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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 4. Proclamations/ Resolutions/ Special Presentations a. OWASA Annual Update Presentation The Board received a presentation and information from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority ( OWASA) on recent activities. Ray Dubose, Orange County Appointee to the OWASA Board, said they value this annual opportunity to present to the BOCC. Ray Dubose, Robert Morgan, OWASA Board Chair, and Todd Taylor, OWASA General Manager, reviewed the following information: The North Carolina Drought Monitor currently classifies central North Carolina including Orange County as being in a moderate drought. The OWASA Board and staff are closely monitoring conditions and we continue to encourage wise use of water resources. As of January 17th, our reservoirs (Cane Creek Reservoir, University Lake and Quarry Reservoir) were 63% full, which is lower than normal for this time of year. Since 1990, the lowest level for our reservoirs on January 17th was 41 % full in 2008, during our last severe drought. We have a Water Shortage Response Plan and a Drought Response Operating Protocol, which guides our decisions to ensure we work proactively with the community in response to increasingly severe drought conditions. Each year, we want to see our water supply capacity at 100% by the spring, so we anticipate improvement within the next month or so. If not, we will take action to seek additional conservation from our customers and consider our Jordan Lake supply option. Advanced Metering Infrastructure /Agua Vista Significant progress was made last year on our Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project called Agua Vista to include: • Wrapping up vendor selection and contract negotiations. • Executing the installation contract with our preferred vendor. • Installing a portion of the network infrastructure. • Substantial completion of software integration. • Staff training. • Development of the community engagement plan and materials. • Upgrading a small quantity of meters with OWASA staff to reinforce training and test processes. • Processed a small quantity of bills utilizing AMI reading data. The key benefits of the project are: • To improve customer access to water use information, • To make for more efficient and effective billing, • To allow early detection of possible water leaks, and • To enhance operational efficiency. Key activities for 2018 will include finishing the installation of the network infrastructure, completing a field readiness test with the installation subcontractor to review their processes, begin system -wide meter upgrades, and launching the customer portal.