March 17, 2005 Meeting Minutes

pullman city hall, east end meeting room

Members Attendance

Visitors: Nancy Cheney, Moscow City Council; David Hall, Latah County resident; Bob Haynes, CDA Regional Manager IDWR; Tom Lamar, Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute; JoAnn Mack, Moscow City Council for Jon Kimberling; Farida Leek, WSU Grad Student: Cheryl Morgan, Pullman resident; Phil Nisbet, I Minerals, Inc.; 

1)    Approval of the February 17, 2005 Meeting Minutes – Rob Corcoran, the PBAC Chair, called the meeting to order at 2:38 pm. The February 17 minutes were approved with several minor grammatical changes. During the introductions, it was noted that JoAnn Mack was sitting in for Jon Kimberling as the City of Moscow Council Representative.

2)    Update handout on Shallow Aquifer Benchmark Study from  Nicole Badon Kirkland reported that Badon is gone on spring break.  Her handout showed the depth to water in the 16 shallow aquifer wells where she has loggers installed.  Most of the wells showed either a recovery trend or a steady-state.  The Carson well, which is likely down-gradient from the Naylor property to the west, was artesian each time it was measured.  No conclusion could be drawn from a comparison of the depths down to water.  Nicole will be going out with the GPS (Geographic Positioning System) team on April 2 to get an exact elevation for each casing collar or reference point so that all water levels can be converted to mean sea level elevations and compared.  Preliminary analysis of the pump test data using City of Moscow shallow aquifer well # 2 showed certain connectivity to several wells to the south around the University.  No obvious connectivity was discerned in water level recordings in wells to the north of Moscow’s pumping well.  However, additional analyses of the data are still to be performed.

3)    WSU Cunningham Farm Monitoring Well Field Paperwork -
Corcoran was able to bring a WSU proposed agreement document providing the conditions necessary for PBAC to proceed with drilling the monitoring well field.  Since PBAC’s Bylaws do not give PBAC the right to own property, PBAC needed to give the Chair, the Executive Secretary or another PBAC representative the authority to sign off on the Right of Access document.   The agreement document contained much of the same standard language used in general contractor documents.  The bullet requiring PBAC to procure $1,000,000 in liability insurance elicited considerable discussion.  Phil Nisbet, a visitor to the PBAC meeting, said it cost mineral companies $1500 to $2000 per year per well field for insurance covering well fields drilled on public land.  Corcoran was requested to check with WSU about waiving the insurance requirement because WSU is a member of PBAC.  Kirkland was assigned to check on the cost of PBAC procuring such insurance.
Waldrop moved that the PBAC Chair, or in his absence the Vice-Chair or the Executive Secretary, be authorized to sign the WSU Cunningham Farm Well Field Agreement before the next meeting if insurance issue and a couple wording issues could be satisfactorily worked out.  PBAC members are to be contacted via email before the signing.  It was then agreed that a discussion of proposed modifications to the PBAC Bylaws including authorizing authority to sign documents would be on the agenda for the next meeting.  Workman would work with Waldrop to suggest the proposed changes.

4)    Report on PBAC Subcommittee to form a Citizens’ Advisory Group -
Kline, the subcommittee chair, reported that the subcommittee had not met due to the need to clarify responses to questions raised about how to meet sunshine rules for open meetings in both Washington and Idaho.  He handed out a meeting outline proposing topics for the subcommittee to address in order to meet open meeting requirements and carry out the PBAC assigned tasks.   After some discussion it was agreed that the CAG subcommittee would meet on the third Thursday of each month at 1:00 prior to the regular PBAC meeting.  Because this would not move things along fast enough it was also agreed to hold interim meetings starting with one on March 31 at 1:30 at Pullman City Hall.  Meeting information is to be published in the paper and put on the PBAC website.  Visitor questions during the discussion indicated some confusion by guests about the tasks of the PBAC subcommittee, which is to recommend a charter and composition for the CAG, and the tasks of the actual CAG, which is to make recommendations for improving PBAC goals and operations. 

5)    Initial Discussion of FY 2005 Planning and Budgeting
Kirkland handed out a sheet summarizing current PBAC projects and possible additional projects if the State of Idaho legislative appropriation for the projects recommended by the Interim Legislative Natural Resource Committee is passed in this session.  He reviewed PBACs mission and goals and the need to be prepared to make some major decisions by 2010.  PBAC is getting a lot on its plate.  It is time for some additional staff or a full-time person to work with Kirkland.  Workman said PBAC has a bit of a credibility problem at the moment.  The perception by some is that it is too involved in research and there is too little observable progress.  He said PBAC should be asking entities for additional funds in preparation for the increased workload of projects coming but first it needs to improve its credibility.  Since PBAC knows what its goals are and progress is being made, the biggest improvement would be to make more frequent reports to show the progress that PBAC is making.  Also, as soon PBAC knows the solution it should be fast-tracked.
Nancy Chaney, a Moscow city council member, expressed concern about the possibility of PBAC rushing into something such as an injection recharge project. 
There followed a discussion of possible options for the needed additional help and how PBAC might get a full-time person with the needed project management experience.  Workman was assigned the task of presenting a job description at the next meeting.

 

6)    Billings for FY 2006 which starts in July 2005
After some discussion it was moved by Workman that PBAC keep the same membership and operational fees for FY 2006 as in FY 2005.  For PBAC administration this is $8000 each from Moscow, Pullman, UI and WSU and $2000 each from Latah and Whitman Counties and the City of Colfax.  Moscow, Pullman, UI and WSU are to pay an additional $20,000 each for continued research and matching funds.  Latah County will pay an extra $5000 toward the shallow aquifer benchmark research which is predominantly focused in Latah County.  MacDonald seconded the motion and then edited the motion to include two separate invoices for the primary pumping entities.  The motion was passed unanimously.

 

7)    OLD BUSINESS

a)    2004 Annual Report-

b)    Budget Sheet –

8)    REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

a)    WRIA North Fork Palouse Recharge Proposal- Kirkland reported that Bob Anderson of Golder Associates, Rob Buchert, the WRIA 34 project administrator, and he revised the storage proposal to include a western WRIA reconnaissance and evaluation of potential surface and ground water storage in the Cow Creek drainage and an eastern WRIA reconnaissance and evaluation of potential recharge enhancement and ground water storage for the North Fork of the Palouse in the vicinity of the state line.  Since the final version is still being revised Kirkland requested that any comments or suggestions be passed on to him. 

b)    Naylor Farm Water Right Application - Bob Haynes announced that the supplemental hearing for presenting additional details on the geology in the vicinity of the Naylor Property and the impact on connectivity will be April 6 and 7 in the main Latah County Fair Ground building.  The starting time is 8:30 each day.   Only the interveners who participated in the September hearing are permitted to present supplemental information.

c)     UI Well # 2 – Kirkland reported that UI well # 2 has been pumped clean and samples of the water taken to Alturas for analysis.  Negotiations are now underway to get a driller or other party to clean the well of iron and manganese deposits and other debris.

d)    Latah County Sub-basin Ground Water Management Area Ordinance – The Latah County Commissioner declared a 182 day moratorium on any mineral extraction, gravel crushing operations, cattle feed lots, and golf courses in a designated ground water management area surrounding Moscow over the Palouse aquifers in Latah County, Idaho to allow review and planning.

e)    Tom Scallorn said Christy Schwartz, the new Moscow Water Department Conservation Coordinator, is rejuvenating Moscow’s water conservation program.  Moscow will be conducting leak detection inspections shortly and there will be an automatic irrigation system workshop for contractors on April 7.
Workman said the City of Pullman completed a water conservation workshop last week in which it committed to upgrading irrigation systems at all 19 Pullman greenspaces with new piping and controls plus wind and rain sensors.  This is a multi-year $1.3 million effort.  There will be 3 projects this year followed by the city cemetery next year and the rest in future years.
Emily Adams reported that Colfax is upgrading irrigation systems in all parks and Andy Rogers reported that Colfax’s leak detection program has resulted in the fixing of a number of major leaks.

 

9)    NEW BUSINESS

a)    Drought Monitoring – Kirkland asked PBAC to consider authorizing funding for a summer worker to supplement current shallow aquifer well monitoring around the fringes of the basin where the impending drought is likely to cause hardship and temporarily dry up of some wells in the coming summer.  The almost total lack of winter precipitation means that recharge to wells in the granite and along the edges of the basin will not get their normal recharge.   Monitoring the extent of the impact of the drought will help PBAC understand the impact of reduced recharge on the shallow aquifer and wells in the granite.  PBAC expressed a willingness to support the supplemental monitoring this summer.  Kirkland is to bring additional information on the proposal to the next meeting.

10)           NEXT MEETING DATE

Respectfully Submitted,

Larry Kirkland

 

These minutes have been approved by the committee.