Gilcrest WC Project Final Report

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RESULTS From a conservation viewpoint, the shrinkage of surface water in treatment and transmission cannot be quantified. The Central Weld County Water District estimates that actual shrinkage from their plant and the line serving Gilcrest is approximately 10-12%. Based upon this estimate, the amount of water conserved by using the well would be 10-12% of the 80% of surface water that would be used in the absence of the well. This would equal about 8-10% of the total amount of water used to irrigate the park. Because of differing weather, temperature. rainfall, and relative humidity from one season to the next, it is difficult to develop any more precise estimates of water conservation from well use. For the same reason, it is difficult to determine the impacts of the rain sensing device. It can be estimated though. that using well water does present a significant savings of 8-10% compared to irrigating with the surface/ground water blend. Based upon park irrigation at 28-32 million gallons of water per sumller season, the estimated water conservation resulting from using well water is approximately 2.24 - 3.2 million gallons per year. This equates to 6-10 acre feet of water which brings significant savings to the Town in terms of the capital and operations and maintenance costs of surface water. Currently, an acre foot of Colorado Big Thompson water sells for about $1,400 per acre foot. Savings accrue from annual assessments charged by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District to cover storage maintenance costs. Additionally, based upon the current cost to treat, conserving the 6-10 acre feet also saves the Town approximately $1,500-2,000 per year in Central Weld treatment bills. TASK 2. RETROFIT DBVICES BACKGROUND Historically, Gilcrest's residential Water useage Was extremely high because. the Town's costs to pump and treat ground water were relatively inexpensive; residents paid a flat rate for water regardless of the amount used; and there were no watering restrictions. With the change to blended water, the Town's costs were greatly increased and passed on to residents in their water bills. To help offset the cost increases, Gilcrest wanted to encourage water conservation by universal water metering and installation of water conserving devices on interior plumbing appliances. PROJECT PURPOSE Task 2 was designed to install up to 4 water conserving devices in as many homes as possible to help reduce water use and charges. The devices were to be retrofitted on existing indoor plumbing and included a low flow showerhead, a water conserving toilet device, and low flow aerators for the kitchen and bathroom sinks. Specific goals were to install devices in 96% of the Town's 299 households. J