Water Wise Spring 2006

• Year: 2006
• Title: Water Wise
• Author: Colorado Waterwise Council
• Description: Volume 12, Number 1. Spring 2006
• Publications - Doc Type: Newsletter

Albuquerque Conference A Good
"Source" Of Information
The recent AWWA Sources Conference in
Albuquerque proved to be a good source
of information about a wide variety of
conservation - related issues. Here's some
feedback from some of the conference
attendees.
Peter Mayer: Effective conservation
programs can take advantage of the
concept of social marketing, borrowed
from business school. Key principles of
social marketing - such as giving your
customers clear steps and actions to
take, and giving this message as close as
possible to the time when a decision will
be made (i.e. at the point of purchase)
- could really improve the impact of some
programs.
Also, there are big potential water
savings available in commercial kitchens,
primarily from efficient food steamers and
ice machines. The inefficient products are
often cheaper to buy, but are MUCH more
expensive to operate. The payback period
on the incremental cost is often less than
1 year. When promoting these products
it helps to present the cost of operation in
terms of dollars per year. For example,
Steamer A will cost you $4,000 a year in
water and electricity; Steamer B will cost
you $1,500 a year in water and electricity.
Laura Taylor: The AWWA Technical
Committee meeting was helpful for
me. I learned that, unfortunately, some
showerheads sold through the web have
been shown to have much higher flow
rates than the 2.5 gpm standard...up to
13 gpm! One of the many other issues
the committee members are addressing
is multiple showerheads for "luxury"
shower stalls. I appreciate the work of the
Technical Committee and see the need for
more water providers to get involved in
order to close these loopholes.
Stu Feinglas: The Water Sources
Conference presented information from
across the country and world. While much
of the information presented may not have
been new, learning from the experiences
of others will help in my choice and
implementation of conservation programs.
0
It is also great moral support to join with
others in similar positions and compare
challenges, solutions, successes, and
lessons learned. On a specific note, I was
impressed with the efforts several utilities
made to research irrigated areas and
provide detailed consumption data to high
use residential and irrigation accounts.
Scott Winter: The most valuable aspect
of the conference for me, was the ability
to connect on a personal level with
professionals from around the country
and discuss our experiences with various
conservation programs and issues as
well as our ideas about the future of
conservation. It was very invigorating
to learn from and share with such a great
group of people.
Taryn Hutchins- Cabibi: Amy Vickers
provided a step by step guide of the
essential ingredients in a successful
conservation program and illustrated
that a carefully crafted program can
result in water savings nearing 30 %;
while financially saving providers 10-
35% compared to traditional supply side
options.
Cindy Moe: One idea I found particularly
useful was partnering with the local energy
utility to sponsor Commercial /Industrial
Programs. This is an effective way to
market and share costs (and benefits!)
of programs. Another useful fact is that
programs focusing on the top 25 % -50%
of water users achieved approximately a
10% response rate through direct mailing.
Finally, it was interesting to hear that
according to Bill Maddaus, a reasonable
goal for demand reductions is 10 -20%
over 20 -30 years.
Paul Lander: For me the best parts of the
conference were: networking with regional
and national partners; better and better
science and measurement of conservation
savings; capturing all of the Powerpoint
presentations for view on WaterWiser.
Laurie D'Audney: The water
conservation characters that I mingled
with at Water Sources were the best
Metrics For Conservation
BMPs; New Project with
Metro Mayors Caucus
By Liz Gardener, Denver Water
At the March 9 joint meeting of
CWWC and RMSAWWA, the first
topic of discussion will be "Metrics for
Conservation BMPs." Mayors Chris
Berry of Lafayette and Kathie Novak of
Northglenn will present the perspective
of the Metro Mayors Caucus on their
desired outcomes from the metrics. Then
CWWC members and guests will discuss
possible answers to questions including:
- -What measurement will be useful to
practitioners`?
- -What will translate well with lay
persons? Are they the same?
- -What year should be used as a baseline
(in order to demonstrate strides made in
conservation to date)?
- -How difficult is it going to be to obtain
data for this baseline year? What are
likely data sources?
- -How difficult will it be to analyze the
data?
- -What is a realistic timeline for
preliminary reporting?
This will be an ongoing project of
CWWC for this year, so all are invited
to volunteer to help in formulating
reasonable, workable answers to
these questions. To volunteer, e -mail
info @ coloradowa -terwise.org.
part of the conference. A highlight was
dinner at Richard Chapman's historic
home with folks from the New Mexico
Water Conservation Alliance. At the
conference itself, the presentations and
discussions inspired me in many ways. I
especially enjoyed discovering new ideas
for working with the energy conservation
folks in my department. I learned that a
plumbing system can be designed so that
water travels the shortest distance possible
from the water heater to the faucet. The
graphic presentation about toilet testing
left a profound impression... how many
grams of waste will your toilet flush?
You can visit www.awwa.org/waterwiser
in March for copies of all presentations
from Water Sources!