In October, WaterNow launched its Project Accelerator. This program provides water utilities with 3-6 months of technical and program assistance to help jumpstart a local sustainable water project. Learn more about this program on our blog.
We received a number of fantastic applications from around the country which made the selection process challenging but very exciting. We are thrilled to announce the winning applications and give you a sneak peek into the work we’ll be doing to kick off 2018.
Project No 1: Income - Qualified Water Efficient Appliance and Fixture Direct Install Program Development - Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities, Wyoming
The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities has committed funding to assist income-qualified customers with improving their indoor water efficiency. The program will cover the purchase and installation of up to two water efficient toilets, two showerheads and two faucet aerators per qualifying household. It will also provide professional assistance for fixing leaks within homes. Cheyenne applied to WaterNow’s Project Accelerator seeking assistance and additional capacity to develop its conservation program, formulate an outreach strategy, design promotional materials and identify metrics to track program success.
Cheyenne’s project epitomizes the resource and capacity challenges that smaller water utilities face in implementing efficiency programs. To amplify the impact of the program developed with Cheyenne, WaterNow will create a tool kit for income-qualified direct install programs that can be rebranded and replicated elsewhere.
Project No 2: Homeowner Association Outdoor Water Use Efficiency Outreach and Education Program Development – City of Ontario and City of San Clemente, California
We were excited to receive two applications from two different cities seeking assistance for remarkably similar projects - a strong indicator that managing outdoor water use with Homeowners Associations (HOAs) is a common challenge many cities face. Both Ontario and San Clemente in Southern California are interested in developing outreach and education programs to encourage Homeowner Associations (HOAs) to use water more efficiently on their landscapes. With large areas of irrigated land, HOA common areas present an excellent opportunity to improve water and energy efficiency. Significant savings can be achieved by adjusting watering practices or installing tools like smart irrigation controllers. WaterNow will work with each of the cities to organize stakeholder meetings, create educational materials, and develop tools for tracking program success.
Given the potential benefits of working with HOAs on water use efficiency, WaterNow plans to craft an outreach and education tool kit based on our experiences with San Clemente and Ontario that can be replicated in other cities.
We can’t wait to hit the ground running on these projects in the new year! Check our blog for updates as the projects develop.