From email from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (Ben Wade):
The public comment period will end at 5:00pm on October 29, 2011. We encourage you to review the Guidelines and documents and provide the CWCB with comments. Please direct any questions or comments to Veva Deheza, Section Chief, Office of Water Conservation & Drought Planning, at 303-866-3441 ext. 3226.
House Bill 10-1051, an Act Concerning Additional Information Regarding Covered Entities’ Water Efficiency Plans requires covered entities to annually report water use and water conservation data to the CWCB to be used for statewide water supply planning. The Bill also directs the CWCB to adopt guidelines regarding the reporting of water use and water conservation by covered entities, and to report to the Legislature regarding the Guidelines.
The Draft Guidelines Regarding the Reporting of Water Use and Conservation Data by Covered Entities and Appendices are posted on the CWCB website.
More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
There are about 100 entities covered by the 2010 HB1051, which seeks better data reporting on conservation to meet state goals. About 55 of those already have a plan on file, including the state’s largest water utilities, Denver, Colorado Springs and Aurora.
“Right now, conservation plans are usually updated every seven years, but there can be a lot of changes in that time,” said Kevin Reidy, CWCB conservation technical specialist. “More frequent collection of data will provide more accurate information, and it plays into the larger Statewide Water Supply Initiative.”
The CWCB last year discussed how to measure water savings as a part of meeting the municipal water gap identified in SWSI. While the larger utilities have tracked how much water is used more closely since 2002, there is no standardized reporting method. The draft guidelines do not require a particular format for reporting water use, but list required categories as identified in the legislation. For instance, the guidelines look at the water use per household, lawn irrigation practices and precipitation within a service area. Metering and water rate structures are looked at, while system losses and leakage also are taken into consideration.
“It’s important to know where conservation measures are being taken and what kind of conservation is effective,” Reidy said.
More conservation coverage here.