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The City does not own or operate a wastewater treatment plant. A majority of the City's <br />wastewater is treated by Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD), with the Ruby <br />Hill Project Area treated by the City of Livermore. The current average dry weather flow <br />ADWF) from the City to DSRSD is approximately 6.3 million gallons per day (mgd). A <br />small portion of the City's wastewater flows, which originate from Ruby Hill, are <br />conveyed to the City of Livermore water reclamation plant. The flow from Ruby Hill to <br />the City of Livermore's plant is approximately 0.25 mgd ADWF. Once the City's sewer is <br />secondarily treated either at the facilities at DSRSD or the City of Livermore, the treated <br />sewage is stored and transported through the facilities owned and operated by the <br />Livermore Amador Valley Wastewater Management Agency (LAVWMA) to the East Bay <br />Discharge Authority (EBDA) outfall line into the outer Bay, if not used for recycled water. <br />Previous Rate Studies <br />In 2010, the City approved a combined water and sewer rate increase of 7.27 percent, <br />which was followed by annual increases in water and sewer rates based on inflation as <br />defined by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for five years. In 2015, the <br />City approved water and sewer rates to be annually increased by the change in CPI for <br />five years — this approach did not account for growth in the community (new <br />development from 2015 to 2020 whereby the City's population grew by approximately <br />5,000 or 6.6 percent) or the ability to address necessary but not funded system <br />improvements. During this period, the Council adopted a resolution to not apply the CPI <br />increase to both the water and sewer rates for one year due to the continuation of the <br />Zone 7 temporary surcharge for another year. The planned 2019 rate study was <br />delayed due to COVID-19, after which the rate study was put on hold when the PFAS <br />Treatment and Well Rehabilitation project was paused to explore water supply <br />alternatives, such that there were no water and sewer rate increases for the City for <br />three years (2020, 2021 and 2022). <br />Financial Position of Water Enterprise Fund <br />The City is responsible for ensuring that the water and sewer enterprises remain fiscally <br />solvent and that appropriate reserves are in place to fund system maintenance, repair, <br />and replacement obligations. While the sewer enterprise is adequately funded, funding <br />for the water distribution system is inadequate which has necessitated the use of <br />reserves to both operate the water system and make necessary infrastructure <br />improvements to have the pressure and capacity to deliver sufficient water supply <br />during peak demand periods. Depletion of the water reserves is unsustainable for the <br />operation of the enterprise fund, to the point of insolvency. This situation is problematic <br />because it creates operational risk when reserve funds are not available to do <br />necessary repairs or larger projects and from a policy perspective because it does not <br />meet the City's approved reserve target of 35 percent. This reserve deficit for both the <br />water and recycled water funds is depicted in Figure 1 below. <br />Page 3 of 19