City of Lavon Comprehensive Plan Utilities Element

Transcription

1 Utility Systems Water The Lavon Special Utility District (LSUD), formerly the Lavon Water Supply Corporation (LWSC), furnishes water to the City of Lavon and surrounding areas. It is a non-profit cooperative established and operated by and for its members under the jurisdiction of the Farmers Home Administration, the Texas Department of Health, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The drinking water meets or exceeds all EPA drinking water standards. The Corporation is overseen by the Board of Directors, elected by its members, during the Annual Business meeting held during the first quarter of the year; normally the second Tuesday of March. To obtain service from the Lavon Special Utility District requires payment of a membership fee, a meter installation fee, an Aid to Construction fee and a Customer Service Inspection Fee which covers a 3/4 X 3/4 meter. All over-size (1 and up) meters will require additional monies to cover the extra costs of and installing of a larger meter. An additional fee of a road bore may be required to provide service to a particular location. The road bore will be completed by a designated representative of Lavon Special Utility Districtand charged at the rate established by that representative. Exception will be in instances where the membership/meter has been abandoned, in which case, additional costs will be incurred. In all cases the meter, itself, remains the property of the Corporation and may be connected, disconnected, or reconnected as directed by the Corporation s Board of Directors. The right to use the meter in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the Corporation belongs to the member-patron and is transferable to any person who meets the requirements for membership plus a transfer fee and requires water service with the Corporation s service area. Any time a meter is vacated or transferred to another party, the Lavon Special Utility District must be notified. LSUD receives its water from the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTWD) located in Wylie, Texas. The NTWD was created in 1951 by the Texas Legislature as a special law conservation district at the request of ten cities: Farmersville, Forney, Garland, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Princeton, Rockwall, Royce City and Wylie. The only 1 of 9.

2 cities that have joined the District since its establishment are Richardson in 1973, and Allen in In a shortage, charter members are served first. NTWD requires those communities it serves to buy and maintain on site storage and adhere to other facility requirements such as meter and orifice sizing. Sanitary sewer/septic Portions of The City of Lavon are connected to a municipal sewage system under contract with the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). The subdivisions of Bear Creek East and West are served by NTMWD sewage system while most of Lavon s older homes are served by septic systems. The septic system is a natural method of treatment and disposal of household wastes for those homeowners who are not part of a municipal sewage system. Septic systems cannot dispose of all the material that enters the system so solids that are not broken down by bacteria eventually need to be removed. Most septic systems are conventional systems that use gravity to distribute the effluent from the tank. When site conditions are not appropriate for a conventional system, other types of systems, such as aerobic systems, are used. Aerobic systems are similar to septic systems in that they both use natural processes to treat wastewater. But unlike septic (anaerobic) treatment, the aerobic treatment process requires oxygen. Aerobic treatment units, therefore, use a mechanism to inject and circulate air inside the treatment tank. This mechanism requires electricity to operate. For this reason, aerobic systems cost more to operate and need more routine maintenance than most septic systems. However, when properly operated and maintained, aerobic systems can provide a high quality wastewater treatment alternative to septic systems. Storm sewer Unlike the sanitary sewer, which carries wastewater from the drains in the home or apartment to a septic system or municipal sewer system, the storm sewer system carries untreated water directly into local creeks, rivers and lakes. As this water travels across lawns, driveways, streets and other surfaces it picks up many pollutants and these are discharged to receiving waters without any treatment. Typical pollutants include litter, sediments from exposed soil, pet waste, detergents, pesticides and fertilizers from lawns and gardens, paints, oil, grease and toxic chemicals from motor vehicles, road salts, and household hazardous wastes. These 2 of 9.

3 pollutants are referred to as non-point sources of pollution and are the result of everyday activities. Many people think that pollution in our streams, rivers and lakes only comes from industrial facilities or wastewater treatment plants. What people don't realize is that if all these sources of pollution were eliminated, up to half of the pollution would still remain. Lavon utilizes a system consisting of lot to lot drainage, storm sewers, street inlets, area drains, and ditches and culverts to collect and transport surface runoff to area drainage draws and Lake Ray Hubbard. The storm sewer system includes numerous miles of storm sewers ranging from 10" to 70" diameter. Most areas can accommodate a fifty (50) year storm event. Storm sewer systems in newly developed areas are primarily constructed by the developers as a condition of development. Solid waste/recycling Solid waste services are provided and administered by the City of Lavon under subcontract. Weekly curb side solid waste pickup is twice per week, once for solid waste and once for recycling. Large wheeled containers are provided for solid waste and are optional for recycling. The contractor typically provides a full range of service including: collection, transportation, disposal and recycling. By managing the entire waste management program, they offer customers customized programs with exceptional flexibility and responsiveness. The contractor provides recycling facilities that utilize a full range of recycling technologies providing customers with an end-to-end solid waste management service. Recycling is key to waste reduction so they offer collection and recycling of glass, plastics, paper and metal refuse. Telephone Area Code: of 9.

4 Exchanges: 843, 853 Verizon Communications is the only wireline communications company serving The City of Lavon. Its switching center is located in Nevada and due to this distance, most Lavon citizens do not have access to many enhanced services offered to surrounding communities such as Digital Subscriber Link (DSL) and the Verizon fiber optic system known as FIOS. All of the major national wireless companies serve Lavon from two (2) cellular towers. Gas Natural Gas The City of Lavon is served by Atmos Energy. Atmos Energy Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is the country's largest natural-gas-only distributor, serving over 3 million natural gas distribution customers in more than 1,600 communities in 12 states from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. Atmos Energy also provides natural gas marketing and procurement services to industrial, commercial and municipal customers primarily in the Midwest and Southeast and manages companyowned natural gas pipeline and storage assets, including one of the largest intrastate natural gas pipeline systems in Texas. Propane Some of the older homes use propane as their source for gas appliances. 4 of 9.

5 Retail Electric Providers (REPs)/Electric Providers The City of Lavon is served by two (2) types of Retail Electric Providers (REPs), Coops and Non-coops. Oncor maintain the poles, wires and the meters used to deliver electricity from the power plants to the homes and businesses for the Non-coop company you choose. Oncor delivers electricity and builds and maintains power lines, but they do not sell electricity to the end user nor do they send you a bill. You actually buy power from a Retail Electric Provider. There are many Retail Electric Providers (REPs) in Oncor s service territory that are available to the residents of Lavon. Assistance in selecting a Retail Electric Provider (REP) may be found at Farmer s Electric Cooperative is a REP that maintains its own transmission lines providing full service to its customers. A residence within the coop area does not have a choice of another REP. Oncor Oncor, formerly called TXU Electric Delivery, became a separate company in 2002 after the unbundling or de-regulation of the utility industry in Texas. Today, as a result of the merger in 2007 by which TXU (now Energy Future Holdings Corp. or EFH) was acquired by private investors, Oncor is operated as a separate company and is ring-fenced from its majority investor EFH and its main operating subsidiaries, Luminant and TXU Energy. Ring-fencing means we are legally, managerially and financially separate and that Oncor operates and is governed as a separate and independent company from EFH, Luminant and TXU Energy in the same way that Oncor operates and is governed as a separate company from any other Texas market participant. Business decisions are made by Oncor s management and Board of Directors, which consists of a majority of independent directors, in the best interests of Oncor. 5 of 9.

6 Oncor is a regulated electric distribution and transmission business that uses superior asset management skills to provide reliable electricity delivery to consumers. Oncor operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas, providing power to 3 million electric delivery points over more than 120,000 miles of distribution and 14,000 miles of transmission lines. While Oncor is owned by a limited number of investors (including majority owner, Energy Future Holdings Corp.), Oncor is managed by its Board of Directors, which is comprised of a majority of independent directors. Information about Oncor can be obtained by going directly to Oncor is the regulated electric delivery business and is the nation's sixthlargest U.S. transmission and distribution company, operating in a high-growth service area. Additionally, Oncor: Supplies electricity to approximately 7 million consumers, about one third of the state's population. Operates in a service area in east, west and north central Texas with 401 incorporated municipalities and 91 counties. Serves cities that include the Dallas-Fort Worth area and surrounding cities, Odessa, Midland, Killeen, Waco, Wichita Falls and Tyler Operates in the U.S.'s highest-growth region in electric demand, according to the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), with an underlying annual growth rate of 2.5 percent. Farmer s Electric Cooperative (FEC) Farmer s Electric Cooperative(FEC) is a full service, authorized electric utility organized in 1937 for the express purpose of providing reliable, low cost electric service in the areas of Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, Hopkins, Delta, Franklin, Fannin, Van Zandt and Wood counties in Texas. Today, after initially offering service to 200 members in 1937, FEC Electric has made the transition from a rural electric cooperative to an urban utility by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure, competitive rates and superior service. Farmers Electric Cooperative has come a long way in the last 73 years. They now serve over 45,000 homes and businesses in the fast-growing region spanning Dallas, 6 of 9.

7 Collin, Rockwall, Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, Hopkins, Delta, Franklin, Fannin, Van Zandt and Wood counties in Texas. It serves portions of Collin, Dallas, Delta, Fannin, Franklin, Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, Rockwall, Van Zandt and Wood. Web site: Cable TV Lavon is not currently served by a cable company. Internet Access Wireline Wireline Broadband offerings are limited in and around the city due to the distance from the telephone switching center. Digital Subscriber Link (DSL) has distance limitations and Lavon falls outside of these requirements. Other advanced technologies for wireline broadband offered in surrounding communities such as Verizon FIOS are unavailable in Lavon. Wireless Several wireless broadband internet services serve the Lavon area as well parts of the cities of Nevada, Copeville and eastern Wylie. EPA Green Communities Goals UG1 Work with the LSUD to assure the orderly expansion of water supply systems within the community to meet the needs of existing and planned development while taking into consideration the impacts of cost, public health, surrounding land use, and environmental impacts. UG 2 Work with the LSUD to assure that water services are extended systematically in concert with the availability of other public facilities and in accordance with planning recommendations in the community. 7 of 9.

8 UG 3 Work with LSUD to assure the renovation and improvement of the water supply as necessary. UG 4 Upgrade and renovate existing sewerage systems in existing areas of the community. UG 5 Assure that sewer services are extended systematically in concert with the availability of other public facilities and in accordance with planning recommendations in the community. UG 6 Meet the intent that full consideration is given to issues of orderly expansion keyed to comprehensive land use plans, public health, capital programming and water supply/water quality management. UG 7 Comply with all applicable state laws and regulations on water and sewerage planning. UG8 Ensure the provision of safe, adequate and proper services by Regulated Entities. UG9 Ensure the provision of Regulated Services at reasonable rate while promoting competition where appropriate. Action Plans UAP1 Provide adequate capacity to serve projected needs. UAP2 Review user fee structures on a regular basis. UAP3 Identify options for future service. UAP4 Develop cooperative arrangements with other communities. UAP5 Consider land use proposals in developing a long-term strategy for providing sufficient treatment capacity. UAP6 Determine needs for on-lot waste management. UAP7 Prepare and adhere to the community's sewage facilities plans and water quality management plans. UAP8 Review alternative collection and treatment alternatives to meet the needs of the community. UAP9 Review alternative and productive uses of wastewater effluent and sludge. 8 of 9.

9 UAP10 Organize on-lot management districts where applicable. 9 of 9.