Evaluating Water Savings, Benefits, and Costs For Water Conservation Regulations and Equipment Using an End Use Model

摘要

The challenge with any new technology or conservation program is to develop a rigorous and scientific way to estimate savings and costs. This paper will review the process, methodology and practical applications of generating water savings and cost estimates when a program or regulation is in the early stages of development. The basis of this paper will be on a recent project for Sonoma County Water Agency in California that involved estimating savings and benefits from different types of regulations and technologies including landscape restrictions, ET controllers, rain sensors, irrigation meters, and new development standards for new single family homes. The goal of this paper is to provide a practical application using end use model to help evaluate cost effectiveness of regulations and programs. The Least Cost Planning Decision Support System, or DSS model has been used as a tool for over 150 communities over the past eight years. This paper will not focus on the model itself, but rather the application of the methodology to develop key inputs, assumptions, and parameters that can then be used in an end use model or other ways to generate water savings calculations.