Castle Rock Teach by Example Final Report

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TOWN OF CASTLE ROCK "Teach By Example" Program Summary Page 3 Castle Rock's water rates are on an increasing rate scale. The lower rate of $1.00/ thousand gallons was used in interior calculations, and $1.50/thousand gallons for exterior calculations. Interior usage fell within the first tier, while exterior consumption usually pushes rates into the second tier. INTERIOR Each installed interior retrofit device was critiqued by the homeowners and tracked to specific water savings. The items installed were showerhead, ultra low volume toilets, faucet aerators, and front loading clothes washers. The cost/benefit analysis revealed that dollar for dollar, one of the smallest investments yields the biggest proportionate savings. The cost of the 3 gpm showerhead averaged $11.70/ fixture. Savings/cost ratios on these were between 47 - 165% at the Hargrove and Hopkins households. A simple tip we discovered, the longer you or your teenagers shower the sooner this investment will pay for itself, (between just under a year to just over two years). And our homeowners were satisfied and even surprised with the performance of the lower flow showerhead. The ultra low volume toilets reflected a consistent savings/cost ratio of between 10- 19%. At a cost of around $120, the toilet will pay for itself in water savings in five to eight years. One thing to note is that by ordinance in 1990, the Town of Castle Rock's building code required installation of ULV's (1.6 or less gallons per flush) and low flow showerhead (3 or less gallons per minute) in all new construction. The toilets had an acceptable satisfaction record. We did have to replace one toilet. Ray Roman, of Rock Plumbing returned to the Foxfield location several times, free of charge, to remedy a problem with this temperamental leaking toilet that finally had to be replaced. This program was full of lessons, and here was one of the first, but definitely not the last. Sears had a local catalogue store, from which we received very good prices on toilets and clothes washers. However, we discovered that warranties were not honored unless installation was accomplished by Sears personnel. 50 the problem toilet, a Universal Rundle 1.5 gallon unit, was replaced by a Mansfield 1.6 gpf ULV outside of any warranty conditions. No problems were experienced with the new unit. Homeowners still understood the importance ofthe use ofthe UL V's, and their water saving impact. The Hargroves actually reflected an increased interior water consumption. They noted that this was due to potty training, and dreaded what consumption would have been without the ULV's. The front loading horizontal axis clothes washer was an interior retrofit item with some trepidation, on the part of the homeowner's and staff as well. The information about the performance of these washers was very positive, but we were changing a real icon of !. the American household. These washers were installed at the Hopkins and Nettles