Loveland’s City Council talked about water rights and possible code changes to save water during a Tuesday presentation on an update to the city’s water efficiency plan, which was approved unanimously.
According to a city estimate, the plan, which staff referred to as a “roadmap” for water efficiency in an attached memo, was responsible for saving 3,030 acre-feet of water between 2014 and 2018. An acre-foot is the amount of water used by about two average households in a year, according to Colorado State University.
Technical specialist Michelle Erickson’s presentation to the council on Tuesday included several new and potential programs for the city to reduce the demand for water, which another estimate indicated could save 8,088 more acre-feet by 2029.
Some proposed changes include adding time-of-day restrictions and “water waster” surcharges to sprinkler regulations, stepping up education for customers and improving coordination with other local water providers.
“The majority of these integrated land-use water efficiency measures would need to come back individually to city council to get feedback and approval before they would be implemented,” she said.
She said the target for reductions is for 155 gallons of water to be used per capita per day in Loveland. The five-year average for 2014-18 was 163 gallons.
Ward III councilor Steve Olson expressed concerns about fining residents who the city identifies as water wasters and said he hoped education would be used to curb water waste among customers instead.
“I for one wouldn’t support the idea if we’re going to take a bat to people,” he said. “To me, it’s more of an education thing.”
Erickson said she expects the city would try to reach out and educate those customers who they determine are using a disproportionate amount of water before issuing fines
Ward IV councilor Dave Clark asked about balancing water efficiency with the cost of water, pointing out that the city’s water treatment plant needs more users to be cost-efficient.
He also questioned whether making developers pay for the dedication of all raw water up-front was limiting growth and asked whether the city was looking into other raw water dedication strategies.
Kim Perry, a representative of real estate developer McWhinney, spoke during the public comment period and said her company supports requiring water rights to be paid for by the time of building permitting rather than platting.
“We have builders that come in and buy 50 or 75 lots at a time, and we have to pay all of the water up front at the time of plat,” she said. “That’s millions of dollars … There’s not even a house that will probably be occupied for at least a year.”
Perry said she believes the savings would be passed on to homebuyers.
Loveland Water and Power director Joe Bernosky said the city’s raw water master plan was scheduled to come before the council on Aug. 11.
