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<br />7-2 <br /> <br />~ . <br />, <br /> <br />1.1.3 Boulder's Existing Watsr Conservation Prog.cam <br /> <br />Water conservation is not a new concept to the Boulder community. A3 early as <br />1879, the City practiced one form of conservation or another. Earlier efforts involved <br />requests for citizens to voluntarily cut back usage during dry pcriods. Conservation activities <br />became more sophisticated in 1965 with the advent of citywide metering. Today, the City <br />employs seven conservation measures to help assure efficient use of its natural resources, <br />and to reduce peak summer demands. Some of the measures have been in place for many <br />years and some have just begun. The measures have been successful, and the anticipated ~. <br />1990 peak day savings from their implementation is 0.5 to 5 mgd. Evaluation of the <br />measures is provided below. <br /> <br />1.1.4 Metering <br /> <br />Since 1965, the City of Boulder and its outside city service area have been fully <br />metered. A metering program promotes prudent water management by (1) alloWing the <br />City to account for its water use and thus focus water conservation efforts on heavy water <br />consumers (2) helping the determination. of unaccounted for water so that it can be <br />effectively reduced, and (3) providing an effective motivator for conservation because the <br />customer pays m proportlon to consumption. Projected reduction in year 1990 peak day <br />demand due to the metering is 0.4 to 1.6 mgd. <br /> <br />Previous literature shows that water savings resulting from metering range from 13 <br />to 45 pcrcent.l The City of Denver witnessed an annual average reduction of 20 percent <br />from early pilot studies of its metering program and New York City has predicted 1D- to <br />3D-percent savings pcr building for its new metering program. The savings from metering <br />in Boulder will depend on the unique characteristics of the City and where and when water <br />is used. For instance, metering has a minor impact on interior water use, since this use is <br />mostly inelastic and thus harder to reduce. Some literature suggests an interior savings of <br />2 percentl can be realized by metering. Metering has a large impact on outside, <br />discretionary watering where savings have been recorded in the range of 25 percentl. Lastly, <br />having meters allows the City to show dollar savings from implementing water conservation <br />measures to the customer. <br /> <br />'- <br /> <br />The most thorough study of the effect of metering on Boulder was performed by Mr. <br />Steve Hanke at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Hanke's study shows the effects of metering <br />on exterior water consumption in Boulder, specifically illustrating the relationship between <br /> <br />lResidential Water Conservation Projects. Snmmary Report, Report No. HUD-PDR- <br />903, Brown and Caldwell Consulting Engineers, prepared for the Department of Housing <br />and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Resources, June 1984. <br /> <br />c:.. <br />