Title
Integrated Rebate Program
Recommended Action
UAC Deliverable: Briefing only
Staff Contact:
Erin Conine, Senior Program Specialist, Public Works/Water Resources, 360.570.3793
Presenters:
Meliss Maxfield, Water Quality Supervisor, 360.753.8202
Erin Conine, Senior Program Specialist, 360.570.3793
Lisa Dennis-Perez, LOTT Public Communications Manager, 360.528.5719
Background and Analysis:
The City and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance have a long standing, well integrated rebate program. Since the late 1990s, this collaborative effort has resulted in the effective implementation of various incentives, rebates, and educational programs, to reduce indoor water use by City residential and commercial water/sewer customers. This effort has accomplished several major milestones over the years, including:
• Achieved the goal of reducing wastewater flow by 1,000,000 gallons per day (2012).
• Reduced consumption by 8.7 percent (instead of the goal of 5 percent) per connection during the 2009 - 2014 Water System Plan period. Water savings reached a total of 98 million gallon over the six year period.
• Saved 89,630 gpd through Water Smart projects in Olympia between 2009 - 2014. Work included replacing toilets, urinals, faucet aerators, ice machines, condensers, and food steamers.
The 2013 - 2018 Water Conservation Coordination Plan, developed by the interjurisdictional Water Conservation Coordination Committee, outlines continued collaboration on indoor water conservation efforts. For the current planning period, the goal is to reduce wastewater flows by at least 175,000 gpd, and ideally by 250,000 gpd throughout LOTT’s service area. LOTT provides the funding for the program, which is limited to customers served by the LOTT wastewater system.
Potential water conservation projects are evaluated against LOTT’s cost-effectiveness threshold, which has traditionally been based on the avoided cost of building a gallon of new wastewater treatment capacity. However, several planning factors have changed in recent years, prompting LOTT to reassess how the cost-effectiveness threshold is set. LOTT is currently contracting with a consultant to address that question and an update of that work will be provided at the September 3rd UAC meeting.
The Water Conservation Coordination Committee also works closely with Puget Sound Energy, the Thurston Chamber Green Business Program, Thurston Energy, and other groups to collaborate on various projects and promote each other’s conservation efforts. A summary of these collaborative efforts will also be provided at the meeting.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
Olympia residents are very interested and engaged in water conservation efforts. This is reflected in the examples of the water savings outlined above. The community will continue to be engaged with new goals as well as yet to be identified projects, as new technologies or alternative delivery methods come into play.
Options:
Not applicable at this time.
Financial Impact:
The LOTT Clean Water Alliance funds a variety of indoor water conservation programs that are implemented in collaboration with the partner Cities - Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater. For 2015, the total program budget is $554,500.