BOARD01420

• Board Meeting Date: 5/16/2006
• Description: OWCDP Section - Water Efficiency Grant Request from the Center for Resource Conservation
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

0,

.

Mission & Objectives

.:

Slow the Flow Colorado is a best practice landscape irrigation program. The goal of the
program is to improve the efficiency of residential and commercial irrigation systems in
the state of Colorado in order to reduce water waste in the landscape. The structure of the
program provides municipalities with an efficient and practical means to provide water
conservation programs to their constituency. Many of the cities have outlined irrigation
audit programs in their water conservation plans, and made voluntary pledges to promote
water conservation and stewardship in their communities (such as that outlined by the
Denver Metro Mayor's Caucus), but do not have the budget, staff, or time allotment to
develop, implement and run a program of such scale and complexity. The Slow the Flow
Colorado program has grown in scope since its inception as cities have been eager to
participate to move forward water conservation efforts in their communities.

The goal of the this program aligns with the guiding principles of the Colorado Water
Conservation Board, the CWCB Office of Water Conservation and Drought Planning,
and the intent of House Bill 05-1254 Water Efficiency Grant Program:

The mission of the CWCB is to "Conserve, Develop, Protect and Manage Colorado's
Water for Present and Future Generations".

"The Water Efficiency Act of 2005, adopted by the 2005 Colorado General Assembly
under House Bill 05-1254, created a mechanism for the Colorado Water Conservation .
Board (CWCB) through its Office of Water Conservation and Drought Planning to
provide financial assistance to covered entities and qualifying agencies that are seeking to
perform or promote more meaningful water conservation statewide."

Irrigation audits performed by the Slow the Flow Colorado program can help residents of
the state of Colorado reduce their water consumption and learn the techniques and
principles that will be needed for long term management of water use in their landscape
which typically comprises most of household water use. The Slow the Flow Colorado
program aids municipalities in achieving their goals of reducing peak demand through
efficiency as well as promoting water conservation ethics in their communities.

Program History: 2004 & 2005

Slow the Flow Colorado is a best practice landscape irrigation program and is closely
modeled after a successful and proven program developed by the Utah State University
Cooperative Extension. The program offers landscape irrigation audits at no charge to
homeowners, renters, housing communities and businesses. These audits assess irrigation
systems and provide information and data regarding water use strategies that result in
reduced water consumption while meeting the desired goals of the homeowner. The
program was adopted in 2004 as a pilot and ran in 2005 as a program of the Center for .
ReSource Conservation (CRe). Funding during those years was procured from

2