That's the Way, Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh, I Like It!

Ilona Major of Lone Tree, and Jackie Millet of the Council, came to DCWRA last week to chat with regional water interests on how they brought people together to save water and save money pursuing efficiencies in outdoor irrigation practices in the City of Lone Tree (CoLT). For more information, click on: http://www.dcwater.org/pages/conservation/hoas/outdoorIrrigation.html

We have a similar opportunity here in CoCPN. One issue landscape contractors face when operating HOA irrigation systems is that numerous contractors rotate from job to job. In the Douglas County region, it's common practice to fire your landscape contractor with great regularity. This means the irrigation system becomes filled with a hodgepodge of sprinkler heads and repair parts. There is no conformity, so when a component fails, the irrigation tech pulls whatever spare part is available on the truck, and that's what goes in the ground. So long as there is frequent turnover at the HOA board level, frequent turnover with management companies, and frequent turnover with landscape contractors, this situation could persist. It's a heck of a way to run a navy. What can we do? Wholesale replacement of component parts may be the only way to right the ship to save water and money. But that transition costs money up front.

There is room for better education in all corners as to best management practice in operating common area irrigation systems, as well as the associated financial benefits. Continuing regional meetings will be held in the fall on such topics, while summaries of prior meetings are found on www.DCWater.org. In the meantime, what cooperative actions could CoCPN pursue to save water and save money for its citizens?

There is a new design of sprinkler head that is generically called "rotary sprinkler nozzle". Rather than spraying a mist, these nozzles shoot streams of water that are more effective in watering the roots of the turf plants. These nozzles have become standard issue in other parts of the US. They are now available at local irrigation wholesalers, and even at box store retailers. With rebates from some water providers, such as Town of Castle Rock, and Denver Water, the costs of the heads is virtually nothing. The cost that an HOA or a District would incur in retrofitting these heads is the cost of the labor for the installation. If you have thousands of heads to retrofit, this is not a small sum of money. But, the water and money saved can be huge.

These rotary sprinkler nozzles are about 30% more efficient than traditional heads. There is independent study to verify this claim, and Town of Castle Rock has confirmed such efficiencies here in the local area. For a homeowner, half the water you buy is used in outdoor irrigation. That means retrofitting your lawn with rotary sprinkler nozzles could reduce your annual water bill by 15%. But for an HOA, most all of their water is used during the irrigation season. That means the HOA or District could save 30% off their water bill by retrofitting with rotary sprinkler nozzles. That's not just 30% in one year, but 30% water and money savings every year.

Where could we get the money to pay for these retrofits? CoCPN may pay $300,000 for legal fees to pursue the Metro District. The Metro District may pay another $300,000 to fulfill the mandate to formulate a dissolution plan for presentation to the voters for consideration. Is it possible to move along on the Metro/City topic without spending that $600,000? Could that money then be refocused on retrofitting rotary sprinkler nozzles in the common areas of CoCPN? What if the District gave rebates for the rotary sprinkler nozzles, and the CoCPN paid for the labor to retrofits the nozzles in the common areas irrigated by the Districts and the HOAs in CoCPN? Please consider it.

If we could save 30% on HOA and Metro District irrigation bills, that would be great. But what if we could buy less water for outdoor irrigation? Could we redirect that four million dollars towards a drought protection program? If we can get off or lessen our dependence upon Denver Basin Groundwater, then we can look at reusing the aquifers for times of drought. That transformation costs a lot of money too. But if we could do that, not only would CoCPN be the best place to live on the Front Range, but we'd have one of the most desirable water systems in the Front Range too. All this will take money. The question is, what's the best way to spend Other People's Money? Should we spend it on attorney's fees, or should we invest in best management practices in outdoor irrigation?

Rather than pursuing dissolution of Denver Water, the CoLT partnered with their water provider for the benefit of their citizens. The Council realized they really couldn't do much about water, and yet they wanted to help. Rather than spending significant sums of money on attorneys fees, they created $70,000 in funding to audit every sprinkler head operated in the common spaces owned by the Homeowner's Associations (HOAs) in Loan Tree. They got the idea from attending one of three outreach session for HOAs sponsored by Douglas County Water Resource Authority (www.DCWater.org). Denver Water in return pledged an additional $360,000 to retrofit irrigation controllers and make other upgrades in these open spaces.

Congratulations to CoLT for this exemplary program. Hopefully CoCPN can take this page from Lone Tree's play book, and come up with an idea that really moves our community forward as a leader in the efficient use of our most precious natural resource.