President Ramirez Holmes stated there was an unnecessary "it" on the fifth line of the third paragraph on page 5. On page 7, Assemblymember should be one word and there was an extra comma. She had concerns about the lengthy discussion not being captured for Item 11 and felt that it was important to include some of the dialog that took place.

Director Palmer stated that she had a slight correction on page seven where it says, "Director Palmer provided a presentation to the Dublin Rotary Club." It says, "It was put into place to make sure those who did not agree with the project were given an opportunity." She would like it to say "It was not just those who did not agree with the project. It was those who were directly affected and may not agree with the project."

President Ramirez Holmes asked that the minutes of October 19 be brought back to the Board at the next Board meeting for approval with the requested changes.

Item 6 -

6. Consent Calendar

Director Figuers requested that Item 6g be pulled for further discussion. Director Palmer moved to approve Items 6a through 6f and Director Gambs seconded the motion. Items 6a through 6f were approved by a roll call vote of 6-0 with Director Smith McDonald absent.

Director Figuers asked if the H2O Women Conference was invitation only. He also questioned if directors would attend a "California H2O Men's Conference" showcasing male leadership professionals. Director Palmer explained that the conference invited people who were involved in upper level decision making and emphasized that it was not only for women, but that men were also invited and attend the conference as well. The panelists were women in water. Her attendance was approved last year; however, it was canceled due to COVID.

President Ramirez Holmes deferred Director Figuers' concerns to Rebecca Smith, General Counsel, but she recalled it being it acceptable in the past. Ms. Smith explained that the conference was open to both women and men throughout California. The industry viewed it as an important networking and learning opportunity for those in water leadership roles, which makes it appropriate for a Zone 7 Director to attend.

Item 6g was approved by a roll call vote of 5-0-1 with Director Figuers abstaining and Director Smith McDonald absent.

Resolution No. 21-82 Designating Zone 7's Voting Representative for ACWA Elections and Endorsing ACWA's Nominating Committee Selections

Resolution No. 21-83 Award Contract for As-Needed Fence Maintenance Parts, and Repair Services

Resolution No. 21-84 Chain of Lakes Wellfield Treatment Project Application Authorizing Resolution

Resolution No. 21-85 Chain of Lakes Wellfield Treatment Project Application Reimbursement Resolution

Resolution No. 21-86 Authorizing the Grant Application, Acceptance, and Execution for the Valley Pump Station Project

Resolution No. 21-87 Authorizing the Grant Application, Acceptance, and Execution for the COL PFAS Treatment Facility Project

Resolution No. 21-88 Contract Amendment with Lanlogic, Inc., for Information Technology Services

Resolution No. 21-89 Award a Purchase Order to Home Depot for Miscellaneous Hardware, Tools, and Supplies

Resolution No. 21-90 Request by Director Palmer for Authorization to Attend the 2022 California H2O Women Conference

Item 7 -

7. PPWTP Upgrades and Ozonation Project Quarterly Progress Presentation

Mona Olmsted, Associate Engineer, gave a quarterly update on the construction of the Patterson Pass Water Treatment Plant, Upgrades and Ozonation Project, which is being constructed for Zone 7 to continue to meet its commitment to providing safe and reliable water. Ms. Olmsted presented the project overview which highlighted the objectives, cost, funding sources, and the in-service date of Spring 2022. She reviewed how the project supports Strategic Initiatives 3, 4 and 5. Ms. Olmsted explained the project's status as yellow at approximately 85% completion and noted that there could be COVID-19 related cost impacts, but those were unknown at this time. Project issues were under control and no decisions were requested. She also shared several construction progress photos to the Board. This presentation is available on the Zone 7 website under Board Meeting Supplemental Material.

Item 8 -

8. Wildfires Impacts on Water Quality and Operations

Brian Keil, Assistant Planner, presented the wildfire impacts on water quality in Zone 7 operations. His presentation consisted of information on potential water quality impacts of wildfires, impacts to the water treatment processes, the three wildfires of concern, and main takeaways. The wildfires have potential short-term and long-term impacts to source water quality. While the post-fire first flush sampling by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) indicated higher levels of some constituents, additional sampling events during later precipitation indicated these levels fell back to pre-fire baseline levels. He noted that even if there were higher levels of some constituents, significant dilution occurs by the time water reaches Zone 7 treatment plants. Most importantly, the agency's continuous and routine grab sampling confirmed no impacts to delivered treated water quality because the treatment plants are equipped with robust treatment processes that can handle any anticipated source water quality changes. There were also no significant operational impacts observed from last year's fire and staff did not anticipate any significant impact from this year's Dixie Fire. Mr. Keil then welcomed questions and comments from the Board. This presentation is available on the Zone 7 website under Board Meeting Supplemental Material.

Director Sanwong asked if there was a workgroup with DWR or regular check ins about this topic. She also asked if the increase in algal blooms were connected to the wildfires. Mr. Keil stated that there was a Municipal Water Quality Investigations Program (MWQI Program) that met monthly. Monitoring to do sampling after storm events were set up. There would also be a recap of the findings of these samplings in the most recent sanitary survey. Mr. Keil explained there was no direct discussion about algal blooms and its connection to wildfires. Cyanotoxins were monitored regularly during the summer and warnings were released if anything was observed.

Director Green inquired about the tests that were done and asked if he only presented the ones worth noting. She specifically asked about dioxins and furans. Mr. Keil said there was additional testing performed, but some of those results have not been returned with the most recent results. Some of the semi-volatile organic compounds were tested, but those were found below detection levels. He was not aware if there were tests done for dioxins and furans, but he could follow up on her inquiry.

Director Gambs inquired about more testing on Del Valle. Mr. Keil said there would be continuous testing done.

Item 9 -

9. Committees

No comments were received from the Board.

Item 10 -

10. Reports - Directors

President Ramirez Holmes thanked the Tri-Valley for conserving 20% in October, which surpassed the goal of 15%. She asked the public to continue conserving and to do this mostly through outdoor landscaping. She also touched on the rebate programs available through Zone 7 as well as its retailers.

The Los Vaqueros Reservoir Joint Powers Authority (JPA) meeting took place in the week prior, and she was selected as chair of that JPA. Those meetings would take place on the second Wednesday of every month at 9:30 a.m. The Board would receive JPA agendas and minutes. She also attended the Public Policy Institute of California Program (PPIC Program) to make water infrastructure climate ready and discussed the last two years of severe drought. With one of the wettest Octobers on record, they discussed weather extremes and how it has major implications for the state's water system. The panel discussion was about how infrastructure and management practices can adapt to these conditions. The State Water Project (SWP) made some changes in 2020, which started to carry over more water, particularly in Oroville, as plans continue for successive dry years. She felt that discussions about floods during droughts were important because there are two sides of the hydrologic coin of climate change. The Governor instituted a California drought monitor in one of his drought proclamations which will provide more information. The Cal Groundwater Live would also be launched to provide a monthly look at the different groundwater levels with new data accessible to both the Board and the public.

Director Palmer attended an Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Microplastics Workgroup. On November 11th, the draft microplastics in drinking water was released which had an aggressive calendar to it. Source water would be tested for a couple years at the water wholesaler and retail levels.

Nick Blair from ACWA presented what was put together at the workgroup. This consisted of the cost impacts for doing these studies. It would require a two-year evaluation of phase one and then a six-month period of reviewing it, then two years in phase two studying analytical techniques and bringing things down to less than 20 microns with microplastics. The group would also like to set up monitoring. They were coordinating with the State Water Ambient Monitoring Program to make sure that groundwater was not included. She stressed the importance of microplastics, as there were limited well-documented health concerns at this point. Work has been done with rodents. There hasn't been a lot of work following through on humans.

Item 11 -

11. Items for Future Agenda - Directors - none

Item 12 -

12. Staff Reports

Valerie Pryor, General Manager reiterated President Ramirez Holmes' statements about the drought. The recent rain was a good start but the system began with an incredible deficit and the projections were still likely for a dry year. At this point in time, the agency was still anticipating starting out the year with a 0% allocation from the SWP. While staff were still seeking water purchases for 2022, there was a very strong likelihood of not being able to purchase any water. She asked the public to continue to conserve because the water that we can conserve is water that we save for use next year.

She also mentioned the five-year update to the Groundwater Sustainability Plan. The draft was available, previewed at the Water Resources Committee, and staff were accepting public comments until December 3. It would then be brought to the Board for approval at the December Board Meeting. The updated environmental impact statement was released for Sites Reservoir. Its committee would be accepting comments until January 11, 2022, and they would have two public workshops on the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on December 15th at 6:00 p.m. and December 16th at 9:00 a.m.

Director Figuers asked about Ms. Pryor's statements about no water being available for purchase and if she meant that water would be expensive. Ms. Pryor said there was a strong likelihood that the agency would not be able to purchase water and clarified that there were water purchases made during 2021. Staff were actively seeking water for 2022, but as other water agencies experience more severe drought, or they are denied by their counties from exporting groundwater, it may be hard to find purchases. Different water supplies may also have different rules. Zone 7 prefers to buy SWP water if it is available because there are no carriage losses in the Delta. Water purchased from non-SWP sources take a substantial water loss hit in the Delta. These could either be non-economical or just not result in very much water.

Director Green asked about the timeline on the water supply risk model. Ms. Pryor explained that the long-term water supply planning model would be updated, and staff hoped to use it to update the Water Supply Evaluation towards the end of 2022. Director Green added that the PFOS component interested her the most. Ms. Pryor indicated she was referring to the desktop groundwater contaminant mobilization study, which would be finished towards the middle of next calendar year. They worked to develop a model that staff could use to run for various items, which would include PFOS.

Item 13 -

13. Adjournment
President Ramirez Holmes adjourned the meeting at 8:01 p.m.

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Zone 7 Meeting - November 17, 2021

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