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Home My WebLink About20050520Sterling direct revised.pdfIDAHO PUBLIC UTiliTIES com miSSion Dirk Kempthome, Govemor o. Box 83720, Boise, Idaho 83720-0074 Paul Kjellander, President Marsha H. Smith, Commissioner Dennis S. H~.a:'sen , ~~mmi~8:~pner -~'\ 2::;:, .~; r"' ..'" (,) r-- -,- ::)~:/;:, J.' -.".,.., '-,.,:;~ i i, (: , ME MORAND UM .,." ....\ " r""'\ ~,," .'!'-""'"," '\.. ,""'. ."""-..;,. .. c...) . . t'.O\ r:, \,.., .J i". -~- -.. TO:PARTIES OF RECORD COMMISSION SECRETARY ,..""',- FROM:WELDON B. STUTZMAN DONOVAN E. WALKER UWL-O4-OY DATE:MAY 20, 2005 SUBJECT:DIRECT TESTIMONY OF RICK STERLING In the Direct Testimony of Rick Sterling dated April 6, 2005 , pages 34 and 35 have been revised. Pages 34a and 34b have also been added. Please replace the pages in your copy of the testimony with the corrected pages enc~osed. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. ~._=-- Weldon Stutzman Deputy Attorney General for Commission Staff uwiwO4.4 parties letter Located at 472 West Washington Street, Boise, Idaho 83702 Telephone: (208) 334-0300 Facsimile: (208) 334-3762 310 cfs) and the current peak flow (about 150 cfs) lS about 160 cfs.Uni ted Water requests approval to hold about 160 cfs for future growth What adjustment are you proposlng associated wi th IMAP? I am proposing that a mlnlmum of $332,748 = (160/310) (644,700) in investment related to the Company IMAP activities be excluded from rate base.I am not challenging the prudence of IMAP acti vi ties in any way; In fact, IMAP is something Uni ted Water should be doing. Clearly, however , one of the primary purposes of IMAP to preserve and protect water rights for future use.As a resul t , I am recommending that at least a portion of the investment associated with IMAP be booked as plant held for future use. Aquifer Storage and Recharge (ASR) Water Permi Please discuss your recommended adjustment related to one of the Company s water rights for Aquifer Storage and Recovery. United Water holds permit no. 63-31409, which is a right to divert up to 20 cf s of flood flow for the purposes of ground water recharge and municipal use. Because sufficient facilities do not yet exist at Columbia for ground water recharge, and because no such facilities are planned at Marden , use of water under the permi t for CASE NO. UWI -W- 04- REVISED 05/19/05 STERLING, R. STAFF (Di) 34 ground water recharge is not currently possible.Under the permi t, water could currently be used for municipal use, but its use is subj ect to restrictions to only those times when the Boise River is on flood release below Lucky Peak Dam.In addi tion , diversions under the permi t are restricted during certain periods of the year when certain minimum stream flows must be maintained for fish migration.Given the restrictions on use of water under the permi t, Staff believes that use of water for municipal purposes is extremely limited.Storage and release records from Lucky Peak Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch reservoirs indicate that no water could have been obtained under the right since 2000 because the reservoir system did not fill and no flood flow releases were made.It is also likely that no water can be obtained in 2005 for the same reason.In the 20 years of records examined by Staff , it appears that water would have been available under the right in only 11 years.Moreover, water would have been available in only 8 of 20 years In June, 5 of 20 years In July, and never In August.These are the months in which Uni ted Water is most likely to need the water right to meet system demand.Because United Water has yet to obtain any water under this water right, and because of the limited occasions on which it can obtain water , Staff continues to recommend that investment associated with CASE NO. UWI -W- 04-05/19/05 STERLING , R. STAFF (Di) 34a obtaining the water right be considered plant held for future use.The amount to be removed from plant in service is $29,697. CASE NO. UWI -W- 04- 05/19/05 STERLING, R. STAFF (Di) 34b Initial Butte Water Right Purchase Please describe the Initial Butte water right. The Initial Butte water right actually consists of three separate licenses (02-2341 , 02-2358, 02-2420) Previously under the water rights, water was diverted from the Snake River to irrigate 2055 acres of land located south of Nampa and north of the Snake River.The water rights allowed a total volume of 9247.5 acre-feet to be diverted at a maximum diversion rate of 35.21 cfs.Uni t ed Water purchased these water rights for the purpose of supplying water to its Marden and Columbia water treatment plants.In order to be able to use this water at the plants, however, the Company had to execute an "exchange. The exchange of water authorizes Uni ted Water to divert, for irrigation purposes within its authorized serVlce territory, up to 35.21 cfs from the Boise River in exchange for the same amount under water rights 02-2341, 02-2358, and 02-2420 from the Snake River and subject to the condi t ions of approval of the exchange.The amount of flow made available through non-diversion under the Snake River water rights will remain in the Snake River to and below the mouth of the Boise River to fully replace the exchanged amount diverted from the Boise River. CASE NO. UWI -W- 04- REVISED 05/19/05 STERLING, R. STAFF (Di) 35 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 20Th DAY OF MAY 2005 SERVED THE FOREGOING REVISED PAGES TO THE DIRECT TESTIMONY OF RICK STERLING, IN CASE NO. UWI-04-, BY MAILING A COpy THEREOF POSTAGE PREP AID TO THE FOLLOWING: MARK GENNARI UNITED WATER 200 OLD HOOK RD HARRINGTON PARK NJ 07640 DEAN J MILLER ESQ McD EVITT & MILLER LLP PO BOX 2564 BOISE ID 83701 DOUGLAS K STRICKLING BOISE CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE 150 N CAPITOL BLVD. PO BOX 500 BOISE ID 83701 CHUCK MICKELSON CITY OF BOISE 150 N CAPITOL BLVD. PO BOX 500 BOISE ID 83701 WILLIAM M. EDDIE ADVOCATES FOR THE WEST PO BOX 1612 BOISE ID 83701 BILL SEDIVY ID AH 0 RIVERS UNITED PO BOX 633 BOISE ID 83701 BRAD M. PURDY ATTORNEY AT LAW 2019 N 17TH STREET BOISE ID 83702 SHARON ULLMAN 9627 W. DESERT AVE BOISE ID 83709 SCOTT L. CAMPBELL 101 S CAPITOL BLVD., 10TH FLOOR PO BOX 829 BOISE ID 83701 SECRET AR CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE