelines is your core business?

Scott Parrish: We have two core businesses: pipe work and plant work. Our tag line is Advancing Water, and we build anything that has to do with water.

Kris Polly: Tell us about Vista Ridge.

Scott Parrish: Vista Ridge is the largest municipal P3 project in the United States. The total value of the loan that we took out from a consortium of 11 banks for this project was $927 million. Vista Ridge is based around a Water Transportation and Purchase Agreement (WTPA) MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

Kris Polly: What is the status of the project? When will it be completed?

Scott Parrish: We’re about 65 percent done with the project right now. The commercial operation date is set for April 15, 2020. By contract, we can’t deliver any water for project startup prior to January 17, 2020.

Kris Polly: Can you give us a sense of how many people you have working on this project and what kind of equipment they are using?

Scott Parrish: We’ve got 11 crews comprising approximately 200 employee-owners. A crew usually ranges from 5 to 15 people. We have six pipe crews, four support crews, and one plant crew currently allocated to this project.

Kris Polly: What are the primary materials of your pipelines?

Scott Parrish: There are two primary materials. One is C200 polyurethane-coated, mortar-lined steel. The other is C303 concrete cylinder pipe. Both are made by Thompson Pipe Group.

Kris Polly: Tell us about the P3 arrangement. Who is involved?

Scott Parrish: The project’s foundation is the WTPA. The WTPA is a contract to provide San Antonio Water Systems 50,000 acre-feet of water per year for 30 years in a take-or-pay arrangement. Vista Ridge LLC holds this contract. Central Texas Regional Water Supply Corporation hired Garney to design-build the infrastructure

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The Vista Ridge terminus site under construction.

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERICH SCHLEGEL.

(including the well field, the high-service pump station, the contract, with an 80 percent ownership interest. Twenty transmission line, the two intermediate pump stations, and percent was owned by a passive partner, Abengoa. During the the terminus) that will draw water from the aquifer and early phase of construction, we sold a 29 percent interest to deliver it to San Antonio Water Systems. Central Texas Ridgewood, an asset-management firm. Ridgewood has since Regional Water Supply Corporation and Vista Ridge LLC sold a 5 percent interest to EPCOR. As it stands, the current were coborrowers on the $927 million loan ownership stakes in Vista Ridge LLC are used to develop and construct the Vista Garney with 51 percent, Ridgewood with Ridge project. Central Texas Regional 24 percent, Abengoa with 20 percent, and “Garney is a Water Supply Corporation and Vista EPCOR with 5 percent. solution provider.

Ridge LLC have contracted with the We look forward utility company EPCOR to operate the Kris Polly: So Garney made the decision to solving people's water system. The debt service, return to invest in this project and to build it, and water-related problems.” on equity, and cost of operations will you’ll retain ownership for the next 30 years. be paid by the water payments made by — SCOTT PARRISH San Antonio Water Systems to Vista Scott Parrish: Actually, no. We have a Ridge LLC over the 30-year contract contract to sell our remaining interests in duration. It’s important to note that Garney relied heavily on Vista Ridge LLC to Ridgewood when we achieve commercial our engineering partners Pape Dawson and CP&Y. Gene operation. Garney’s expertise is building projects. Our primary Dawson’s involvement throughout the project has been a book of business is construction. Although we considered cornerstone of the project’s success. holding a long-term interest in Vista Ridge LLC, our board of directors and officer team ultimately decided it was in the Kris Polly: Are you the owner of the project? best long-term interest of our employee-owners to reinvest our capital into growing our core business.

Scott Parrish: When we assumed control of the project prior to financial close, we were the majority shareholder Kris Polly: Would you say there is a trend toward in Vista Ridge LLC, the company that holds the WTPA constructing projects in this manner?

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Scott Parrish: In Europe, P3 is a widely recognized manner of project delivery. In the United States, it’s primarily used in toll roads, educational facilities, and airport construction. P3 is a complex transaction that in my opinion requires a specific set of circumstances to provide value to both the public- and private-sector participants.

Garney is optimistic that the P3 model will catch on widely in the United States. We view ourselves as the market leader in water P3s. Although municipalities can often borrow money at lower rates than the private sector, the efficiencies achieved and the shifting of risk away from municipalities makes P3 a viable option for larger water projects.

Kris Polly: Aside from the differences in funding and capitalization, have there been any other advantages in doing a project in this way?

Scott Parrish: There are definite advantages for the municipality. The main advantage is the shifting of development, permitting, and construction risk. The risk of developing the project and acquiring all the easements—512 parcels, in the case of the Vista Ridge project—lies completely with the developer. There is a balance to be struck between risk and reward. In a P3 project, the owner may pay a little more for water but has little to no risk for continued MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

performance of the system. The owner essentially receives the benefit of new infrastructure and doesn’t have to take out the loans to pay for the capital infrastructure—the developer does that. The municipality only pays for water delivery. If no water is delivered, the municipality has no payment obligations.

Kris Polly: What should every municipal water provider know about this project and about Garney?

Scott Parrish: Our message to the market is that Garney is a solutions provider. We look forward to solving people’s waterrelated problems. We can provide a wide range of project delivery options to meet an owner’s needs, including hard bid, design-build, construction management-at-risk, financing, or P3 project delivery. Each owner has a different set of circumstances and one size does not fit all in this case. Garney is committed to assisting each owner in developing the project solution that best meets the owners needs. M For more information about Garney, visit Garney.com.

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Providing Water Amid Fire

Malibu Lake and Paramount Ranch succumb to the Woolsey Fire.

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as Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) serves around 70,000 people in a biologically diverse mountain ecosystem northwest of Los Angeles, California. In November 2018, the district was hit by the disastrous Woolsey wildfire, which burned 66 percent of the district’s service area. The staff of the water district worked to maintain the functionality of its infrastructure while also providing water to firefighters.

In this interview, Dave Pedersen, the district’s general manager, Dave Roberts, its resource conservation manager, and Mike McNutt, its public affairs and communications manager, speak with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about the Woolsey Fire’s effects on LVMWD’s service area, infrastructure, and local ecosystem.

Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you ended up in your positions.

district and have been with the district for 6 years now. I have a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in business administration with a specialty in finance. My professional background has always been in the public sector. I have about 25 years of public-service

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experience focusing on water management, flood control, and other public infrastructure. I enjoy the public-service element of what I do, and I fell in love with the water business about 15 years ago. I started my career with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

In 2010, I left the County of Los Angeles to work for the Irvine Ranch Water District, first as its director of water operations and eventually as executive director of operations. Most recently, in 2013 I came to Las Virgenes to be the district’s general manager.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LVMWD.

Dave Pedersen: I am the general manager for the

Left to Right: Mike McNutt, Dave Pedersen, and Dave Roberts.

A Los Angeles County Fire Department Sikorsky S-70A Firehawk helicopter draws reclaimed water from a LVMWD reservoir.

Mike McNutt: I am a fairly new transplant to California,

from the Buckeye State. My academic background is in environmental science and communications; I have degrees in both subjects from The Ohio State University. Professionally, I started by working at several small nonprofit organizations focusing on watershed management. From there, I moved into the public health realm, continuing my watershed management work for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health in Cleveland, Ohio, but through the lens of public health in the Great Lakes region. Evolving professionally, I found myself interested in emergency preparedness and took a position at the City of Columbus Public Health Department as its public information officer, where I stayed for nearly 5 years.

After that, I decided to get back into the water industry and moved to California. My first position here was public relations and sustainability director at Palmdale Water District. I then took a position at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for about a year, and about a year ago, I found my home here at LVMWD.

Dave Roberts: I started my career as the assistant

executive director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

doing environmental advocacy. I transitioned from that to working with the Regional Water Control Board, where I was the project manager for the development of the Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load. I worked there for about 12 years. I then moved on to be the district manager for the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, where we started the invasive species program for the Lake Tahoe basin. From there I came to LVMWD. I am relatively new to the water industry, but I have a varied background that is helpful for the work we do in the district.

Joshua Dill: Would you give us an overview of the district and the services it provides?Â

Dave Pedersen: We are a full-service water and

wastewater utility serving about 70,000 people. We provide domestic water at the retail level while also providing recycled water to customers throughout the district for the irrigation of parks, schools, greenbelt areas, golf courses, and cemeteries. We treat the region’s wastewater together with our Joint Powers Authority partner, the Triunfo Sanitation District. Along with treating wastewater and producing recycled water, we manage the biosolids generated by the treatment process. We are one of two agencies in California

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First responders battle the Woolsey Fire as it surrounds LVMWD headquarters.

that use closed-cell composting to locally treat and reuse biosolids. By doing so, we produce a rich compost product that is given away to the community on Saturdays. The district provides these services to four cities in our service area: Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, and Hidden Hills. It also covers a fairly large portion of unincorporated land within the County of Los Angeles, mostly located in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Our service area is primarily residential, with some retail, but not a lot in the way of industry and manufacturing.

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Joshua Dill: Please tell us about the watershed.

Dave Roberts: The Santa Monica Mountains, as a coastal mountain range, have a broad variety of microclimates and ecosystems. However, the mountains are relatively isolated from surrounding wildlands and open spaces: Large areas of urban development surround the mountains on three sides, and the Pacific Ocean runs the length of the southern boundary of the range. The mountains rise steeply out of the Pacific Ocean near Malibu, California, and are mostly covered in chaparral and other adapted vegetation. As a result, the coastal regions are cooler due to the marine influence while the landscape becomes warmer and more arid as you go farther inland. The variable topography, microclimates, and the wide array of ecosystems in our area make the region a biological MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LVMWD.

Mike McNutt: Our customer base is fairly affluent. We service some large homes with big-name owners including the Kardashians, Drake, Will Smith and Jada PinkettSmith, and many professional athletes. We also serve many retirees and people who have lived in the area for years. Many of our customers are highly educated and proactive and care about environmental integrity and sustainability. We have established strong and long-lasting partnerships with our communities and the local school

systems through multifaceted outreach efforts and sciencebased educational programs. We consider our customers to be partners, friends, and family and hold all of them in high regard.

hotspot. We have more indigenous species in the Santa Joshua Dill: Where does your water come from?

Monica Mountains than you would find in a typical mountain range. Our service area is an ecologically Dave Pedersen: All our drinking water is imported. important region in Southern California, as well as being We buy our water from the Metropolitan Water District one of the largest recreational areas proximate to the Los of Southern California, which receives its water from two Angeles metropolitan area. sources: the State Water Project from Northern California The Malibu Creek watershed is the largest watershed and the Colorado River, the water of which is delivered by within the Santa Monica Mountains. It is also the only the Colorado River Aqueduct. Based on the location of our watershed that transverses the mountain range: It snakes district, most of our water comes from the north via the through the Santa Monica Mountains State Water Project. Our local groundwater to the State Route 101 corridor freeway “Our service area is an is not pure enough to drink: It is high in system. It contains one of the largest salt and hydrogen sulfide. In the early years ecologically riparian habitats in the mountain range, of the district, in the 1950s, local residents important region in including some of the area’s densest tried to use the groundwater, but it was not Southern California, as sufficient for their needs. In fact, that was the woodlands. The creek terminates in a natural lagoon near Surfrider Beach well as being one of the motivation for the formation of our agency in Malibu, which is a very popular in 1958. largest recreational recreational beach and surfing location.

Because of our lack of local water, we areas proximate to the were an early adopter of water recycling.

In the past, the Malibu Creek Lagoon Los Angeles was a degraded estuary with poor water We began in the early 1970s, and today, 20 quality and seasonal fish die-offs. This led percent of our water demand is met using metropolitian area.” to concerns from nonprofit organizations recycled water. The other 80 percent, used — DAVE ROBERTS for drinking, is imported. Right now, we and heated debates about the health of the stream. are working on an innovative project called More recently however, many of the differences in the Pure Water Project Las Virgenes–Triunfo. It is a water opinion have been addressed, and after a long debate, the reuse project in which we will apply advanced treatment community embarked on a large restoration project to to our wastewater and use it as a locally sourced drinking reconfigure and redesign the lagoon system. The results so water supply. When that project is completed, the purified far have been positive and the lagoon is looking healthier water will account for 15 percent of the supply for the than it has in a long time. It has a thriving fish population, region. and the water quality has improved.

The Santa Monica Mountains also have one of the Joshua Dill: Is that going to be indirect or direct potable southernmost populations of steelhead trout, a federally reuse? endangered species. The trout have historically been found throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, but development Dave Pedersen: It will be indirect potable reuse through and habitat loss have confined the existing population a method called reservoir-water augmentation. We will to just two spawning grounds, including Malibu Creek. supply advanced-treated recycled water to the Las Virgenes We also have populations of the endangered red-legged Reservoir, where it will spend 2–6 months mixing with frog, which was actively being reintroduced to parts of the the reservoir’s supply of imported water. That period of mountains prior to the fire. Unfortunately, some of the time will serve as an environmental buffer. The water will areas where the frogs were introduced were among the then undergo the normal filtration process at the Westlake watersheds most affecrted by the fire and the related debris Filtration Plant. At that point, the water will be supplied to flows caused by recent rain events. customers through our distribution system.

We also have mountain lions in the Santa Monica Our method is a bit different from the indirect potable Mountains, which may seem counterintuitive for a reuse practiced by water suppliers like the Orange County mountain range surrounded by urban development. The Water District, which do groundwater recharge and National Park Service has identified more than 50 pumas replenishment rather than reservoir augmentation. In our within the range. The community has embraced our location, we do not have a usable groundwater aquifer. Our resident mountain lion population. Efforts are underway to reservoir-water augmentation method involves introducing help improve the genetic diversity of this relatively isolated the purified water into a surface water body instead of an population. aquifer. There are currently three projects in California that MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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are pursuing this path. The regulations on this method were adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board in early 2018. Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about your experience with the recent wildfire and how it affected your customer base, infrastructure, and watershed?

Mike McNutt: On Thursday, November 8, when I was sitting outside having lunch, I remarked that I had never seen it so windy. The Santa Ana winds were in full effect.

They were gaining ferocity through the canyon as each minute passed, while the palm trees were bent sideways from the prolonged gales. At about 2:00 p.m., we heard that a small fire that had started in Woolsey Canyon, which was pretty far away.

As the hours went by, the wind started driving the fire closer to our service area. We decided to open up our emergency operations center at 4:00 p.m., and by 6:00 p.m. it was fully staffed with employees staying for as long as needed. As darkness enveloped the region, we watched the fire advance on communities and homes. Families were fleeing, mandatory evacuations were in full swing, the eerie orange glow of the approaching fire was an ominous presence in the distance, and the air was filled with the sounds of the howling wind and the smell of smoke. It was all happening right outside our communities.

By dawn on Friday, the fire had jumped the freeway and we began receiving word that it had arrived in part of our service area. The wind was so strong that the fire quickly moved into heavily populated areas on its march toward Malibu and the ocean. Our headquarters was just outside the mandatory evacuation area, but we were definitely aware of the fire’s proximity. You could see billowing clouds of smoke, and the flames were starting to move closer to us.

Around 2:00 p.m. on Friday, the flames had advanced directly to our headquarters building. All of the large hills around us were burning. The fire department battalion chiefs came into the building to determine whether we had any hazardous chemicals or anything that could explode and harm the firefighters. We assured them that they were safe, and they were able to keep the flames at bay and prevent them from destroying the buildings. The headquarters building sustained nothing more than smoke damage, while the surrounding hillsides looked like a moonscape.

Our facilities, however, did sustain some minimal damage, including charring to the outside of our composting facility, roof damage, broken windows, damage to internal equipment, and some destruction to our chemical pumps at the water filtration facility. But headquarters stood strong along with the Tapia Water Reclamation Plant. Clearly, we dodged a bullet.

The firefighters did significant work to ensure that all our operations were able to move forward. Once the fire

A LVMWD employee shuts off water to a destroyed home.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LVMWD.

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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

had burned through a neighborhood, our staff were able to follow behind the firefighters and begin turning off water meters at homes that had been destroyed. The staff immediately raced into action to minimize water loss and ensure that the firefighters had their most essential tool to combat the flames: water.

Dave Pedersen: It’s not widely known, and they are certainly not as significant as law enforcement, firefighters, or EMTs, but water agency personnel are also considered first responders. All our water agency employees are sworn disaster-service workers, and all of them took those duties very seriously in this incident. Our role in a disaster situation is to provide support—obviously, water is one of the primary tools firefighters use to put out fires. We did two main things. First, we monitored the water system.

The entire district lost power—meaning that hundreds of facilities and pump stations that normally run on electricity needed backup power. We kept many of those pumps and facilities running with generators, propane, and natural gas. The next step was to deliver portable generators to other stations so that we could move water around for the firefighters to use. We called early for mutual aid and received generators from the Cities of Beverly Hills and Fresno, California. Second, we repaired leaks and shut off water services where homes had been destroyed.

We allowed helicopters to pick up water from our recycled-water reservoir located behind the headquarters

building and our Westlake Reservoir. The firefighters also connected to the water system to draw water to protect homes. Many people don’t realize this, but the public water system is not designed to fight wildfires. It is designed to fight a fire affecting the largest single structure in the service area. Here, we were fighting multiple structures at a single time, which was placing a lot of stress on the system.

Overall, the water system performed quite well under the extreme demands placed on it.

We did lose water system pressure in one portion of our service area, affecting about 500 customers. A bridge that suspended one of our large water mains sustained damage and partially collapsed. When the bridge collapsed, it broke the water main. We were not able to get in and isolate that break because of the fire. We lost a lot of water and could not keep up with demand in that area. Apart from that, we were able to support firefighting efforts throughout the district.

Communication with our facilities also became difficult during the fire. We had to rely on individual site inspections to monitor the functionality of certain facilities. Sometimes we could not access our facilities due to fire damage, downed power lines, and other hazards.

Our water system is operated through a radio network called Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. All our district facilities, from the tanks to the pumps, have radio transmitters that send signals back to our headquarters that allow us to see whether they are operating and whether

The “moonscape” left by the Woolsey Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains.

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Extreme heat caused this bridge, which supported a 12-inch water main, to collapse.

there are any problems. That system, while it was only partially functional during the fire, was quite helpful in allowing us to monitor our system.

Joshua Dill: What was the most recent similar fire? Dave Pedersen: Malibu has a history of wildfires, but as I understand it, this was the largest and most devastating fire we have ever experienced. Three hundred fifty homes were destroyed in our district’s service area, which is only a fraction of the total number destroyed by the fire as a whole. Unfortunately, one of our board members was among those who lost their homes.

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Joshua Dill: Is there anything that you would like to add? Dave Pedersen: I would like to say how incredible our staff was in responding to the fire. They were selfless and came in to do what needed to be done. Some were affected by evacuations and a few experienced fire damage themselves. We look at ourselves not just as a water utility but as an integral part of the community. That spirit is embodied in everything we do at the district. M For more information about the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, contact Mike McNutt at mmcnutt@lvmwd.com or call (818) 251-2124. You can also follow the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District on Twitter and Instagram, or visit its website at lvmwd.com.

MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LVMWD.

Dave Roberts: The watersheds here in California have evolved with fire. It is quite typical to have fires in the summer and fall months, but it is concerning that fire seasons have become longer. Most of the historic fires were isolated to a single canyon and were put out pretty quickly.

In this case, however, strong winds drove the fire across multiple canyons until it eventually reached the Pacific Ocean. The fire covered a path of over 30 miles. Santa Ana winds are common, but they typically do not last this long. We had also experienced 7 years of drought; our dry vegetation aided the spread of the fire.

The upper portions of the Malibu Creek watershed near the Woolsey Canyon were significantly affected by the fire. The firefighters did a heroic job directing the fire around communities, meaning that they saved most of the homes in the area. In open areas and wild lands, however, there were simply not enough firefighters to deal with the fast-moving flames. As a result, over 80 percent of the wild land in the region burned, with many watersheds completely denuded.

The major concern in those areas is sedimentation and the possibility of debris flows. When we toured those areas

a few days after the fire, several of the creeks looked like lava flows because of the ash and sediment that had been mobilized by a rain event shortly after the fires. Those creeks will be devastated for a number of years. It will take a long time for the Santa Monica Mountains to recover.

This is particularly true when you consider the relative isolation of the Santa Monica Mountains and the limited opportunities for wildlife to repopulate those watersheds.

A concern throughout California right now is ecotype conversion. After the wildfires in San Diego in 2007 and 2008, the land was largely recolonized by nonnative vegetation. It is difficult to get native plants to reestablish in some of those areas because the climate has changed.

Adding to the concern is the chance that invasive species will get a foothold in the burned watersheds before native plants are able to reestablish, causing permanent ecosystem alteration.

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