Water conservation, as the industry has known it, has typically focused on short-term programs to cut water usage in the face of drought. Low-flow fixtures and other residential innovations (such as dual-flush toilets) have done their job, conserving 4,883,734,221 gallons in the US alone. But, as evidence of climate change and global warming accumulates, water purveyors are beginning to realize they must take a more holistic approach to demand side, with projects and programs developed with an eye to long-term management and a climate variable future. “We are going to have to develop the capacity to rapidly adapt our water resources management programs to shifts in the availability and timing of water,” says Graham Symmonds, CTO and senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs at Global Water Resources, which provides water and wastewater services to communities in Arizona. “Ultimately, the cheapest water you can find may be what you don’t have to look for.”
Increased Adoption
Although the issue of climate change and water supply variability looms larger in the West—which has long fought the good fight against scarcity—demand management programs that focus on long-range water use efficiency are also gaining traction in other parts of the country. In Valparaiso, IN, for example, customers of the Valparaiso City Utilities opted to have water-wise tips printed on their monthly water bill. The utility, which serves a city of 30,000, is one of the few in the state to become an EPA WaterSense Partner.
Water Conservation Planner Jim Pingatore says the move was, in part, to take advantage of the program’s national advertising. “We wanted to get the word out to our customers that certified WaterSense products are available locally,” he says. “We provide a link to the WaterSense website on our own website, so customers who are interested can have easy access. Our next step in our long-term conservation program will be a study of the city’s own water use to see where we can do better.”
Summer irrigation ups the water use tally in the Town of Cary, NC, which has seen a spurt of new homes built with in-ground irrigation systems. “Because it almost doubles our demand in the summer, irrigation has always been on our radar,” says Conservation Program Supervisor Marie Cefalo. “Our goal in our “˜Beat the Heat’ summer water conservation campaign is to provide our customers with information on best irrigation management practices.”
The showpiece of the campaign is the interactive game, Don’t Drown the Ground, featured on the utility’s website. In the course of playing, customers are provided a range of water saving tips, from more mulch to more efficient sprinkler head nozzles, and have the opportunity to take advantage of a no-cost irrigation system audit as one of a number of water management tools.
“We’re seeing a lot of very positive results in terms of water use reduction,” says Cefalo. “This also has given us the opportunity for direct interaction with our customers. Forty percent of the customers who have played the game have requested irrigation audits, and these in turn have given us an opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation about effective irrigation practices such as how precision spray nozzles can reduce water use.”
Fresno State University, located in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, has a long-established history of research on water management and efficiency, including its Water Energy Technology Center (WET), which functions as an R&D lab for water technology researchers, and as a third-party testing facility for companies working on new products. The university is currently in the process of establishing eight new water-related faculty positions which will be spread across its eight colleges and schools, “because,” says Dave Zoldoske, who currently serves as Executive Director of the systemwide Water Resources and Policy Initiatives, “water touches every major on campus.”The Resources and Policy Initiatives’ advisory committee recently identifi ed three priority areas across California State University’s 23 campuses: water research and faculty development, preparing students for water careers, and communication and public outreach. “Fresno State has already made a commitment to the communication and outreach eff ort by including a position in our Journalism Department as one of our eight new faculty appointments,” says Zoldoske.
“So, now we’ll have inserted someone in the Journalism Department who has an interest and background in water and, hopefully, can inspire students to look for topics in water to educate themselves, generate articles, and develop relationships between the water community and the media. The fact is we’ve got a new audience everyday.”
Las Vegas Targets Outside Water Usage
The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), which serves Las Vegas, sites water use outside the home as a target in its demand management programs. “Everyone knows that in the mid 1990s, toilets, showerheads, and nozzles changed as a result of the federal energy code,” says SNWA Conservation Manager Doug Bennett, “and we wanted to take a look at what kind of a difference that made.
“We ran a study and found that on a monthly basis, homes built in the early “˜90s, as opposed to those built around 2000, were both using the same amount of water,” explains Bennett. “This told us that despite all the low-flow toilets and the better-flow showerheads and better fixtures and appliances, landscape was still the big driver.
“We compared these homes to homes built after our 2003 landscape policy change,” he continues, “which requires all new construction to have none or limited turf, and found the newer homes used only 60% as much water as the ones built prior to the landscape ban. Then, we looked at our WaterSmart Home program, which is a voluntary program where home builders can have their homes labeled “˜WaterSmart’ when they include more efficient appliances and plumbing fixtures than required by code and more efficient landscape and irrigation features.”
After comparing and analyzing all of these factors, one truth became clear, Bennett says. “These homes used half as much water as the others.”
The authority’s longstanding “Cash for Grass” lawn removal program, where residents and businesses receive $1 a square foot for tearing up their turf grass and installing low water plants, remains its largest and most substantial water conservation program, with more than six million square feet of turf converted this year alone. Adding to that, the 2003 code change specifies no turf is allowed in the front yard of residential homes, and no more than 50% coverage in the back and side yards. Nonresidential development gets no turf at all unless there’s a specialized need such as at a school.
“We find it much simpler not to describe to people what plants they can use, because it adds a lot of complexity to enforcement,” explains Bennett. “We have courses and online plant lists, and we find 99.5% of the time people chose the right kind of plants. As the Colorado River basin gets dryer, however, one of the things we will perhaps be looking at is succession of the plant pallet. Historically, we still see great water savings when people plant trees and shrubs with more substantial root systems like roses and fruit trees, but over time we think we might need to be looking at different species that are better adapted to the desert environment.”
Although the agency pays up to half the cost for smart irrigation and rain sensor installation, Bennett says customers have been slow on the uptake, in part because they appear to consider they’re achieving their goals by complying with water use restrictions that limit watering.
“Ten years ago we had voluntary water guidelines, and then we adopted mandatory guidelines in the face of the drought. We find that now most people actually know what group they’re in and when they’re supposed to water,” he says.
Violators who water on the wrong day or at the wrong time of day during summer, or who allow water to escape their property, face a warning and then an escalating series of fines. “You’re going to spend more money on enforcement than you’re going to bring in in fines,” says Bennett, “but that’s not the point. Ultimately, this is a water efficiency program—it’s the water savings you’re going for and the culture you’re trying to build in the community. We’ve been doing this for so long most of the community knows there are water cops just like there are police officers in school zones.”
A “Smarter” Yard
In western Riverside County, CA, the Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) has initiated two programs to control water demand outside the home by replacing inefficient irrigation nozzles with Precision Series sprinklers from the Riverside-based Toro Company and utilizing irrigation controllers from HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc. Toro’s new H2O chip technology distributes water more efficiently and reaches the desired watering radii with a third less water than conventional spray nozzles, while simultaneously achieving maximum precipitation rate. Additionally, no moving parts means no variation at the end of the water arc, which makes for better edge definition.
These improvements—along with uniform droplet size, increased wind resistance, and minimal unintentional watering—helped the utility achieve the goal of minimal or no irrigation runoff. In order to insure proper implementation, customers who sign up for the program are required to watch instructional videos and use online educational tools to help them determine the size, type, and quantity nozzles they need. With their plan for the yard complete, they receive a voucher via e-mail that lists participating irrigation distributors and which they can redeem for 25 free nozzles. Since July 1, 2010, over 600,000 new nozzles have been installed with a projected 12,432 acre-feet of water savings over the five-year life of the product.
Western Municipal developed the Smart Yard program, in conjunction with HydroPoint. After a property has been qualified to determine if the program will be cost-effective, a Smart Yard consultant visits to determine the correct WeatherTRAK model for the intended use and to verify the irrigation system is in good working order. The program is a 50/50 cost share between the utility and the customer, and covers the controller, weather data subscription, contractor labor for inspection, installation, follow-up, and HydroPoint customer service. Customers pay a five-year fixed monthly fee on their water bill—from $9.99 to $18.99, depending on the size of controller needed—and after five years, they own the controller. The program was initiated in May 2010, and as of July 2012 there are 475 controllers in place. In all, it’s expected to save a billion gallons of water over 10 years.
“Western is extremely committed to partnering with our customers to use water efficiently,” says WMWD General Manager John Rossi.” As an agency, we are working hard to diversify our water supply and become less dependent on imported water sources, and our efficiency programs provide the help customers need to be water wise, while embracing this new water efficient ethic–not only for our region, but throughout the state and beyond.”
Changing Behaviors
Like Southern Nevada, the City of Long Beach, CA, has adopted a “Lawn to Garden” program as a centerpiece of its goal of long-term behavior change. “We really push that,” says Water Conservation Specialist Joyce Barkley. “An essential part of it is a paradigm shift away from lawns. We want our customers to understand that this is the way lawns should be here in southern California on a permanent basis—that there shouldn’t be lawns. Our rebate is for the front yard and parkway, and the whole purpose is to accomplish this neighborhood-wide. We’re looking for the multiplier effect. And, we’re already seeing it. The program has been in effect for two years, and we have 600 houses done.”
To initiate the program, the city held an “opportunity drawing,” which people entered through their city council districts. One property was chosen for a complete lawn do-over in each of the nine districts, all expenses paid. A subsequent publicity campaign offering a $2.50-per-square-foot rebate sold out in half an hour. “These were people who already liked the idea, and the rebate pushed them to do it now. Our rebate is high, but our general manager wanted to make it effective enough to make the change happen.” Applicants have to be a water customer in good standing and submit a design, then have 45 days to get the new garden installed with 65% plant cover at maturity. For $25, the city will send out a landscape designer for two hours who will work with the homeowner and provide suggestions.
“The first person on the block is always a little nervous about what the neighbors will think,” says Barkley. “But I haven’t heard anybody complain after it’s done.” Like Las Vegas, Long Beach’s program is open to both residential and commercial property owners.
“Use Only What You Need”
On a much larger scale, Denver Water (CO), which has one of the longest-running and most effective water conservation programs in the country, has determined that some 54% of customer water use goes for seasonal irrigation. “We’re always going to be asking our customers to be as efficient as they can and use only what they need,” says Greg Fisher, manager of demand planning at Denver Water. “But the definition of need changes, and this requires an ongoing dialog with your customers. In a drought we’re asking for more immediate cutbacks, which may not have a relationship to being more efficient, as opposed to long-term conservation programs where we’re trying to change people’s habits permanently.”
“Drought or no drought,” says Denver Water Manager of Conservation Jeff Tejral, “you have to keep working with your customers to keep them efficient. You want your message to seep in and the behavior you’re looking for to become permanent. We see our customers becoming our advocates, telling other people about what’s going on. We hear that time and again—that a customer didn’t know about this or that program until their neighbor told them. That’s the real change, when neighbors and coworkers are carrying the message. That’s societal change that’s becoming permanent.”
According to Tejral, Denver’s “Use Only What You Need” campaign, which uses a variety of media from billboards to bus signs to newspapers to Twitter, has a higher than 80% brand recognition. “We use humor [such as using only one-eighth of a billboard for the bright orange-and-white placard that reads ‘Use Only What You Need’], because it’s not preachy, and it gets to people when they’re not thinking about it, which makes them pay attention. I think the most successful part of our program is that we have something for everyone, actionable items. We give commercial customers a 25% rebate for ET controllers, a $100 rebate for residential customers, and a $2 rebate for high-efficiency nozzles, which can cost anywhere from $2.50 to $7. The program was really popular this year because people saw it as a way to increase their efficiency without doing a lot of extensive work like changing irrigation head patterns and digging up their systems.
“This summer,” adds Tejral, “we partnered with the Center for Resource Conservation, with a program called ‘Garden in a Box’, which provides a pre-designed plant pallet at about 75% of retail price and includes everything you need to know about the layout, and how to install and care for what you plant. With commercial customers, HOAs, and apartment complexes we do contracts for efficiency, and one of those things is landscape change. Denver water coined the term xeriscape back in the “˜80s, and we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of xeriscape plant material available at places like Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Walmart. We have a xeriscape demonstration garden on our site and at a park nearby, and we have partnered with some of these big box stores to install signs with the plants that tell customers: ‘This a plant that saves water.'”
Tejral says “another thing that has been really effective is our presentations to groups. Because of our advertising campaigns, our rebate dollars, and our name and brand recognition, we get speaker requests. When someone from conservation goes to an industry group or HOA, we provide them with additional information they can talk about later, and we see contracts and rebates occur because of that time we spent with them. We also spend a lot of time working with green industry groups about how we do messaging, and we work together on reductions in outdoor use. The same thing with specialized industries such as the carwash industry—they’re stepping up; they’re doing things. The time we spend to understand how these specialized businesses operate and being collaborative about what they can do to be more efficient really works for us.
“And,” he continues, “we are moving into the social media world. As a utility, there are pros and cons, and you need to make sure that you can staff it. Right now, we’re active on Twitter, and we will be rolling out other methods, because if you do it right, one thing feeds into another—someone picks up something on Twitter, and they put it on their own Facebook page. The important thing is reaching people in as many ways as possible. And the great thing is that our ‘Use Only What You Need’ campaign is fun. It’s humorous, and people like to share those types of things—and we get traction from that.”
Denver Water’s program reflects what George Kunkel, Jr., Water Efficiency Program Manager at the Philadelphia Water Department, describes as a holistic approach to conservation, in which all aspects of the program reinforce each other, including the rate structure. “Conservation programs tend to have anywhere from eight to 12 components: low-flow fixtures, appliances, public education, but metering, billing, and water rates are also components. All the pieces have to work together.”
Denver Water, for example, has had an inclining block rate structure in place since 1991 and has recently increased the slope of those rates. “Before 2008,” says Fisher, “we basically had a 2:1 slope, meaning the highest block was two times higher than the lowest. Now it’s 4:1, and we’ve seen significant movement out of those higher blocks. The benefit of this kind of structure is it puts the onus on the customer.”
“We have one person dedicated to this,” says Tejral, “and he has seen a decrease in water use occur over and over again after someone notices their bill has become larger, maybe because their irrigation isn’t set correctly. He also finds a lot of leaks: leaking toilets, leaking irrigation lines, leaks immediately behind the meter. The bill tells the customer there’s a problem, and they call us. This is a huge customer outreach and awareness program, as well as a service that goes toward conservation. In a flat rate structure, people would probably not notice their water use increase.”
The AMI Option
The City of Madison, WI, has a similar goal in mind. The Madison Water Utility is in the process of installing Harris Utilities’ Meter Data Management solution in conjunction with Itron’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure. Combined, the two will form the background for the utility’s Project H2O, which is aimed at promoting conservation, improving customer service and gathering and interpreting usage data for enhanced system operation. Madison’s 67,000 meters serve approximately 250,000 residents and bills are currently sent out twice annually, which, as Customer Service Manager Robin Piper says, is not enough to initiate “an effective regional conservative program.” When MeterSense is fully integrated, the utility will not only be able to issue monthly bills but also display customers’ usage data on an hourly basis through its MyWater website. “We hope this will help our customers better understand—and ultimately adapt—their consumption habits,” says Piper.
Efficient Philosophies
“We came to the realization that while people may say they’re altruistic, they really need a financial incentive to help push them over the edge,” sums up Symmonds. “So we developed a specialized rate structure, which we call the rebate threshold rate and which gives people a direct financial incentive to reduce their demand. If they stay below a certain level, they get a rebate on their volumetric charges, which means they have a financial incentive to look at their water use and make a conscious decision.”
At the SNWA, Bennett expands on this philosophy. “It’s our philosophy that the customer should have as much skin in the game as the water agency. If you simply give things away, there’s no sense of ownership. Even if the investment on the part of the customer isn’t huge, it means they’re a stakeholder. They have ownership. And when they’re part of the decision-making, they tend to be better managers, so if they do have challenges, they’re more likely to try to overcome those challenges than to simply blame the water agency.”
“We have to regain our relationship with water,” says Symmonds. “Over the course of time people have lost the relevance of water in their lives, and this means many people don’t understand how much water they actually use. Utilities don’t help because we’re billing people in arrears, which makes it difficult to track your consumption. What we need is to give customers real-time information on their water use. In our utilities, we have an iPhone app that gives people instantaneous information about their water use as well as setting up alerts and alarms for usage and costs. They can also go on line and get the same information and begin to connect themselves with their water. They can compare their consumption to consumption on their street and in their neighborhood and ultimately the city itself. Studies have shown that by providing these kinds of subtle nudges, you can get people to reduce demand. Right now, we see about a 10% reduction based on those kind of societal pressures, but we’re looking for 14 to 20%, and I think that’s probably ultimately achievable.”
“We keep calling it a water crisis,” says Symmonds. “But this implies it has a real solution and an end date, when in fact this is a new water paradigm. It’s the way we have to manage ourselves in a world where scarcity is raising its head and population growth is increasing pressures on available resources. These are demands our large-scale infrastructure may not be designed to manage. Collectively we have to do a much better job of reducing demand, and in order to do that utilities have to engage the consumer on a very personal level. You can’t give people averages and expect them to manage their behavior. Think what would happen if your bank gave you your average bank balance for the last 30 days. You’d find it very difficult to manage your finances. The same thing has to happen in water.”