Evans, CO

WaterNow Alliance and WRA supported the City’s design of the program that provides income qualifying homeowners with indoor water efficiency audits and direct installation of water efficient fixtures including toilets, faucet aerators, and shower heads, along with energy efficient light bulbs, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. This project first gathered information and feedback from City staff, stakeholders, and the public to gain a better understanding of Evans’ current water conservation efforts, to gain stakeholder and partner support, and to inform program design by examining other successful existing water efficient direct installation programs in Colorado and the west. A local AmeriCorps service organization, the Larimer County Conservation Corps (LCCC), has partnered with the City to support the pilot year of the program by performing the audits of eligible low-income customers’ indoor water use and identifying and replacing any high-water consuming fixtures. Additionally, WaterNow and WRA developed recommendations for the City to track their program metrics and formulated a strategic plan for the program in subsequent years.

The City with support from LCCC, Northern Water Conservancy District, and Weld County’s Community Development Block Grant Program, conducted 48 indoor water audits, replaced 33 toilets, installed 62 faucet aerators, replaced 39 shower heads, and installed 212 LED light bulbs and 15 smoke / carbon monoxide detectors in their pilot year of the program.  In the future, Evans would like to expand its indoor audits and high efficiency toilet installation program to other Evans community members, including multi-family households, renters, and commercial, industrial, and institutional entities. The City expects that going forward the program will replace more than 60 high water use appliances and fixtures per year with efficient ones, and provide community members with 150 home water audit kits per year – steps that will save around 90,000 gallons of water annually.