WATER AUTHORITY CUSTOMERS MEET ANNUAL CONSERVATION GOAL WITH BEST-EVER USAGE NUMBERS

from the Water Utility Authority

Albuquerque, Jan. 13 – Water Authority customers used six gallons less per person per day in 2008 than in 2007, bringing the metro area’s daily per-person water usage down to 161 gallons – the lowest per-person usage on record and four gallons below the 165-gallon annual goal for 2008.
"This is a tremendous achievement by our customers," said Water Authority Chair Deanna Archuleta. "We have cut our per capita consumption by an amazing 91 gallons per day since 1994, keeping us on track to meet our long-term conservation goals."
The Water Authority, which must reduce per-capita water consumption under state requirements for the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project, has set a usage goal of 150 gallons per person per day by 2014. The goal for 2009 is 159 gallons per person.
Archuleta said much credit for the success in 2008 goes to the 1-2-3-2-1 "Water by the Numbers" program, which asked Water Authority customers to voluntarily limit their outdoor water usage to one day per week in March, two days a week in April and May and three days a week in the summer before ramping down in the fall.
"For 2009, we are asking all our customers to save just two additional gallons per day," Archuleta said. "We can do it if everyone sticks with the 1-2-3-2-1 formula for outdoor irrigation while looking for a few additional ways to save water. We’ll be providing a top-10 list of ways to do this, and at the top of that list will be toilet replacement."
Water Authority customers replaced more than 8,500 water-guzzling high-flow toilets with low-flow models in 2008 (year two of "The Great Flush Rush" campaign) and earned almost $1 million in rebates. The estimated yearly water savings: 30 million gallons. Rebates of $100 per toilet will be available for low-flow toilets through the end of 2009, at which time the toilet rebate program will end. Water Authority customers can qualify for rebates of $200 for super high-efficiency toilets, and rebates also are available for hot-water recirculation systems, multi-setting sprinkler controllers, rain sensors, rain barrels, compost, and replacement of turf with low-water use landscaping (xeriscaping). More information is available at http://www.abcwua.org//ohttp://www.abcwua.org/

San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project

Today is the offical grand opening of the San Juan-Chama New Surface Water Treatment Plant.

This morning the Agua Es Vida Action Team and Amigos Bravos held a press conference and highlighted some of the issues with the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project:

· After more than 30 years of San Juan-Chama water flowing in the Río Grande, the river ecosystem, the Bosque, those with domestic wells, and other users have become dependent on those flows; removing them will cause harm.
· Removing up to 94,000 acre feet per year (afy) of water from the river between the Alameda diversion point and the south side wastewater treatment discharge near Río Bravo will seriously dewater the river as it flows through the heart of the city, harming the Bosque and the river ecosystem.
· Dewatering this long stretch of the river will deprive the aquifer of a significant source of recharge.
· Dewatering the river will aggravate the already very large impact on the river
from decades of groundwater pumping, which has led to an estimated loss from the
river of almost 70,000afy (Albuquerque uses a little over 100,000 afy by comparison). The WUA will likely need to find water rights to cover this loss, which has been masked by the flows from the San Juan-Chama water.
· Dewatering the river will increase the impact of the wastewater discharge, which will be more concentrated as it enters the river. Several studies of this part of the river confirm two national surveys documenting the relationship between wastewater discharges and the presence of pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupting compounds (like steroids and estrogen), and personal care products (like insect repellant and sunscreen) in rivers. The impacts of these chemicals on aquatic life are becoming well documented and studies are beginning to suggest an impact on humans from chronic low-dose exposure to these same chemicals.
· Removing the San Juan-Chama water from the system and plans that the WUA has for additional withdrawals means that the burden of finding sufficient water rights to meet a variety of deficits will fall on agriculture. The WUA is already seriously deficient in required water rights to offset its activities. While many believe agriculture “wastes” water, the irrigation system and water put on fields now is a major source of aquifer recharge, a job originally performed by the river. Furthermore, analysis of the amount of water rights that the WUA (and others in the region) would need in order to get into compliance with water law in the state greatly exceeds ALL the agricultural water rights held in the Middle Río Grande; taking them would turn the region into a brown and lifeless zone.