System Description
TPWC is a Class C water utility and serves approximately 520 customers in two noncontiguous service areas near Lake Tahoe, approximately 2 miles south of Tahoe City. Considered separately, each of the two service areas (Tahoe Park Main service area [TPSA], with approximately 435 customers and Skyland-Nielsen Service Area [SNSA]with approximately 85 customers) would be Class D water utilities. The water company has grown by annexing smaller areas. The Skyland area and the Nielsen area at one time were separate mutual companies which requested service from Tahoe Park Water; later these two areas were joined by a main to become the Skyland-Nielsen service area. The SNSA is about one mile away from the TPSA.
The majority of connections in TPWC are residential, with 9 commercial customers and 3 connections to parks. TPWC currently has three flat rate tariffs: one for Tahoe Park Main, one for Skyland-Nielsen2 and one for private fire service connections. TPWC also has a metered rate tariff, for Tahoe Park Main only. Most connections are flat rate, with 38 metered connections in the TPSA. One meter has recently been installed in the SNSA; the customer is being charged a flat rate until a metered rate tariff is approved for the SNSA.
Each district has one well to provide all its water. The wells were built to replace the former intakes from Lake Tahoe, as required by the Department of Health Services' Surface Water Treatment Rule, which was issued around 1995. The Rule requires that surface water cannot be provided without treatment which includes filtration, except in an emergency such as a fire. A spring in the TPSA, a former water source, has been abandoned.
In addition to wells, over 7,000 feet of 6" and 8" main have been added or have replaced other pipe since 1995. The two service areas have about 28,000 feet of mains.
Tahoe Park Main has an old 10,000-gallon redwood tank, a 40,000-gallon steel tank and a 4,000-gallon hydropneumatic tank at the Washoe well. Skyland-Neilsen has a 20,000-gallon redwood tank and a 2,000-gallon hydropneumatic tank at the Nielsen well. Since the system has inadequate storage to provide enough pressure or fire flow, the system operator is considering building a 200,000-gallon tank.
TPWC's maximum and average demands are unknown, because the system did not use production meters when pumping from Lake Tahoe. Water sales show that metered customers used about 38,000 Ccf last year. Staff's rough estimate of total production per year is about 200,000 Ccf, with a 3/4" X 3/4" meter customer using 415 Ccf per year.
2 The current Tahoe Park Main tariff is $47.03 higher than the Skyland-Nielsen tariff and has a $7.58 pumping zone adder. The current Skyland-Nielsen tariff has a $40.24 pumping adder.
