A member of the public came to the Redway Community Services District board meeting at the Healy Center in Redway on Wednesday evening, September 17. She is a caregiver for a Redway resident and came to represent her employer’s concerns about a report he had received about contaminants in the water. She said that he was particularly concerned about the level of copper which, at 200 parts per million, was in excess of allowable amounts. Her employer has been troubled with a blotchy rash since he moved to Redway and thought it might be from bathing in the water.

Operations Manager Ken Dean said that the copper content of water in this area is high. He offered to contact her employer directly to discuss with him the details of the water report. Board member Michael McKaskle said that he also had concerns about water contaminants and he requested that any water purity concerns be placed on the agenda for a future meeting.

Board member Fred Green raised concerns about the fuel use by the operations crew. He suggested that Dean and his workers should be taking steps to minimize their use of diesel and gasoline. He asked Dean how many trucks the district used to maintain and operate the district’s water treatment

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and sewage treatment facilities.

Dean said that the district owned three trucks and he assured Green that the workers tried to “double up if we can and save mileage.” He said he will compile a report on mileage for a future meeting.

Board member John Rogers made a presentation on the district’s efforts to select an engineering firm for the district’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) application to design improvements to the district’s water treatment plant, water intake and add a new water storage tank. Rogers, Green and Dean acted as a sub-committee to study the four applications that the district received from firms interested in taking on the project.

Rogers said that the sub-committee members agreed that all four firms were competent and professional but that they were most impressed with the proposals from Water Works and Winzler & Kelly. Dean favored Water Works because the district has worked with them before. Green said it was a toss-up between the two as far as he was concerned and he was in favor of accepting Dean’s preference for Water Works.

There was a long discussion about the intricacies of SRF funding. The district has to demonstrate its fiscal ability to put up money to get money. Green said he thought the district could demonstrate its commitment to funding with its books bookkeeping.

After much discussion and consideration, the board approved entering into a contract with Water Works to complete the water system upgrade.

During his field operations summary, Dean reported that the existing system had been able to meet storage and normal use demands, despite historically low river flows. The static water level has decreased by six inches since monitoring began in August. That puts the water 8.2 feet above the intake pipe. The average draw down level is six feet but a low of 4.8 feet has been observed. The average daily production in the district is 300 GPM with a total operational time of 14 to 17 hours.

Water use in the Redway has dropped off slightly with the cooler weather, the return of school and decreased demands from gardens. Daily water consumption has been between 300,000 GPM and 350,000 GPM. The district is able to produce 420,000 GPM. Dean had checked the river flow downstream and found the flow at Miranda to be 3,100, ten times the current production rate, so Dean concluded that if the river level remains constant from this point, the district will be able to “survive” until the flows increase.

At the previous meeting, Dean had reported that the river has shifted its course away from the district’s intake pipe and he proposed diverting the river flow back to the intake pipe. In the interim, a representative from Fish and Game had come and inspected the site and explained the process for making a diversion. Dean said that the Fish and Game representative said that it was their agency’s opinion that the area is at the beginning of a new drought cycle.

Dean said there was no short-term fix to the problem and proposed putting a pump into the river to get the water to the intake. He said that would be an expense and a risk, but that Fish and Game approved the plan if the proper fish screens were used. Dean said he would only do that if the situation worsens.

This provoked a discussion about water storage and water usage and promoting water conservation in town. McKaskle said he thought the board ought to be more proactive in matters of water conservation. He suggested going on KMUD to promote a public discussion of water conservation. Board chair Virginia Graziani characterized the situation with river flows as “a big wake up call.”

The board also acknowledged the receipt of two letters protesting the new rate ordinance. A public hearing on the new rate ordinance will be held at the next meeting.