WATER DISTRICT AGREEMENT
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
Re: Water District Agreement between City of Owosso and Owosso Charter Township dated May, 2009.
The following is to reflect negotiations between the City and the Township with respect to clarifying the provisions of the May, 2009 Water District Agreement. The format follows the paragraph numbering of the Water District Agreement.
2. Certain water mains and facilities, in the Township, are integral to the City
water transmission and distribution system and will remain under the control and ownership (unless hereafter modified) of the City. That ownership includes responsibility for future replacement by the City water utility. Such existing lines and facilities include:
- the 600,000 gallon West Side elevated storage tank and related piping off Dowling Drive
- 16 and 12 inch water main from Delaney on Dowling Drive as extended to S. Chestnut Street
- 12-inch water main on S. Delaney as required to serve 210 S. Delaney (Woodard, Inc.)
- 12-inch water main on S. M-52 south of South Street to Collamer (Hopkins Lake) Park
- 16-inch water main between Palmer Street and Cook Road on the south side of Owosso
12-inch water main on N. Chipman between North St. and Chipman Lane - 12-inch water main on Chipman Lane
- 12-inch water main on Chippewa Trail, on N. Shiawassee from Chippewa Trail to the north of 1464 N. M-52 (Kiwanis Village), along the north border of Kiwanis Village to N. Water St., and on North Water Street
In addition water mains on boundary streets between the City and Township shall remain under the control and replacement responsibility of the City water utility.
4. With respect to fire flow requirements the overall City water system is capable of meeting a fire flow of 3500 gallons per minute for at least 3 hours, which is the ISO (Insurance Services Office) standard fro municipal water systems our size. While the City supply pressure will remain above 60 psi during this fire flow, the pressure at various points in the distribution system will vary. The ISO standard looks fro the 3500 gpm needed fire flow while maintaining a 20 psi residual pressure in the area of that fire flow demand. Further, this 3500 gpm fire flow demand is geared toward industrial, commercial, or school areas. Smaller needed fire flow requirements may apply to less extensive service areas, such as large lot residential areas. Achieving the needed fire flows in the Township Water Districts will require proper distributions system design, including adequately sized and interconnected water mains and adequately positioned fire hydrants, and may also require additional system storage (elevated and/or with booster pumping facilities) depending on the future extension of potential districts. If such additional facilities were required only to serve the Township Water District(s), then the Township would be responsible for the cost for such facilities. If such facilities were designed to be of mutual benefit, then the City and Township would need to negotiate cost-sharing for such facilities.
7 and 10. Existing regulations, laws or codes do not require properties currently served by a valid groundwater well system to connect to the municipal water system when it becomes available, nor to fully abandon the well system if they elect to connect to the municipal water system. The parties understand that the regulation of existing groundwater wells is generally handled by the County Environmental Health Department and/or the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The primary concerns are to assure that any private wells cannot possible intermix with or contaminate the public water supply and that discontinued or substandard wells are properly abandoned to prevent potential groundwater contamination. To that end the following shall generally apply and shall be jointly enforced by the Township and City.
- The City and Township shall encourage customers to properly abandon an existing well when connecting to the municipal water system.
- If a residential customer elects to maintain an existing well for such purposes as landscape irrigation, the well shall be totally and permanently disconnected from the plumbing system served by the public water system. Customers maintaining a separate well system are subject to inspection to assure the systems remain separate.
- A commercial or industrial customer, subject to routine cross connection control inspections, may maintain an existing well system provided that: the well meets all applicable standards and codes, all piping is clearly and properly labeled, and plumbing served by the public water system is kept separate from well system piping or protected by an approved and routinely tested backflow prevention device.
With respect to fire department connections to building sprinkler systems, both the City and Township agree to cooperate to assure that the municipal water supply to such building sprinkler systems is protected by an approved backflow prevention device to assure that water of questionable quality potentially pumped into the building sprinkler system for fire fighting purposes cannot "backflow" and contaminate the municipal water supply.
11. The Water District Agreement does not allocate or guarantee any specific portion of the Water System’s reserve capacity for future service demands in the Township Districts. Based on the Township’s long term demand projection estimated by Prein & Newhof in a 2003 Project Plan for the Township, the City Water System has adequate reserve capacity for normal growth and extension of water service in the Mid-County service area, including the initial Township Water Districts.
In the event of major new water service demands, such as a major industrial facility demand that might utilize a significant portion of the system’s current reserve capacity, or future conditions wherein the system’s reserve capacity no longer is adequate to meet projected 10-year demands, the City shall so notify the Township and provide for discussions and/or negotiations relative to allocation of reserve system capacity and/or provision of additional system capacity.
To properly assess the impact of a major new user in an existing Township Water District, the City should be notified and involved as early as feasible in the site plan review process. The City will review the proposed water use and advise the Township, and the proposed new user, of the water systems capacity to meet the requested service demand. Major new users are those involving a fire sprinkler service connection and/or a projected water use of 10,000 gallons per average day.
For more complex projects, such as joint extension of water and sewer lines, the cost accounting needs to be able to separately identify water project costs from sewer project costs. In the case of a project that included paving a previously gravel street following water main installation, the cost for street paving needs to be financed by other than water system funds. Wherever possible, new water mains and appurtenances shall be located outside of paved roadways but within rights-of-ways or dedicated easements that assure ready access by the City for future operation and maintenance. Use of water funds for street and drive approach paving are limited to unavoidable repairs directly necessitated by the water main installation.
18. With respect to water charges to District customers that are not recoverable by standard collection methods (i.e. bad debt), City and Township will work together to collect such charges through lien and collection via the property taxes. The intent is for the collection method to work the same as currently in place between the Township and the Township Utility (Sewer) Authority for collection of unpaid sewer use charges. The City would annually provide a list of uncollectible District water charges by property and amount for lien prior to the winter tax bill preparation. The City would also invoice the Township for the total amount of lien. The Township payment would be deposited to the Township Water District Fund. The Township would apply the liens and be reimbursed through the property tax system.
20. An alternate source of financing for Township Water District projects is for the Township to develop their own portion of a new service connection charge. To expedite the permitting process for new connections, the City will collect the Township portion of a new service connection fee along with the standard City connection charge.
For Township customers connecting to a City water main, such as on one of the borderline streets or to one of the water mains listed under paragraph 2 above, the City "water Main Assessment Charge" would be collected and remain with the City. This connection charge revenue would go toward the eventual replacement of the water main that remains the City Water Fund responsibility. Alternatively, the City and Township could consider a cost sharing arrangement for water mains that provide direct service connections to both City and Township customers.
21. Water System Upgrade
Owosso Charter Township agrees that upon signing of this Water Agreement, it will proceed forward with replacing undersized water lines on Babcock Street, between Chestnut Street and Cleveland Avenue, with eight (8") inch water mains and extending eight (8") inch water on Cleveland Avenue, from Babcock, south to Keifer and north to Marion Street to interconnect with mains on those streets. The Township shall contribute up to One Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars but not to exceed One Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars to complete these priority projects. These projects shall be completed within three (3) years from the date of signing the Water Agreement.
After the above improvements are completed, the Township, after consideration of the input from the City, may determine the project priorities for replacing and improving the distribution system in the township districts. By way of example, such improvements may include an extension to serve additional areas in the water districts.
The City input shall identify and prioritize replacement improvement needs within the existing service areas.
The Township has the right to contract with their own engineer for design, permitting and implementation of district projects. Alternatively, the Township may, if agreeable to the City, utilize the City for accomplishing replacement projects. In such case the City and Township will need to meet and agree on project cost accounting.
The above is approved as to the understanding of the parties negotiating the 2009 Water District Agreement.
OWOSSO CHARTER TOWNSHIP CITY OF OWOSSO
By:_______________________________ By:___________________________
Danny Miller, Supervisor Michael Bruff, Mayor
and and
__________________________________ ______________________________
Judy Gute, Clerk Amy K. Kohagen, Clerk
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