WSP06374

• File Number: 8056
• Description: Drought Preparedness
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 6/1/1988
• Author: Washington State DSH
• Title: Guidelines for the Preparation of Water Shortage Response Plans
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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to eliminate inconsistencies. Again, use the policies set forth in your
Water System Plan, if you have one.

Some of the questions a utility may want to consider in order to develop
a clear set of water shortage-related policies are:

o Should short-term or long-term resource inprovements be enphasized?

o Should conservation and supply augmentation receive equal consideration,
or should one receive higher priority?

o Should growth be curtailed until a water shortage is over?

o Among the various classes of water users, who should bear most of the
costs of conservation or supply augmentation? Should there be a
balance?

o Are you willing to adjust rates to offset lost revenues due to
conservation or to capital costs for supply augmentation?

Also consider any opposition to your policies that might exist. How would
your customers respond to rate adjustments? If one of your policies is to
expand your water supply, consider and discuss whether this is realistic
in light of possible envirorunental constraints and competing users of the
water resource. Do you have adequate water rights for any planned increase
in capacity?

1iORKSHEET 6
utility Policies

B. Conservation Options

A utility should list all of the possible conservation options that it
could reasonably carry out. To develop a COIliJrehensive list of options, you
may want to bring several utility staff and, perhaps, members of the
interested public together for a "brainstorming" session. Table 1 includes
a list of conservation options organized by type of action and by the three
stages of a water shortage: minor, moderate, and severe (see discussion
below) . '!his list of options is not COIliJrehensive. Conservation options
can be added, deleted, or modified to fit a utility's unique circumstances.

Actions identified in Table 1 include:

o PUblic information - includes development of educational materials and
activities on reducing water consumption;

o user restriction - includes specific requests to curtail or eliminate
water use by various utility customers and can include rationing (for
example, restaurants may be asked not to serve water except upon request
and residential customers may be asked not to wash their cars) ;

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