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Home My WebLink About04C Water Conservation Cottage J Grove �here Pride and PCOSPerity Meet To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Jennifer Levitt, P.E., City Administrator From: Nathan Estrem, P.E., Project Engineer Date: February 7, 2019 Re: Water Conservation Activities Update Background/Discussion In recent years the City has become more proactive in water conservation efforts. Projects have ranged from rebates for installation of water efficient fixtures to implementing a more water conservation based utility rate structure, and a smart irrigation controller program. In August of 2017, the City received water conservation grant funds from Washington County. The Water Conservation Grant Scope of Work for Cottage Grove included utilizing grant funds towards local water efficiency activities, including but not limited to: a. Rebates for outdoor rain barrels or conservation kits or material to construct a rain barrel. b. Rebates for other outdoor water conservation fixtures such as EPA Water Sense approved smart controllers or irrigation system upgrades. c. Rebates for indoor water fixtures including EPA Water Sense approved high efficiency toilets, faucets, or washing machines. d. Water efficiency education materials. The City utilized a portion of the grant funds to purchase and distribute 36 smart irrigation con- trollers to residents at a drastically reduced cost. The City purchased the controllers for $135.00 each and resold them to the residents for $35.00 each. The controllers sold out nearly instantaneously. In March 2018, Staff contacted SVWVD to discuss interest in assisting the City with implementa- tion of the residential smart irrigation controller program. The SVWVD agreed to contribute $15,000.00 to the City in March of 2018. As part of the SVWVD contribution, the City entered into a Cooperative Agreement with SVWVD and contributed $5,250.00 for implementation of the program. With funds provided by SWWD and the City contribution of $5,250.00, the City purchased and distributed 200 smart irrigation controllers to residential users. Below is a heat map depicting active Rachio smart controllers in the City. Areas with more controllers show larger nodes on the map. The exact locations of the controllers are not disclosed by Rachio. The map was provided by Rachio: Honorable Mayor, City Council, and Jennifer Levitt Water Conservation Update February 7, 2019 , ,. ,N� , . � y�� . , , . ` . � • � � � � . e �:5� '�� _ o . _ • o; o � �.a�r-, � � .,� � ° ° � ° � - - _ . � � �o�,�,Aa�,<a . . . � + - o , <s��s • o 0 0 �� . . . o . ,o,�z,s � . 203 10� . . � ° ' � ,�,,,,, ' ° �_ ` . , � o .. � August1�13 � � . fi 0 s e ifuenn m • • •. O iTnSrS i00 I �6 �eil 0 ' i.unv� B� �n eLRnS_ • aonen�rv O S � � BOi . is .? �. � 0 0 p�91 W9] Av913 • ➢ a� aO . C _ �"'o� COVa9e0rove _ p '^ ' ��L P �Q � � STARTTIMESLPSTJORYS AuguS[1�J �;. a"M'is esnsri � • ps"� �rUF xamioiP,n • �� "r�a� O Q � • aeu�s O ioo ,oN.,. o Q 90,�=,= „n , o a 5 ,o o�I I�d._..._�..�4...,. o _� ,.� =om ,o,m =o� ,am — � ,. � ��o�,=�, � o., � � + { , 0 Due to the success of the Smart Irrigation Controller Program, SVWVD will offer up to $25,000.00 to partnering cities to continue water efficiency and water conservation activities. Wth the additional available financial support from SVWVD and revenues from the water utility fund, the City plans to expand available water conservation and efficiency projects in 2019 to include the following: 1. Residential and Small Business Smart Irrigation Controller Program: Total Estimated Cost is $20,680.00. a. Partner with SVWVD and private residential property owners to distribute up to 200 additional smart irrigation controllers. b. Partner with SVWVD and small commercial property owners to distribute up to 20 smart irrigation controllers. 2. Irrigation Audits and Retrofit Cost-Share: Total Estimated Cost is $95,250.00. a. Partner with Water in Motion to conduct a total of 10 commercial and HOA irrigation system audits. b. Partner with SVWVD and HOA's/Commercial Properties for private irrigation system retrofit and efficiency upgrade cost-share opportunities. The City's cost participation would equate to 50% of the material cost, not to exceed $7,500.00, whichever is less per project. 3. Education and Outreach — Total Estimated Cost is $9,070.00. a. Include monthly news articles and tips in utility bill inserts. Honorable Mayor, City Council, and Jennifer Levitt Water Conservation Update February 7, 2019 b. Provide do-it-yourself residential irrigation audit kits to hand out on a first come, first serve basis. c. Continue partnership with the Washington Conservation District and EMREP for education and outreach opportunities within Cottage Grove. d. Provide and distribute up to 500 WaterSense certified showerheads at community events. e. Partner with Climb Theater Company to perform a water conservation-based play at each of the three supervised playgrounds (Hamlet Park, Peter Thompson Park, and Pinetree Pond Park) during the summer of 2019. 4. Continue partnership with the Sustainable Communities Program through the University of St. Thomas. This current partnership includes working on water conservation-based projects with college students. For the 2019 spring semester, the City and University are partnering for projects with three classes; an economics class, a psychology class, and a GIS class. a. The Economics class will evaluate water use data for recipients of the smart irrigation controllers and comment on the effectiveness of the program. b. The Psychology class will investigate what types of outreach and education other communities have implemented, conduct a survey about outdoor water use, and design a pilot to reduce outdoor water use based on barriers and benefits informed by psychological theory of behavior change. c. The GIS class will work to create interactive maps of our park systems and may also create a new GIS map to identify properties with smart controllers. Funding for the programs will come from the SWWD grant and the City's Water Utility Fund. Recommendation Receive information about upcoming water conservation activities. 2019 WATER CONSERVATION ARNITIES COST ESTIMATE 2/7/2019 ItemN Item Unit Quantity UnitCost EstimatedCost PART 1-SMART IRRIGATION CONTROLLERS 1 RachioGen316-zonecontrollers(residential) EA 200 $ 129.00 $ 25,800.00 2 Residential Purchase Price EA 200 $ 35.00 $ (7,000.00) 3 RachioGen316-zonecontrollers(commercial) EA 20 $ 129.00 $ 2,580.00 4 Commercial Purchase Price EA 20 $ 35.00 $ (700.00) TOTALPARTI-CONTROLLERS S 20,680.00 PART 2-IRRIGATION AUDITS 1 CommerciallrrigationAudits EA 10 $ 1,500.00 $ 15,000.00 2 CommerciallrrigationRetrofitCostShare EA 10 $ 7,500.00 $ 75,000.00 3 ResidentiallrrigationAudits EA 5 $ 150.00 $ 750.00 4 CityOwnedlrrigationAudits EA 3 $ 1,500.00 $ 4,500.00 TOTALPART2-IRRIGATIONAUDITS S 95,250.00 PART3-OUTREACHANDEDUCATION 1 Newsletter Insert EA 1 $ 1,000.00 $ 1,000.00 2 At-homelrrigationCalibrationKits EA 10 $ 50.00 $ 500.00 3 Websiteand5ocialMediaUpdates LS 1 $ - $ - 4 HighEfficiency5howerHeads EA 550 $ 10.00 $ 5,500.00 5 ClimbTheaterPlays EA 3 $ 690.00 $ 2,070.00 TOTALPART3-OUTREACHANDEDUCATIONCOSTS S 9,070.00 PART 4-U NIV ERSI7V OF ST.THOMAS SCP PARTN ERSHIP 1 ECONOMICSCL455(ECON337) LS 1 $ - $ - 2 PSVCHOLOGVCLA55(PSVC334) LS 1 $ - $ - 3 GISCLA55(GE0G321) LS 1 $ - $ - TOTALPART4-SCPPARTNERSHIPCOSTS S - PARTS-FUNDING 1 WaterandUtilityFund LS 1 $ 100,000.00 $ 100,000.00 2 SWWDGrant LS 1 $ 25,000.00 $ 25,000.00 TOTALPART4-FUNDING S 125,000.00 TOTALPARTI-SMARTIRRIGATIONCONTROLLERS S 20,680.00 TOTALPART2-IRRIGATIONAUDITS S 95,250.00 TOTALPART3-OUTREACHANDEDUCATION S 9,070.00 TOTALPART4-UNIVERSI7VOFST.THOMASSCPPARTNERSHIP S - TOTALWATERCONSERVATIONARNI7VCOSTS S 125,000.00