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AMENDMENT NO. ONE TO CONTRACT K-1516-79: BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, AND THE OKLAHOMA WATER RESOURCES BOARD TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT TO THE MONITORING SITES AS PART OF THE MONITORING SERVICES REQUIRED BY THE LAKE THUNDERBIRD TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL) MONITORING PLAN.
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BACKGROUND: The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) issued the Total Maximum Daily Load Report (TMDL) for Lake Thunderbird (Lake) and its watershed on November 13, 2013. The goal of the establishment of this TMDL is for the water in Lake Thunderbird to meet state and federal Water Quality Standards (WQS). The report identifies two beneficial uses that the Lake does not meet (referred to as nonattainment): Warm Water Aquatic Community; and Public and Private Water Supply. This nonattainment is due to impairment in three categories of measurement: turbidity, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a.
Certain pollutants in the water have a detrimental effect on these parameters for the Lake. The City is required to reduce the amounts of these pollutants discharged within its Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). The pollutants of concern for monitoring purposes are Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP), and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). Modelling of the Lake and its watershed was done by ODEQ to determine the Waste Load Allocations (WLAs) for the three cities in the watershed, Norman, Moore and Oklahoma City.
The City of Norman has a vested interest in a successful program as Lake Thunderbird serves as Norman’s primary drinking water source. The cities of Moore and Oklahoma City must also comply with the TMDL; however, neither of these cities use Lake Thunderbird as a source for their drinking water.
Lake Thunderbird TMDL Compliance and Monitoring Plans (Plans) were developed by staff and endorsed by the City Council on October 27, 2015, through Resolution R-1516-25. The Plans were submitted to the ODEQ for review and approval on November 5, 2015. After several discussions with ODEQ, a final response to ODEQ’s comments and revised Plans were submitted to ODEQ on July 22, 2016. ODEQ approved the City’s revised Plans on September 21, 2016.
The Monitoring Plan included a monitoring component with the purpose of identifying those sub-watersheds most suited to the siting of Best Management Practices which would reduce pollutant loadings in the most effective manner. Implementation of the Monitoring Plan began prior to final approval by ODEQ to provide the City with as much data as possible and to provide time to work out any problems that could be encountered when beginning a monitoring program for the first time.
The Public Works Department published Request for Proposal, RFP-1516-39, for monitoring services on December 17, 2015. The City received two cost proposals for this service from Freese & Nichols and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB). The total of the cost proposals are shown below:
• Freese & Nichols, Oklahoma City - $355,167
• OWRB, Oklahoma City - $222,615
Each proposal was based on the purchase and installation of ten (10) continuous flow monitoring devices, the operation and maintenance of said devices, 120 stormwater samples, 7 outfall samples, analysis of samples taken, and required reporting each year.
Standard practice for collecting stream samples allows for either manual or automated collection of samples. The specific use of autosamplers was hoped for by staff but not required in the Request for Proposal to allow the bidders flexibility in meeting the sampling objectives as set out in the Monitoring Plan and the Quality Assurance Project Plan. Staff was also concerned at that time with the cost of monitoring because this was the City’s first experience with such a program. Neither proposal included the use of autosamplers.
Based on a complete review of the submittals, it was determined that OWRB was best suited to provide the Monitoring Services required by the City of Norman. OWRB has extensive experience in providing the specific services set out in the Monitoring Plan and the Quality Assurance Project Plan. The cost proposal by OWRB was within industry standards for the services. OWRB has been supplying sampling and monitoring services throughout Oklahoma for many years. OWRB currently has sampling and monitoring contracts with Central Oklahoma Master Conservancy District and the Grand River Dam Authority to fulfill these needs.
Contract No. K-1516-79 was written in a “Cost Not to Exceed” format based on anticipated sampling needs. The contract was for one (1) year, and will automatically renew upon Council appropriation of funds for two (2) successive years. Upon consent of the parties, the contract may be renewed for up to two (2) additional years for a total contract time frame of up to five (5) years. A longer term contract benefits both parties. The monitoring devices will remain the property of the contractor and a reduction in cost is expected in years 2 through 5 due to not reinstalling the equipment. In addition, the sampling protocols will be consistent over a longer period producing more reliable data for analysis. The contract services included:
• Purchase, Installation, and Operation and Maintenance of 10 Stream Gauging Stations (see Attachment C)
• Manual sampling at the Gauging Stations during both low flow and storm flow conditions
• Manual sampling at 7 Outfalls per year during storm flow conditions
• Sample Analysis for specified parameters
• Monthly and Annual Reporting
After receipt of the cost proposals in December 2015, ODEQ changed the City’s monitoring requirements and indicated to staff that seven outfall samplings should be done quarterly instead of annually and that additional sample analysis will be required. The OWRB contract included this additional sampling at the same cost per sample provided by OWRB but at an additional cost of $7,141.23 annually to address the additional frequency of sampling, for a total project cost for the first year (2016) of $229,756.23.
On January 26, 2016, City Council approved Contract K-1516-79 with OWRB in the amount of $229,756.23. OWRB implemented the monitoring program in March 2016.
On September 29, 2016, City staff met with OWRB staff to discuss the monitoring plan and any issues that OWRB had encountered during the first six months of sampling. At that meeting, OWRB staff and City staff discussed the use of refrigerated autosamplers and rain gauges at the ten permanent monitoring stations to provide for more efficient and accurate monitoring (see Attachment A for locations of these sites). An estimate of the cost of adding autosamplers and rain gauges was requested by City staff and received on December 21, 2016 (see Attachment C). The one-time cost to install autosamplers is $94,500.00.
While manual sampling is acceptable currently, installation of autosamplers will allow OWRB to collect higher quality sample data that meets the strict requirements in the City’s Lake Thunderbird TMDL Monitoring Plan and its associated Quality Assurance Project Plan and will integrate with existing equipment. Manual sampling requires OWRB staff to drive to one site, collect the sample during the peak flow rate, measure stream discharge, and drive to the next site. This is time and labor intensive and can lead to many more sampling trips because samples cannot be collected at the appropriate stream flow rate for all 10 sites during a single rain event due to the distance between sites and the short duration of peak flow in the streams. Autosamplers are particularly helpful at collecting samples at the peak of a rainfall event because samples can be collected at all 10 sites at the appropriate peak in the hydrograph without having a sampling team present. Because the data gathered through this process will be used to determine the City’s compliance with the Lake Thunderbird TMDL and its associated pollutant load reduction requirements as well as to make decisions on whether and how to spend additional funds on best management practices to further reduce pollutant loads throughout the watershed, it is vital that the City’s contractor gather scientifically valid and defensible data to ensure sound decisions are made and City funds are used wisely. The most effective way to do this is to collect samples during the peak flow period of rainfall events at all 10 sites.
Installation of autosamplers will also provide greater flexibility when it comes to collecting other samples at these locations in the future should the City and/or ODEQ determine that they be necessary. An added benefit to installation of autosamplers at these sites is that they will lead to a significant cost savings in future years due to the reduced labor costs associated with using these devices. At current prices for labor and sample analysis, City staff estimates autosamplers will save the City approximately $35,000.00 per year due to the reduction in the number of man-hours spent collecting the samples. This will mean that the autosamplers will pay for themselves in less than three years (see Attachment B).
DISCUSSION: The FYE 2017 Budget allocates $300,000 for TMDL Monitoring. Pursuant to the renewal provision, this contract will automatically renew and OWRB will continue to provide monitoring services. This Council action is to amend Contract K-1516-79 with OWRB to add the purchase and installation of refrigerated autosamplers and rain gauges at ten permanent monitoring stations.
If approved, funds for these services will be paid from the FYE 2017 Capital Fund, Account 050-9968-431.62-01, Project DR0061, Lake Thunderbird Watershed TMDL Compliance. With the addition of the autosamplers and rain gauges, this year’s anticipated cost for TMDL Monitoring is $204,796, or a savings of $95,204 in the City’s Capital Budget. Next year’s cost is currently estimated to be $110,743.42 due to the savings in labor and travel costs provided by the autosamplers. If autosamplers are not added at this time and manual sampling continues to be the method of choice, the contract cost next year is estimated to be $146,700.87.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of Amendment No. 1 to Contract K-1516-79, with OWRB, to add the purchase and installation of refrigerated autosamplers and rain gauges at ten permanent monitoring stations.