6.5. ERMUSR 11-13-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

°~.~~3' ~ ~ ~. `~~. I'.~ ~ ~ e a Cur~iriiued h•om pae 3 he visited her home. But he advised her that she could make her sprinkling sys- tem more efficient, and make her lawn greener in a few spots, by replacing bro- ken, tilted and sunken sprinkler heads. Miller said she was anxious to get bids on some of the repairs Otto recom- mended, and she praised Chanhassen for offering the free audits. "We don't want to become another Atlanta," she said. In Woodbury, Eckles estimated that a typical household that has an auto- mated sprinkling system uses 60,000 to 90,000 gallons of water over three months in the summer. Households without automatic sprinklers use 30,000 to 70,000 gallons per summer, he said. The difference lawn sprinkling of all kinds makes in total water use in Wood- bury shows up dramatically in a com- parison of winter and summer citywide pumping: 5 million gallons a day in the winter, more than 20 million on a peak summer day. Chanhassen, Woodbury, Elk River and many other communities are mak- ing major efforts to promote water conservation: imposing odd-even sprinkling bans that let homeowners water their lawns only every other day, raising water rates for big users and set- ting seasonal rates that charge more for water used during the summer. Ntany communities also offer rebates to people who purchase water-saving washing machines and dish washers. Ells River has distributed low-tech soil moisture testers and rain gauges to encourage homeowners to water only as much as their grass needs. Woodbury last year gave out about 200 higher-tech, $100 rain sensors that shut off sprin- kling systems when it is raining or has recently rained. State law requires the sensors on all irrigation systems, but there is little enforcement of the law. Woodbury, not only has anodd-even sprinkling schedule, but it bans sprin- kling between noon and 5 p.m., when water is most likely to be lost to evapo- ration. The city aggressively enforces its rules on lawn watering, and it fines violators $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second offense, $100 for a third and $200 for a fourth. "We've had three-time losers," Eckles said. "I don't know that we've had any four-time losers." Woodbury' biggest effort to reduce water use and water waste was a tiered water rate structure, put in place Last year, that requires the top 10 percent or so of residential water users to pay sig- nificantly more than they had in the past. The rates are unchanged for house- holds using up to 60,000 gallons per quarter. Above 60,000 gallons, customers used to pay $1.88 per 1,000 gallons. Since last year, Woodbury has had three new rates that kick in as household use climbs. The top rate of $4.88 per thousand gallons is charged for use over 150,000 gallons. A household using 200,000 gallons- a huge, but not unheard of, amount of water in three months-would have paid $349 under the old fee structure, and $649 under the new. Eckles said the new fees had little impact on water use in 2007 because most Woodbury residents didn't see their summer water bills until after the sprinkling season had ended. This year, the season has been rainier and resi- dents have had less need to water their lawns. Nevertheless, he said the impact of the higher fees has been noticeable. From May through July this year, Woodbury's water use was 210 million gallons less than last year, a 16 percent reduction. "We certainly know some people are changing their behavior," Eckles said. A new state law, enacted this year, requires metro-area public water sys- tems to adopt, by 2010, a "conservation rate structure" that uses fees, discounts or time-of-day water rates to encourage conservation. Outstate water systems are required to adopt conservation rates by 2013. Apple Valley .....................91 Blaine .............................. ..90 Bloomington .................. ..91 Brooklyn Center ............ ..92 Brooklyn Park ................. 118 Burnsville ........................ ..96 Coon Rapids ................... 104 Cottage Grove ................ ..98 Duluth ............................. ..40 Eagan .................................97 Eden Prairie .................... 109 Edina ................................ 1 10 Inver Grove Heights...... ..74 Lakeville .......................... 1 12 Mankato .......................... ..62 Maple Grove ................... 113 Minneapolis ................... ..62 Minnetonka .................... ..94 Oakdale .............................88 Plymouth ......................... .96 Rochester .........................65 Saint Cloud .......................71 Saint Louis Park ............. ..81 Saint Paul* ........................51 Shakopee ........................ 100 Woodbury ....................... 111 "St. Paul's residential usage comes from the St. Paul regional water system. It does not include water used by residents of some large apartment buildings. Source: Department of Natural Resources lawn watering is a big and growing part of water use in Minnesota. The Department of Natural Resources urges dries to aim for water usage of no more than 75 gallons per person per day. ® FACETS October 2005