8009 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CONCLUSION: Promoting Urban Conservation Environmental groups and urban water agencies generally have a common interest in promoting water conservation measures. The approaches described in this section should be readily transferrable to other areas. Those interested in promoting similar approaches should consider the following: ^ The amount of water that can be saved through cost-effective water conserva- tion practices is substantial. Most agencies in California, for example, should be able to save 15% or more. ^ What is cost-effective for voluntary retrofit programs like those in Seattle and Los Angeles depends in large part on the cost of water. Both low water savings per retrofit and low water rates mean that a higher rebate to consumers is needed to entice participation. At the same time, lower savings per retrofit translate into lower affordable rebates by the utility because less cost has been avoided. Higher water rates make payback periods shorter, and the increased marginal costs raise the value to the utility of each retrofit. ^ Environmental groups and urban water agencies generally have a common interest in promoting water conserva- tion measures. However, environmental and urban interests are not identical. Urban agencies should be willing to pursue conservation measures that are cost-effective from the agency perspec- tive, but environmental organizations may wish to argue for a higher level of conservation, based upon the resulting environmental benefits. The greater the mismatch between what urban agencies should be willing to commit to and what environmental groups think is necessary, the more difficult coopera- tion will be. In areas like California, where the economic value of conserva- tion is high for most agencies, bridging the gap should be possible. ^ Voluntary use of best management practices will have limited effectiveness. Sh~~rt-sighted agencies may not allocate the money or hire the staff needed to implement conservation measures, even though such measures represent a good long-term investment. For this reason, an agreement to adopt such practices should include some type of enforce- ment mechanism.