Water Resources Advisory Board (City of Bellingham)

The centerpiece of the meeting was Riley Graham's detailed presentation on the Water Use Efficiency Program, a state-mandated conservation initiative required under Washington's 2003 Municipal Water Law. The program has successfully maintained peak day demand below 14 million gallons per day over the past five years, with Bellingham residents using significantly less water than the national average. The board unanimously approved Resolution 2025-01, adopting the program's next 10-year plan. The presentation revealed both successes and challenges in the city's water management. While conservation programs have saved an estimated 2 million gallons annually through rebate programs, the board learned of a significant metering problem at the water treatment plant that makes production data unreliable. The meter measuring water leaving the treatment plant is inaccurate due to pipeline configuration issues, creating a data gap that staff will need to address with the Department of Health. Looking forward, the city is shifting its conservation goal from peak day demand to per-capita consumption targets, aiming to keep single-family residential accounts below 154 gallons per day. This change reflects both the metering challenges and alignment with the broader water system plan update. The program will continue existing rebate programs while adding new measures including potential development code updates and operational efficiency improvements.

**Resolution 2025-01 - Water Use Efficiency Program Approval** - **Vote:** Passed unanimously (7-0) - **Action:** Approved the 10-year Water Use Efficiency Program for submission to City Council - **Next Step:** Program goes to City Council on March 24, 2025 (corrected from March 25) - **Significance:** Meets state Department of Health requirements and aligns with water system plan update **Board Leadership Elections** - **Chair Election:** Brett Lane re-elected over Rick Egger (5-2 vote) - **Vice Chair Election:** Martin Chelstead elected by consensus after John Peppel declined - **Term Commitment:** Both Lane and Egger agreed to support rotation principle, with Lane committing to step aside in 2026

"Conservation is not gonna help us save money on your water bill... the sunk cost to manage the water system, we're there. So if you use less water, then we're base charge is gonna go up." **Brett Lane, on leadership continuity:** "I feel like I've got a pretty good grasp on the fact that we are an advisory board to the city and make sure that we stay within that role." **Rick Egger, on rotation principle:** "I feel like this is a position that should rotate every year. Everyone should have a chance to do it and to learn how the sausage gets made, so to speak." **Carl Benson, on price-driven conservation:** "Ten cents a gallon will really motivate lots of behavior change. There's snow outside, you can wash your face." **Riley Graham, on diminishing returns:** "We're getting to the kind of the bottom of the barrel when it comes to some of these conservation measures. We've come so far, there's really only so much more we can continue to go." **Mike Wilson, on metering challenges:** "The meter is rated for three cubic feet per second, so it's already too slow. And another challenge we have with just moving it is it sets right beside the pipeline... you have two major pipelines and it's right beside both of them."

# Water Resources Advisory Board Reviews Conservation Program and Elects New Leadership ## Meeting Overview The Bellingham Water Resources Advisory Board convened on February 25, 2025, to conduct routine business including board elections and receive a comprehensive presentation on the city's water use efficiency program. The meeting featured a leadership transition with Rick Eggers being elected as the new chair, while Brett Lane stepped down after serving since July 2024. The board welcomed new member Carl Benson, a former environmental consultant from Alaska, and spent the majority of the meeting reviewing the city's water conservation efforts and future planning. The session highlighted both the successes and challenges of Bellingham's water conservation program, with staff presenting data showing the city's water use is significantly below national averages. However, technical issues with production metering have complicated data tracking, and the board engaged in detailed discussion about the effectiveness and future direction of conservation measures. ## Election of New Board Leadership The meeting opened with elections for chair and vice chair positions. Rick Eggers nominated himself for chair, emphasizing his extensive experience managing committees and his belief that leadership should rotate annually. "I want to be very clear, I'm not doing this in any kind of a reaction to dissatisfaction with job Brett's done," Eggers said. "It's just, I feel like this is a position that should rotate every year. Everyone should have a chance to do it and to learn how the sausage gets made, so to speak." Eggers detailed his background serving on multiple boards, including six years as chair of the Sierra Club Mount Baker Group and seven years on a high school board in California. Brett Lane, the incumbent chair, expressed willingness to continue, citing the transitional nature of his brief tenure. "I've served as chair for this board starting in July last year, and then there were two meetings that we didn't have. That was August and December. So it really wasn't even a full half term," Lane explained. Both candidates agreed that leadership should rotate, with Lane stating he would step aside in 2026 regardless of the outcome. The board conducted an open vote, with Eggers winning by a 4-3 margin. Martin Chelstead was subsequently elected vice chair without opposition, though he admitted, "I have even less idea what the vice chair does than the chair does." ## Water Use Efficiency Program Overview Riley Graham, the city's Communications Outreach Manager, presented a comprehensive review of Bellingham's water use efficiency program, which operates under Washington State's Municipal Water Law of 2003. The law requires municipal water systems to establish conservation goals, implement performance measures, and submit annual reports to the Department of Health. Graham explained that Bellingham's water system serves a diverse customer base, with residential accounts (single-family and multifamily) comprising more than half of consumption, while the remainder is split between water districts, commercial, industrial, institutional, and irrigation customers. "This has remained pretty consistent over the last five years or so, probably longer than that since GP closed," Graham noted, referring to the former Georgia Pacific mill. The presentation revealed that Bellingham residents use significantly less water than the national average. While the EPA estimates Americans use 82 gallons per person daily, Bellingham households average about 154 gallons per day for single-family accounts, which translates to approximately 73 gallons per person based on the city's average household size of 2.1 people. ## Data Collection Challenges A significant portion of the discussion focused on technical problems with the city's water production metering system. Graham acknowledged that production numbers appear lower than consumption numbers, creating confusion in the data. Mike Wilson, the Public Works Assistant Director, explained the metering challenges: "The meter that is measuring the water coming out of our water treatment plant is not accurate. The configuration of the meter placement within the system doesn't allow for a long enough straight enough run to get accurate consumption through that meter because we have too many bends in the pipe." Steve Bracho, Superintendent of Operations and Maintenance, provided additional technical details: "One of the biggest problems is the size of the pipe we use. We need high flows, when the flow slows down it gets less than one cubic foot per second, and the meter is rated for three cubic per second, so it's already too slow." He also noted the meter's proximity to major pipelines creates additional complications: "It's located about three, four feet from the Olympic pipeline." Despite these metering issues, staff expressed confidence in their leak detection capabilities. "We have a really amazing and robust maintenance program. It's very responsive and very proactive in terms of leak detection," Graham said. The city plans to work with the Department of Health to develop alternative methods for measuring production data. ## Conservation Program Performance The city's water use efficiency program has operated under a goal of keeping peak day demand below 14 million gallons per day during summer months. Graham reported that the city met this goal consistently over the past five years, except during the 2021 heat dome event when water systems throughout the region saw unprecedented demand spikes. The program includes nine conservation measures as required by state law, including rebate programs for residential, commercial, and institutional customers. "Our biggest users of those programs are for toilet replacements," Graham explained. "They all look at retrofitting existing fixtures with low flow fixtures." The city estimates these rebate programs save approximately 2 million gallons annually. However, board members questioned the overall impact of conservation efforts. Carl Benson performed rough calculations and observed that the various rebate programs might save 4.5 million gallons annually out of the city's total consumption of 1-2 billion gallons. "Pardon the expression, but that seems like a drop in the bucket," Benson commented. Graham acknowledged this concern but explained it reflects the success of previous conservation efforts: "We're getting to the kind of the bottom of the barrel when it comes to some of these conservation measures. We've come so far, there's really only so much more we can continue to go in terms of rebate programs." She noted that as a community already well below national averages, finding additional conservation opportunities becomes increasingly difficult. ## Future Planning and New Initiatives Looking ahead to the next ten years, the city proposes shifting its goal from peak day demand to consumption-based metrics, setting a target of keeping consumption below 154 gallons per day per single-family residential account. This change aligns with the water system plan update and addresses reliability concerns with production data. The program will continue existing rebate programs while adding two new measures. First, the city will explore updates to development code requirements for irrigation systems and fixture counts, potentially reducing barriers to development while maintaining water efficiency. "As fixtures have become so much more efficient in construction, we see some water savings through just potentially having reduced requirements in development," Graham explained. "And that may also help with some of the barriers to development that everything's dealing with right now in terms of our housing affordability challenges." Second, the city will evaluate how to reduce consumption through operations and maintenance programs. "Some of the things we do like valve exercising or flushing uses quite a lot of water," Graham noted. "Now that we have a lot of systems in place, we're able to monitor that more closely and ultimately we think that we're going to be able to see some additional savings by doing those more efficiently." ## Public Engagement and Education The program includes extensive public education components, notably the Water School program that serves all fifth graders in Bellingham Public Schools. Over the past five years, more than 5,000 youth and adults participated in this program, which includes classroom lessons and field trips to the water treatment plant. "Water conservation is one of the elements. It is not the only thing they actually learn about all of our water systems," Graham said. The city also distributes free water-saving devices and has collected over 600 outdoor water conservation pledges. Graham noted cultural shifts in water use: "There's definitely an ethic of conservation that we see on lawns... our neighborhood, all the lawns are dead and nobody waters... the trend is rocks and trees." The upcoming billing system upgrade will provide new opportunities for customer education, similar to what utilities like Puget Sound Energy offer through their customer portals with usage comparisons and conservation tips. ## Rate Structure and Customer Impact The discussion revealed tensions between conservation messaging and rate structures. Graham acknowledged that conservation doesn't necessarily reduce customer bills: "That's the hard part of this whole conversation is that conservation is not going to help us save money on your water bill... usage is what, five bucks out of 120 some." Mike Wilson explained the economics: "If you use less water, then our base charge is going to go up... We've reached that critical point that water is not going to get any cheaper. The sunk costs to manage the water system, we're there." This creates challenges in messaging conservation benefits, with staff emphasizing environmental stewardship and resource protection rather than cost savings. The city offers irrigation meters for customers with large yards, allowing them to avoid sewer charges on outdoor water use. Martin Chelstead expressed interest in better understanding residential water usage patterns: "I honestly don't really have an idea of what the biggest water usage is in our house, and so how could we be the most effective at reducing that kind of water." ## Technical Questions and Clarifications Board members asked detailed questions about program implementation and data interpretation. Rick Eggers sought clarification about the declining participation in rebate programs, which Graham attributed to the replacement of most inefficient fixtures over time. "Basically, all the really old inefficient fixtures are being replaced, and so we have less of a pool of eligible candidates remaining," she explained. The board also discussed the relationship between single-family and multifamily metering. Graham clarified that single-family designation includes up to four units, while anything larger is considered multifamily with different billing structures. Most multifamily buildings have one meter serving the entire building. John Peppel inquired about pollution trading programs, wondering if the city could leverage conservation investments by funding improvements to other systems that might provide greater environmental benefits. Wilson explained that Washington State doesn't currently recognize such trading mechanisms, unlike some other states, though discussions are ongoing at the state level. ## Resolution and Next Steps The board unanimously approved Resolution 2025-01 endorsing the water use efficiency program. The plan will proceed through public comment collection via the city's Engage Bellingham website through March 2nd, before going to City Council on March 25th for adoption. Staff reminded the board that the full Water System Plan will be distributed in mid-March for review at the next meeting, with focus areas identified as the capital improvement plan and finance chapters. Graham noted this represents a shift to ten-year planning cycles aligned with the water system plan, rather than the previous six-year efficiency program cycles. ## Closing and Future Meetings The meeting demonstrated the board's thorough engagement with technical water management issues and the complexities of balancing conservation goals with system reliability and customer service. The transition in leadership reflects the board's commitment to shared governance and institutional knowledge transfer. The discussion revealed both the achievements and challenges of water conservation in a community that has already made significant efficiency gains. As Bellingham continues to grow, the board will need to balance maintaining low per-capita consumption with meeting increased overall demand, all while working within the constraints of aging infrastructure and limited conservation opportunities. The meeting adjourned at 7:21 PM, with the new leadership team prepared to guide the board through upcoming reviews of the comprehensive Water System Plan and continued oversight of the city's water conservation efforts.

## MODULE S1: STUDY GUIDE **Meeting ID:** BEL-WRA-2025-02-25 ### Meeting Overview The Bellingham Water Resources Advisory Board met on February 25, 2025, to review the city's water use efficiency program, elect new leadership, and approve a resolution supporting the program's next 10-year plan. The meeting focused heavily on how the city conserves water and meets state requirements for municipal water systems. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Municipal Water Law:** A 2003 Washington state law requiring water systems to develop conservation programs, fully meter their systems, and meet distribution leakage standards. This law drives most of Bellingham's water efficiency requirements. **Peak Day Demand (PDD):** The highest amount of water used in a single day, typically occurring during summer months when people water lawns and gardens. Bellingham's goal is to keep this below 14 million gallons per day. **Water Use Efficiency Program:** A state-mandated conservation program that includes rebates, education, and tracking measures. Bellingham must implement nine specific conservation measures as a system with up to 50,000 service connections. **Distribution Leakage:** Water lost through pipe breaks and system leaks. State law required all water systems to meet a 10% maximum leakage standard by 2020. **Service Connection:** Essentially a water meter - each property's connection to the city water system, regardless of how many people live there. **Single Family Residential Account:** Properties with 1-4 units that have their own water meter. Anything with 5+ units is considered multifamily and typically has one shared meter. **Irrigation Meter:** A separate water connection for outdoor watering that doesn't include sewer charges, making it cheaper for properties with large landscaping needs. **Lake Whatcom:** Bellingham's primary water source, serving both city customers and several water districts in the region. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Brett Lane | RAB Chair (re-elected) | | Martin Chelstead | RAB Vice Chair (elected) | | Rick Eggers | RAB Member (ran for chair) | | Carl Benson | New RAB Member | | Kristen McDade | RAB Member | | John Peppel | RAB Member | | Francesca White | RAB Member | | Riley Graham | Public Works Communications Manager | | Mike Wilson | Public Works Assistant Director | | Jim Mergner | City Staff | | Toril Ramsey | Public Works Communications | ### Background Context Washington state passed the Municipal Water Law in 2003 to ensure cities use water efficiently and protect long-term supply reliability. This law forced Bellingham to eliminate flat-rate billing and install meters on every connection by 2017. Now the city must update its conservation program every 10 years (previously every 6 years) as part of its comprehensive water system planning. Bellingham gets its water from Lake Whatcom, which also serves several regional water districts. The city's water treatment plant can produce 24 million gallons per day, but typical summer peak demand is around 12-14 million gallons. The city has been successful at conservation - residents use about 154 gallons per day per household, well below the national average of 172 gallons. However, the city faces a technical challenge: the meter measuring water leaving the treatment plant is inaccurate due to pipe configuration issues, making it difficult to track system-wide water loss. This forces staff to rely on customer meter data instead of production data for planning. ### What Happened — The Short Version The board held elections and re-elected Brett Lane as chair, with Martin Chelstead becoming vice chair after some discussion about rotating leadership. Staff presented the proposed 10-year water efficiency program, which shifts from tracking peak day demand to tracking per-household consumption (keeping it below 154 gallons per day per single-family account). The program continues existing rebate programs for water-efficient toilets and fixtures, expands low-income direct installation services, and adds new measures around development code updates and operational efficiency improvements. The city will continue educational programs including "water school" for 5th graders and community outreach. Board members asked detailed questions about irrigation metering, billing changes, and program effectiveness. The board unanimously approved Resolution 2025-01 supporting the program, which will go to City Council on March 24th for final adoption. ### What to Watch Next - City Council consideration of the water efficiency program on March 24, 2025 - Release of the full Water System Plan in mid-March, focusing on capital improvements and financing - Implementation of new billing software that may provide better customer education tools - Potential updates to city development codes for more efficient water fixtures ---

## MODULE S2: FLASH CARDS **Meeting ID:** BEL-WRA-2025-02-25 **Q:** Who was re-elected as chair of the Water Resources Advisory Board? **A:** Brett Lane was re-elected as chair, defeating Rick Eggers in a 5-3 vote. **Q:** What is Bellingham's new 10-year water conservation goal? **A:** Keep consumption below 154 gallons per day per single family residential account. **Q:** Why did the city change from measuring peak day demand to per-household consumption? **A:** The meter measuring water leaving the treatment plant is inaccurate due to pipe configuration issues, making customer consumption data more reliable. **Q:** How many conservation measures must Bellingham implement under state law? **A:** Nine measures, as required for water systems with up to 50,000 service connections. **Q:** What is the capacity of Bellingham's water treatment plant? **A:** 24 million gallons per day, though typical peak demand is only 12-14 million gallons. **Q:** When did Bellingham complete full metering of its water system? **A:** End of 2017, eliminating all flat-rate customers as required by the 2003 Municipal Water Law. **Q:** How does Bellingham's per-household water use compare to the national average? **A:** Bellingham averages 154 gallons per day per household; the national average is 172 gallons. **Q:** What happened to water demand during the 2021 heat dome? **A:** Peak day demand spiked significantly above normal levels as people used more water to cope with extreme heat. **Q:** What is the main focus of Bellingham's rebate programs? **A:** Replacing old, inefficient toilets and fixtures with low-flow alternatives in existing buildings. **Q:** How many students participate in Bellingham's "water school" program annually? **A:** Over 1,000 fifth-graders from Bellingham Public Schools, plus adult chaperones. **Q:** What is an irrigation meter? **A:** A separate water connection for outdoor watering that doesn't include sewer charges, making it cheaper for large properties. **Q:** When will the City Council vote on the water efficiency program? **A:** March 24, 2025 (presenter mistakenly said March 25th initially). **Q:** What is the estimated annual water savings from all rebate programs combined? **A:** Approximately 4.5 million gallons per year from fixture replacements. **Q:** Why are rebate program numbers declining in recent years? **A:** Most old, inefficient fixtures have already been replaced, leaving fewer candidates for upgrades. **Q:** What new low-income program did the city start this year? **A:** Direct installation of efficient toilets in low-income homes through partnership with the Opportunity Council. **Q:** What percentage of Bellingham's water demand comes from residential customers? **A:** More than half, split between single-family and multifamily accounts. **Q:** How often must the city update its water efficiency program? **A:** Every 10 years, aligned with the water system plan (previously every 6 years). **Q:** What is the state's distribution leakage standard? **A:** Water systems must keep leakage below 10% of total production. **Q:** What happens when the city detects unusually high water use at a property? **A:** Staff immediately contact the customer to alert them of potential leaks or problems. **Q:** Can Washington state utilities use pollution trading credits? **A:** No, the Department of Ecology does not currently recognize trading credits for compliance. ---