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No April Fools' Day prank - water restrictions went into effect April 1
The Centennial Water and Sanitation District board of directors approved water restrictions to begin April 1 and continue through Oct. 31.
At a public hearing March 27, Centennial's board of directors listened as residents voiced their opinions about proposed water restrictions and higher rates this summer. The next morning, the board met and approved the restrictions. The directors plan to make a decision about a new rate structure for water usage at the next meeting April 25.
By By:Tamra Monahan
The Centennial Water and Sanitation District board of directors approved water restrictions to begin April 1 and continue through Oct. 31.
At a public hearing March 27, Centennial's board of directors listened as residents voiced their opinions about proposed water restrictions and higher rates this summer. The next morning, the board met and approved the restrictions. The directors plan to make a decision about a new rate structure for water usage at the next meeting April 25.
During the public hearing, Centennial's General Manager John Hendrick explained that although the current snowpack is above normal and the latest snowstorm was a record breaker, Highlands Ranch and the rest of the Front Range are not out of the woods yet with the drought. As of Feb. 1, 2003, statewide reservoir storage levels are only at about 50 percent, and it may take a few years to get the water storage facilities up to normal levels again.
In addition, Hendrick said less surface water from run-off is expected this summer, partly due to evaporation and dry soil, which might soak up much of the needed water. Hendrick added that despite this latest snowstorm, spring snow and rain showers are always unpredictable, so the area might be in for more wet weather. But there is a chance that the next two months might also be drier than expected.
In response to these indicators, Centennial is taking a proactive approach to water conservation this year. Hendrick said the district has accelerated well construction, increased groundwater production and winter storage to be ready for low water levels on the South Platte River.
To encourage water conservation, Centennial has developed a plan for 2003 that includes restrictions and a graduated rate structure that rewards consumers who cut their water consumption by 20 percent between April 1 and Oct. 31.
The Centennial board of directors approved a different way to limit outdoor watering. Instead of the traditional circle/diamond/square method used last year, the water district adopted a two-day-per-week watering schedule for residents.
The proposed schedule allows single-family residences with even addresses to water on Sundays and Thursdays, those with odd addresses on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Multifamily residences such as apartments and townhomes, homeowner associations and non-residential businesses and organizations such as the Metro Districts will be able to water on Tuesdays and Fridays. Mondays are considered open days for larger entities that have huge areas to water, such as the Metro Districts, which has to water street landscaping, parks and athletic fields. If the need arises, these agencies and businesses can water on Mondays to ensure that all of the landscaping for which they are responsible can be adequately watered.
Centennial is limiting outdoor watering even more by not allowing any during the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Technical support and education about keeping landscaping alive with minimal water during the drought will also be available to homeowners through the Centennial Water District beginning this spring.
Hendrick explained that one of the reasons for limiting watering to two days per week is to make the schedule easier for homeowners to follow. With the two-day schedule, automatic sprinkler systems can easily be reconfigured to water on the correct days, avoiding some of the problems encountered by water customers last year with systems that only recognize days of the week, not every third day as the circle/diamond/square system requires.
However, some residents at the public hearing were not convinced that this watering schedule would be easier to manage with automatic sprinkler systems. They said that most systems cannot recognize days of the week,and instead must be programmed for every second, third or fourth day of the week. These residents were very concerned that they would have to constantly be changing their sprinkler programs, and if they went out of town, they might be forced to either water too much and not be in compliance with the restrictions or let their lawns die in the heat.
"I've lived here for 15 years, and my controller doesn't know the difference between days and there's no way I can figure out to make it water on Wednesdays and Saturdays," one resident said.
Another resident added, "For all the houses in Highlands Ranch, you've basically made it so that you can't take a week's vacation between April and October because you have to manually set the sprinkler system. If you wanted to save the same amount of water, you could set it up on a three-day cycle and leave it on a three-day cycle. This way you can water once a day every third day, and then you can actually use your sprinkler system, which is actually more efficient than not using a system."
At the public hearing, Hendrick also unveiled Centennial's new plan for creating a water budget for every household in Highlands Ranch. Metro Districts' Director of Finance Bruce Lebsack and his staff have developed a rate structure tailored to the level of need for each residence, taking into account the size of a homeowner's lot and family when determining water reductions for residents.
Each home will receive a water budget that states the normal water consumption for that household. These budgets are based on indoor water use, taking into consideration family size, lot size as determined by the Douglas County Assessor's Office, the amount of landscaped area on the lot and seasonal requirements to keep landscaping healthy but not unreasonably green.
If water usage at a household goes below this level by 20 percent between April and October, water consumers will receive a discount on their water bill.
However, if a household's water consumption is 10 percent above its budgeted amount, the water bill will double. If consumption is 20 percent above the budget, the bill will be increased four times the normal rates, and 30 percent above the budget means water rates will be eight times as great.
Hendrick said this new water rate structure is designed to "encourage conservation and achieve prudent community-wide water use" as the norm, not just during a drought. It also tries to establish equity between water customers, and was created to be revenue neutral. Although the rates for higher water consumption are higher, these are meant to deter high water usage, not generate more revenue.
At the public hearing, Hendrick presented an example of what a typical water budget might look like during the hottest months of July and August based on a lot size of 7,500 square feet with 3,660 square feet of landscaped area to be watered with an application of 11 inches. Multiplying the landscaping size (3,660 square feet) by amount of water necessary (11 inches), shows that this lot will need 3,355 cubic feet of water during the two-month billing period of July and August. This equates to 25,000 gallons of water for outdoor use.
Using an average indoor use of 12,000 gallons for the two-month period, plus the outdoor water amount of 25,000 gallons, the water budget for this customer would be 37,000 gallons during July and August.
Lebsack said that his department is still working out some of the details about getting data on family size for every household in Highlands Ranch in order to determine a water budget based on both indoor and outdoor water consumption. As a result, the rate structure won't be decided until the next Centennial Water and Sanitation District board meeting April 25 at 8:30 a.m. in the Metro Districts' office at 62 W. Plaza Drive.
By By:Tamra Monahan
The Centennial Water and Sanitation District board of directors approved water restrictions to begin April 1 and continue through Oct. 31.
At a public hearing March 27, Centennial's board of directors listened as residents voiced their opinions about proposed water restrictions and higher rates this summer. The next morning, the board met and approved the restrictions. The directors plan to make a decision about a new rate structure for water usage at the next meeting April 25.
During the public hearing, Centennial's General Manager John Hendrick explained that although the current snowpack is above normal and the latest snowstorm was a record breaker, Highlands Ranch and the rest of the Front Range are not out of the woods yet with the drought. As of Feb. 1, 2003, statewide reservoir storage levels are only at about 50 percent, and it may take a few years to get the water storage facilities up to normal levels again.
In addition, Hendrick said less surface water from run-off is expected this summer, partly due to evaporation and dry soil, which might soak up much of the needed water. Hendrick added that despite this latest snowstorm, spring snow and rain showers are always unpredictable, so the area might be in for more wet weather. But there is a chance that the next two months might also be drier than expected.
In response to these indicators, Centennial is taking a proactive approach to water conservation this year. Hendrick said the district has accelerated well construction, increased groundwater production and winter storage to be ready for low water levels on the South Platte River.
To encourage water conservation, Centennial has developed a plan for 2003 that includes restrictions and a graduated rate structure that rewards consumers who cut their water consumption by 20 percent between April 1 and Oct. 31.
The Centennial board of directors approved a different way to limit outdoor watering. Instead of the traditional circle/diamond/square method used last year, the water district adopted a two-day-per-week watering schedule for residents.
The proposed schedule allows single-family residences with even addresses to water on Sundays and Thursdays, those with odd addresses on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Multifamily residences such as apartments and townhomes, homeowner associations and non-residential businesses and organizations such as the Metro Districts will be able to water on Tuesdays and Fridays. Mondays are considered open days for larger entities that have huge areas to water, such as the Metro Districts, which has to water street landscaping, parks and athletic fields. If the need arises, these agencies and businesses can water on Mondays to ensure that all of the landscaping for which they are responsible can be adequately watered.
Centennial is limiting outdoor watering even more by not allowing any during the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Technical support and education about keeping landscaping alive with minimal water during the drought will also be available to homeowners through the Centennial Water District beginning this spring.
Hendrick explained that one of the reasons for limiting watering to two days per week is to make the schedule easier for homeowners to follow. With the two-day schedule, automatic sprinkler systems can easily be reconfigured to water on the correct days, avoiding some of the problems encountered by water customers last year with systems that only recognize days of the week, not every third day as the circle/diamond/square system requires.
However, some residents at the public hearing were not convinced that this watering schedule would be easier to manage with automatic sprinkler systems. They said that most systems cannot recognize days of the week,and instead must be programmed for every second, third or fourth day of the week. These residents were very concerned that they would have to constantly be changing their sprinkler programs, and if they went out of town, they might be forced to either water too much and not be in compliance with the restrictions or let their lawns die in the heat.
"I've lived here for 15 years, and my controller doesn't know the difference between days and there's no way I can figure out to make it water on Wednesdays and Saturdays," one resident said.
Another resident added, "For all the houses in Highlands Ranch, you've basically made it so that you can't take a week's vacation between April and October because you have to manually set the sprinkler system. If you wanted to save the same amount of water, you could set it up on a three-day cycle and leave it on a three-day cycle. This way you can water once a day every third day, and then you can actually use your sprinkler system, which is actually more efficient than not using a system."
At the public hearing, Hendrick also unveiled Centennial's new plan for creating a water budget for every household in Highlands Ranch. Metro Districts' Director of Finance Bruce Lebsack and his staff have developed a rate structure tailored to the level of need for each residence, taking into account the size of a homeowner's lot and family when determining water reductions for residents.
Each home will receive a water budget that states the normal water consumption for that household. These budgets are based on indoor water use, taking into consideration family size, lot size as determined by the Douglas County Assessor's Office, the amount of landscaped area on the lot and seasonal requirements to keep landscaping healthy but not unreasonably green.
If water usage at a household goes below this level by 20 percent between April and October, water consumers will receive a discount on their water bill.
However, if a household's water consumption is 10 percent above its budgeted amount, the water bill will double. If consumption is 20 percent above the budget, the bill will be increased four times the normal rates, and 30 percent above the budget means water rates will be eight times as great.
Hendrick said this new water rate structure is designed to "encourage conservation and achieve prudent community-wide water use" as the norm, not just during a drought. It also tries to establish equity between water customers, and was created to be revenue neutral. Although the rates for higher water consumption are higher, these are meant to deter high water usage, not generate more revenue.
At the public hearing, Hendrick presented an example of what a typical water budget might look like during the hottest months of July and August based on a lot size of 7,500 square feet with 3,660 square feet of landscaped area to be watered with an application of 11 inches. Multiplying the landscaping size (3,660 square feet) by amount of water necessary (11 inches), shows that this lot will need 3,355 cubic feet of water during the two-month billing period of July and August. This equates to 25,000 gallons of water for outdoor use.
Using an average indoor use of 12,000 gallons for the two-month period, plus the outdoor water amount of 25,000 gallons, the water budget for this customer would be 37,000 gallons during July and August.
Lebsack said that his department is still working out some of the details about getting data on family size for every household in Highlands Ranch in order to determine a water budget based on both indoor and outdoor water consumption. As a result, the rate structure won't be decided until the next Centennial Water and Sanitation District board meeting April 25 at 8:30 a.m. in the Metro Districts' office at 62 W. Plaza Drive.
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