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General
Water Conservation Plan
Kennewick
56,000
Bruce Beauchene
Maintenance & Operations Manager
509-585-4289
City of Kennewick Water Conservation Plan
Record low State precipitation and snow pack has resulted in the projection of a major
drought this summer. The need for conservation of our valuable water resources can
not be understated, especially this summer. A primary component in the effort to save
this valuable resource is a comprehensive Water Conservation Plan.
In 1995 the City of Kennewick submitted a Water Conservation Plan to the Washington
State Department of Health as part of the Kennewick Water System Plan. During 1999
and 2000 the plan was fully implemented including construction projects as well as
educational and promotional efforts as further described herein. The Water Conservation
Plan consisted of three components:
• Water Use Data Collection • Demand Forecasting
• Conservation Program Development
Data Collection
Kennewick had approximately 17,700 water service connections in 2000. This number of
connections places the City within the range of data collection requirements for utilities
ranging from 10,001 to 25,000. Source of supply readings, amount imported from
emergency interties, wholesale amount purchased and/or sold, peak day/peak month
totals, non-revenue water, single family service meters, multi-family service meters,
commerciallgovernmental/industrial service meters, agricultural service meters,
population served, water rate information, and water conservation information are
collected and reported as part of this plan.
Demand Forecast
Demand forecasts, for utilities the size of Kennewick must be prepared for at least four
customer classes. These classes include single family, multi-family,
commercial/governmential/industrial and agricultural. The projected demand is based on
zoning, population, historical water use and anticipated water conservation efforts. As
stipulated by this requirement, a total of 16 zoning classifications have been identified
with corresponding unit water demands for each land use classification.
Conservation Program
The third component of the Water Conservation Plan is the development of a
conservation program. The required water conservation measures in the Kennewick plan
include the following categories:
• Public Education
• Technical Assistance • System Measures
• Incentives/Other Measures
Public Education
Promotion of the City's Water Conservation has included a public school outreach
program, a comprehensive web page that includes tips on conservation for the bathroom,
kitchen and laundry, lawn and garden, bill stuffers, and distribution of water conservation
items such as shower heads and toilet bags. The City also participates jointly with other
local municipalities in the distribution of regional water conservation information to the
public.
Technical Assistant
The City provides customers with assistance on how to read water consumption
information provided on water bills, responds to questions related to water conservation,
and provides historical water consumption information on bills. This information allows
the customer to compare past water consumption with current consumption.
System Measures
System measures include requiring source and customer metering and a meter testing and
repair program. A program of determining unaccounted for water has also been
implemented as part of this plan. The City has an extensive leak detection program that
has been instrumental in locating leaking water mains. These leaking water mains have
been repaired or replaced as part of an aggressive water main replacement projects that
began in 1994 and to date has replaced all identified leaking steel water mains in
Kennewick's water distribution system. Recently completed reservoir rehabilitation
projects, which included sealing of interslab cracks and construction joints has virtually
eliminated the loss of water at the City's two primary water reservoirs.
Incentives/Other Measures
Citywide incentives included the promotion of water saving devices such as reduced flow
showerheads, sink aerators, toilet tank displacement bags and leak detection kits. The
City supplied free low flow showerheads to all customers that requested them. Other
efforts included the promotion of low water demand landscaping and the encouragement
of water saving technology for nursery and agricultural applications.
Implementation of the City's Water Conservation Plan has significantly reduced water
usage. Kennewick's The Cities water usage has gone from 200 gallons per person per day
in 1993 to 150 gallons per person per day presently. These conservation efforts have
reduced the overall system supply needs, significantly reduced the costs associated with
pumping water to the City's 5 water system zones, extended the life of the existing water
supply sources, and defer costly capital improvements associated with increasing the
capacity of the City water infrastructure.
Aftachments:Web Page, Regional Brochure