Category: Winner or Honorable Mention: Title of the Project: City: Population: Name: Title: Phone: 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