Water Conservation: The SAWS Waytexaslivingwaters.org/wp-content/.../Mark-Peterson... ·...
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Brazos Valley Conservation Symposium Mark A. Peterson Project Coordinator - Conservation Water Conservation: The SAWS Way June 21, 2012
Transcript of Water Conservation: The SAWS Waytexaslivingwaters.org/wp-content/.../Mark-Peterson... ·...
Brazos Valley Conservation Symposium
Mark A. Peterson
Project Coordinator - Conservation
Water Conservation:
The SAWS Way
June 21, 2012
Page 2
SAWS at a Glance
• Water System
Over 440,000 Customer Connections
Over 5,000 Miles of Distribution Mains
Water Sources – Edwards, Trinity, Carrizo,
Canyon Lake, Recycle, and Aquifer Storage
and Recovery
Wastewater System
Over 450,000 Customer Connections
Over 6,000 Miles of Collection Mains
Water Recycling Centers – Dos Rios, Leon
Creek and Medio Creek
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Page 3
New Sources…
Aquifer Storage & Recovery
Recycled Water
Brackish
Desalinization
Page 4
Today San Antonio is Fully Committed
to Conservation
• Serving 60% more people with the same
amount of water (mid-1980’s to today)
• Conservation Goals Fully Integrated into
the SAWS Water Resource Plan
Page 5
…… But that Wasn’t Always the Case
Limits on pumping
established
Page 6
San Antonio Responds
• SAWS is faced with developing alternative water sources
• Leaders identified Conservation as the first water resource program developed to address water needs
• 1993: SAWS adopts first Conservation and Reuse Plan
Page 7
Formula For Success in San Antonio
• Customer Programs
• Effective Regulation
• Conservation Considered a Source of Water
• Dedicated Funding with
Supporting Rate Structure
Source
of Water
Dedicated
Funding
Customer
Programs
Effective
Regulation
Page 8
Formula for Success: Customer Programs
• Broad range of programs for residential and commercial customers
• Gives all users an opportunity to conserve
• A customer that has benefited from a conservation program will support conservation – On the Conservation Team!
Rebates, Services, Distribution
Page 9
Customer Programs
• One decision, one time,
ongoing, month to month
savings
• Decision to use or not to
use are made daily
Equipment Change vs. Behavior Change
Page 10
Formula for Success: Effective Regulation
• Year Round Rules
• Drought Restrictions as needed
• Public overwhelmingly supports enforcement – Recent Survey - 85% support citation model
Page 11
Year Round Regulation
• Created to meet long-term water management goals
• Design & maintenance standards to promote conservation year round
• Applies to residential, commercial, & reclaim water users
• Requires innovation, analysis, evaluation, and change
Page 12
Drought Regulation
Drought Management is:
• In response to special conditions
to obtain immediate cut-back
• Focused on discretionary usage
• Staged to reflect severity of
situation
• Often inconvenient for
customers
• Mandatory but temporary
Page 13
Drought Restrictions
Edwards Supply City & ETJ Restrictions Edwards Stage
660 ft msl
Stage I Loss of 20% Water 1X/Week
650 ft msl
Stage II Loss of 30%
Water 1X/Week
Reduced Hours
640 ft msl
Stage III Loss of 35%
Water 1X Every OTHER Wk
Reduced Hours
630 ft msl
Stage IV Loss of 40%
All Above Plus
Surcharge Excess Usage
Other rules apply for car washing, power washing, pools,
decorative fountains, and hotel linen programs
Page 14
28,588 AF Saved
From drought restrictions
Page 15
Formula for Success: Conservation
is a Source of Water
• Conservation concept fully integrated into
SAWS Water Resource Management Plan.
• Program costs assessed against other water
resource options
Page 16
Conservation: Cheaper Alternative
• Since 1994, SAWS conservation savings from
programs have exceeded 19 billion gallons (59,621 AF)
of water - $24 million spent on direct program costs
to 2007
• Developing the same quantity of supplies today from
“available” supplies would cost between $313 million
and $1.2 billion
to Replace to Replace
121,297 Acre-Feet 59,621 Acre-Feet
Edwards Aquifer Supplies 636,809,250$ 313,010,250$
Groundwater Desalination 1,475,699,676$ 725,349,270$
Surface Water Alternatives 2,492,418,784$ 1,225,096,254$
Page 17
Deferred alternative supplies would have cost
up to $3.3 billion
Additional Edwards
$0.7 billion saved
Groundwater
Desalination
$1.9 billion saved
Ocean Desalination
$3.3 billion saved
1980s 2008 121,000 ac-ft saved
The Value Proposition
Water Supply Savings
OR OR
Page 18
Additional treatment capacity would have
cost
up to $1.1 billion
$3.90 Per Gallon
$348 million saved
$7 Per Gallon
$625 million saved
$12 Per Gallon
$1,071 million saved
1980s 2008 89.3 MGD Treatment
Capacity Savings
The Value Proposition Part II
Wastewater Treatment Savings
OR OR
Page 19
Formula for Success: Dedicated Funding for
Conservation
• June 1994: San Antonio passes residential 4
tier rate structure with dedicated conservation
funding from the 4th tier use
• January 1998: San Antonio passes commercial
meter fee based on meter size to fund
commercial conservation
Page 20
Conservation Based Rate Structure
• The true cost of water must be
reflected in rate structures – “cost of
service”
• Rate structure can promote efficient
water usage while still providing
revenue stability for utilities and
ability to recover annual costs
• Equitable to all customer types /
classes
Guiding Principles
Page 21
Conservation Based Rate Structure
• Process – include key
community stakeholders at
every step! – Rates Advisory Committee
• 14 members – balanced by ethnicity,
gender, & geography
• Served 16 months
– Community Conservation Committee
& Citizen Advisory Panel
– Presentations
• Civic organizations, Neighborhood, HOA,
Professional organizations,
Business/Chambers, city & county staff
Page 22
SAWS Rate Structure
• Sends a price signal so customers become more conscious of their lawn and landscape water use – Our consultations become “teachable moments”.
• Rewards those who conserve water with lower water bills
• Not fair to ask all customers to pay more for the lawn watering demands of a few
• More fair to ask those who demand large amounts of water for irrigation purposes to pay for a higher cost of service
A Water Conservation Tool
Page 23
Fiscal Soundness with Conservation?
• SAWS Current Bond Ratings – Aa1, AA, AA+
• SAWS continues to meet all the demands of a
municipal owned utility as well as initiating
aggressive programs for new water sources and
system wide sewer renovations
• Conservation can be considered a water
resource in the event of future deprivation
Page 24
In Summary…
SAWS uses multiple conservation components, i.e., programs, regulation, conserved water as a source, dedicated
funding and conservation rate structure.
Conservation needs to be viewed as a source of
water supply
Cheaper to conserve than acquire new water supplies
Rate structure can be a simple and effective
method to promote conservation.
Use a stakeholder process to ensure equitable and full
input by all segments of community
Page 25
In Summary…
SAWS views conservation as a fiscally sound
component of our business plan and Water
Management Plan!
Page 26
Contact Information
Mark A. Peterson – Project Coordinator
210-233-3081
Karen Guz – Director of Conservation
210-233-3671
Brazos Valley Conservation Symposium
Mark A. Peterson
Project Coordinator - Conservation
March 2, 2012
Water Conservation:
Better, Cheaper, Faster
Page 28
Residential Rate Structure
Combined Water Delivery & Tiered Water Supply – Standard ICL
Rate/100 Gallons
Inclining Block Structure
2011 2012
$.1940
$.2807
$.6930
$.3958
$.2002
$.2903
$.7151
$.4085
Page 29
Rate Structure Changes
Residential Water Rate Structure - Prior
* Standard ICL
Meter Charge + Tiered Water Delivery* + Flat Water Supply Fee
Meter
Charge
Water
Delivery
Water Supply
Fee
Rate
/100 G
allo
ns
Page 30
Rate Structure Changes
Residential Water Delivery Rate Structure
Standard ICL
ALL Water Delivery Rates Decrease
Prior Current
Rate
/100 G
allo
ns
Page 31
Rate Structure Changes
Residential Water Supply Rate Structure
Tiered Water Supply Fee
Prior Current
Rate
/100 G
allo
ns
Page 32
Rate Structure Changes
Residential Water Rate Structure*
Combined Water Delivery & Tiered Water Supply – Seasonal ICL
Seasonal Rates (May – Sep)
$.8099
$.2923
$.4233
$.1940
$.5775
$.2952
$.3746
$.2435
*Effective November 1, 2010
Prior
2011
Rate
S
tru
ctu
re
C
ha
ng
es
Page 33
Commercial Rate Structure
Seasonal Rate and Water Supply Fee
• Commercial customer use is non-discretionary
– No seasonal rate
– Water Supply Fee will continue to be a flat rate
• Discretionary water use is billed through an
Irrigation Meter
– Seasonal rate and tiered Water Supply Fee will apply
Page 34
Rate Structure Changes
Commercial Rate Structure
Combined Water Delivery & Flat Water Supply – Standard ICL
Block 5 Eliminated, Water Supply Fee Still Flat
Rate
/100 G
allo
ns
*The commercial rate structure is individualized, utilizing each customer’s prior year annual consumption to determine the base that serves as the basis for
the various block cut-offs
2011 Prior
Page 35
Combined Water Delivery & Tiered Water Supply – Standard ICL
Rate Structure Changes
Irrigation Rate Structure*
Blocks Altered, Seasonal Rates Adopted, & WS Fee Tiered
$0.468917,205
12,717 $0.3819
6,732 $0.3055
Block 1 has Zero Consumption
Current Rate/100 Gallons New
$0.3133
$0.4259
$0.8459
Gall
on
s
*Effective November 1, 2010
Prior 2011
Rate
/100 G
allo
ns
