HomeMy WebLinkAbout15- AE2s Bozeman Drought Management Plan Proposal FINALPROPOSAL POINT OF CONTACT:
Scott Buecker, PE
1050 E Main St, Suite 2
Bozeman, MT 59715
Scott.Buecker@ae2s.com
406-219-2633
®
09.08.2015
PROPOSAL FORDROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN
CITY OF BOZEMAN, MT
September 8, 2015
Ms. Lain Leoniak, JD, CLIA
City of Bozeman – Water Conservation Division
PO Box 1230
Bozeman, MT 59771-1230
Re: Providing Drought Resiliency to the City of Bozeman
Dear Ms. Leoniak:
The City of Bozeman has a demonstrated commitment to proactively planning for the needs of the community. Now, in order to
best prepare for the possibility of a drought, the City is looking to develop a comprehensive and proactive Drought Management
Plan. We believe our team is the best source for this work because we provide you with the following:
The Right Combination of Experience and System Familiarity: Our combined consulting and municipal experience includes
providing growing communities with Drought Management tools, and helping communities respond to drought with emergency
infrastructure improvements. When combined with our recent and ongoing work on Bozeman’s water resources and
infrastructure (including the 2013 Integrated Water Resources Plan, the 2015 Water Distribution System Risk Assessment
Response Plan, and the work we are currently doing on the Water Facility Plan Update and the Lyman Creek Water System
Expansion), our range and depth of experience provides AE2S with a unique understanding of the City’s water infrastructure,
water use patterns, potential risk of drought impacts, and insight as to methods of predicting, mitigating and responding to a
reduction of water resource availability.
An Efficient Work Plan and Approach: Our work in preparation of this proposal demonstrates that we have the capacity and
ability to provide the City with a Drought Management Plan that will effectively help the City prepare for a drought event. Our
preliminary work builds on similar, recent work we have completed, and includes an initial consideration of system vulnerabilities
and ideas for drought mitigation and response that the City may wish to consider. We look forward to sharing our ideas and using
a proven framework along with the background information we have already gathered to complete our work effort as efficiently
as possible.
Collaborative Team Approach: Because nobody knows your City and your community better than you, we remain committed
to using a collaborative approach to integrate your knowledge of the City with our experience and expertise to arrive at the best
possible project outcome for the City of Bozeman. We look forward to assisting you in assembling a Drought Management Team
and providing you with the right tools for the task at hand.
In closing, we are truly energized by this project and sincerely thank you for the opportunity to further our current relationship
with the City of Bozeman. We are confident that combination of experience and system familiarity, efficient work plan and
approach, and collaborative team approach will Provide Drought Resiliency to the City of Bozeman. Please contact me with
any questions or concerns; I can be reached at 406-219-2633, on my cell at 406-570-5184, or by email at
Scott.Buecker@AE2S.com.
In Spirit of Service,
AE2S
Scott Buecker, PE
Project Manager
1EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 1.1
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Local Office and a Vested
Interest in Your Success
We call Bozeman home, too. Not
only does that mean that we can
provide you with fast, responsive service, but we
also have a vested interest in your success.
Our experience on your Integrated Water
Resources Plan provides us with a head
start on this project.
The knowledge gained through our work on
your Integrated Water Resources Plan means we’ll
be able to hit the ground running on your Drought
Management Plan.
First-Hand Experience with
Drought
Our project team members know
what it is like to experience a drought.
We’ll put this experience to work to ensure
that all bases are covered in your Drought
Management Plan.
Collaborative Approach
We’ll work together with you to
develop a plan that best meets the
needs of the City. Incorporating the
needs of stakeholders from the very start
will promote efficient project progress.
Experience with Growing
Communities Planning for
Drought
We’ve worked directly with on-the-
grow communities (such as Sioux Falls, SD
and Fargo, ND) in drought planning efforts.
This experience will allow us to efficiently
incorporate the needs of a growing community.
In-Depth Understanding and Approach
AE2S has already given the project
considerable analysis, identifying specific
challenges and preliminary solutions to meet
project goals. We are ready to hit the ground running.
2PROJECT UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 2.1
2
PROJECT UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH
The City of Bozeman is planning to
develop a Drought Management Plan to
proactively prepare for drought conditions
in the local watershed and have the ability
to predict and systematically respond
in a manner that minimizes the impact
of drought. The region has experienced
severe drought in its recorded history
(1930-1941, 1999-2006), and is located in
a region that appears to be relatively more
prone to drought conditions, as shown
in the historical Palmer Drought Severity
Index (PDSI) map at right. Southwestern
Montana has been in severe or extreme
drought 15 to 19.9% of the time between
1895 and 1995, as high or higher than
all but two small areas of the continental
U.S. In addition, recent improvements in
paleoclimate data analysis (much of which
has been led by MSU’s Greg Pederson),
primarily from tree-ring analysis, indicates
that more severe and prolonged droughts
have occurred in the region than have
been reflected by recorded history.
The City of Bozeman’s Integrated
Water Resources Plan (IWRP) revealed
that without conservation, it is probable
that the City’s currently available firm
yield will not adequately cover even
indoor water needs in the event of a
drought emergency. Therefore, the IWRP
recommended that the City conduct
drought management planning, and
integrate the plan with water conservation
planning, to ensure that the firm yield of
the City’s water sources exceeds indoor
water demand during drought under
the City’s potential population growth
scenarios.
Bozeman is particularly vulnerable
to drought due to its heavy reliance
on prolonged runoff from mountain
snowpack, the vulnerability of the Hyalite
and Sourdough watersheds to wildfire,
the City’s rapid rate of growth, and the
competing interests - particularly in a
drought, from agriculture and the trout
fishery. However, vulnerability is directly
The Bozeman region is relatively prone to drought conditions.Drought IndicatorsAE2S will consider the relevant
drought indicators affecting the
City and formulate a Drought
Management Plan that is particular
in its solutions. We have recently
delivered substantially similar drought
management deliverables for Sioux
Falls, South Dakota and Grand Forks
and Fargo, North Dakota - growing
communities that are susceptible
to drought. The primary difference
between these projects and the
City of Bozeman’s situation is the
City’s mountain setting, and the
resulting nature of the watershed.
Because most of the streamflow in
the Bozeman region comes from
melting snowpack, greater attention
will need to be given to snowpack
conditions when monitoring regional
drought conditions and assessing
vulnerability.
DROUGHT INDICATORS
2PROJECT UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 2.2
related to preparedness, and the City
can significantly reduce its vulnerability
with a solid plan for conservation,
drought reserve capacity, and drought
management. That will be the AE2S
mission for this project.
AE2S will review the recent results
of the City’s participation in the EPA’s
Climate Resilience Evaluation and
Awareness Tool (CREAT), to ensure
that information from that effort
is incorporated with the Drought
Management Plan. AE2S will also
assist the City with identification of
key personnel to serve on the Drought
Management Team, so that team members
can, at the City’s discretion, take part
in workshops and other collaborative
meetings during preparation of the Plan.
Drought Monitoring
There are several regional and
national sources of drought indices,
provided by multiple agencies and
utilizing a range of parameters
(precipitation, snowpack, soil moisture
indices, forecasts, etc.). AE2S will identify
the most applicable data and indices and
recommend a list of proposed drought
monitoring parameters. This will likely be
a mix of traditional drought monitoring
sources, such as the PDSI, the Palmer
Hydrological Drought Index, Standard
Precipitation Index, Surface Water Supply
Index (shown at left), forecasts/drought
outlooks issued by the National Weather
Service’s Climate Prediction Center;
along with more site-specific parameters
such as Middle Creek (Hyalite) reservoir
level, Hyalite Creek flow, snowpack water
content in Hyalite Canyon and the Bridger
Mountains (2014 Water Walk topic), and
basin-wide streamflow forecasts. We will
review each short-listed parameter with
the City, and ultimately provide a concise
list so that the City can update the data
regularly, in a timely manner, for drought
condition assessment.
AE2S will also provide recommended
ranges for each data point or indices
selected for overall drought quantification
and clear definition of drought stage. An
example matrix provided to the City of
Fargo is shown below. This is critical for
decision-making and clear communication
with City officials and the public. The
drought stage identification will be used
Your Drought Management Plan will include a mix of drought monitoring sources.
Example drought quantification and drought stage definition.
2PROJECT UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 2.3
to trigger pre-determined appropriate
mitigation and response actions, discussed
in the following sections and developed in
collaboration with the City. The primary
goal will be to recognize a drought in
its early stages and trigger a response
that minimizes further impacts of the
drought. Other Drought Management
and Response Plans have shown that early
recognition of drought, followed by public
notification and effective education, can
trigger voluntary responses that stave
off subsequent mandatory water use
restrictions.
Vulnerability Assessment
The City of Bozeman is currently
particularly susceptible to impacts of a
severe or exceptional drought, for the
following reasons:
There is no longer any controlled storage
on Sourdough Creek, or on the Middle
Creek water rights, and Lyman Spring’s
yield is currently out of the City’s control.
This would not be as significant of a
concern if the City’s primary source was a
large river, but on smaller sources located
high in the watershed, this relative dearth
of raw water storage capacity means that
the City is highly dependent on snowpack
storage.
Without successful conservation,
Bozeman will likely see a water supply
and demand gap within the next 30 years
(2013 IWRP).
Even without any changes in precipitation
intensity, this could lead to a shift in
peak stream runoff to late winter and
early spring, away from the summer and
autumn when water demand is typically
highest. This occurred in 2015, although
local spring rains helped the situation.
Regionally, it has already been occurring
with what appears to be increasing
frequency. The earlier timeline of the
winter and spring snowmelt is anticipated
to place increased strain on the adequacy
of the water supplies in the late summer
and fall months.
Late-summer instream flows are important
to the health and viability of the local
trout fishery, which has been stressed
with higher river temperatures due to less
snowmelt and lower flows. Department
of Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) has
increasingly called for mid- and late-
summer fishing closures on the East
Gallatin (this year’s was lifted on August
24th). It is primarily for this reason that
Bozeman is not able to pursue effluent
reuse from its wastewater treatment
facility – FWP and other interests want
the flows from the facility to augment
background streamflow in the East
Gallatin. This compromises the feasibility
of a key water resource option for the City.
AE2S will discuss this preliminary
list of vulnerabilities with the City and
develop the analysis of these, and any
others identified in those discussions,
accordingly. In addition, we propose
that the City add an Infrastructure
component to the Drought
Management Plan. This was done as part
of the Grand Forks and Fargo deliverables,
in order to factor in the risk imposed on
the City due to infrastructure inadequacy,
and the potential for components of
the City’s water infrastructure to be out
of service due to a failure or required
maintenance event. We recommend that
the City factor in any reductions in water
supply or storage due to these events into
the water shortage and mitigation trigger
matrix, as was done in the City of Fargo
example shown on the preceding page (see
“Infrastructure Trigger” row).
If the City sees value in the
Infrastructure component of the
Vulnerability Assessment, AE2S could also
add an evaluation of future infrastructure
improvements that could reduce
vulnerability to drought, such as Aquifer
Storage & Recovery. The potential to bank
water in wet years for use in subsequent
dry years could greatly benefit Bozeman,
given its raw water storage limitations.
Mitigation Actions
Mitigating drought is the process of
Other than Hyalite Reservoir,
which represents 47% of the
City’s total current water rights, the
City does not have controlled raw
water storage.
Rapid growth is occurring
again in the City and at
Montana State University, increasing
demand on the limited local water
resources.
Climate change models
predict warming in the
region, which could reduce snowfall,
and result in earlier melting of the
snowpack.
As we are currently witnessing
in the interior Northwest,
wildfire risk follows drought
risk, and the City of Bozeman’s
watersheds are highly vulnerable
to wildfire, which could drastically
reduce the amount of water that
is obtainable from the Sourdough,
Hyalite, or Lyman watersheds.
Bozeman’s water usage
competes with other
beneficial uses that are also under
increased pressure in drought
conditions: agriculture, the local trout
fishery, and river recreation.
As discussed previously,
the region has experienced
droughts of substantial severity
and duration in its recorded history,
but these appear to be moderate
compared to the extent of major
droughts in preceding centuries.
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2PROJECT UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 2.4
proactively reducing long-term risk and
impacts of drought. Proactive planning
for drought has proven much more cost-
effective than reacting to a drought once it
is in effect.
The key to mitigating drought
is understanding current water
usage patterns. As the City’s Water
Conservation Program Manager
documented recently, there is a large
outdoor water demand in the City.
Summer usage in 2013 totaled 564 million
gallons or 1,730 acre-feet beyond the
winter baseline, which represented 31
percent of the City’s 1.8 billion-gallon
total usage for the year. Outdoor water
demand curtailment is usually a primary
component of drought response, as it
is largely discretionary. Reducing the
amount of outdoor water used in the
City is a key goal of the City’s Water
Conservation Program. However, there is
also a concern that substantial reductions
could result in demand hardening, or be
utilized to enable future growth.
AE2S’ work on the 2013 IWRP
and Water Facility Plan Update provides
us with an excellent understanding of
the City’s water use. We will use this
knowledge and experience with the City
to characterize the end uses of potable
water in the City and identify and quantify
use that could be curtailed during a
water shortage with the lowest economic
and societal costs. This will be done in
close collaboration with the City’s Water
Conservation Program, planning for
future conservation of this resource while
guarding against demand hardening, in
order to mitigate future drought impact.
Demand Hardening is the idea
that long-term investments in water
conservation makes achieving demand
reductions during drought more difficult
because there is less discretionary use for
consumers to curtail demand. However,
recent research revealed no correlation
between average per-capita demand just
prior to a water shortage and the percent
reduction in demand that is achieved
during the shortage. Historical concerns
over demand hardening may have been
inflated, but the research concludes that
“as per capita demand declines because
of investments in water use efficiency,
it becomes necessary for suppliers to
reconfigure their shortage contingency
plans so as to fast forward to steps that
normally would have been taken later in
the more traditionally configured shortage
plans.”
AE2S has other drought mitigation
ideas that we will discuss with the City.
The first is the creation of a “strategic
water reserve”, which would entail setting
aside some portion of the City’s storage
capacity on the Hyalite/Middle Creek
Reservoir for use only in a shortage.
This could be done now, or it could be
done by banking a portion of future
gains in water conservation. This would
provide an additional safety factor
against catastrophic water shortages. The
reserve would be used at the discretion
of the Drought Management Team and
City Commission. This approach was
adopted by Denver Water. It also serves
as protection against demand hardening,
and provides the additional benefit that
residents would know that at least a
portion of water conserved was protected
from other end uses.
Finally, AE2S has a public utility
financial analysis group that specializes in
rate studies. If the City is interested, this
expertise could be enlisted to evaluate
rate structure alternatives that may benefit
additional water conservation and drought
mitigation, including Inclining Block
Rates, Seasonal Rates, drought surcharges,
or excessive use surcharges.
Response Actions
The purpose of drought response
actions is to reduce the impact of
continued drought through short-
term adjustment of water usage. AE2S
will work with the City to establish
appropriate responses to each successive
stage of drought, which would be based on
the monitoring of parameters described
previously. The initial drought stage may
just trigger public outreach and education
with pre-prepared materials available for
distribution/public notification. A second
stage declaration may call for specific
voluntary water use reduction measures.
Scott Buecker, our proposed
project manager, has witnessed
this firsthand, recently moving from
California and its historic drought.
There he was involved in multiple,
expensive drought response
projects, including lowering the
elevation of the Redway Community
Service District’s infiltration gallery
on the Eel River, a design-build
project of a floating barge-based 50
MGD pump station with dual floating
forcemains on Lake Cachuma to lift
water from the lake to outfall ports
that had become unreachable,
and emergency procurement of
a new intake and pipeline on the
Little Shasta River to provide an
emergency source of raw water for
the City of Montague.
2PROJECT UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACH
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 2.5
Studies have shown that voluntary actions
alone can result in water use reductions
of up to 25%, but this is known to be
dependent on the public’s trust that the
City’s qualification of the drought stage
is reasonable and their education on
water use reduction. If demand does
not decrease or drought conditions
worsen, subsequent stages would trigger
progressively greater mandatory water
use restrictions. The most effective and
actively enforced strategies have been
able to accomplish up to 40% reduction
in water use.
AE2S will develop worksheets
for the Drought Management. These
worksheets will list the drought indicators,
clearly indicate the resulting drought
classification, provide a list of the triggered
response actions and the overall goal for
reduction, and provide a list of suggested
communication efforts.
AE2S will also survey literature to
determine what reductions in demand
have been achieved by specific triggers/
actions by other cities, in order to provide
Bozeman with good estimates of reduction
that will be achieved with each successive
trigger, and to develop a plan for the City
that maximizes the public’s response to
a shortage. AE2S will also evaluate the
revenue impacts of reductions in demand
resulting from short-term curtailment to
help the City plan for the financial impact.
One methodology that has been
employed in a few cases is to gauge the
water supply in relation to the current
demand, and if there’s a predicted
shortage, calculate a per capita usage
(gallons per capita-day, gpcd) that would
ensure an adequate supply, then rank
the drought according to the current
magnitude of the over/under gpcd use of
the City’s residents. We will explore this
option with the City, as well.
Operational and Administrative
Framework
AE2S will assist the City with
identification of an appropriate
“Drought Management Team”, which
would routinely meet (potentially bi-
monthly during non-drought periods,
and monthly, if not weekly, during
drought periods) to review drought
monitoring results and evaluate them
against the established triggers for
drought mitigation and response.
This team would likely consist of, at
minimum, the City’s Water Conservation
Specialist, a selected City Engineer,
and representatives from the Water
Treatment Division and Water/Sewer
Department. Other potential candidates
that we will discuss with the City are
representatives from the Community
Development/Planning Department, Fire
Department, Sustainability Program, and
Communications/Public Relations.
Plan Update Process
AE2S will provide a detailed
recommendation for routine updating
the Drought Management Plan. The
schedule should be every 5 years initially,
but in reality the Plan should be updated
with any significant changes in the water
supply, supply monitoring (such as
flow measurement devices in Hyalite,
Sourdough, or at Lyman Spring), water
demand or water demand forecasts, and
any actual drought “proof” testing.
Beaver Dam at former site of Mystic Lake Dam.
3WORKPLAN
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 3.1
3
WORKPLAN
AE2S’ proposed Work Plan is
presented in the table below. We will
amend this plan per the City’s input.
The schedule can be expedited if the
City needs, or if the City would like
more collaborative meetings, AE2S will
accommodate. Our team includes our
Project Manager, Scott Buecker, leveraging
his presence in Bozeman and involvement
in the Water Facility Plan Update and
Lyman Creek Water System Expansion;
Nate Weisenburger, to draw on his
experience with and understanding of the
City’s water system; and Hazel Sletten,
to leverage her municipal experience,
including project management for the City
of Grand Forks Drought Management and
Conservation Plan.
PROJECT TASK SCHEDULE PERSONNEL HOURS DELIVERABLE CITY OF BOZEMAN INVOLVEMENT
EPA CREAT Results
Review October 2015 Weisenburger 2 CREAT Review Technical
Memorandum (TM)
• Conference Call to discuss
review prior to finalization of
TM – November 2015Buecker4
Drought Management
Team Formation Oct-Nov 2015
Sletten 24 Drought Management Team
TM
• Project Kickoff Meeting with
Water Conservation Specialist
– October 2015Buecker16
Drought Monitoring Plan Nov-Dec
2015
Weisenburger 8
Drought Monitoring Indicator,
Range and Trigger Matrix
• Drought Indicator Selection
and Trigger Setting Workshop
with Drought Management
Team – December 2015Buecker40
Vulnerability Assessment Nov-Dec
2015
Weisenburger 16 Vulnerability Assessment TM • Joint Vulnerability
Assessment / Drought
Mitigation Workshop with
Drought Management Team –
January 2016
Buecker 40
Drought Mitigation Plan Dec-Jan 2015
Sletten 32
Drought Mitigation TMWeisenburger8
Buecker 16
Drought Response Plan Jan-Feb 2016
Sletten 40 Drought Response Plan
TM (including Monitoring
Indicator, Trigger and
Response Action Worksheets)
• Joint Drought Response
/ Operational and
Administrative Framework
Workshop with Drought
Management Team –
February 2016
Weisenburger 8
Buecker 16
Operational and
Administrative Framework
Plan
Feb 2016
Sletten 16 Operational and
Administrative Framework
Plan TMBuecker2
Drought Management
Plan Update Process Plan Feb 2016
Sletten 8 Drought Management Plan
Update Process Plan TM
• Incorporated in Drought
Management Plan Delivery
WorkshopBuecker2
City of Bozeman Drought
Management Plan Feb 2016
Sletten 8
City of Bozeman Drought
Management Plan
• Final Drought Management
Plan Delivery Workshop
• Presentation to City
Commission
Weisenburger 8
Buecker 32
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 4.1
4KEY PERSONNEL
5
KEY PERSONNEL
AVAILABILITY/WORKLOAD
Scott Buecker
Nate Weisenburger
Hazel Sletten
AE2S’ TEAM MEMBERS AVAILABILITY
Projected Workload Availability for this Project
The team we’ve assembled for your Drought Management
Plan project has the right combination of expertise, proven
experience, and availability. It features individuals who have lived
and worked in areas experiencing significant droughts, prepared
major drought planning efforts for growing communities, and
developed your Integrated Water Resources Plan project from
which this project originated.
The organizational chart presented above shows how the
project team will interact with you and each other. The pages
that follow feature the resumes for the key personnel comprising
your project team. These resumes present only the most relevant
experience for each individual.
The AE2S team regularly balances
multiple projects and utilizes industry
leading software to help manage projects
and keep them on track in terms of budget,
quality, and schedule. Your projects are
extremely important and will involve
prioritizing time and scheduling issues,
quick turn around, and extreme client
service in order to make them a success.
Our engineers tend to have a short-term
workload of ~70%, which allows us to
respond quickly to “fast-burn”, smaller
project schedules.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
NATE WEISENBURGER, PE
Technical Advisor
City of Bozeman
LAIN LEONIAK, JD, CLIAWater Conservation Specialist
SCOTT BUECKER, PE
Project Manager
HAZEL SLETTEN
Project Specialist
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 4.2
4KEY PERSONNEL
HAZEL SLETTEN, PE Project Specialist
EDUCATION
Master of Science in Microbiology, Minor in Biochemistry, University of
North Dakota School of Medicine; Bachelor of Arts in Biology, Minor in
Chemistry, St. Cloud State University
Ms. Sletten has 30 years of experience in the water treatment
industry. As superintendent of the Grand Forks Water Treatment
Plant, she was responsible for the supervision of a 16.5 MGD lime-
softening plant treating surface water and continued direction of
the water and wastewater laboratory. Ms. Sletten’s experience
includes drought management planning, regulatory planning for the
SWTR and D/DBP rules; bench scale studies of multiple integrated
membrane systems; membrane filtration and ozone pilot scale
study; disinfection plant scale study, filter evaluations; 50-year raw
water quantity and need study; water reclamation facility evaluation;
water treatment plant hydraulic capacity analysis; and future water
treatment facility preliminary planning and layout report.
SPECIFIC RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
• Drought Management Plan, Grand Forks, ND - Project
Manager. Plan intended to monitor climate and upstream
water resources for the City of Grand Forks, allowing the
implementation of conservation practices to conserve
water as drought conditions evolved. As part of this plan,
river flows, reservoir pool levels, and climate forecasts
were developed to trigger consumer water conservation
notifications.
• Red River Valley Water Supply Project, Eastern North
Dakota - Technical Advisor for the City of Grand Forks.
The City of Grand Forks is a major stakeholder in the
development of an alternate water supply for Eastern North
Dakota in the event of a major drought. Tasks included
analysis of water demands and population projections for
municipal, commercial, and industrial water users; analysis
of the potential impacts to treatment technologies from
the introduction of an alternate water supply; and review
of water permitting requirements to secure appropriate
documentation of water supply demands.
CONTACT
Hazel.Sletten@ae2s.com
T: 701-746-8087
SCOTT BUECKER, PE Project Manager
EDUCATION
Master of Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Wisconsin
Mr. Buecker is a design and consulting engineer with over 14
years of experience. He has worked as a project manager,
design manager, and senior project engineer. His experience
spans permitting and funding procurement, facilities planning,
conceptual and preliminary design, preparation of final plans and
specifications, and construction management.
SPECIFIC RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
• Water Facility Plan Update, Bozeman, MT - Assistant
Project Manager. Local project coordination of the Facility
Plan Update work.
• Lyman Creek Water System Expansion, Bozeman, MT -
Project Manager. Preparation of a Preliminary Engineering
Report to evaluate various alternatives to increase the
capacity of the Lyman Creek water supply system and
optimize overall infrastructure operations.
• Redway Community Services District WTP
Improvements, Redway, CA - Project Manager. Design
of infiltration gallery replacement, intake pump station
replacement, backwash and filter to waste improvements,
valve replacements, booster pump station replacement, and
a new 460,000 gallon water storage tank partially in response
to record low water levels in the South Fork of the Eel River.
RCSD was no longer able to infiltrate water to meet the
community’s demand. The existing infiltration gallery was
excavated, and further excavation was done to lower the
gallery to access the lower water channel of the Eel.
• Lake Cachuma Barge Pump Station, Santa Barbara, CA
- Project Manager. Design-Build of a floating barge pump
station with firm capacity of 45 MGD and a 3,000-foot run
of dual 36-inch HDPE connecting the drought-impacted
Lake Cachuma to the intake tower.
REGISTRATIONS
Professional Engineer: Montana (Pending),
California
CONTACT
Scott.Buecker@ae2s.com
T: 406-219-2633
C: 406-570-5184
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 4.3
4KEY PERSONNEL
NATE WEISENBURGER, PE
Technical Advisor
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science, Civil
Engineering, University of North
Dakota; Master of Engineering, Civil
Engineering with Environmental
Emphasis, University of North
Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
REGISTRATIONS
Professional Engineer: Montana,
North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, Alberta,
Saskatchewan
CONTACT
Nate.Weisenburger@ae2s.com
T: 406-268-0626
C: 406-217-3711
SPECIFIC RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
• Integrated Water Resources Plan, Bozeman, MT - Project Manager. Development
of a plan to evaluate strategies for water reduction, water efficiency and management,
integrated utility planning, and new water source development.
• Water Facility Plan Update, Bozeman, MT - Project Manager. Development of
a water distribution system model, water use characterization, planning and service
area update, fire flow analysis, pressure zone and pressure reduction study, capital
improvements plan, and a non-potable irrigation system study.
• Red River Valley Water Supply Project Technical Team, Carrington, ND -
Project Engineer. Activities included attending team meetings, providing review
and comment on Needs and Option Report and Environmental Impact Statement
documents, projecting future water demands, and assisting stakeholders with
evaluating alternatives with respect to regional drought mitigation.
• Future Water Supply Study, Sioux Falls, SD - Project Coordinator. Evaluation
included population and water demand projections, including drought impacts,
concept development to supplement water system capacity from Lewis & Clark Rural
Water System and utilization of the City’s Future Use Permit for the Missouri River;
opinions of total probable project costs and incremental O&M costs associated with
alternatives, implementation considerations, present worth financial analysis, and
conclusions and recommendations.
• Drought Management Plan Update, Fargo, ND - Technical Advisor. Update of
the current Drought Management Plan, which was last adopted in 2002. The update
included drought monitoring, action plans, and potential additional emergency
infrastructure, as well as a communications plan.
• Red River Valley Water Supply Project Operational Plan, Carrington, ND -
Technical Advisor. Development of an operational plan for the RRVWSP pipeline
and related infrastructure. The plan included the development of infrastructure
operation strategies, water accounting system, and management protocol to mitigate
the impact of regional drought conditions.
• Drought Management Plan, Grand Forks, ND - Technical Advisor. Assisted with
a plan to monitor climate and upstream water resources for the City of Grand Forks,
allowing the implementation of conservation practices to conserve water as drought
conditions evolved. As part of this plan, river flows, reservoir pool levels, and climate
forecasts were developed to trigger consumer water conservation notifications.
• Lyman Creek Water System Expansion, Bozeman, MT - Client Manager.
Preparation of a Preliminary Engineering Report to evaluate various alternatives to
increase the capacity of the Lyman Creek water supply system and optimize overall
infrastructure operations.
Mr. Weisenburger’s focus and experience includes master planning and the preparation
of preliminary engineering reports, feasibility studies, and facility plan documents
primarily geared toward developing funding for water supply and treatment projects,
water quantity and quality challenges, addressing regulatory compliance issues, and
process improvements and/or optimization. Mr. Weisenburger extends his hands-
on study experiences by providing project management, final design, bidding, and
construction administration services for municipal and rural water system projects.
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 5.1
5RELATED EXPERIENCE
The City of Grand Forks retained AE2S to help with the
creation of a Drought Management and Demand Reduction
Plan to anticipate drought events and improve the City’s ability
to address and minimize impacts to residents. The goal of the
Plan was to identify tools to be used to monitor the source
water supply availability during drought conditions, to establish
appropriate triggers for implementation of demand reduction
strategies, and plans to include various user groups in the process
of demand reduction. AE2S worked with the City to select
monitoring parameters, analyze past record data on the Red and
Red Lake River water supplies, and evaluate demand reduction
strategies. This was a challenging undertaking, considering the
water supply for Grand Forks is governed by both the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources and the North Dakota State
Water Commission.
Throughout this process AE2S assisted with selection of
monitoring parameters, establishment of action plan tiers for
specific implementation strategies, and identification of user
groups and associated strategies for minimizing their impacts.
KEY PROJECT ELEMENTS
• Historical Data for River Flow, Reservoir Storage, and Water Demand
Analysis
• Identification of Drought Indicators
• Effectiveness of Demand Reduction Measures
• Plan Implementation Strategies
• Establishment of Protocols for Notification and Public Education on
Demand Reduction Strategies
DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN
Grand Forks, North Dakota
DATE
2014
COST
N/A
CLIENT
City of Grand Forks
CLIENT CONTACT
Todd Feland
City Administrator
701-787-3750
The City of Bozeman possesses a finite water supply that
could be surpassed as demand increases. The City is located in
a closed water rights basin, and water supplies are susceptible to
drought and climate change. The City retained the AE2S team to
complete an Integrated Water Resources Plan (IWRP) to address
water supply requirements over 30 to 50 years.
The IWRP identified existing City water rights and compared
them to future water demands. Based on population projections,
the comparison enabled the estimation of the potential water
balance gap. The IWRP was developed to be flexible and able to
be adapted with respect to actual future conditions.
Alternatives involving water conservation and increasing the
available water supply capacity were identified and screened with
respect to a water rights legal assessment and qualitative criteria.
The selected alternatives were then combined in strategic ways to
create 14 different portfolios. The evaluation process identified
the portfolio that provides the most benefit for the anticipated
investment. The recommended portfolio represents a diverse
range of scalable options and provides increased flexibility and
resiliency to the City with respect to changing conditions and
uncertainty in the future.
KEY PROJECT ELEMENTS
• Population and Water Demand Projections
• Lyman Creek Source Firm Yield Assessment
• Identification of Potential Water Resources
• Climate Resiliency Evaluation
• Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Alternatives
INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES
PLAN
Bozeman, Montana
DATE
2011 - 2013
COST
$186,750
CLIENT
City of Bozeman
CLIENT CONTACT
Brian Heaston, PE
Project Engineer
406-582-2280
5 RELATED EXPERIENCE
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 5.2
5RELATED EXPERIENCE
Due to population growth and potential impacts of drought,
the City of Sioux Falls’ available water supplies would not be able
to meet water demands beyond the year 2012. In response, Sioux
Falls initiated membership with the Lewis & Clark Rural Water
System (LCRWS) with an appropriation of 10 million gallons per
day (MGD). Due to increasing growth rates since the original
capacity nomination, it was determined the additional water
supply would only be able to address Sioux Falls’ water supply
concerns through the year 2017.
The City retained AE2S to complete a Future Water Supply
Evaluation to evaluate the City’s water supply and demand
for a period of 50 years. The purpose of the evaluation was to
present objective information regarding the implementation of
the LCRWS via interim financing in conjunction with, or versus,
the implementation of an independent water supply project
utilizing the Missouri River. The Future Water Supply Evaluation
presented findings and results corresponding to eight established
objectives. Ultimately, the evaluation recommended acquisition
of additional LCRWS water supply appropriations as the most
cost-effective and feasible option.
A request was submitted and the City received an allocation
for additional water system capacity up to 28 MGD from LCRWS.
AE2S continues to provide technical assistance to the City, its legal
counsel, and its bond counsel as issues pertaining to the City’s
participation in the LCRWS project need to be addressed.
KEY PROJECT ELEMENTS
• Water System Planning
• Financial Analysis
• Drought Conditions
• Water Rate Projections
• Population & Water Demand Projections
FUTURE WATER SUPPLY EVALUATION
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
DATE
2004
COST
$100,000
CLIENT
City of Sioux Falls
CLIENT CONTACT
Lyle Johnson
Director of Public
Works
605-367-8600
Growing demands and dry weather patterns were creating
concerns about the City of Fargo’s water supply. In response, the
City retained AE2S to update its 2002 plan to respond to drought
conditions that may impact the City.
The plan is based on a series of phases associated with the
severity of drought condition. The severity of the drought is based
on monitoring current and historical drought indicators, which
include stream flows, reservoir levels, regional Palmer Drought
Severity Indices, and regional Standardized Precipitation Indices.
For each drought phase, a series of recommended action was
outlined and include potential water restrictions that could be
used to curb water usage. A drought tracking tool was developed
to allow the City to routinely determine the drought phases and
track changes in drought severity.
The update included emergency infrastructure triggers that
would allow the Drought Management Plan and water restrictions
to be used in the event of severe water infrastructure failure.
The plan included a communication and public outreach
plan, consisting of press releases for each drought phase and
corresponding media outlets to convey the message. AE2S
assisted the City in modifying City Ordinances to more closely
align with the updated Drought Management Plan. Since the
update, the City has routinely been using the plan for tracking
drought conditions.
KEY PROJECT ELEMENTS
• Historical Drought Indicator Analysis
• Drought Tracking Tool Development
• Identification of Emergency Infrastructure Triggers
• Communication Plan including Press Releases
• Ordinance Modifications
DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN
Fargo, North Dakota
DATE
2012 - 2015
COST
$30,000
CLIENT
City of Fargo
CLIENT CONTACT
Troy Hall
Water Utility Director
701-373-7890
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 5.3
5RELATED EXPERIENCE
Due to continued drought conditions in Northwestern
California from 2007 through 2012, the Redway Community
Services District had to issue an Emergency. The water surface
elevation in the South Fork of the Eel River, the City’s raw
water supply source, dropped so low that the District’s existing
infiltration gallery could not convey enough water to supply the
District. Humboldt County declared a drought emergency while
the District issued mandatory water conservation measures.
Scott Buecker led the short-term effort to permit and procure
a pump that would sit on the riverbank and draw water from
the surface into the District’s Raw Water Pump Station, and the
longer-term pursuit of funding and design for an emergency
project to replace the existing infiltration gallery with a deeper
infiltration gallery. Construction of the new gallery required
excavation of the existing gallery, ripping of the claystone bed
beneath the gallery, breaching of a subsurface claystone dam
between the gallery and the South Fork’s low-water channel, and
installation of a new infiltration gallery consisting of dual 16-inch
perforated C900 laterals keyed into the claystone breach. Since
this work the District has been able to provide for system water
demand, even into the current exceptional drought in the region.
KEY PROJECT ELEMENTS
• Experience with Drought Conditions
• Permitting
• Design of Infiltration Gallery Capable of Handling Drought Conditions
EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLY*
Redway, California
DATE
2012
COST
$600,000
CLIENT
Redway Community
Services District
CLIENT CONTACT
Kenneth Dean
Former Operations
Manager
541-879-1644
The Red River Valley Water Supply Project (RRVWSP) is
intended to address water quantity and quality challenges through
the year 2050 posed by the relatively unreliable and poor quality
water sources available to the Red River Valley.
AE2S was retained by Lake Agassiz Water Authority (LAWA)
to serve as its representative on the Technical/Study Review
Team for the RRVWSP. Throughout this extensive process, AE2S
reviewed study documents, provided written comments, assisted
with various technical and financial issues, spearheaded technical
analysis to address critical project details, completed concept
plans for metropolitan areas to identify and coordinate potential
regionalization opportunities, and participated in meetings and
discussions. The input provided by AE2S provided direction for
the development and selection of a preferred alternative.
In mid-2007, the AE2S team was selected as the engineer
of record for the RRVWSP. AE2S established detailed scopes of
work to complete Permitting and Environmental Compliance;
Operational Plan Development; Land Acquisition and Easement
Procurement; and Pre-Final Design. Garrison Diversion
Conservancy District (GDCD) also retained the project team to
provide general engineering and technical services.
AE2S has continued to be a technical advisor to the GDCD,
performing additional preliminary engineering, right-of-way,
permitting, and value engineering activities to support the project
to support a project that has faced multiple challenges.
KEY PROJECT ELEMENTS
• Water Quantity Shortages/Limitations
• Water Quality/SDWA Considerations
• Drought Mitigation
• Multi-year Project Implementation Timeline
• Large Diameter Transmission Pipeline
RED RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY
PROJECT
Carrington, North Dakota
DATE
2007 - Present
COST
$600 Million
CLIENT
Garrison Diversion
Conservancy District
CLIENT CONTACT
Kip Kovar
District Engineer
701-652-3194
*Individual Experience of Project Team Member Scott Buecker
BOZEMAN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN PROPOSAL 6.1
6NON-DISCRIMINATION AFFIRMATION FORM
_______________________________________________________ [name of entity proposing] hereby affirms
it will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or
because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability in the performance of work
performed for the City of Bozeman, if a contract is awarded to it, and also recognizes the eventual contract,
if awarded, will contain a provision prohibiting discrimination as described above and that this prohibition
shall apply to the hiring and treatment of the _________________________________________________
__ [name of entity proposing] employees and to all subcontracts it enters into in the performance of the
agreement with the City of Bozeman.
Signature of Proposer: ___________________________________________________________
Person authorized to sign on behalf of the proposer
ATTACHMENT A: NON-DISCRIMINATION AFFIRMATION FORM
Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. (AE2S)
AE2S