McKinley County Water Board
M I N U T E S
“Small
Systems Forum”
Gallup
Indian Medical Center
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Michael Daly White Cliffs MDWUA
Loline Hathaway Ya-tah-hey WSD
Sherry Botkin Thoreau Water
& Sanitation District
Rhonda Berg Rehoboth-Red
Mesa Foundation
Edward Wemytewa Puebo
of Zuni
facilitators/staff:
Evan Williams Northwest NM
Council of Governments
Jeff Kiely Northwest NM Council
of Governments
Larry Winn McKinley County Soil
& Water Conservation District
GUESTS:
Lydia
Guruli USDA Rural Development Community
Program
Monte
Russell White Cliffs MDWUA
Patrick
Brown White Cliffs MHP
Cynthia
Rex Rural Communities
Assistance Corporation
Barbara
Giesler Otto 1 Training and Consulting
Services
James
Herman Thoreau WSD
Carol
Saunders Greer
Subdivision
Margy Schumaker Whispering
Cedars Water Association
Jason
Zylstra Rehoboth Christian
Schools
Strallie
Edaahie Pueblo of Zuni
Michael
Benson Navajo Nation Water Management
No minutes
were discussed at this Forum. The Forum
did replace the regular meeting for May, as did the presentation on uranium
mining in April.
a. Cynthia
Rex, Rural Communities Assistance Corporation, gave a presentation on the
Walkerton Experience in Ontario, CA, which was an example of a water system
that was being run by two brothers, who lied to their customers about water
testing results. The water tests taking
showed a major problem in the drinking water and the brothers covered up the
problem for several days, and hundreds of people got extremely sick and several
individuals died.
Cynthia ended her powerpoint by posing the question: “How does a volunteer Board member become involved?”
·
Review the Internal Sanitary Survey – comes out once
a year performed by NMED. We also heard
NMED is behind on the three (3) year evalution. Have this report presented to the Board.
·
More time and study of water/wastewater to increase
understanding, and to be able to ask the right questions.
·
Make operator present and accountable at Board
meetings. Ask questions.
·
Board members need to remember they have a huge
responsibility.
Matt
Holmes made the comment that a water association needs to have the fiscal
capacity to hire a professional operator, in order to, hold them accountable
and Board members should be Board members and not be involved in operating,
running, or micro-managing the system.
Loline
Hathaway discussed her issues to the group regarding employable workers and
going through four (4) meter readers in one (1) year; having five (5) out of
six (6) readings seem estimated; and having the bookkeeper quit when the audit
was required. She continued to say that
Ya-tah-hey WSD has hired a new meter reader, who found three (3) bypasses.
b. Panel –
Facilitated Discussion: Jeff Kiely
facilitated a panel discussion where each representative introduced the
resources their organization offers and the trends they see happening to small
systems.
Matt
Holmes, New Mexico Rural Water Association – enlightened the group
about their non-profit 501 © 6 organization that is made up by a membership of
systems, which are able to send one (1) representative. NMRWA has a twenty-six (26) member Board of
Directors and an eight (8) person Executive Board. The membership fees are $95 a year to join, and the majority of
the membership fees go towards lobbying expenses. Currently, NMRWA is supporting a staffer in Washington, DC, who
is promoting a bill that would provide funding of regional systems to Senator
Bingamen and Senator Domenici. The
majority of NMRWA’s operating funding comes in the form of State and Federal
grants. Recently, NMRWA received a
grant through USDA Communities Facilities Fund to build a home office.
They offer
trainings throughout the course of the year, which include:
ü
Operator trainings
ü
Board trainings
ü
Security trainings (Also have an EPA grant to do
vulnerability assessments for communities between 3,300 to 50,000 people and
offer technical assistance on developing an emergency plan.)
ü
Annual Technical Conference (March 22nd – 25th,
2006)
Most of
NWRWA members have under a hundred (100) hookups and must be under 50,000
people to qualify to join. NMRWA has a
wide range of staffing and experience at their fingertips, including:
ü
Fourteen (14) staffers total – twelve (12) field members
ü
One (1) strategic planning facilitator / corporate adviser
ü
Two (2) circuit riders – one (1) wastewater, one (1) tribal
ü
Security trainers
ü
NMED Drinking Water Division – also two (2) specialized
circuit riders
Website: http://www.nmrwa.org/
Website: http://www.nmwwa.org/
Marc Depauli – DePauli Engineering
& Surveying – talked to group about his experience as a local
Gallupian and running a consulting firm.
First, he credited Gallup for being ahead of the rest of the county in
terms of technology, and for having adopted Halliburton’s deep well drilling
technology. Things that Marc considered
lacking in the County were the information and resource sharing and partnerships
on emergency taps. Partners with NTUA
and Navajo Nation and necessary in some areas.
Marc suggested that maybe a Homeland Security grant could be applied for in order to get all communities an emergency tap.
Marc also explained that a major
obstacle for small systems in McKinley County is in the collection of water
rates. He suggested that maybe a
consortium of water associations pool some funding to hire and share a
collections agency to assist with collections.
Loline Hathaway responded to the
collection issues and reported to the group that approximately 50% of her
customers default on their water bill payments. She has researched groups that help with funding for individuals
to pay bills, but the PRC only deals with heat and Southwest Indian Foundation
(SWIF) does do a little with utility/water bills for Native Americans.
Responses to Loline’s problem,
included:
1)
Enforce Rules & Regulations without variation, otherwise
if one customer thinks someone is getting subsidized; then no one will pay.
2)
Run your operation like a business, and cut them off.
3)
If your going to cut people off – you may have to go to
court, which costs in attorney fees, but if you can educate the judge – he can
throw out cases.
4)
Your clients choose a rural lifestyle and it is more
expensive to pump water so they have to pay more.
There was then discussion around
the idea of a small system consortium that could aggregate the needs and
resources of each individual system.
Michael Benson interjected
jokingly that many off-system Navajo communities are clamoring to get on a
water delivery system, and if they were here to hear this conversation they’d
probably think twice.
Andy Edmonson – NMED –
announced that he would fill in for Dianne Barns, who could not be there from
NMED Drinking Water Bureau, and explain their operation. NMED Drinking Water Bureau main mission is
to assure compliance of water quality.
Under the Drinking Water Bureau - programs include:
§ A capacity
development group to assist systems with technical, managerial, and fiscal
capacity.
§ They test
contaminates – paid for by a three (3) cents on every 1000 galloons
conservation fee.
§ They
develop Sanitary Surveys for systems as required by EPA.
§ They
provide information and education to local systems on new regulations.
§ They are
getting aggressive on regulations.
Website: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/dwb/dwbtop.html
Andy also described the NMED
Construction Bureau, which:
1)
administers funds including Water Innovation Funds,
2)
provides technical assistance to NMFA funding,
3)
tries to resolve mutual domestic disputes, and
4)
provides technical assistance on infrastructure
projects.
The majority of staffers are
dedicated to reviewing applications, i.e. PERs, design, readiness,
cost/benefit. Andy agreed with Matt
Holmes that grant funding is drying up and in the case of the NMFA Water &
Wastewater grants is gone.
Funding sources under the
Constructions Bureau, include:
Ø STAG Grant
Ø Low
Interest Combined Loan/Grant.
Ø Clean
Water SRF (based on low-income, for wastewater)
Ø RIP Loans
(3% max - $500,000) – state monies.
Ø WIIT –
Water Infrastructure Invest Team – Governor Richardson initiative
Ø Rural
Development / USDA – utility fees ($60) and water rates ($36) – marketing increases.
Website: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/cpb/cpbtop.html
A discussion around the Water Innovation Fund arose and the group received an update on that funding source. Last year, twenty-five (25) projects were chosen for funding and twelve (12) went to the Environment Department and thirteen (13) went to the State Engineer’s Office to administer. This year, $5 million was appropriated for grants.
Barbara Giesler – Otto 1 Training – discussed with the group her private firm and her background in the NMED. Otto 1 Training offers:
1. On-site training, which gives clients real life experiences and can cut down on expenses.
2. Sampling & Certification Program / Training
3. Safe Drinking Water Act Training
She also noted that it was important to develop manuals and documentation of work, especially if you ever have to appear in court. She felt that regionalization and standardizing the systems would be a huge step in the right direction.
c. Lunch
i.
Presentations on Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, Navajo
Water Rights Settlement, Gallup Regional System, and Canyon Project.
Note:
County Water needs to invite the Navajo-Gallup Technical Team to a meeting to
discuss how the County fits in the project and what they should be doing to
prepare for inclusion and buy-in.
d. Regionalization
Matt
Holmes and Cynthia Rex gave an overview of regionalization. Matt Holmes also talked about the State of
NM setting up the Drought Taskforce in 2003 and the Emergency Strike Team,
which received over seventy (70) applications for emergency funding. Matt noted that nationwide the U.S. is
facing a deficit in replacing infrastructure and about $750 billion just in
water and wastewater projects. He
continued describing the State of NM Severance Tax Bond process and the call
for reform from the Governor’s office.
The process has been discussed as a “band-aid” approach for emergency or
“pet” projects. This funding is free,
easy, and creates no motivation for planning or for having a good project. Other state sources of funding are mostly
not free and have high standards for funding.
The proposed Capital Outlay Reform would inject planning and encourage
regional solutions.
Regionalization
can be anything from sharing operators to a consortium of small systems. It can be argued that just meeting and
sharing information is regionalization, i.e. the County Water Board. Other examples include:
·
Sharing Resources
a. Policies
& Procedures
b. Operator
c. Equipment
(Backhoe)
·
Emergency Tie-ins
·
Collaborative Bill Process
·
Collective Merged Systems
·
Formal Agreements
Matt
Holmes announced that the State had a pilot program for collaborative
regionalization that went to Dona Ana, Eddy, and La Rito for planning and
orgranization. The Water Board reacted
together as to how this opportunity was missed.
e. Financing
Water & Wastewater Infrastructure
i.
NMED – Andy Edmonson told the group he exhausted all the
programs in his prior presentation (defer to above notes for NMED funding
sources)
ii.
County – Judy Krauklis explained the Environment Gross
Receipts Tax, which is 1/8% collected only in the County and has an average
$400,000 annual recharge. From the
annual recharge, the County has to spend $321,000 on solid waste sites and
maintenance, which leaves about $80,000 for special projects. The fund had been building up but recently
it was depleted.
iii.
NMFA
·
Rural Infrastructure Fund (Loan)
·
Clean Water Revolving Fund (Loan)
·
Public Project Revolving Fund (first $200,000 – 0% Loan,
after that market)
·
Drinking Water Fund (must have NEPA, PER, EA, but loans from
2% to 0% based on income)
·
NMFA Planning Grant ($25,000 – money paid back if project is
funded)
iv.
USDA
·
Water Disposal (55% Loan / 45% Grant)
·
Public Revolving Loan (90% Loan / 10% Grant)
v.
State of NM
·
CDBG Construction Grant (Grant)
·
CDBG Planning Grants (Grant - $50,000)
·
Drinking Water Revolving Fund (Loan)
·
Water & Wastewater Fund (No More)
·
Water Trust Board
·
Water Innovation Fund
·
New Program – Tribal Infrastructure Fund*
vi.
EPA
·
250 Financing Tools
vii.
NM Tech
·
Region 6 Env Finance Center – technical assistance
viii.
RCAC
·
Technical Assistance in Organization (i.e. Income Studies)
Lydia
Guruli, USDA explained communities must be under 10,000 population, have
reasonable water rates, and according to the 2000 Census must meet LMI
standards. She expanded on a couple
more programs:
q
USDA Planning Funds - $20,000 Grant
q
Indian Set-Aside – 100% - June 30th - $14-18
million – need PER.
q
Loan terms – 40 years (poverty – 4%, above poverty – 4.375%,
market – 4.25%)
Evan
Williams
Northwest
NM Council of Governments