Audit of Major Commercial & Irrigation Water Accounts

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Audits of Major Commercial and Irrigation Water Accounts Town of Castle Rock of normal water use activities, since this type of information will be needed to develop an appropriate water budget. Apricot Pool (account 5677) The Apricot Pool which is owned and operated by the Players Club Villa HOA maintains roughly 1.5 acres of irrigated landscape within the area adjacent to the swimming pool. This area is mainly Kentucky bluegrass as shown in Attachment 3. The facility uses Town water to fill the swimming pool each May, and drains, and for frost heave protection refills the pool in September. In addition, the pool uses Town water to back wash its filters on a weekly basis to maintain a clean pool environment, provide replacement water for the pool, and provide irrigation water for the surrounding landscape. The pool volume is estimated to be about 50,000 gallons. The pool filter back washing and replacement water is estimated to be another 36,000 gallons over a four month period (May through August). The remaining water use is expected to be ostensibly irrigation water. Outdoor irrigation occurs from April to September. Attachment 4 presents the monthly water usage at the pool for 2004 and 2005, whereas Attachment 5 presents a comparison of irrigation water use to the target for the equivalent area of bluegrass. Based on these figures and related analyses, it appears that irrigation watering at the Apricot Pool exceeds the recommended watering target by a factor of about 10% since the middle of 2004. Prior to this time, irrigation was two or more times greater than was needed for the turf and other plantings. Since the individuals responsible for irrigation were not available for comment during preparation of this report, it is not known whether or not the irrigation system uses an ET controller or precipitation sensor. Alternatives and Recommendations Based on the 2005 water use, it appears that the facility is exceeding the ET -based water budget by about 12 percent over the course of the summer months. To improve water efficiency, the pool could install and operate an ET controller saving the HOA about 10 to 70 percent of its future seasonal water costs. It would cost the HOA about $800 to purchase, install and program the ET Controller for a 14-zone system, paying for itself in less than one season. A more aggressive move would be to replace about Y2 of the high water use plants and turf with native grasses and other xeriscape plant materials current on property for a cost of about $22,500. This cost, which would be offset by substantially reduced water cost, would be paid back in about 5 to 6 years. Of course the HOA needs to be careful not to compromise its bathing area use, such that any turf replacement will need to be appropriate for barefoot traffic. This is why only Y2 of the existing turf was included for replacement. 3-3