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City of Rifle Water Conservation Plan <br />Final Report -July 2008 <br />2.0 Historic Water Use and Forecast Demand <br />Section 2.0 characterizes current water use over time, by demand condition, by type (raw vs. <br />potable), by end-use (indoor vs. outdoor) and by customer class. It also presents estimates of <br />water loss. Finally, development and water demand projections (for the "no conservation" <br />condition) are presented. This information serves as an important basis for identifying best-fit <br />water conservation measures and programs for Rifle and associated implementation costs and <br />water demand reduction benefits. <br />2.1 Raw Water Irrigation Use <br />As mentioned in Section 1.0, the City utilizes raw water for irrigation of open spaces at <br />Rose Hill Cemetery and Deerfield Park. Because records with exact volumes of raw <br />water pumped at these two locations were not available, estimates of typical use were <br />developed based on irrigated area and target water application rates and watering <br />schedules as reported by City Parks staff. The annual volumes, applied during April <br />through October, were determined to be: <br />• Deerfield Park: 85 ac-ft <br />• Rose Hill Cemetery: 53 ac-ft <br />2.2 Potable Water Production and Demand Trends <br />Water Consumption by the Treatment Plants <br />In the potable system, raw water is diverted from the Colorado River and Beaver Creek. <br />This water passes through the water treatment plants, which produce potable water that <br />flows into the water distribution system. A portion of the raw water is lost through the <br />treatment process as a waste residuals stream containing the concentrated river water <br />solids. This stream is discharged to ponds and subject to evaporation and percolation. <br />While at the BCWTP clarified residuals pond water is pumped back to the initial <br />presedimentation pond to reduce water waste, there are also times when the plant is <br />unable to process all the water diverted from Beaver Creek, causing the presedimentation <br />pond to overflow, thereby wasting water that would otherwise have been in the creek. <br />One significant problem for overall water use tracking in the City is that its largest plant, <br />the GMWTP, does not have a reliable finished water flow meter. This complicates the <br />determination of water loss both through the plant and within in the distribution system. <br />As part of this planning project, field tests were performed to determine outputs of <br />individual GMWTP finished water pumps and combinations thereof. Pump run hours for <br />part of 2007 were then used in combination with pump flow test results to estimate actual <br />finished water production during those months in 2007. The BCWTP, however, has had <br />both raw and finished water flow meters since 2006. Data analysis indicates the <br />following: <br />• GMWTP average process efficiency: 90%, estimated as about ~3% accurate <br />• BCWTP average process efficiency: 91 %, measured <br />System Demand Peaking <br />Peak day demand is the most important water use concept/phenomenon for water <br />conservation planning in Rifle. This is because water resources and supply, water <br />production and treatment, and to some extent, water distribution and storage needs are <br />SGM # 99055A-388 13 Historic Water Use and Forecast Demand <br />