Water Stewardship Information Sources

ID 2691
Citation Schreier, Hans, Meredith Hamstead, Elise Pare, and Neal Klassen (2016) Evaluation of community water conservation efforts in the Columbia Basin 2009 to 2015, University of British Columbia, thinkBright Environmental Innovations, WSP Canada, and H2Okanagan Water Conservation Ltd. Prepared for Columbia Basin Trust.
Organization Columbia Basin Trust
URL https://ourtrust.org/our-work/environment/
Abstract/Description or Keywords In 2009, Columbia Basin Trust initiated the Columbia Basin Water Smart Initiative (Water Smart, ourtrust.org/watersmart) to provide financial and technical support to participating communities to support achievement of a targeted Basin-wide 20% reduction in average community water demand (For the purposes of Water Smart, community water demand includes commercial, municipal, and residential demand, and excludes (where possible) agricultural and industrial demand.) over a seven-year period from 2009 to 2015. The following report is an evaluation of Water Smart, which is ending formally in late 2016. The assessment focused on the efforts of 14 of 26 participating communities that have acquired sufficiently comparable water data over the 7-year period from 2009-2015. The purpose of this report is to: evaluate what was actually achieved as a result of community action relative to annual weather variability from 2009-2015; to assess lessons learned; and to make recommendations regarding future actions that might be most fruitfully pursued given the findings of this evaluation. There are many factors that influence water use, and so it was understood from the outset that the targets may not be achievable for all communities over a short period of time, due to the complex interaction of infrastructure issues, climatic variability, changes in land use activities, and human behaviour. Water Smart is a unique water conservation program because for the first time the 14 participating communities were able to develop a consistent and comparable water accounting program that allowed them to accurately identify and address their priority water demand management issues. Specifically, the two greatest challenges facing all communities in the Columbia Basin are a) water loss in the distribution system due to aging infrastructure that is prone to leakage, and b) peak summer water demand, typically driven by residential irrigation. The water loss management program that was developed through Water Smart was successful, and not only helped to build in-house capacity for water loss management, but stimulated collaboration between water utility operators throughout the region. This has lead to significant improvement in the use of night flow measurement to assess water loss, and has resulted in widespread repairs of leaks. Ten of 14 communities achieved reductions in winter water demand ranging from 2 to 53%, largely attributable to water loss management. However, while large savings were made by repairing leaks, this problem will continue to be of concern until the long-neglected infrastructure funding gap is addressed. A number of communities worked to address local summer peak water use through implementation of a face-to-face public outreach program called Water Smart Ambassadors. Reducing summer demand has proven to be challenging, with 6 of 10 communities achieving July and August peak demand reductions. It is noted that 2015 was a record-hot year, and implementation of the Water Smart Ambassadors program, coupled with watering restrictions, allowed these 6 communities to achieve demand reductions despite strong historical correlations between peak water use and sustained high temperatures. By 2015, 12 out of 14 communities had achieved total demand reductions ranging from 2 to 39% of annual demand. From 2009 to 2015, on average the 14 communities reduced total water demand by 11%. During the Water Smart Initiative, two of the 14 communities examined in this study implemented universal water metering programs. Others are considering this option but are hoping to learn from the experience gained by the two metered communities. In the meantime, they are addressing more urgent issues associated with system leakage. Only a few communities achieved the 20% reduction target over 7 years, but all made major progress to reduce their water footprint. The greatest improvements were achieved in overall capacity building and in substantial improvements in water data collection accounting. Communities were partially successful in reducing winter water use and the summer peak, but these issues will require ongoing attention by all of the communities. It is shown that increased climatic variability is a major issue for future water use in the Basin. It is recommended that Basin communities continue to maintain aggressive ground and surface water conservation programs in the future. Particular focus should be given to supply and demand issues under a climate change scenario for both surface and groundwater sources. This is of particular importance because the summer of 2015 was the hottest in many communities since records began, and 2012 was the wettest. The implications of climate change for water management in the East and West Kootenays are explored briefly. Lessons learned from Water Smart are summarized, and are thought to be transferrable to other communities in other regions, regardless of community size. The primary lessons learned focus on: Comprehensive and accurate water accounting, including, in some cases, universal metering; Water Loss Management and asset management planning; Establishment of efficient and equitable water pricing; Peak (outdoor) demand management; Source water inventory and planning and Ongoing collaboration and communication. The participating Water Smart communities should be commended for helping to initiate and participating in this successful water conservation program. It is one of the most unique, innovative and timely water conservation programs that should be featured as one of the best examples of how a collaborative community engagement can lead to successful improvement of water resources management.
Information Type Report
Regional Watershed Columbia River
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