SR-502-006 (4)~_ . .
~ ~;tyof City Council Report
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: April 25, 006
Agenda Item: ~
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Craig Perkins, Director - Environmental and Public Works Management
Subject: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Water Conservation
Funding Agreement.
Recommended Action
It is recommended that City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) for
the Water Conservation Funding Agreement (Agreement) from July 1, 2006, through
December 31, 2015.
Executive Summary
Water conservation is essential for managing future water demand and reaching the
Sustainable City Plan's water reduction goal. The Environmental Programs Division
imptements various water conservation programs and activities. Entering into this ten-
year Agreement with MWD will allow the City to receive conservation credits for
completing many of these activities.
1
Discussion
This Agreement provides funding, in the form of credits on the City's water invoice from
MWD, for water conservation activities. The credits are fixed dollar values for specific
water-saving products and activities implemented by the City. The amount of funding
provided under the Agreement is contingent upon the number and type of conservation
activities that the City completes. The activities may include rebates for customers that
purchase and install water-efficient products, surveys that provide single-family
homeowners with water conservation recommendations, and landscape projects
implemented by trained landscapers which save water through irrigation system
upgrades.
The current adopted Environmental Programs Division operating budget includes
$205,000 to implement water conservation programs and activities. Since 1990, the
City has entered into two-year Agreements with MWD and received funding to help off-
set the costs to implement a few of these programs and activities.
Background
Beginning in 1988, the City began implementing water conservation programs and
adopting water conservation ordinances to better manage water and wastewater
resources in order to meet state and local water conservation goals.
The City's Sustainable City Plan (SCP) includes a goal to reduce water consumption in
the community by 20% from the 2000 usage volume of 13.6 million gallons per day
2
(MGD) to 10.88 MGD by the year 2010. In order to meet this water conservation goal,
the City implements a number of programs including rebates for water conserving
products, water surveys for residential and commercial properties, demonstration
gardens, zero interest loan programs for fixture retrofits, grant funding for appropriate
landscape projects, as well as numerous educational presentations.
Since these programs began in 1988, the City has saved an estimated 9,793,620,900
gallons of water. However, the City has not reached its SCP goal of reducing water
20%. In December 2005, the City's annual water use decreased by 4%. As of June
2005, the City's water use was 13.1 million gallons per day, a cumulative decrease of
1%. Continual education and cost-effective, goal oriented conservation programs are
necessary to achieve additional water savings.
Previous Council Action
The City Council, at its July 22, 2003 meeting, approved the two-year Residential Water
Conservation Program Agreement with MWD for the term commencing July 1, 2004
through June 30, 2006. This Agreement provides the City funding for residential water
conservation programs. The proposed Agreement will take the place of this one. The
MWD is proposing a ten-year Agreement with the ability to add addendums as needed
as a way to more efficiently and cost-effectively manage these contracts.
The City Council, at its January 25, 2005 meeting, approved the Commercia(, Industrial
and Institutional Regional Rebate Program Agreement with MWD. This Agreement
3
provides rebates to commercial water customers that purchase and install qualified
products. This is a ten-year Agreement which expires December 31, 2015.
Program Implementation
This Agreement will off-set the cost of administering rebates to eligible water customers
for qualified water saving products. The Agreement covers a ten-year span and MWD
may add or delete rebated products and/or add new conservation measures. However,
the City is not required to offer rebates for any of these products nor participate in any
added measures.
In 2002, the City hired a consultant to develop a three-year water efficiency strategic
plan (Plan) that outlined specific programs with measurable goals to help the City
become more aggressive and effective in reducing water use. As new products and
funding sources emerged, staff incorporated new programs into the Plan. The goal for
fiscal year 2005-2006 is to distribute 75 toilet rebates, 200 clothes washer rebates and
100 smart irrigation controllers, thereby saving an estimated 2 million gallons of water
annually.
Staff has begun the request for proposal process of hiring a consultant to update the
first water efficiency strategic plan. This second strategic plan will specify the type and
number of products that should be rebated during fiscal years 2006-2007 through 2008-
2009.
4
Public Outreach
Public outreach and education are essential to the success of these activities. The on-
going marketing of these activities includes brochures at City Hall and local retailers,
information on the website www.smepd.orq, direct mailings, water bill stuffers, ads in
local newspapers, City TV news items, Seascape newsletter articles, sustainable
landscape classes and tours, presentations at conferences and meetings, and displays
at the Santa Monica Festival and Green Building Expo.
Budget/Financial Impact
The recommendation present in this report has no additional operating budget or
financial impacts.
Prepared by:
Kim O'Cain, Water Resources Specialist
Approved:
~
Craig Perkins~ '
Director - Environmental and Public
Works Management
Forwarded to Council:
C
5
..
~6nt Ewell
anager
~'
. ~,,~-~
•