WATER UPDATE

Water Quality

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

• The Valley Pumping Plant (VPP) blend ratio for the month of September was 66% MWD to 34% BOU.

Financial and Operations Update

• The Water Cost Adjustment Charge (WCAC) account had a balance of $ 924,616 as of September 30, 2005.  

• Fiscal Year 2005-06 Year-To-Date Water Fund Financial Results as of September 30, 2005:

( ) = Unfavorable

* Includes Power Plant Sales, Commercial and Industrial Reclaimed Sales

(A)       Public Works was overbilled 208,800 CCF or $295k in September, which will be corrected in October.

(B)       Public Works overbilling (see A), offset by a reverse entry due to overbilling $135k in the prior fiscal year. In addition to that, MPP has not been billed for reclaimed water use since Magnolia did not come operational until September 22 �05. MPP accounts for 60,403 CCF or $82k per month.

(C)       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 had an average of 51% of operating capacity compared to a 75% budgeted capacity.

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

Fiscal Year 2005-06 Water Fund Financial Reserve balances as of September 30, 2005 are summarized in the following table:

BOU Water Production

• Full Vapor Phase Granulated Activated Carbon (VPGAC) treatment capacity has been available intermittently by isolating the vessel with the damaged screen and running the reduced VPGAC filter train 5 days on and 5 days off for regeneration. Material for the repair of the damaged carbon retention screen is due on-site the first week of October. Repairs of the damaged screen were completed in October. Additional screen material ($20,000) has been ordered in anticipation of another screen failure. This will reduce down time for repair when another screen failure occurs.   

• The BOU well field continues to have lower than the design volume 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 was up to 7,500 gpm with all wells available in 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.  

• Production through the BOU in September was 7,500 gpm when both VPGAC filter trains and all wells were available. It was 4,500 gpm when only one VPGAC train was available. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• The EPA has granted conceptual approval of the design for the reconfigured VPGAC filter screen design.  Calgon Corporation is ready to begin final design of the screens as soon as the EPA clarifies the draft discharge requirements for the VPGAC filter vessels. Calgon Corporation will then complete a detailed final design for the EPA to review and approve. Final discharge requirements should be available by the end of October and design approval is now anticipated for mid-December. EPA�s approval is the controlling feature in proceeding with the project. Construction is projected to take three months. Construction will begin after EPA design approval and the order/receipt of long lead materials. Construction may begin as soon as January. 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

• A new 8-inch water main (380 lf) was put into service in Tujunga Ave. between Sixth and Seventh Streets. 

• A new 8-inch water main (315 lf) was constructed and put into service in Hollywood Way between Allan and Jeffries Avenues.

Legislative Update

• Refer to the attached legislative reports.

ELECTRIC UPDATE

Electric Reliability

There was one (1) 4 kV feeder outage during September. On September 29^th, a Caltrans driller operator snagged a guy wire causing the guy wire to pull the primary into another primary. This interrupted service for 85 customers for 69 minutes.

On September 12^th, a major outage occurred that resulted in a city-wide blackout.  LADWP caused a separation between BWP and LADWP by dropping Receiving Station �E�, which is Burbank�s major tie to the Western interconnected system. At the time, Burbank was also tied to Glendale. This connection, and Burbank generation, was sufficient to keep Burbank with power although system voltage was extremely low for several minutes until the dispatchers could stabilize it. The system remained stable for about 30 minutes until further major disturbances on the LADWP system caused the BWP system to become unstable. Glendale dispatchers then opened the tie with Burbank in order to preserve the Glendale system. Despite under-frequency load shedding, the amount shed, and the generation remaining at the time, were not sufficient to prevent Burbank from going black. Restoration was attempted immediately to start and synchronize Lake 1 to the system, however this failed and load restoration could not begin until the tie to LADWP was closed about 1:40 P.M. Power to the City was fully restored by 3:56 p.m.  As per APPA and CPUC standard practice, this outage is not included in the outage statistics below.

As of September 30, 2005, the system-wide average is 0.0357 outages per year, compared with an industry average of 1.2 outages per year. As of September 30, 2005, the average service availability is 99.9984%, exceeding the City goal of 99.99%. The average outage length is 60.33 minutes, compared with an industry average of 80 minutes.

The following table shows the system-wide reliability statistics for Fiscal Year 2005-06 through September 30, 2005 as compared to the same time period for Fiscal Year 2004-05:

Financial and Operations Update

• Fiscal Year 2005-06 year-to-date Power Financial Results as of September 30, 2005:

( ) = Unfavorable

(A)       Staff is currently working with other division managers to review the actual NEL MWh.

(B)       Primarily due to replacement power cost for MPP, which went into commercial operation on September 22, 2005. Staff is currently working on the year-to-date variance analysis.

(C)       BPA settlement of $591k.

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

Fiscal Year 2005-06 Power Fund Financial Reserve balances as of September 30, 2005 is summarized in the following table:

Local Generation Operations Update

Unit Status

• Magnolia Power Project went into firm operation on September 22, 2005.

• 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 September was 74,600 kwh as compared to the goal of 81,000 kwh. The year-to-date actual hydro production is 235,800 kwh as compared to the goal of 246,000 kwh.

September 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.

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 are in operation.  There are continuing metering problems at the Western Receiving Station (Glendale).  The meters are reading correctly but the reads sent to the SCADA Center are not always correct.  It has been decided to replace the MWH meters at Western.

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 September 30, the DCS from Magnolia continued to be unavailable to SCADA. 

Databases and screens for the new Winona annunciator were completed and the annunciator was successfully installed and tested.

Telecom

Engineering developed a fiber optic service proposal for Disney to connect the Disney Campus to LADWP Receiving Station �E.

Engineering developed a fiber optic service proposal for Center Stage to connect 2820 Hollywood Way to 3410 Winona Ave.

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

Engineering personnel released a fiber optic job for Yahoo to connect 3333 Empire Ave. to the BWP fiber ring, terminating at the Qwest Cyber Center.

Engineering personnel released a fiber optic job for Disney to connect Team Disney to a Disney facility at 800 Main St.

Engineering personnel released, and BWP field personnel completed, a fiber optic job for Disney to connect Team Disney to Disney CORE, 914 Victory Blvd.

BWP Administration Building, Phase III Interior Remodel

Perkowitz+Ruth Architects completed the 90% plan check drawings for the Administration Building remodel and two sets were submitted for plan check on September 26. 

Electrical Distribution

Since July 2005, 39 power poles were replaced or installed, 26 pole replacements were engineered, and 25 issued to the field. Engineering continues design work to rebuild the existing facilities in the Alameda feeder areas to 12 kV. As part of this effort, projects to rebuild one pad mounted transformer and three customer stations  to 12 kV were issued to the field in September. In October, operation will start to rebuild the stations and Engineering will coordinate the process with the customers. 

Since July 2005, 4 pad mounted customer stations have been engineered, 3 issued to the field, and 4 have been energized.   Among them were the Pinnacle Phase 2 and Media Studio North Phase 4. Since July, as a result of field testing, 6 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 Warner Bros. has started the civil construction. All electrical equipment (pad mount switch and pad mount 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 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, followed by another design review meeting on October 4, 2005. A tentative schedule has been developed by ABB and the schedule shows construction starting in early November 2005, delivery of the transformers in mid-February 2006, energization of the first power transformer in mid-March 2006 and the second power transformer in mid-June 2006. Completion and close out of the project is estimated in the summer of 2006.

Engineering has completed the design, cost estimate, and schedule to complete the undergrounding of overhead lines along Frederick Street between Olive and Alameda Avenues. 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. started the duct work on August 24, 2005 and completed it before September 30, 2005. Engineering work to install new underground cable is complete and was issued to the field for construction .Cable installation is expected to be done by a BWP crew sometime between the middle of October to December 15, 2005. BWP�s portion of the project is estimated 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 1 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 prepared a map, or plat, and a report.  It was brought to City Council for consideration on September 13, 2005. City Council unanimously approved staff�s recommendation to go to the next step of working with SBC, Charter Communications and other affected communication companies to prepare a final plat, cost estimate and schedule for completion of undergrounding and removing overhead lines. BWP estimates the City Council public hearing date to be sometime in late January or early February 2006 to form this Underground Utility District 1. Engineering has completed the final 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. Bock Co. started the duct work on October 3, 2005. Cable work will be done in December 2005 or January 2006, and removal 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 an underground/overhead electrical facility 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 Substations. Ten circuit breakers will be delivered to the BWP Yard in early October 2005, and replacement will start in the beginning of November 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.

Since July 2005, 8 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). Another series conversion project was issued to the field in September: Series Circuit #525 on Alameda Ave. east of Flower St.

M. David Paul will underground the streetlight system on the north side of Empire Ave. between Avon St. and Fairview St. Engineering has completed the design and will issue the project to the field after receiving the deposit.

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 355 remote meters were installed in September. 

Legislative Update:

Refer to the attached legislative reports.

RED:RAC:FCF:WOM:GLS:JLF

H: OCTOBER W&E OPERATIONS REPORT

Attachments

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