Shores Council Approves Water Contract Amendment

In a special meeting Thursday, the council voted to approve an amendment to the contract with the Detroit Water and Sewer Department for water usage in the next three fiscal years, the first of which begins July 1.

Ultimately in the Shores, the decision means the council will begin a public education campaign to get residents to water lawns overnight beginning at 11 p.m. rather than in the early mornings. If the city gets compliance it could help reduce the flow rates that will be renegotiated again in three years.  

The council agreed to increase the flow rates at the recommendation of Hubbell, Roth and Clark engineers--a contracted company out of West Bloomfield who specialize in suburban water contracts with the Detroit system. 

Rather than agreeing to exactly what the presenting engineer, Jamie Burton, outlined in the council's normal December meeting and again in Thursday's special meeting, the council agreed to the first year at the suggested rate and then agreed to a decreasing flow rate for the following two years. 

The Shores, like 80-some other suburban communities, is in a 30 year contract for purchasing water from the Detroit system. Every few years the communities can renegotiate the amount of water they intend to purchase for those years, said engineer Tom Biehl.

The new amounts are recommended based on each community's usage trend from the previous years and Detroit Water can penalize communities when they exceed they maximum flow during peak hours, which can be significant. Predicting water usage is difficult because there are so many variables, such as weather, environmental consciousness and more. 

Ultimately officials look at each community's peak flow day--the day the system has the most demand placed upon it, which the engineers says is always in the summer for every community because of lawn irrigation.

In the Shores, a primarily residential community, the community had 83 instances in the last two years in which the flow rate of water usage exceeded the city's maximum amount as outlined in the contract, which is 2.34.

Although the Shores exceeded that amount several times on the day before and day after the peak flow day for the year, its exceedances happened outside of the Detroit Water Department's penalty time frame, which is likely a stroke of luck, Burton said. 

High demands can be placed on the system during non-peak hours, which are 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., and even if the amount exceeds the communities negotiated flow rates, there is no penalty or problem. 

So while the Shores avoided paying any penalty up to now, Burton's firm recommended the Shores increase the flow rate to 2.73, which is the amount most of the exceedances that occurred. Burton presented several possibilities, including one option in which the annual cost to the municipality would have been reduced by $8,000 with the institution of a mandatory off-peak irrigation ordinance.

Councilman Bruce Bisballe urged fellow council members to consider a mandatory ordinance requiring overnight watering of lawns and an escalating fine schedule that begins with a no-cost warning and would then increase to an enforcable fine.

Councilwoman Kay Felt disagreed with the need for an ordinance, explaining she believes there has not been enough public education about the issue within the community and that they could achieve compliance through such a campaign. She described how she was aware the issue a few years ago and began watering at a different time but her neighbors, whom she pointed out are "good people" water at 5 and 6 in the morning in the summer. 

There is a resolution in the community that has been in place for a few years related to water usage and several council members recognized that the usage patterns did change after its passage, which is why Felt and Mayor Ted Kedzierski believe compliance can be achieved through a public education campaign. Felt said the key is to not simply rely on the city's website but to get out there and talk to residents as well as the lawn care companies.

Council agreed to raise the flow rate to 2.73 for the 2012/13 fiscal year, to 2.70 for the 2013/14 fiscal year and to 2.67 for the 2014/2015 fiscal year. Burton explained that by doing so means that the community believes it can make progress in reducing its demand on the system during peak hours and if they do indeed make progress, those changes will be used to renegotiate the rates yet again in three years.

In the Shores, historically the peak flow time has always been from 5 to 9 a.m. daily, which is when residents are likely showering and getting ready for the day. It is also likely when many homeowners are running their lawn irrigation systems to water the grass--the water usage that the Shores council hopes to target in its campaign. 

The council will not be asking residents to avoid using water for getting ready for the day or cooking breakfast but rather to water their lawns overnight from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. This will reduce the risk for the community to exceed the flow rate as established in the contract, Burton said. 

The council voted to approve the de-escalating flow rates with a heavy public education campaign and the possibility of enacting an ordinance if compliance is otherwise not being achieved. Bisballe was the sole councilmember to vote against the motion because he wanted to make the mandatory ordinance part of the equation now rather than as a last-ditch effort. 

Ultimately, the council's decision means Shores residents will see about a 20 percent increase in their bills, Bisballe said. The increase is in addition to the . The first increase took effect in July and then the most recent increase took effect Jan. 1.