City of Santa Fe Water Conservation and Drought Management Plan 2015: 2020 Addendum
Executive Summary | Click here for PDF
This addendum (2020 Addendum) to the City of Santa Fe Water Conservation and Drought Management Plan 2015 (15 Plan) exists to update three sections of the City of Santa Fe Water Conservation and Drought Management Plan 2015: the Water Conservation Goals, Gallons per Capita per Day (GPCD) water usage and findings of the American Water Works Association’s Non-Revenue Water Audit (AWWA Audit). This report will be submitted to the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (NMNMOSE) in fulfillment of permit requirements and consistent with New Mexico’s Water Conservation Planning Guide for Public Water Suppliers, also known as Technical Report 53.
Over the past five years, Santa Fe’s GPCD has remained relatively flat and low between 87 and 95 GPCD with an increase in 2018 due to a dry winter and early onset of the irrigation season. This value makes Santa Fe a regional leader in water conservation.
AWWA audit findings, which quantify both the amount of non-revenue water for a year as well as the confidence level of that finding and then makes recommendations for improvements, show low non-revenue water (5-10%) and a low confidence interval which means that more metering is needed to be sure of the outcome. The AWWA audit’s recommendations for improvement are focused on increasing the confidence interval through more detailed metering including backflow prevention, meter calibration, and master metering.
The primary goal of the 2020 Addendum was the incorporation of public input to develop the Water Conservation Goals – Section 4. Incorporation of public input prior to updating this addendum was a primary goal. To develop the goals for this addendum, Water Conservation Office (WCO) staff conducted a series of public meetings designed to collect public input. The full extent of this public input is included as Exhibit D and the input is organized into a Public Input Matrix of initiatives and strategies for addressing the most pressing concerns. The Public Input Matrix is a framework for evaluating projects and opportunities in terms of their consistency with the goals identified through public outreach and is included as Exhibit A. Exhibit C documents the public process used.
A second priority in setting Water Conservation Goals was to find synergy with ongoing or planned City initiatives. Using the framework from the Public Input Matrix, WCO staff evaluated many existing City initiatives and planning documents for points of intersection where projects could augment ongoing City efforts by adding value consistent with the public input obtained. The resulting Planning Matrix, included as Exhibit B, identifies some opportunities for the WCO to add value to ongoing projects in other City departments and provides a process for identifying opportunities as they arise.
The third component of the Water Conservation Goals in this 2020 Addendum was to continue successful projects, such as the rebate program and the Water Conservation Scorecard. The WCO scorecard has been an effective tool to guide, measure, and report on WCO projects and the 5-Year Scorecard, included as section 4.3.2 this report, will be the primary guidance document for the WCO during the planning period. Individual scorecards, starting with the 2020 scorecard – section 4.3.3 – will be developed annually based on the Water Conservation Goals in the 5-Year Scorecard and with public input through an annual meeting and the Public Input Matrix.
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