The Metropolitan Council is offering grants from $2,000 to $50,000 to municipal water suppliers to help increase water efficiency by lowering the cost for residents to purchase and install products that reduce water use including toilets, washing machines, and irrigation sprinklers and controllers.
 
Municipalities may use these grant funds to fund rebates to residents who replace inefficient water-using devices with approved devices that use substantially less water, or for irrigation system audits. The Metropolitan Council administered a water efficiency grant program during the 2015 - 2017 biennium using $500,000 from the Clean Water Fund, which yielded an estimated total savings of 52 million gallons of water per year.

This grant program requires that products be labeled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program or, in the case of washing machines, by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star program. Grant funds can only be used for appliance replacement, not for first-time purchases for new developments.
 
Municipalities are responsible for developing and operating their own rebate programs. The grant funds will cover 75% of program costs, with a required 25% local match of which residents must pay a portion of the cost for any device or water use audit they purchase.
 
Grant applications will be accepted through September 30, 2019. Required application information includes:

• Rebate or grant program design and work plan
• Proposed examples of communications to property owners
• Requested total grant amount
• Estimated annual amount of water saved by the applying municipality
• Details about the program and the grant application.

Notifications are not required for this application.

Observations:
This grant funding opportunity seems to be a perfect fit for the City of Ramsey for several reasons.
 
The Environmental Policy Board's (EPB) 2017 - 2019 Work Plan includes a tactic to "Extend the longevity of drinking water supply by reducing demand on groundwater" and specifies as a key outcome, the development of incentives and/or programs to promote water conservation. If successful in obtaining grant funds, the funds could be used to purchase smart controllers and/or soil moisture sensors that could be available for existing water customers that have older, in-ground irrigation systems without these technologies.  The EPB discussed this grant program on August 19^th and supported an application.  Attached is a copy of the draft EPB meeting minutes.
 
This grant could help the City to significantly reduce peak demand on our municipal water supply system during summer months, which would allow the City to run fewer wells in the summer thereby helping to minimize manganese concentrations all summer long.
 
Reducing water consumption would also allow the City to delay, or possibly omit, the installation of new water supply wells in the future, saving a considerable amount of money.
 
In 2017, the Metropolitan Council analyzed water use data from the 94 twin cities metropolitan communities that used groundwater for their municipal water supply systems and that had a large residential sector.  When considering total population growth through 2040, residential water demand, peak summer to winter ratio, and estimated number of new wells through 2040, they determined that the City of Ramsey ranked 19th in water use per capita out of the 94 communities.
 
In 2018, the City partnered with the Metropolitan Council on their 2018 Water Efficiency Potential project.  This partnership focused on how Ramsey could maximize economic benefits from various residential-based water conservation efforts. Having just recently completed that project should help Ramsey score well on an application for the Water Efficiency Grant Program.
 
City Staff attended an informational workshop on the Water Efficiency Grant Program in August.  Based on what was learned at the workshop, Staff has developed a framework for an incentive/rebate program, which will be presented to the City Council this evening.  This program will be included in the grant application, which must be submitted by September 30, 2019.
 
Alternatives:
Alternative #1: Motion to adopt Resolution #19-235 authorizing an application for up to $50,000 from the Metropolitan Council Water Efficiency Grant Program.

Alternative #2: Motion denying adoption of Resolution #19-235 at this time.

The grant funds will cover 75% of program costs, with a required 25% local match of which residents must pay a portion of the cost for any device or water use audit they purchase.  Staff proposes to pay for the local match from the City's water enterprise fund, with the remainder to reimbursed by payments from residents for any device or water use audit they purchase.  Staff will expand on this during our presentation at the Council meeting.

Staff recommends alternative #1.

Based on discussions at their August 19th regular meeting, the Environmental Policy Board recommends alternative #1.

Based on discussions at their September 17th regular meeting, the Public Works Committee recommends alternative #1.

Motion to adopt Resolution #19-235 authorizing an application for up to $50,000 from the Metropolitan Council Water Efficiency Grant Program.