14.B.
City Council Meeting - FINAL
- Meeting Date:
- 12/03/2019
- From:
- Tamara Lawless, Water Conservation Manager
Information
TITLE
Discussion: Water Conservation Strategic Plan Draft
STAFF RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Water Conservation staff are seeking direction and input from City Council on the Draft Strategic Plan that contains a proposed program change, known as “Optimized Conservation Program”. If implemented, this new program would provide the best return on investment for conservation dollars spent, save the city money by avoiding future water production/new supply costs and accomplishes the Council’s goal of being a leader in water conservation. This new proposed program would also position the City of Flagstaff to receive a higher level of recognition of water conservation through the Alliance for Water Efficiency’s G480 Standard and Leaderboard.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In 2016 City Council gave staff direction to develop an innovative Water Conservation plan, which was funded in FY18. The plan aims to find the balance of investment in water savings that can be achieved through conservation programming with offsetting more costly water supplies and infrastructure.
The Water Conservation Program has been working with Maddaus Water Management (MWM) on a Water Conservation Strategic Plan. The Plan provides an assessment of current and future water conservation actions in order to ensure that conservation dollars and staff time are invested in strategies that provide the best return on investment and coverage of all sectors of the Flagstaff customer base. To this end, all current Water Conservation Program activities were assessed for return on investment using MWM’s quantitative cost-benefit computational model. In addition, the Water Conservation staff worked with community stakeholders to select ten additional conservation strategies that the program could consider for the future. These additional activities were also processed through the model.
After considering several combinations of current and future conservation activities, the Water Conservation Program and MWM compiled a selection that provided both good returns on investment and coverage of all customer classes. MWM is recommending proposed changes to the Water Conservation Program, known as the Optimized Conservation Program. If implemented, this new program would provide the best return on investment for conservation dollars spent, save the city money by avoiding future water production/new supply costs and accomplishes the Council’s goal of being a leader in water conservation.
The Water Conservation Program has been working with Maddaus Water Management (MWM) on a Water Conservation Strategic Plan. The Plan provides an assessment of current and future water conservation actions in order to ensure that conservation dollars and staff time are invested in strategies that provide the best return on investment and coverage of all sectors of the Flagstaff customer base. To this end, all current Water Conservation Program activities were assessed for return on investment using MWM’s quantitative cost-benefit computational model. In addition, the Water Conservation staff worked with community stakeholders to select ten additional conservation strategies that the program could consider for the future. These additional activities were also processed through the model.
After considering several combinations of current and future conservation activities, the Water Conservation Program and MWM compiled a selection that provided both good returns on investment and coverage of all customer classes. MWM is recommending proposed changes to the Water Conservation Program, known as the Optimized Conservation Program. If implemented, this new program would provide the best return on investment for conservation dollars spent, save the city money by avoiding future water production/new supply costs and accomplishes the Council’s goal of being a leader in water conservation.
INFORMATION:
In 2016, the Water Resources & Conservation Section collaborated with the Sustainability Section to propose reframing the Water Conservation Program in order to transform Flagstaff into a water-wise leader. One proposed output of this collaboration was the development of an innovative water efficiency plan to guide both the City and the Community. In many cases, water conservation can be a community’s most economical water source. In fact, the current conservation program has been successful in delaying the need for an additional water supply for at least four years, which has provided significant financial savings for the City of Flagstaff. To continue to develop and advance these gains, the City Council awarded funds in FY18 to create a Water Conservation Strategic Plan to assess and improve the Water Conservation Program in order to meet the following goals:
An important aspect of the strategic planning process was the inclusion of stakeholder collaboration during all essential planning stages. Public participation included representatives from local nonprofits (ex: Sierra Club, Terra BIRDS, Master Gardeners), neighborhood associations (ex: Southside, La Plaza Vieja), commercial interests (ex: Warner’s, Flagstaff Lodging, Restaurant, and Tourism Association), and also members of the general public. Engagement opportunities included general outreach at the 2018 and 2019 Flagstaff Festival of Science, routine engagement with our Water Conservation Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, the selection and consultation of a broader stakeholder group, and an online survey. These interactions provided us with invaluable assistance in the process of narrowing down the original list of potential conservation actions, along with insight on the customization of these actions for best application in the Flagstaff community. In addition, the stakeholder groups provided feedback on the Optimized Conservation Program and on water conservation in Flagstaff from a broader lens.
After the first several rounds of stakeholder collaboration, staff from COF and MWM evaluated current conservation activities using the model. This initial assessment indicated that there was room to improve the return on investment in the current conservation program initiatives. As an example, two initiatives that were selected for improvement were the current rainwater container and toilet rebate programs. The toilet rebate program can be optimized by only incentivizing more efficient toilets with efficiencies that exceed the local code of 1.28 gallons per flush and by lowering the total rebate amount provided and the rainwater container measure can be absorbed into general outreach activities while reducing staff time investment by forging community partnerships.
Along with modeling the current conservation program activities, conservation staff and MWM also modeled 10 activities to be considered in the future, which were selected with assistance from the community stakeholder groups. When building the Optimized Conservation Program, staff and MWM considered both returns on investment and coverage of community customer categories. The new actions that were selected included Smart metering, outdoor water budgeting, school retrofits, and two code proposals: a revision of the landscaping code and a new code to require EPA WaterSense approved toilets, showerheads and faucets in new developments in the City of Flagstaff. These new actions, when added to the current conservation programming, improved the cost-benefit analysis score from 1.67 to 1.83.
Supplementary details about these additions to the conservation program are as follows:
An additional benefit of the Optimized Conservation Program is better alignment with the requirements for the American Water Works Association G480 Standard, which describes the critical elements of establishing, implementing, and evaluating an effective water conservation program. Meeting this standard allows a water utility to apply for recognition through the Alliance for Water Efficiency’s Leaderboard, which is a nationally recognized standard for excellence in water conservation. Achieving recognition through this certification would improve Flagstaff’s standing as a national leader in water conservation. For these reasons, Water Conservation staff are recommending adopting the Water Conservation Strategic Plan draft, with the selection of the Optimized Conservation Program as a workplan for the Water Conservation Program. The additional initiatives included in the optimized program will require an additional investment of $45,000 annually, assuming all new initiatives are implemented at once. Of this investment, approximately $15,000 would be directed toward additional staffing, either through the addition of one more part-time employee or through converting existing part-time funds and these additional funds into the creation of one more full-time conservation employee.
It is important to note that several of the proposed additions to the conservation program would require time and investment from other areas of municipal organization. For example, to fully utilize and benefit from the new Smart meters that are getting installed across the Flagstaff community, the conservation program will need buy-in and cooperation from the customer service team to troubleshoot issues with data collection from the meters. Currently, data is only collected once a month, and only the total sum of usage from the month period is recorded. To receive the full benefits of these meters, more frequent data access is necessary, as is more detailed data from the meter itself. Conservation-oriented behavior-change is improved if real-time water use data is available to the customers. Another example would be the two code revisions proposed. Water Conservation staff will need assistance from personnel in Community Development (planning and inspections) to draft the necessary code and to ensure compliance with the same. These investments from other areas of the organization are not accounted for in terms of the additional budget requested for the Optimized Conservation Program, though there are rough estimates for the total hours needed in the computational model.
Next steps for the Water Conservation Strategic Plan (following council discussion) include the adoption of the final plan by the City Council and the creation of an implementation strategy by Water Conservation staff. The FY21 budget process would include the initial stages of this implementation strategy.
- Become a national leader in water conservation in all sectors (Council Goal)
- Generate quantitative water conservation savings projections for use in Water Resources Master Plan
- Provide conservation guidance for next water rate study
- Ensure water conservation program expenditures result in broad community participation and return on investment
An important aspect of the strategic planning process was the inclusion of stakeholder collaboration during all essential planning stages. Public participation included representatives from local nonprofits (ex: Sierra Club, Terra BIRDS, Master Gardeners), neighborhood associations (ex: Southside, La Plaza Vieja), commercial interests (ex: Warner’s, Flagstaff Lodging, Restaurant, and Tourism Association), and also members of the general public. Engagement opportunities included general outreach at the 2018 and 2019 Flagstaff Festival of Science, routine engagement with our Water Conservation Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, the selection and consultation of a broader stakeholder group, and an online survey. These interactions provided us with invaluable assistance in the process of narrowing down the original list of potential conservation actions, along with insight on the customization of these actions for best application in the Flagstaff community. In addition, the stakeholder groups provided feedback on the Optimized Conservation Program and on water conservation in Flagstaff from a broader lens.
After the first several rounds of stakeholder collaboration, staff from COF and MWM evaluated current conservation activities using the model. This initial assessment indicated that there was room to improve the return on investment in the current conservation program initiatives. As an example, two initiatives that were selected for improvement were the current rainwater container and toilet rebate programs. The toilet rebate program can be optimized by only incentivizing more efficient toilets with efficiencies that exceed the local code of 1.28 gallons per flush and by lowering the total rebate amount provided and the rainwater container measure can be absorbed into general outreach activities while reducing staff time investment by forging community partnerships.
Along with modeling the current conservation program activities, conservation staff and MWM also modeled 10 activities to be considered in the future, which were selected with assistance from the community stakeholder groups. When building the Optimized Conservation Program, staff and MWM considered both returns on investment and coverage of community customer categories. The new actions that were selected included Smart metering, outdoor water budgeting, school retrofits, and two code proposals: a revision of the landscaping code and a new code to require EPA WaterSense approved toilets, showerheads and faucets in new developments in the City of Flagstaff. These new actions, when added to the current conservation programming, improved the cost-benefit analysis score from 1.67 to 1.83.
Supplementary details about these additions to the conservation program are as follows:
- Smart Meters
- Investment into full utilization of the SmartMeters that are already being installed around the Flagstaff community. This would include the capture and utilization of daily, or even real-time water use data for each meter, first making this information available for staff to beta-test, and then available to customers
- Landscape Code Update
- Revision of the code to revisit the plant list, irrigation requirements, and rainwater capture on new developments (either by active or passive means) for any efficiency improvements. This would require collaboration with other COF departments as well as community stakeholders.
- WaterSense fixtures in the plumbing code
- New code to propose EPA WaterSense certified showerheads and faucets in all new buildings. There would be an option to require pressure adjustment for showers. This would also be an appropriate time to revise Flagstaff’s high-efficiency toilet amendment to include EPA WaterSense certification as a requirement.
- School Retrofits
- Partnerships with K-12 and higher education institutions to engage in an annual efficiency project, such as fixture retrofits or cooling tower adjustments.
- Outdoor Water Budgeting
- Effort to collaborate with several large irrigated fields (K-12, COF parks, NAU, etc) to create and adhere to a water budget. This initiative is a multi-year commitment in which the irrigation manager and the water conservation staff work together to create and meet an irrigation budget through use of Flagstaff evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation data.
An additional benefit of the Optimized Conservation Program is better alignment with the requirements for the American Water Works Association G480 Standard, which describes the critical elements of establishing, implementing, and evaluating an effective water conservation program. Meeting this standard allows a water utility to apply for recognition through the Alliance for Water Efficiency’s Leaderboard, which is a nationally recognized standard for excellence in water conservation. Achieving recognition through this certification would improve Flagstaff’s standing as a national leader in water conservation. For these reasons, Water Conservation staff are recommending adopting the Water Conservation Strategic Plan draft, with the selection of the Optimized Conservation Program as a workplan for the Water Conservation Program. The additional initiatives included in the optimized program will require an additional investment of $45,000 annually, assuming all new initiatives are implemented at once. Of this investment, approximately $15,000 would be directed toward additional staffing, either through the addition of one more part-time employee or through converting existing part-time funds and these additional funds into the creation of one more full-time conservation employee.
It is important to note that several of the proposed additions to the conservation program would require time and investment from other areas of municipal organization. For example, to fully utilize and benefit from the new Smart meters that are getting installed across the Flagstaff community, the conservation program will need buy-in and cooperation from the customer service team to troubleshoot issues with data collection from the meters. Currently, data is only collected once a month, and only the total sum of usage from the month period is recorded. To receive the full benefits of these meters, more frequent data access is necessary, as is more detailed data from the meter itself. Conservation-oriented behavior-change is improved if real-time water use data is available to the customers. Another example would be the two code revisions proposed. Water Conservation staff will need assistance from personnel in Community Development (planning and inspections) to draft the necessary code and to ensure compliance with the same. These investments from other areas of the organization are not accounted for in terms of the additional budget requested for the Optimized Conservation Program, though there are rough estimates for the total hours needed in the computational model.
Next steps for the Water Conservation Strategic Plan (following council discussion) include the adoption of the final plan by the City Council and the creation of an implementation strategy by Water Conservation staff. The FY21 budget process would include the initial stages of this implementation strategy.