Drip by Drip: Water Conservation at San Diego County's Helix Water District
The Helix Water District addresses its critical need for water conservation with a combination of 14 contributory programs.
Managers of San Diego County’s Helix Water District take water conservation seriously because they have to. They face a continual threat that they may literally run out of water. More than 90% of the region’s water is imported from either the Colorado River or northern California through the State Water Project. And they know full well that under their agreement with the Metropolitan Water Authority their water allocation can be cut by up to 50%, a loss of 22,369 acre-feet per year, in periods of severe drought. Moreover, the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina has underscored the fact that the Sacramento River levees, and hence much of southern California’s annual water supply, are quite vulnerable to severe earthquakes and storms.
There are compelling financial pressures for water conservation, too. According to Katharine Breece, public affairs supervisor for the Helix Water District, the district’s cost of imported water is currently $505 per acre-foot whereas the cost of water saved through water conservation is only about $100. Since the district’s total demand for water in 2005 amounted to 38,785 acre-feet, the savings from every drop of conserved water certainly warrants an intensive water conservation effort.
The need for water conservation represents a challenge faced by many water districts, but few face the unique difficulties caused by the Helix Water District’s location and demographics. Helix is located in the hot, dry interior of San Diego County where water demand is closely linked with weather. The district’s boundaries encompass a highly urbanized area with a population of about 250,000 residents. Covering 31,292 acres or almost 50 square miles, Helix serves the cities of La Mesa, El Cajon, and Lemon Grove; the community of Spring Valley; and a small area of Lakeside near Helix’s R.M. Levy Water Treatment Plant. Predictions for water use need to take into account a wide variety of economic, climatic, and demographic factors, such as population, type of housing, and household occupancy.
As detailed in the district’s Urban Water Management Plan, the urban use is subclassified into four user groups: single-family residential, multifamily residential, commercial, and governmental. The percentages have slowly changed over the last two decades, with the largest growth occurring in the multifamily residential class and the greatest percentage loss in the single-family residential class. The percentage change seems somewhat stabilized, with projected percentages likely to remain the same over the next 20 years with very little population growth. This is due to the highly built-out nature of the district’s service area. Two of the three cities served by Helix, La Mesa and El Cajon, are 98% and 95% built out respectively. Clearly, any successful water conservation program must gain the support of the residents.
The conservation record of district residents to date has been a good one. Since 1990, the population has increased by approximately 3.02%. During that same decade, the per-capita use has gone down from 0.19 acre-feet per person to 0.18 acre-feet per person. This is a total decrease during that decade of 4.73% per-capita use. It would seem that the drought of 1990 has resulted in a permanent change in water use habits. Indeed, the actual use in 2000 was lower than that projected in the 1995 Urban Water Management Plan.
Since 1990, Helix has been actively implementing the wise water management practices suggested by the California Urban Water Conservation Council and is a signatory to the council’s best management practices (BMPs). Like all agencies that signed on, Helix agreed to implement 14 BMPs to the extent feasible and to track progress toward meeting the intent of these goals. The 14 BMPs are as follows:
- Water Surveys for Single- and MultiFamily Customers
- Residential Plumbing Retrofit
- System Water Audits and Leak Detection
- Metering with Commodity Rates
- Large Landscape Conservation Programs and Incentives
- High-Efficiency Washing Machine Rebate Programs
- Public Information Programs
- School Education Programs
- Conservation Programs for Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Accounts
- Wholesale Agency Assistance Programs
- Conservation Pricing
- Conservation Coordination
- Water Waste Prohibition
- Residential Ultra-Low-Flow Toilet Replacement Programs.
Case Study: BMP 1 Residential Surveys
At first glance, it might appear odd that the number-one BMP stipulated water surveys. On closer examination, though, it seems logical, since residential water surveys generate information that can be integrated and used in Residential Plumbing Retrofit (BMP 2), System Water Audits and Leak Detection (BMP 3), High-Efficiency Washing Machine Rebate Programs (BMP 6), and Residential Ultra-Low-Flow Toilet Replacement Programs (BMP 14), and perhaps others.
The first BMP requires that the Helix District complete residential surveys of 15% of both its single-family customer accounts (6,731 surveys) and its multifamily customer accounts (691 surveys) by 2009. According to Breece, as of December 2005, the district had completed 1577 single-family and 238 multifamily surveys (23% and 34% of the respective requirements). “At the outset of the program in 1991,” she explains, “the San Diego County Water Authority performed the surveys for the district, advertising the service, conducting the surveys, and billing the district for its costs. In the spring of 2004, however, we became concerned with the response and elected to shift to our own in-house residential survey program as we felt we could do a better job of reaching our own customers.” The district’s Jeff Barnes underwent the necessary training to be certified and has headed the program since. The in-house program commenced with an aggressive mailing campaign that almost immediately brought in almost 500 requests for surveys, and in the ensuing 18 months, almost 300 surveys had been completed.
For commercial customers, a category that includes multifamily buildings, the main thrusts of the survey program are to analyze water usage, to make recommendations for conservation measures (which include voucher programs for replacing older equipment), and to establish a water budget for that customer. As part of a county water authority program, subsequent water usage versus budget comparisons were made available on a Web site so that each customer could see his or her water usage as of the most recent billing period. Customers could then take immediate action to meet their water budget.
“Prior to having a survey, few residents realize that water loss can be huge,” Barnes says. “For example, when we first embarked on our in-house water conservation surveys, I went to a nine-unit apartment building and discovered that nine of the 18 toilets were leaking. When I interviewed the tenants, they indicated that they were unaware that their toilets had been leaking so they couldn’t estimate how long this had been going on. We provided 18 low-flow toilet vouchers, and the landlord replaced all of the toilets with new ones. Incredibly, the next bill (two months later) revealed that their water usage had dropped by 367,000 gallons—and this monthly loss might have been going on for months or even years. Toilet voucher programs for single-family houses will be phased out in March 2007, but we will still offer them for multifamily and commercial properties. We are targeting older complexes that are apt to have older high-flow fixtures.”
“The public is becoming increasingly aware that every residential customer is eligible to have a free water conservation survey performed at their home and that these surveys can save them real money,” Breece says. “This is partly because of the district’s aggressive marketing program, but more and more it is also resulting from word of mouth from residents who have had the surveys done for them and profited from the results.”
“As a certified landscape irrigation auditor, I can respond to requests for a water conservation survey that covers the entire property,” Barnes says. “I typically spend about an hour inspecting that residential customer’s home, inside and out. Inside, I review indoor water usage by checking for toilet leaks, measuring the flow rate on faucets and showerheads, and checking the household water pressure. Low-flow showerheads are provided free of charge.”
Helix staff has also helped customers identify big leaks on their property below ground. “I recall one home that had a normal two-month usage of about 30,000 gallons when new residents moved in. Then, a visually undetectable slab leak occurred that caused that 30,000-gallon usage to increase to 178,000 gallons. We diagnosed the cause of the water loss, and the owner hired a plumber to fix it promptly. Residents will normally call us when they get that magnitude of increased water use, but a 10% increase from a smaller leak might go unnoticed for months. Our surveys are a good way for residents to avoid this situation,” Barnes says.
“Outside, we analyze a resident’s irrigation system, perform a catch-can test to measure the efficiency of the system, and conduct a soil analysis. We also will review the customer’s watering schedule and customize it for their landscape needs. Up to 50% to 70% of household water is used outdoors. There are opportunities for big savings.
“We encourage residents to upgrade their sprinkling systems,” continues Barnes. “‘Smart’ irrigation controllers take the hassle out of adjusting sprinkler timers. We previously offered $65 vouchers toward their purchase but recently began providing them free of charge through a regional distribution program. The residents have to install and program these weather-based water controllers themselves, but we will go out and inspect the controllers after they have been installed to make sure they are installed and programmed properly. Often, we find that they are not programmed for maximum efficiency, and in a few cases we have found that the resident had programmed them in such a way that the system was using more water rather than less.”
Helix has been compiling usage data for all of its customers who are using the new weather-based water controllers installed since April 2005. Preliminary results indicate some measurable savings. “One customer for example, saw savings up to 50%,” Barnes said. “The homeowner’s water usage for May-August 2005 was 106,216 gallons. After installing a weather-based irrigation controller, the May-August 2006 usage dropped to 53,108 gallons.”
The survey program does not end with that initial one-hour review. In addition to follow-up inspections, residents are taught to check for a leak by viewing their water meters. Following the survey, Helix provides them with a comprehensive survey report, which includes a custom watering schedule and other recommendations on how that resident can lower his or her household water usage. Additionally, Helix provides surveyed residents with information about a wide palette of available plants, flowers, bushes, and trees for water-wise landscaping.
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Helix’s Future Conservation Goals
Like most of the BMPs, water conservation surveys alone contribute only a small amount to the district’s overall goals. But in concert, the 14 BMPs have already made respectable inroads. In the district’s 2005 Urban Management Water Plan update, it was estimated its level of water conservation attained through the implementation of BMPs had risen to approximately 4,300 acre-feet per year by 2005. This level of conservation was established through a comparison of water usage rates, on a per-capita basis, between (1) the baseline rate prior to the initial implementation of the BMPs in 1991, and (2) the lower baseline consumption rate observed for the years since. Based on this comparison, the per-capita use rate since 1991 has decreased by 17 gallons per capita per day. When applied to the current population and adjusted for system losses within the pre- and post-BMP periods, this difference resulted in a current (as of 2005) annual water savings of 4,300 acre-feet.
Nor is this likely to be the limit of the district’s water conservation achievements, the 2005 Plan Update goes on. The San Diego Water Authority has made estimates for future conservation using industry-accepted methodologies for estimating water savings. The authority considered the impact of implementing existing and proposed BMPs to project the water savings, by agency, through 2030. The conservation figures determined by the authority represent aggregate conservation achieved since the implementation of each agency’s BMPs. Therefore, future incremental conservation estimates can be determined. As shown in the table, Helix’s aggregate water conservation levels are expected to increase from the current 4,300 acre-feet per year to 6,613 acre-feet per year in 2030. The table presents the incremental conservation increases for each five-year period. As the 2005 Plan Update concludes, “The future conservation increments beyond the current baseline effectively represent [a significant] additional water supply for the district.”
March-April 2007
Drip by Drip: Water Conservation at San Diego County's Helix Water District
The Helix Water District addresses its critical need for water conservation with a combination of 14 contributory programs.
Managers of San Diego County’s Helix Water District take water conservation seriously because they have to. They face a continual threat that they may literally run out of water. More than 90% of the region’s water is imported from either the Colorado River or northern California through the State Water Project. And they know full well that under their agreement with the Metropolitan Water Authority their water allocation can be cut by up to 50%, a loss of 22,369 acre-feet per year, in periods of severe drought. Moreover, the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina has underscored the fact that the Sacramento River levees, and hence much of southern California’s annual water supply, are quite vulnerable to severe earthquakes and storms.
There are compelling financial pressures for water conservation, too. According to Katharine Breece, public affairs supervisor for the Helix Water District, the district’s cost of imported water is currently $505 per acre-foot whereas the cost of water saved through water conservation is only about $100. Since the district’s total demand for water in 2005 amounted to 38,785 acre-feet, the savings from every drop of conserved water certainly warrants an intensive water conservation effort.
The need for water conservation represents a challenge faced by many water districts, but few face the unique difficulties caused by the Helix Water District’s location and demographics. Helix is located in the hot, dry interior of San Diego County where water demand is closely linked with weather. The district’s boundaries encompass a highly urbanized area with a population of about 250,000 residents. Covering 31,292 acres or almost 50 square miles, Helix serves the cities of La Mesa, El Cajon, and Lemon Grove; the community of Spring Valley; and a small area of Lakeside near Helix’s R.M. Levy Water Treatment Plant. Predictions for water use need to take into account a wide variety of economic, climatic, and demographic factors, such as population, type of housing, and household occupancy.
As detailed in the district’s Urban Water Management Plan, the urban use is subclassified into four user groups: single-family residential, multifamily residential, commercial, and governmental. The percentages have slowly changed over the last two decades, with the largest growth occurring in the multifamily residential class and the greatest percentage loss in the single-family residential class. The percentage change seems somewhat stabilized, with projected percentages likely to remain the same over the next 20 years with very little population growth. This is due to the highly built-out nature of the district’s service area. Two of the three cities served by Helix, La Mesa and El Cajon, are 98% and 95% built out respectively. Clearly, any successful water conservation program must gain the support of the residents.
The conservation record of district residents to date has been a good one. Since 1990, the population has increased by approximately 3.02%. During that same decade, the per-capita use has gone down from 0.19 acre-feet per person to 0.18 acre-feet per person. This is a total decrease during that decade of 4.73% per-capita use. It would seem that the drought of 1990 has resulted in a permanent change in water use habits. Indeed, the actual use in 2000 was lower than that projected in the 1995 Urban Water Management Plan.
Since 1990, Helix has been actively implementing the wise water management practices suggested by the California Urban Water Conservation Council and is a signatory to the council’s best management practices (BMPs). Like all agencies that signed on, Helix agreed to implement 14 BMPs to the extent feasible and to track progress toward meeting the intent of these goals. The 14 BMPs are as follows:
- Water Surveys for Single- and MultiFamily Customers
- Residential Plumbing Retrofit
- System Water Audits and Leak Detection
- Metering with Commodity Rates
- Large Landscape Conservation Programs and Incentives
- High-Efficiency Washing Machine Rebate Programs
- Public Information Programs
- School Education Programs
- Conservation Programs for Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Accounts
- Wholesale Agency Assistance Programs
- Conservation Pricing
- Conservation Coordination
- Water Waste Prohibition
- Residential Ultra-Low-Flow Toilet Replacement Programs.
Case Study: BMP 1 Residential Surveys
At first glance, it might appear odd that the number-one BMP stipulated water surveys. On closer examination, though, it seems logical, since residential water surveys generate information that can be integrated and used in Residential Plumbing Retrofit (BMP 2), System Water Audits and Leak Detection (BMP 3), High-Efficiency Washing Machine Rebate Programs (BMP 6), and Residential Ultra-Low-Flow Toilet Replacement Programs (BMP 14), and perhaps others.
The first BMP requires that the Helix District complete residential surveys of 15% of both its single-family customer accounts (6,731 surveys) and its multifamily customer accounts (691 surveys) by 2009. According to Breece, as of December 2005, the district had completed 1577 single-family and 238 multifamily surveys (23% and 34% of the respective requirements). “At the outset of the program in 1991,” she explains, “the San Diego County Water Authority performed the surveys for the district, advertising the service, conducting the surveys, and billing the district for its costs. In the spring of 2004, however, we became concerned with the response and elected to shift to our own in-house residential survey program as we felt we could do a better job of reaching our own customers.” The district’s Jeff Barnes underwent the necessary training to be certified and has headed the program since. The in-house program commenced with an aggressive mailing campaign that almost immediately brought in almost 500 requests for surveys, and in the ensuing 18 months, almost 300 surveys had been completed.
For commercial customers, a category that includes multifamily buildings, the main thrusts of the survey program are to analyze water usage, to make recommendations for conservation measures (which include voucher programs for replacing older equipment), and to establish a water budget for that customer. As part of a county water authority program, subsequent water usage versus budget comparisons were made available on a Web site so that each customer could see his or her water usage as of the most recent billing period. Customers could then take immediate action to meet their water budget.
“Prior to having a survey, few residents realize that water loss can be huge,” Barnes says. “For example, when we first embarked on our in-house water conservation surveys, I went to a nine-unit apartment building and discovered that nine of the 18 toilets were leaking. When I interviewed the tenants, they indicated that they were unaware that their toilets had been leaking so they couldn’t estimate how long this had been going on. We provided 18 low-flow toilet vouchers, and the landlord replaced all of the toilets with new ones. Incredibly, the next bill (two months later) revealed that their water usage had dropped by 367,000 gallons—and this monthly loss might have been going on for months or even years. Toilet voucher programs for single-family houses will be phased out in March 2007, but we will still offer them for multifamily and commercial properties. We are targeting older complexes that are apt to have older high-flow fixtures.”
“The public is becoming increasingly aware that every residential customer is eligible to have a free water conservation survey performed at their home and that these surveys can save them real money,” Breece says. “This is partly because of the district’s aggressive marketing program, but more and more it is also resulting from word of mouth from residents who have had the surveys done for them and profited from the results.”
“As a certified landscape irrigation auditor, I can respond to requests for a water conservation survey that covers the entire property,” Barnes says. “I typically spend about an hour inspecting that residential customer’s home, inside and out. Inside, I review indoor water usage by checking for toilet leaks, measuring the flow rate on faucets and showerheads, and checking the household water pressure. Low-flow showerheads are provided free of charge.”
Helix staff has also helped customers identify big leaks on their property below ground. “I recall one home that had a normal two-month usage of about 30,000 gallons when new residents moved in. Then, a visually undetectable slab leak occurred that caused that 30,000-gallon usage to increase to 178,000 gallons. We diagnosed the cause of the water loss, and the owner hired a plumber to fix it promptly. Residents will normally call us when they get that magnitude of increased water use, but a 10% increase from a smaller leak might go unnoticed for months. Our surveys are a good way for residents to avoid this situation,” Barnes says.
“Outside, we analyze a resident’s irrigation system, perform a catch-can test to measure the efficiency of the system, and conduct a soil analysis. We also will review the customer’s watering schedule and customize it for their landscape needs. Up to 50% to 70% of household water is used outdoors. There are opportunities for big savings.
“We encourage residents to upgrade their sprinkling systems,” continues Barnes. “‘Smart’ irrigation controllers take the hassle out of adjusting sprinkler timers. We previously offered $65 vouchers toward their purchase but recently began providing them free of charge through a regional distribution program. The residents have to install and program these weather-based water controllers themselves, but we will go out and inspect the controllers after they have been installed to make sure they are installed and programmed properly. Often, we find that they are not programmed for maximum efficiency, and in a few cases we have found that the resident had programmed them in such a way that the system was using more water rather than less.”
Helix has been compiling usage data for all of its customers who are using the new weather-based water controllers installed since April 2005. Preliminary results indicate some measurable savings. “One customer for example, saw savings up to 50%,” Barnes said. “The homeowner’s water usage for May-August 2005 was 106,216 gallons. After installing a weather-based irrigation controller, the May-August 2006 usage dropped to 53,108 gallons.”
The survey program does not end with that initial one-hour review. In addition to follow-up inspections, residents are taught to check for a leak by viewing their water meters. Following the survey, Helix provides them with a comprehensive survey report, which includes a custom watering schedule and other recommendations on how that resident can lower his or her household water usage. Additionally, Helix provides surveyed residents with information about a wide palette of available plants, flowers, bushes, and trees for water-wise landscaping.
Helix’s Future Conservation Goals
Like most of the BMPs, water conservation surveys alone contribute only a small amount to the district’s overall goals. But in concert, the 14 BMPs have already made respectable inroads. In the district’s 2005 Urban Management Water Plan update, it was estimated its level of water conservation attained through the implementation of BMPs had risen to approximately 4,300 acre-feet per year by 2005. This level of conservation was established through a comparison of water usage rates, on a per-capita basis, between (1) the baseline rate prior to the initial implementation of the BMPs in 1991, and (2) the lower baseline consumption rate observed for the years since. Based on this comparison, the per-capita use rate since 1991 has decreased by 17 gallons per capita per day. When applied to the current population and adjusted for system losses within the pre- and post-BMP periods, this difference resulted in a current (as of 2005) annual water savings of 4,300 acre-feet.
Nor is this likely to be the limit of the district’s water conservation achievements, the 2005 Plan Update goes on. The San Diego Water Authority has made estimates for future conservation using industry-accepted methodologies for estimating water savings. The authority considered the impact of implementing existing and proposed BMPs to project the water savings, by agency, through 2030. The conservation figures determined by the authority represent aggregate conservation achieved since the implementation of each agency’s BMPs. Therefore, future incremental conservation estimates can be determined. As shown in the table, Helix’s aggregate water conservation levels are expected to increase from the current 4,300 acre-feet per year to 6,613 acre-feet per year in 2030. The table presents the incremental conservation increases for each five-year period. As the 2005 Plan Update concludes, “The future conservation increments beyond the current baseline effectively represent [a significant] additional water supply for the district.”