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EVERGREEN METROPOLITAN DISTRICT DROUGHT CONDITIONS 2002 REPSONSE SUMMARY REPORT September 30, 2002 Dave Lighthart Baclmround Evergreen Metropolitan District operation's staff began to have concerns about an approaching drought early in 2002, Visual observations of snow pack in the Mount Evans drainage, coupled with information on snow pack conditions gained from news reports, indiCated snow conditions were extremely poor entering the spring, Snow measurements taken at the EMD wastewater fucility the fIrst four months of the year indicated 28.3 inches of measured snow, resulting in 2,31 inches of moisture, This is an average of slightly more than Y, inch of moisture a month, We began monitoring stream flows from the Morrison and Evergreen gages on April 30th, Flows were running about 25% of normaL Further evidence was the fact there was no infiltration occurring in the wastewater collection systems at the time we normally see it. The initial meeting ofthe Evergreen Drought Committee occurred in April. A review of the existing water conservation plan, including the drought levels and their respective responses, was done, Some modification of the drought levels occurred, with a combining of some of the level responses, The most current version of the Water Conservation Plan, dated April 25, 2002, contains the revised Emergency Response Plan. Sequence of Events I. A level I drought was called on May 1st, . An article appeared in the Canyon Courier explaining the situation and volunteer measures to be taken to conserve water, . To monitor stream flow conditions, EMD staffreviewed a USGS website containing graphs for all gaging station, Flow readings for each day were detennined by the average of the graph for the respective day, . Management detennined that a 7 -day average of the flow readings from each gage would be used to assess the stream flows, This would eliminate the potential of making daily changes to the Conservation program, 2, Mandatory restrictions were called on May 20th, Note: EMD's restrictions were one of the earliest on the Front Range; one month before Denver Water acknowledged a drought existed, . Conditions dictated bypassing Level 2 Drought and going to Level 3, Again, an article appeared in the Canyon Courier detailing the mandatory restrictions and rate changes, Gerry went on TV with the news, . A notice of the watering restrictions was sent to each customer. . The outside watering restrictions helped to keep the water plant flows at an average summer flow of 1.6 MGD. . The flows were the lowest in a three-year period, . A positive aspect of the drought and restrictions was that these restricted flows helped the plant keep up with demand during construction of the Zenon plant, when normal summer flows may have stretched us to the limit