Colo Springs 1998 WCPlan

• Project Type: Water Conservation Plan
• Project Name: Colorado Springs Utilities Water Conservation Plan
• Title: Water Conservation Plan
• Date: 1/31/1997
• County: El Paso
• Water Conservation - Doc Type: Complete Plan

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The entire Water Resource plan was presented to and adopted by the Colorado Springs
City Council in March of 1996,

Developing a Future Conservation Master Plan

The Water Resource Plan identified a goal for the Water Resources Department to attain
an additional 3 percent of water savings through the expansion and development of
conservation programs. To expedite this plan development, a Citizens' Water
Conservation Committee (CWCC) was formed as an early work component ofWRP
implementation. The committee met during 1996 and 1997 to consider the results of
attitude and awareness surveys conducted during the WRP and to review the Montgomery
Watson Conservation Study produced for the WRP.

The committee concurred with the Montgomery Watson report that the majority of
achievable new water savings would come from the enactment of EP Act, from greater
awareness of ET lawn watering guidelines, from the distribution of rain sensors and the
conduct of commercial landscape audits, They emphatically concurred with the survey
findings and comment content analysis findings of the WRP process that greater
conservation must be achieved in the community, and that the WRD should provide
leadership, They recommended that the Department:

continue all existing programs,
add rain sensors and commercial landscape audits,
designate an official Water Conservation Office and Officer,
study a new rate structure to encourage conservation, and
greatly expand public education about conservation.

The end product of the committee's work in 1997 was a Table of Contents for the
Conservation Master Plan, and the recommended program changes described above,
Having outlined the contents of the draft master plan, the committee recessed to allow
staff time to write the draft plan.

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The committee will reconvene to review the first draft of the Plan late in 1998" The
committee will also take part in developing the implementation plan for distribution of
rain sensors and the conduct of commercial landscape audits, to be included in the draft
Master Plan.

Once the committee has reviewed and revised the draft, it will be presented to City
Council and made available to all city residents for two months, In order to make the
plan as accessible as possible, it will be available through:

the WRD's Web site
a series of public meetings throughout the city
the Parks and Recreation Department, public libraries & community centers