» Water Conservation Program Implementation

Great Western Institute has and will continue to support local water utilties in their implementation of meaningful water conservaion programs. Great Western Institute has been developing and implementing water conservation programs focused in improving water use efficiency (and related energy and GHG reductions) in municipal, instutional and commercial customers.

Insitutional Programs

Great Western Institute has developed and implemented water efficiency audit and retrofit programs improving water use efficiency in City and County administration buildings, recreational facilities, vehicle maintenance and wash facilities and police stations - reducing water use, energy consumption and related GHG emissions.

Commercial Programs

Great Western Institute has developed and implemented water efficiency audit and retrofit programs for water utilities focusing on their largest commercial customers. These programs have been completed characterizing and improving water use efficiency in motels and hotels, restaurants and bars, and in assisted living facilities and hospitals with the following results

• In Pagosa Springs - reduced annual water demand by about 2.5 million gallons per year (with a value of about $150K to the District), savings water customers about $56K in operating costs and reducing GHG emissions by about 500 tons per year. Grant value was $70K.
• In Brighton - reduced annual water demand by about 1.2 million gallons per year (with a value of about $125K to the City), savings water customers about $25K in operating costs and reducing GHG emissions by about 5150 tons per year. Grant value was $70K.

Water Loss Management

Recently, Great Western Institute has developed a system wide audit program for small and medium-sized water utilities and water companies, based on the procedures developed by the American Water Resources Institute. The methodology involves focused data collection and analyses which are used to

• Characterize water production and treatment, and water billings and deliveries (including billed and unbilled accounts)/li>
• Identify and evaluate apparent losses through meter testing and replacement programs, master meter adjustments and tracking and characterizing unmetered uses
• Performing water balance calculations adjusting for the timing of production and meter reading offsets, meter inaccuracies, unbilled and unmetered uses, and estimates of current line loss

These methods have been used to standardize and characterize water system losses in small and medium communities along the Lower Arkansas River in Southeastern Colorado.