“Water Demand Offsets” Have Been in Place for the Past 12 Years
Brown lawns, curtailed showers, and almost daily news reports are constant reminders of the water shortage endured by homes and businesses in Aptos. We’ve struggled to cut back our water usage, making sacrifices where we can. In June, our water rates went up yet again, and we are encouraged to conserve even more.
Now, we are hearing about the new Aptos Village project, with 69 new homes, 15 new businesses, 4 restaurants, and a grocery store in the Hihn Apple Barn. It seems as if they are going to take the water we have struggled to save. We have legitimate reason to question, “How have this many new water users been approved for an area reliant on a decreasing groundwater supply?”
The answers can be found in the Soquel Creek Water District’s Water Demand Offset program.
Implemented in 2003, the Water Demand Offset program was designed to insure all new development would create enough water savings, to not only cover their new water usage, but also to save an additional 60 to 100 percent of that usage. The District recognized the opportunity for new development to help conserve our precious water supply long before the current drought.
Water Demand Offset (WDO) is required for any new water service, change in use of existing water service, or additional square footage for commercial customers. The specific requirements were adjusted several times in twelve years, due to updated costs, increased efficiency of water fixtures, and older fixture replacement availability. SqCWD’s mandate is that any new development must create a, “net positive impact on the District’s water supply.” Simply put, the District requires new development to save significantly more water than they will use.
The calculation for Water Demand Offset is: gross square footage multiplied by expected acre-foot usage (based on type of business or residence) multiplied by 1.6
Credits can be achieved by participation in the District’s “Go Green” program at various levels (Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum,) for either commercial or residential development.
Details of the program, and the specific acre-foot usage multipliers, can be found on the District’s website: http://www.soquelcreekwater.org/conserving-water/water-demand-offset-program
For the Aptos Village project, Barry Swenson Builder has been given a Water Demand Offset requirement of 37.964 acre feet in water savings per year. When the project is complete, end use and square footage will be verified, and the offset requirement adjusted if needed.
Dedicated to being a good water steward, the project met the bulk of its requirement before 2013 by replacing toilets, urinals, and other water fixtures throughout the District. Covering the cost of both materials and labor, Barry Swenson Builder installed high efficiency fixtures at Cabrillo College, Jade Street Park, and the City of Capitola. In addition, almost 200 toilets were replaced in private homes, free of charge. Not only do these updated fixtures reduce water usage, but also the beneficiaries of these retrofits have lower water bills.
But what does 37.964 acre feet in water savings yearly actually mean?
An “acre foot” is a unit of measure for volume. Picture it as a huge sheet of water 60 feet wide, by 660 feet long, by 1 foot deep. One acre-foot is equal to 325,429 gallons of water. Doing the math, 37.964 acre feet equals 12,370,623.76 – Over 12 million gallons. That’s a lot of H2O.
Since 2013 with construction yet to begin, the Aptos Village project has already saved 36.667 acre-feet – 11,932,500 gallons – per year. Without the Aptos Village Water Demand Offsets, over 25 million gallons of precious water would have needlessly been sent down the drain. Significant additional savings were made between 2003 and 2013 as WDO elements were put in place for the Aptos Village project.
Soquel Creek Water District website notes they serve approximately 38,000 residents. (Residents use about 80% of the District’s water production, while the remaining 20% are made up of industrial, school, government, and landscape irrigation accounts.) The water savings realized by the Aptos Village project has already covered the annual water usage of over 450 people since 2013.
The new homes and businesses of Aptos Village will not be using the water we have all struggled to save. As it turns out, the Aptos Village project, and its developer, Barry Swenson Builder, in an effort toward water stewardship, has already saved the Soquel Creek Water District a significant amount of water.
In our next article we will take a look at the many ways the completed Aptos Village project will continue to save water for the District, reduce water usage, and ultimately decrease rainwater runoff, while improving the water quality flowing into Aptos and Valencia Creeks.