Water Use Efficiency Implementation: Lessons Learned in California

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Water Use Efficiency ImplementationLessons
Learned in California

• Tom Peters
• Mary Lou Cotton

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Overview/History

• MOU Regarding Urban Water Conservation in
  California
• Initiated in 1991 (during last major drought)
• Agreement between water suppliers,
  environmental/public interest groups, consulting
  firms and other interested parties California
  Urban Water Conservation Council (Kennedy/Jenks
  is a member)
• Instituted Best Management Practices (BMPs)
• Two types of BMPs quantifiable and
  non-quantifiable (water savings)

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Overview/History (Cont.)

• BMPs
• Water survey programs for single-family
  residential and multi-family residential
  customers (non-quantifiable)
• Residential plumbing retrofit (quantifiable)
• System water audits, leak detection and repair
  (quantifiable)
• Metering with commodity rates for all new
  connections and retrofit of existing connections
  (quantifiable)
• Large landscape conservation programs and
  incentives (quantifiable)

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Overview/History (Cont.)

• BMPs (Cont.)
• High-efficiency clothes washing machine financial
  incentive programs (quantifiable)
• Public information programs (non-quantifiable)
• School education programs (non-quantifiable)
• Conservation programs for commercial, industrial,
  and institutional (CII) accounts (quantifiable)
• Wholesale agency assistance programs
  (non-quantifiable)

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Overview/History (Cont.)

• BMPs (Cont.)
• Retail conservation pricing (quantifiable)
• Water Conservation Coordinator (non-quantifiable)
• Water waste prohibition (non- quantifiable)
• Residential ULFT replacement programs
  (quantifiable)

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Observed Trends

• BMPs have worked well for about 17 years, but
  recent events are driving future conservation
  efficiency programs in California
• Many conservation programs have relied heavily
  (or only) on public outreach and school education
• Conservation technologies have diversified
• Technologies are appropriate for some geographic
  areas and not for others (diversity)

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Observed Trends (Cont.)

• CUWCC is in the midst of a major revision of the
  MOU and BMPs in response to these various drivers
• Lesson Learned Emphasis on increased flexibility
  for water agencies to design savings-based
  conservation programs, rather than the
  proscriptive widget counting approach used
  since 1991

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Observed Trends (Cont.)

• Analysis demonstrates the heavy focus that
  California water agencies have placed on
  residential indoor devices. Landscape and CII
  programs have not yet matched these efforts.
• However, recent efforts in landscape and CII
  sectors have been increasing as efforts in indoor
  residential programs have begun to decrease.
• Lesson Learned Programs like ULFT replacements
  are nearing saturation, plus passive savings from
  changes to State plumbing code have started to
  accumulate.

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Overview/Drivers

• California facing new and constant water
  shortages
• Natural/Hydrologic Colorado River, Sierra Nevada
  (global warming-related)
• Regulatory/Legal Endangered Species Act, Court
  Decisions
• Increasing demands on infrastructure
• State Water Project (major MI supplier) nearly
  50 years old, serves a larger population than
  expected
• Continuing energy crisis
• Increasing legislative focus on conservation
• State Urban Water Management Planning Act
  requirements for description of progress in
  conservation activities required to qualify for
  State grant funding

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Overview/Drivers (Cont.)

• Water conservation (water use efficiency)
  policies, planning, technologies and practices
  are evolving rapidly
• Many water agencies are promoting comprehensive
  long term water use efficiency planning
  Conservation Master Plans
• Moving from a voluntary to a near-mandatory
  model recent State legislation

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Overview/Drivers (Cont.)

• Continued legislative focus as California
  wrestles with increased population and decreased
  water supplies current session contains at least
  four water conservation-related bills
• Requirements for all new residential and
  commercial development building standards
• Requirements for energy conservation programs to
  include a water conservation component, partner
  with water agencies
• Allocation-based rate structures guidance
• Requirements for a 20 gpcd reduction in overall
  State water demand, and individual agency
  reductions
• in addition to requirements of bills chaptered
  in last two sessions

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Impacts on Utilities

• Water conservation is changing from
  behavior-based to hardware-based
• Lesson Learned Hardware-based measures require
  more sophisticated technical analysis
• Cost-effectiveness
• Rate structure/pricing evaluations
• Service area/customer sector saturation levels
  analysis
• Industrial process evaluation
• Landscape conservation techniques/equipment

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Impacts on Utilities (Cont.)

• Utility conservation staff often not technical
  staff
• Technical staff may not be available for or
  inclined toward non-capital project work
• Increased up-front staff costs for
  pre-implementation analysis
• Implementation of measures more expensive as
  conservation programs get more aggressive

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Summary

• As water supplies in the West become more
  limited, more and more water agencies will be
  looking for conservation potential in all sectors
• Flexibility in program components is needed to
  reflect differences in water agency service area
  characteristics
• Low-hanging fruit programs, especially those
  associated with plumbing code changes and device
  standards, are those that should be implemented
  first least cost for highest savings
• Rate structure evaluation, submetering,
  commercial/ industrial processes and uses,
  cooling retrofits and landscape sector will
  provide greatest savings, but will require more
  rigorous analysis and increased utility
  commitments

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Questions?