Director's 2008 Year End Report
December 4, 2008 Salt Lake City Public Utilities Advisory Committee Meeting
Jeff Niermeyer
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He recognized the City Council for their support. He introduced Executive Director Cindy Gust Jensen and Lehua Weaver, thanking them for their support over the years. He expressed his appreciation to Councilperson Van Turner for his attendance and his support of the Department's programs and rates necessary to fund infrastructure replacement costs for aging systems.
Mr. Niemeyer introduced Department division heads and administrators in attendance for their contributions to the Department's success.
Mr. Niermeyer addressed the group regarding his vision of the Department's future. He outlined the Department's program to become sustainable. He defined sustainability as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” He said that the statement is very simple, but achieving results presents numerous challenges. He noted that Public Utilities is challenged by increasing population and resource demands, aging infrastructure, workforce changes, economic impacts, climate change and watershed development.
Becoming sustainable consists of the following eight topics:
- Water quality
- Environmental Health
- Water Conservations
- Infrastructure
- Human Resource
- Financial Health
- Emergency Preparedness
- Community
1. Water Quality and Environmental Health
The Department is responsible for the water supply from the watersheds to the discharge of stormwater and sewage effluents back into the environment. Maintaining water quality into the future will be challenging by virtue of projected growth and development within the mountain and urban watersheds. This will require optimization of the operations and maintenance of the water, wastewater and stormwater systems.
Water quality and environmental health are interdependent. New emerging water quality contaminates have been discovered in the nation's wastewater effluents. An example is pharmaceutical contaminates now being discharged into the environmental and finding their way into public drinking water supplies.
Another issue that has been identified in the City's Riparian Corridor study is the discharge into natural streams for the disposal of stormwater.
2. Climate Change and Carbon Emission Reduction
Climate change will be a huge issue. Climate change impacts will alter the water cycle characteristics and the nature of our water supply. There are parts of this country now, and parts of the world that are already seeing the dramatic change to their climate and the quantity of their drinking water supply. An example of this problem can be seen in Australia where climate change is affecting that country's water resources.
Key to success in coping with climate change is to understand and prepare for the local effects of climate change. Mitigating climate change impacts can be accomplished by meeting or exceeding carbon emission reduction goals, and by supporting community, national and global carbon emission reductions.
3. Water Conservation
Water conservation and using water wisely is a key element of being sustainable. There is a general public acceptance of conservation, but it's a message that needs to be continually emphasized. The Department's water conservation goal is to change how water is used, which presents financial and resource implications. Water conservation is compounded by climate change. Conservation stretches water resources and defers or eliminates infrastructure capital expenditures. The Department must build and maintain a culture of water conservation by education, rate structuring, policy, regulation and incentives. The Department is committed to meeting or exceeding state of Utah conservation goals.
4. Infrastructure
Salt Lake City's water system is aging. Thousands of feet of pipe are reaching their life expectancy, and the Department is managing these assets to ensure system reliability, while getting the full life out of them. This requires a plan for asset management strategies to ensure infrastructure reliability for the short and long term.
Strategies include asset management and maintenance programs, critical facilities identification, a priority process, and facilities standards development.
5. Human Resources and Employee Health and Safety
The Department is on the edge of a fundamental shift in the makeup of the workforce as many employees have or will retire. In order to sustain the workforce it will be necessary to develop a strategic plan to capture knowledge before retirements and convey this knowledge to existing employees so that they may move forward in the organization. This provides an opportunity for the younger employees to grow in the organization.
It is the Department’s policy to foster a diverse, engaged and healthy workforce to promote productivity and continue the ability to be sustainable. This will require the Department to attract, recruit and hire the best talent.
6. Financial Health
It is critical that the Department be able to do what is needed to maintain financial strength if it is to be sustainable. The Department is in unchartered territory relative to the financial circumstances in the nation as a whole.
The Department needs to maintain its financial sustainability if it is to provide quality services, sustain its infrastructure, workforce and environmentalism programs. In doing so it is important to balance the Department's financial needs and its customers’ ability to pay during difficult times.
7. Emergency Planning and Preparedness
Things happen. The Department has the responsibility to be prepared for emergencies. It needs to plan for that, not only for the Department, but work collectively across the City with all City Departments with a city-wide approach. The Department is committed to this.
Recently, Niermeyer told the group, he was delayed 2-1/2 hours in reaching his home when a tanker rolled over on I-215 and at the same time there was an accident on I-15. It occurred to him that if the valley was to experience a major earthquake, the Department would have a difficult time reaching many of its critical facilities. The incident reinforced his belief that there is much to accomplish in emergency planning.
To accomplish this it will be necessary to engage other local, regional, state and federal agencies, the private sector, and citizens planning and preparedness efforts. Emergency plans need to be exercised on a regular basis to train the Department's employees.
8. Community
The Department works for the community. It's critically important to engage and promote community participation and involvement in the Department's activities. Besides the work of the Public Utilities Advisory Committee, the Department has the Riparian Corridor and Water Rate Study citizens groups with about 20 citizen members participating on both. The Department needs to include more of the public in its decision-making process and provide balance in those decisions.
Ongoing education programs encourage community participation in conservation and nongovernmental programs that will sustain water resources for the future
The success for a sustainable future can be accomplished if we engage our elected officials, the public and our employees in the decision-making process, by paying attention to the details. In doing so, the Department can successfully meet its future challenges.
Mr. Niermeyer concluded his statements, and wished everyone an enjoyable Holiday and Happy New Year.