Western Water Districts Partner with Federal Agencies to Explore Next Generation of Water-Saving Devices, Projects

Innovative Conservation Program grants focus on water/energy nexus
projects

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A project using thermal cameras to analyze and adjust water needs and
another venture evaluating water-efficient dipper wells for restaurants
and ice cream shops are among the latest to receive competitive grants
focused on discovering the next generation of water-saving devices and
technologies in the West.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California partnered with
the Central Arizona Project, Southern Nevada Water Authority, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to
help fund 10 projects in the most recent round of Innovative
Conservation Program (ICP) grants. The program—which includes Southern
California Gas Co. and the nonprofit conservation group, Western
Resource Advocates—seeks to advance water-saving efforts by finding new
and innovative methods for using water more efficiently.

“Western states need to build and sustain resilience to droughts,” said
Tomás Torres, EPA’s water division director for the Pacific Southwest.
“By supporting the ICP, we’re investing in innovative solutions to help
communities meet the challenges of tomorrow—today.”

This $560,000 ICP cycle focused on water-saving devices, technologies
and strategy proposals that address the water/energy nexus. Awards were
given in two funding categories: up to $30,000 and between $30,000 and
$100,000. A total of 96 proposals were evaluated through a competitive
review process based on project innovations, a water/energy saving and
research plan, market impact potential, cost effectiveness, ICP focus
and project preparedness.

While California’s drought has ended, Metropolitan General Manager
Jeffrey Kightlinger noted the West continues to grapple with drought in
the Colorado River Basin, which has now stretched into a 17^th
year.

“You don’t need a crystal ball to predict that our future depends on
using water wisely and efficiently today,” Kightlinger said. “This
program fosters fresh and innovative approaches and inspires creative
ideas and strategies to reduce water use.”

Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, said,
“There’s no better time than the present for innovation in conservation.
As the Colorado River continues to suffer, and the Southwest lives under
constant threat of shortage—we hope these grants serve as the impetus
for change in our communities, as well as the launching pad for
inventive solutions.”

Since Metropolitan and Reclamation began the ICP in 2001, the program
has awarded 57 grants totaling $1.85 million during the first five
two-year funding cycles. Overall, the ICP has yielded 358 proposals
totaling $33.4 million in funding requests from public agencies,
community-based organizations, private companies, entrepreneurs,
research institutes and equipment manufacturers.

“As water managers, we are always interested in new strategies and
tactics that can be utilized to increase water efficiency,” said John
Entsminger, SNWA general manager. “With this program’s platform, we work
directly with the innovators to help foster new water-saving
technologies or research aimed at reducing water demands and increasing
efficiency of Colorado River water use.”

Inventive approaches funded in previous cycles include an analysis of
plant sensor-based irrigation in vineyards for both wine quality and
yield and several projects on soil amendments that maintain the health
of grass while significantly minimizing the amount of water applied.
Additional past projects include the development of a pressurized water
broom that replaces the need to use a hose to clean patios, driveways
and other large surface areas, saving up to 250,000 gallons of water
over its lifetime, and an X-ray film-processing unit that recycles more
than 90 percent of the 1 million gallons of water a typical machine uses
in a year in a hospital or medical center.

“Water conservation is the largest new supply available to bring water
security to the Colorado River Basin. This program looks to accelerate
cutting-edge techniques that produce water savings for the benefit of
all,” said Bart Miller, Western Resource Advocates’ Healthy Rivers
Program director.

More information on the Innovative Conservation Program, including lists
of past projects, is available at bewaterwise.com/ICP.

Innovative Conservation Program Projects

Frontier Energy, Inc. (Oakland, CA)—Dipper
wells replacement study
Evaluation of water and energy
savings potential of replacing dipper wells in restaurants and ice cream
shops with more efficient technologies. Analysis will normalize water
and energy use to metrics including site square footage, operating
hours, number of seats, and any other appropriate metrics.

Frontier Energy, Inc. (Oakland, CA)—Pre-rinse
operations in commercial kitchens
Evaluation of water
and energy use of pre-rinse operations in commercial kitchens including
the use of scrappers, troughs, hand scrapping, disposers, pulpers, hose
use or a combination of several practices. Monitoring will include
analysis of staff operations to identify opportunities to reduce waste.

Cal Poly Pomona (Pomona, CA)—Solar
decentralized graywater treatment unit
Development of a
low-cost, robust, decentralized, and solar-driven graywater treatment
unit for non-potable use for single-family residential dwellings.

Cal State Long Beach (Long Beach, CA)—Effective
water reuse in cooling tower systems
Evaluation of
cooling tower wastewater treatment by ion exchange. Cost analysis on
water savings from cooled water reuse will also be performed.

Watershed Conservation Authority (Azusa,
CA)—Cocoon technology for California native trees and shrubs
Evaluate
the water savings achieved using the Cocoon technology in the
establishment of Southern California native trees and shrubs.

University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)—Landscape
drip schedule app for the Southwest
Continue the
previous project that developed and evaluated a landscape drip schedule
app (http://cals.arizona.edu/dripirrigation)
adding more features to enhance user options and improve flexibility.

Cal State Fullerton (Fullerton, CA)—Measuring
sap flow in avocado to reduce irrigation
Evaluate water
savings of using sap flow measurement to establish the actual water
needs of 4-year-old Hass avocado trees.

Biolargo (Westminster, CA)—Wastewater re-use in
food industry
Evaluate disinfection and decontamination
capabilities of advanced oxidation reactor for water re-use in poultry
processing plant.

APANA (Bellingham, WA)—Data driven cooling
tower optimization study
Evaluate water savings by using
prescriptive analytics in cooling towers.

EyeOn18 (Beaverton, OR)–Drone imagery
utilization in golf courses
Investigate the use of
drones to optimize irrigation management practices in golf courses.

Contacts

Metropolitan
Bob Muir, (213) 217-6930
mobile: (213) 324-5213
or
CAP
Crystal
Thompson, (623) 869-2138
mobile: (602) 321-9349
or
SNWA
Scott
Huntley, (702) 258-7258
mobile: (702) 249-4453
or
Reclamation
Rose
Davis, (702) 293-8421
mobile: (702) 591-0029
or
U.S.
EPA
Michele Huitric, (415) 972-3165
or
Western Resource
Advocates
Bart Miller, (720) 763-3719