Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Proud Day in Highlands Ranch


Centennial Water and Sanitation District (CWSD) has recently succeeded in updating their Water Conservation Plan in accordance with State regulations. Although the exact date of the Plan approval by the State is unclear, the Plan now can be found on CWSD's website (Water Conservation Plan) and on the CWCB weblink site (as of April 3rd), which is indicative of State concurrence that the Plan meets the regulatory requirements.


The Water Conservation Plan update underwent substantial revision since its draft release for public comment in December of 2007. Although public comment was reserved to a handful of letters, CWSD crafted a much improved Final Plan based on the public comment and guidance they received from the Office of Water Conservation and Drought Planning. The initial Water Conservation Plan update was admittedly short on implementation details, which were added and clarified in the later draft and final product.

CWSD has included provisions for residential toilet rebates, pre-wash spray nozzle giveaway for commercial kitchens, residential irrigation system rainfall sensor rebate, non-residential irrigation system rainfall sensor and ET controller rebates and non-residential turf replacement rebate. It is unclear exactly when these measures and programs will be implemented (some time in 2009 according to the Plan), but having them selected for implementation is a tremendous benefit for the water using community and the overall financial operation of the water district (since the cost to implement these measures and programs is a fraction of the cost for replacement water).

One other noteworthy addition to the Final Plan (beyond what was included in the Draft Plan) is a comprehensive evaluation and analysis of non-revenue water (CWSD uses the term unaccounted for water). The analysis provides substantial discussion regarding the measurement and characterization of water losses in the system, and provides an excellent representation of how non-revenue water can be tracked and quantified. One key component of the tracking of non-revenue water is CWSD's meter testing and replacement program. Maintaining accurate and verifiable customer water metering systems is one key component of any appropriate water loss tracking effort.

Now the key challenge for CWSD will be to get the information out to its customers regarding the rebate programs, in conjunction with the District's ongoing educational efforts and water budget billing. It will be most interesting to watch as data is collected to characterize the effectiveness of the program and the change in local water use behavior. Improved water conservation plans are coming to be in many locations across Colorado, and in each locality the challenge will be to collect meaningful data and adjust the Plan implementation in accordance with the feedback provided by water use and customer response. We hope that CWSD can keep the positive energy going behind this important effort given all the fiscal challenges that water providers across the state have had to manage through due to recent events.