20200102Teton Water to Staff 1-6.pdf

TETON WATER & SEI,VER COMPANY
PO Box 786, Driggs ldaho 83422
RECEIVED
'18?0 JtlH -2 Al{ B, 53
LIU
JISSIONDate:
To:
Prepared By: Jon Pinardi, Teton Water & Sewer Company
Office [phone], Cell (208) 2014798
Case No. TTS-W-19-01
Response to First Production Request of Commission Staff
Question - Does Teton Water have an affordable and reliable source of funding for regular investment
expenditures?
Question - Please explain the transactions of the withdrawal and re-payment of $10,000 from the emergency
reserve fund o July I and October 2,2019, respectively.
Answer - When the order of the Back-Up Well Pump, Motor, Associated Parts was placed on June 28, the
vendor indicated they would need a deposit paid in order to secure the equipment. We transferred funds from
the ernergency reserve fund at this time, believing this would be an appropriate use ofthese funds and knowing
that a request for use of these frrnds would be submitted to the Commission later in the year (as was done).
Subsequently, a deposit was not required and, in fact, an invoice was not received until November 4. Given the
time that had elapsed, it was deemed appropriate to retum the $10,000 deposit to the ernergency reserve fund
and make payment from the operating account and then request for use of the funds from the Commission in
Novernber.
Question - How does the Company plan to fund the repair ofleaks or other water system emergencies that may
arise while the resewe fund is depleted?
Answer - From the operating account. If funds are not available immediately in the operating account, we
would work with the vendor on a payment plan, ifpossible. As this has not happened in the past, this is not a
January 1,2020
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
RE:
Reouest No. I
Answer - No. Capital investments are funded through the reserve fund or from operating revenues if the
reserve fund is not deemed appropriate by the Commission. An example of this would be the installation of
backflow prevention devices in the wells, installed in 2015, disallowed in Case No. TTS-W-I8-01 .
Request No. 2
Request No 3
Question - Do we anticipate the pump, motor, transformer and other spare parts will be compatible with Well
No.3?
Answer - No. Well No. 3 is being targeted to be a 500 gpm well and will likely require larger equipment, other
than the transformer. As we have had transformers fail in the past, it is prudent to have a spare on-hand in the
event of a failure.
Question - If Well No. I were to experience a pump, motor, or transformer malfunction during calendar year
2020, how many hours does the Company believe it would take to restore water system operation?
Answer - This is, at best, a guess. If a failure were to occur during peak season demand and we identified the
failure when the SCADA low-level alarm is triggered at 17.5 feet, this is a possible timeline of events:
1.5 hours for the Company to mobilize and determine that the Pump Company is required.
4 hours for the Pump Company to mobilize to the site. This may be a best-case scenario as it
assumes they would be available to mobilize immediately.
4-6 hours to make repairs and get the well on-line.
A transformer likely would require less time.
Based upon our estimates of 8-12 hours of reserve tank capacity, there is the potential that the water could be
depleted before the well is back on line.
Question - Provide copies ofany correspondence that we have had with Idaho DEQ regarding our plan to
maintain spare parts for Well No. 1.
Answer - We have had no correspondence with Idaho DEQ on this topic.
Thank you,
Jon Pinardi
Teton Water & Sewer Company
Office [phone]
Cell [phone]
Request No 4
Request No 5
Request No 6