Sustainable Works helps cities meet their NPDES permit requirements, reduce water use citywide and educate their businesses and residents about urban runoff issues with a variety of different community based water efficiency programs.
Our turnkey Direct Install, programs have been delivering real water savings for years. We have implemented Direct Install programs for restaurants and medical facilities. Involving contacting decision makers, assessing water usage, recommending and installing water efficiency devices, and educating employees. These programs are well developed, and require limited oversight from city staff.
Through our Waterbroom Program, we have distributed over 300 Waterbrooms to local businesses. This results in reduced urban runoff and a healthier Santa Monica Bay, which protects our local economy. We provide one-on-one employee education and follow up with participants to ensure proper use.
Our most recent water efficiency programs focus on outdoor water use, including a Rain Barrel Distribution Program and the Irrigation Controller Override Device Program.
Our staff are trained in a varied of social marketing skills and utilize Community Based Social Marketing to identify barriers, provide incentives and achieve success.
We are skilled at developing water conservation programs tailored to meet the needs of your city. We can target high water users, chronic polluters, or specific geographical areas to provide you with a program that achieves your goals. Every program also includes a reporting component, which helps track success and reduction use.
While water conservation is our goal, many of our city clients have also enjoyed additional benefits from working with Sustainable Works. City sponsored water conservation programs showcase the positive side of city operations, raise awareness and build community. These programs put money directly in the pockets of residents and business owners by reducing utility bills. Partnering with Sustainable Works helps you achieve your conservation goals while helping local businesses achieve theirs. We help to educate businesses and residents on water related regulations and city ordinances in a proactive and positive way that is well received by our participants.
Waterbroom
In an effort to comply with NEPDS regulation and meet TMDL limits in local waterways, many cities have adopted anti-hosing municipal ordinances. Whether you have an anti-hosing ordinance on the books or not, keeping business owners from routinely hosing debris into the street can have significant environmental benefits. Of course, many businesses, like outdoor cafes are required to clean outdoor areas. The Waterbroom distribution program gives businesses the tools they need to do their part to prevent dry weather runoff.
The Waterbroom is a device that attaches to a standard hose and cleans outdoor surfaces with six low-flow, high-pressure jets. Cleaning can be accomplished with significantly less water than a hose, and the high-pressure jets allow the user to direct water to green space. It can also help increase employee efficiency.
As with all of our programs, employee education is essential to the success of the Waterbroom Program. During training we make the connection, in English and Spanish, between urban runoff, the health of the bay and the impacts on human health and the local economy. We demonstrate proper use of the Waterbroom, identify nearby storm drains and green space and answer any questions employees may have. We leave prompts and educational materials on-site and follow up to ensure our message has been effective.
Currently the Metropolitan Water District has rebates available, which makes the waterbroom a cost effective way to reduce urban runoff, save water, meet your NPDES requirements and raise awareness about water quality issues in the Southern California region.
Success
The City of West Hollywood has renewed their Waterbroom Distribution contract with Sustainable Works for three years. Each year we re-visit water broom recipients from previous years to provide employee education and technical support. The Waterbroom distribution was a well-received component of the Restaurant Direct Install Program.
Over the past 4 years, Sustainable Works has partnered with municipalities to provide over 300 Waterbrooms and employee education sessions.
Direct Install
Direct Install for Restaurants
The Restaurant DI program is our longest running water conservation program. Since it was implemented in 2002, Sustainable Works has facilitated the program with over 60 percent of all Santa Monica restaurants. The program consists of a complete water use survey of indoor water uses and identifies potential water savings. Pressure Spray Valves, Waterbrooms, and faucet aerators are installed at the time of the inspection. City approved contractors install low flow toilets and waterless urinals at city expense.
The City of Santa Monica greatly reduced the cost of these water saving fixtures by taking advantage of rebates provided by Metropolitan Water District. The rest of the costs associated with the purchase and installation of fixtures were paid with grant funds obtained by the city, resulting in a program that was free to both restaurants and the city itself. Sustainable Works staff also provides employee education in the use of their new water saving fixtures, and provides rebate information for additional devices and follows up to ensure success. Water savings can be tracked using water bill information from the water utility department.
http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/epd/business/Water/restaurant.htm
Success
Yankee Doodle, a large sports bar in Santa Monica experienced a 74% decrease in water usage in the first year that the water-efficient products were installed.
"The Sustainable Works Business Greening Program introduced Yankee Doodle to water-free urinal technology via a free City Santa Monica Restaurant Retrofit Program. Currently we have 4 water-free urinals at Yankee Doodle and can say that our overall water usage went down significantly. This saves us approximately $250 annually."
Raul DeCosta
Yankee Doodle, Santa Monica, CA
Direct Install for Medical Facilities
Medical facilities have an enormous potential for water conservation. Thousands of gallons are flushed down the drain each day by cooling towers and x-ray processors. The Metropolitan Water District offers valuable rebates for equipment allows this wasted water to be reused several times before it is dumped down the drain. Grant funding has allowed the City of Santa Monica to provide this water saving equipment free of charge. Sustainable Works has helped medical facilities to take advantage of this money saving opportunity. Since we started offering water conservation assessments to medical facilities, over two thirds of all such facilities in the city have benefited from the water efficient devices and education. Many medical facilities have outdated fixtures. We facilitate the process of assessing and installing more efficient devices and supporting the City in data collection and follow up. While installing ULF toilets is essential, the conservation potential of retrofitting cooling towers and x-ray processors is staggering and can help achieve city wide water use reduction goals.
Success
“The Water Saver Program benefits our business, but more importantly allows us to provide better equipment for our staff and residents. The staff that facilitate the program are professional, knowledgeable and very friendly.”
Brian Rarmos, Administrator
Brentwood Nursing and Rehab Center, Santa Monica, CA
Rain Barrel Program
Drinking water is a precious resource in Southern California. Much of it is imported from hundreds of miles away at great ecological and monetary cost. Fiftty-percent of residential water use is for landscaping. Yet, when rains bring millions of gallons to our city, the valuable resources becomes waste and is flushed out to bay without treatment, polluting rivers and the ocean and bringing us no closer to a secure water source. Reducing demand for drinking water and capturing rainwater before it becomes polluted is the motivation behind Santa Monica's Rain Barrel Distribution Program. Using grant funding, the City has purchased 15 135-gallon rain barrels and made them available to the public free of charge. These well-designed barrels prevent entry by mosquitoes and conduct overflow water to the original drainage system. They include a spigot for a hose to be attached or to fill watering cans, and thus reduce the amount of water used on landscaping. Sustainable Works manages the outreach for the program, conducts on-site assessments to make sure applicants qualify for the free barrels, deliver the barrels and inspect the installations to ensure their proper use.
http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/epd/news/Rain_Barrel.htm
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| Riversides Rain Barrel |
Irrigation Controller Override Device
Automatic irrigation controllers vastly reduce the time and effort that go into maintaining a lush landscape in a dry climate. However, because these systems are designed to operate without the attention of the homeowner, they can be the biggest water waster in the house. The ET Scheduler from AquaConserve eliminates wasteful watering while retaining the set-and-forget qualities of automatic irrigation controllers. The scheduler comes programmed with historical Evapotranspiration data for six different climate zones. When installed on an existing irrigation controller it interrupts watering that it knows to be excessive. Sustainable Works conducts outreach for the program, performs irrigation efficiency assessments, installs the ICOD devices, provides educational materials and follows up with participants to ensure proper functioning of the device. By keeping irrigation controllers adjusted for the season, the City hopes to save thousands of gallons of water and reduce urban runoff.
This program is similar to the Weather Based Irrigation Controller programs currently being offered through the Metropolitan Water District.
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| Allan Haskell and Matt Henigan, Sustainable Works Water Programs specialists, with Bob Galbreath, Outdoor Water Resource Specialist, for the City of Santa Monica. |
Allan Haskell and Matt Henigan, Sustainable Works Water Programs specialists, with Bob Galbreath, Outdoor Water Resource Specialist, for the City of Santa Monica.
For more information about our City of Santa Monica Water Programs, contact:
Kim O'Cain or Bob Galbreath
Water Resources Specialists
City of Santa Monica
200 Santa Monica Pier, Suite K
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-8459
(310) 260-1574 Fax
www.smepd.org
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