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Council asks staff for study session on water supply and fire flow resilience
Summary
Council members asked for a study session on municipal water storage, supply and emergency fire flow — including backup generation at well sites and reservoir studies — amid concern about severe fire seasons elsewhere.
A council member asked at the Jan. 14 study session whether the city could schedule a near-term study session on water supply and fire flow to assess city readiness for large fires.
“Is there a chance in the near future, we can have a study session on water, flow for fires?” the speaker asked, noting concerns about severe fire seasons in other states.
City Manager Mark Ziegler responded that the city is completing reservoir studies that will inform storage needs for residential and commercial development, but that those studies do not necessarily address large wildland-fire events. He told the council the city is working on redundancies and backup power at well sites so reservoirs continue to be recharged if power lines fail. “We’re formulating some of that with some redundancies, some backup generation at our well sites in case power lines go down,” Ziegler said, adding that supply depends on runoff and snowmelt and that prolonged low runoff creates shortages.
Council members asked that public works and the fire department be involved in any discussion. Ziegler said staff would put together a study session to address storage, supply, backup generation and coordination with fire response agencies.
No formal action or funding decision was made during the study session.
