WATER UPDATE

Water Quality

• Water quality during August met or exceeded State and Federal drinking water standards.

• The Valley Pumping Plant (VPP) blend ratio for the month of August was 67% MWD to 33% BOU.

Financial and Operations Update

• The Water Cost Adjustment Charge (WCAC) account had a balance of $ 873,151 as of August 31, 2005.

• Fiscal Year 2004-05 Year-To-Date Water Fund Financial Results as of August 31, 2005:

( ) = Unfavorable

* Includes Power Plant Sales, Commercial and Industrial Reclaimed Sales

(A)       MPP has not been billed for reclaimed water use since the plant is not operational. Reclaimed water for MPP is budgeted for 60,403 CCF or $82k per month. In addition to that, a customer over billing of $135k in prior fiscal year was reversed in July�05.

(B)       The BOU has experienced reduced operating capacity due to carbon screen failures, water production problems associated with the persistent low water table and well maintenance. Thus, there was an increased need for purchased water from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). The BOU has an average of 43% of operating capacity compared to a 75% budgeted capacity.

(C)       In-lieu accrual of $39k was recorded in June�05. This entry was reversed in July�05.

Fiscal Year 2004-05 Water Fund Financial Reserve balances as of August 31, 2005 are summarized in the following table:

BOU Water Production

• A screen failure on July 24^th in one of the Vapor Phase Granulated Activated Carbon (VPGAC) Filters reduced BOU plant production back to half capacity, 4,500 gallons per minute (gpm).  The screen materials necessary for the repair have a 5-6 week lead time for delivery. Repair of the screen in the damaged vessel will not be complete until the end of December. The full VPGAC treatment capacity will be available intermittently by isolating the damaged vessel and running the reduced VPGAC filter train 5 days on and 5 days off for regeneration. Water production was also down to 3,500 gpm for a 10-day period due to changing of carbon in the liquid phase carbon filter beds. 

• The BOU well field has had water production problems due to the persistent low water table.  The low water table is also mechanically hard on the pumps since they are throttled back and not running efficiently. Wells continue to go down for maintenance as others are repaired and put back on line. The well field capacity should be 7,500 gpm with all wells available by mid to late September. Low water levels in the aquifer prevent achieving the full 9,000 gpm. Achieving a 9,000 gpm production capacity is an ongoing effort and is being addressed by the Well Field Performance Attainment Study.  

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• The EPA continues to review discharge requirements for the VPGAC filter vessels. Once the discharge requirements are approved, Calgon Corporation can complete a design for the EPA to review and approve. Construction and fabrication of the new screens will follow the EPA�s approval, which is the controlling feature in proceeding with the project. Construction is projected to take three months once it is approved. EPA approval of the discharge requirements is expected in September. Construction will begin after EPA approval and the order/receipt of long lead materials. The Treatment Plant will experience reduced operating capacity during project construction. Consequently, there will be an increased need for purchased water from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD).

Capital Projects

• Work on the new 12-inch water main in Flower St. for the Home Depot project was completed. A new 580 lf, 8-inch water main was installed and put into service in Angeleno Ave. between Fifth and Sixth St.

• Work began on 380 lf of new 8-inch water main in Tujunga Ave. between Sixth and Seventh St.

• 150 lf of 8-inch water main was relocated in Brookshire Court at the expense of the developer.

Legislative Update

• Refer to the attached legislative reports.

ELECTRIC UPDATE

Electric Reliability

There were six (6) 4 kV feeder outages during August. On August 3, a vehicle hit a pole on the W-3, 4 kV feeder interrupting service to 40 customers for 4 hours and 45 minutes.  On August 15, failure on a 34.5 kV underground cable on the Clybourn-Valley line led to the loss of the Clybourn Distributing Station and its five (5) feeders for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The outage affected a total of 842 customers.

The 34.5 kV underground cable on the Clybourn-Valley line that was responsible for the failure at the Clybourn Station has been replaced. It was quite old and consisted of several sections crossing under the Bob Hope Airport runway. Repair/replacement proved to be difficult.

As of August 31, 2005, the system-wide average is 0. 341 outages per year, compared with an industry average of 1.2 outages per year. As of August 31, 2005, the average service availability is 99.9977%, exceeding the City goal of 99.99%. The average outage length is 59.91 minutes, compared with an industry average of 80 minutes.

The following table shows the system-wide reliability statistics for Fiscal Year 2004-05 through August 31, 2005 as compared to the same time period for Fiscal Year 2003-04:

Financial and Operations Update

• Fiscal Year 2004-05 year-to-date Power Financial Results as of August 31, 2005:

( ) = Unfavorable

(A)       Replacement power is $2.2 million because MPP is not operational yet.

(B)       BPA settlement of $591k.

(C)       In-lieu accrual of $364k was recorded in June�05. This entry was reversed in July�05.

Fiscal Year 2004-05 Power Fund Financial Reserve balances as of August 31, 2005 is summarized in the following table:

Local Generation Operations Update

Unit Status

• Olive 1 is on line and available for normal service.

• Olive 2 is in hot-standby and available for normal service.

• Lake One is available for normal service.

• The micro-turbine project is complete. This unit generates 300 kilowatts per hour on average. 

• Hydro energy production for June was 80,300 kWh compared to the goal of 84,000 kWh. The year-to-date actual hydro production is 161,200 kWh compared to the goal of 165,000 kWh.

August 2005 Unit Data

Energy Crisis Update

Staff continues to pursue its interests in order to collect monies still owed to the City as a result of the California Energy Crisis. The City is currently owed approximately $4.8 million for energy sales made during the crisis. The City has been successful in collecting a settlement of $1.6 million from El Paso Natural Gas.

Magnolia Power Project (MPP)

The items in this report are provided as a general overview of the status of the Project.  These items are discussed in considerable detail among the Project Participants at the Project Coordination Meeting each Friday and at Coordinating Committee meetings.

Safety

Through August, Kvaerner has worked 1,156,656 man-hours with no lost time cases and four recordable cases.

Schedule

The major construction activities on the Project are complete. 

CEC Compliance 

Monthly reports are being submitted to the CEC as required.  A number of submittals are being made to the CEC to satisfy those conditions required in order to go into operation.

Coordinating Committee Actions at its meeting of August 18

Approved Resolution 2005-02 regarding Estimate to Complete for Construction and Projected Sources and Uses of Cash to Meet Construction Costs.

Project Manager's Actions Since Last Project Director's Report of August 15

With consultation and agreement from Project Participants, the following actions have been taken:

• Approved $103,058 to Kvaerner for combining Owner�s Performance Tests with EPC Performance Tests.

• Approved $147,367 to Kvaerner for installation of chemical recirculation piping system.

• Approved $160,992 for Kvaerner to provide six start-up personnel for a 28 day period after Provisional Acceptance, provided that the appropriate transmittal letter to Kvaerner for the change order is prepared by Burbank counsel.

• Approved $32,700 to Alstom for on-site programming of the distributed control system.

• Approved $25,532 to Kvaerner to switch to metal halide exterior lighting.

• Approved $431,802 to Kvaerner to provide two operators and two instrument and control technicians during start-up.

Key Milestones and Anticipated Significant Activities For Next 30 Days

• Various minor construction items on Kvaerner�s Punch List.

• Performance testing.

• Substantial Completion.

• Date of Firm Operation.

Coordinating Committee Meeting

The next meeting of the Coordinating Committee will be on October 20. 

�        SCADA/EMS

The SCADA displays needed for Magnolia operations continued to be refined, including those necessary to close and operate the 69 kV tie lines to Glendale.  The tie lines to Glendale were closed in mid-August following a brief hiatus due to metering problems at the Western Receiving Station (Glendale).  Operation with the ties closed then continued as needed for Magnolia commissioning.

BWP Engineering staff continues to work with Siemens New Energy to implement the New Energy Scheduling software that will be used for Magnolia. As of August 31, the DCS from Magnolia continued to be unavailable to either SCADA or the New Energy Servers. 

The Professional Service Agreements (PSA�s) for the SCADA Upgrade project were prepared and executed by Telvent. The PSA�s were then forwarded to the City Attorney�s Office for legal review. The respective staff report for project approval at the September BWP Board meeting were prepared and forwarded to management.

Databases and screens for the new San Jose and Victory annunciators were completed and the annunciators were successfully installed and tested.

Telecom

Engineering developed a fiber optic service proposal for Technicolor to connect 2255 Ontario St. to LADWP Receiving Station �E�.

Engineering developed a fiber optic service proposal for Technicolor to connect 2255 Ontario St. to 250 E. Olive Ave.

Engineering developed a fiber optic service proposal for Dancing Electrons to connect 2920 E. Olive Ave. to Qwest 3015 Winona Ave.

Engineering developed a fiber optic service proposal for SohoNet to connect West Wing Media, 100 W. Alameda Ave. to LADWP Receiving Station �E�.

Engineering personnel released, and BWP field personnel completed, a fiber optic job for Disney to connect Team Disney to Technicolor, 2255 Ontario St.

Engineering personnel released, and BWP field personnel completed, a fiber optic job for Disney to connect Team Disney to Deluxe, 2400 Empire Ave.

MPP Service and Control Building � Third Floor Tenant Improvements

BWP Administration Building, Phase III Interior Remodel

Perkowitz+Ruth Architects have completed the structural, electrical, mechanical and plumbing additions to the construction documents for the Administration Building remodel and Purchase Planners Group has finished the programming of work spaces. Plan check drawings are approximately 80% complete and the current target date for submitting a final set of drawings for plan check is September 29, 2005.  

Electrical Distribution

Since July 2005, 31 power poles were replaced or installed, 22 pole replacements were engineered, and 14 issued to the field. Engineering continues design work to rebuild to 12 kV the existing facilities in the Alameda feeder areas.

Since July 2005, 3 pad mounted customer stations have been engineered, 2 issued to the field, and one has been energized. As a result of field testing, 3 deteriorated pad mounted transformers and a pad mounted switch were replaced. 

The final design of the Warner Ranch industrial circuit from the Capon Switching Station at Warner Ranch was approved and waiting for Warner Bros. to start civil construction All electrical equipment (padmount switch and padmount transformer, etc.) has arrived. This project is expected to be completed by December 31, 2005 pending completion of the civil work by Warner Bros.

On July 26, 2005 the City Council approved a contract with ABB Inc. for $3.9 million for replacement of the old and undersized power transformers at the Olive Switching Station. BWP staff is working with the contractor on the final design and developing a schedule for this project. ABB submitted all bonds and insurance documents for review and approval, and a Purchase Order was issued on August 24 2005. Transformers were ordered by ABB immediately after City Council approval to save time and ensure delivery on schedule. A kick-off meeting was held on August 22, 2005 and a tentative schedule has been developed by ABB. The schedule shows construction will start in early November 2005, delivery of transformers in mid- February 2006, energization of the first power transformer in mid-March 2006 and the second power transformer in mid-June 2006.

Engineering has completed the design, cost estimate, and schedule to complete the undergrounding of overhead lines along Frederick Street between Olive Ave. and Alameda Ave. This is a joint effort between the developer and BWP. The developer is also working with Charter Communications and SBC to completely eliminate the poles along Frederick St.  Bock Co. has started the duct work on August 24, 2005 which is expected to be complete by September 30, 2005. This will be followed by the power cable work by a BWP crew some time between the middle of October to December 15, 2005. BWP�s portion of the project is expected to be completed by January 31, 2006. Removal of lines will be coordinated with SBC, Charter Communications and the developer.

BWP is working with the City Attorney�s Office, Public Works Department (PW) and Community Development Department (CDD) to form an Underground Utility District to accomplish the undergrounding of all overhead lines (power and communications) along Olive Ave. from the I-5 Bridge to Victory Blvd., and along Lake Street from Olive Ave. to Magnolia Blvd. To begin that process the PW Director will prepare a map or plat and a report.  It was brought to the City Council for consideration on September 13, 2006. Engineering is working on the preliminary design to provide underground service to the GAC Plant and its vicinity, and ultimately remove the overhead line near the Float Shed in the BWP Yard and on the north side of Olive Ave. The final design is expected to be completed by September 9, 2005, and Bock Co. will start the duct work in the first week of October 2005. Cable work will be done in December 2005 and removal of a small section of overhead wires on the north side of Olive Ave., by January 31, 2006.  This will allow ABB to set one of the power transformers at the Olive Switching Station in mid-February 2006.

A BWP crew replaced approximately 5,000 circuit ft. of underground 35 kV cable at Empire Ave. from Star Park to Clybourn, and along Clybourn under the east-west runways towards Sherman Way. This work is complete and the line is energized with the new cable in service.

BWP Engineering is working with the Community Development Department (CDD) to build underground/overhead electrical facilities in the alley behind the old Buena Vista Library site. Some of the duct work was done along Verdugo Ave. from Fredrick St. and Buena Vista St., and the remaining duct work along Fredrick St. north of Verdugo Ave., and alleys east and west of Fredrick St., will be done in the Winter of 2006. The cable work and removal of the overhead electrical lines are scheduled to be completed in Spring 2006.

Engineering is working with a consultant to replace the old 69 kV circuit breakers with new state-of-the-art, proper rated SF6 circuit breakers at Lincoln and Valley. Ten circuit breakers will be delivered to the BWP Yard in September 2005, and replacement will start in the middle of October 2005. Engineering is working on the design to replace the old electro-mechanical relays at Winona and Clybourn Substations with micro-processed relays.  Construction will start in the Fall of 2005.

In July 2005, 4 additional streetlights were installed in response to requests from residents. The streetlight crew completed the series conversion project on Glenoaks Blvd. Two Home Depot related projects have been engineered and issued to the field. Staff eliminated Series Circuit #109 (Glenoaks, Tulare to Naomi).

Engineering continues working with the Redevelopment Agency on the South San Fernando Blvd. street improvement project, and with the Public Works Dept. and Traffic Signal Division on other street/traffic improvement projects. These projects include the Olive/Alameda Intersection Widening and the Empire Avenue Streetscape Project. The San Fernando Intelligent Transportation System Project is under construction.

A total of 416 remote meters were installed in July/August; 198 were requested by the Customer Service Division; 135 were change-outs or new services which were performed by the Line Crews or Test Shop; 83 were installed to saturate an area with remote meters. 

Customer Service

Drip Irrigation Program

BWP staff has created a residential Drip Irrigation Program which will soon go to the City Council for approval. The proposed program will provide Burbank homeowners attending an instructional workshop with a drip irrigation kit valued at over $35. There will be no cost to participating homeowners for either the kit or the workshop. The goal of the program is to help Burbank residents reduce outdoor water use, which accounts for about 60% of the water consumed by a household. Drip irrigation has been shown to significantly reduce landscaping water usage. Through this program, BWP is targeting an annual water savings of 110 acre-feet, or nearly 36 million gallons of water.

In addition to creating a unique and potentially highly effective resource conservation program, staff pursued grant funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation.  Our grant application was thorough and included letters of support from several water agencies and California legislators.  The Bureau of Reclamation not only awarded BWP a 100% matching grant of over $25,000, but also shared with staff that the application received the highest rating of any received by the Bureau!

Counterfeit Detector

Early in July, the Customer Service Division at BWP purchased two Cummins Model 4022 Currency Counters with Enhanced Counterfeit Detection. Using these new machines, along with our normal manual inspections, has been a great tool in helping us detect possible counterfeit bills. We had started to see an increase in the number of counterfeits received during this calendar year. Our new procedure involves running all $50�s and $100�s through the �high� detection mode on the machines and so far, we have yet to come across any bogus bills. Since these machines are also currency counters, we use them for our daily bank deposits which have helped to cut down the process time by 40%. Not only are they great detectors, but useful time savers as well!

Legislative Update:

Refer to the attached legislative reports.

RED:RAC:FCF:WOM:GLS:JLF

H: SEPTEMBER W&E OPERATIONS REPORT

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