Sustainable Water Infrastructure and Opportunities in Rural Idaho

Sustainable Water Infrastructure and Opportunities in Rural Idaho April 2011 Cyndi Grafe

Presentations Overview – Cyndi Grafe, EPA R10 Sustainable Infrastructure Team Lead Examples – Ron Gearhart, Utility Manager, City of Emmett Tools and Opportunities – David Eberle, Director, Environmental Finance Center (BSU)

What’s Water Infrastructure? Drinking water, wastewater, stormwater Pipes, plants, pumps, tanks, drainage systems, meters, hydrants…

What is Sustainability? • Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Sustainable Infrastructure What is Sustainable Infrastructure (SI)? • Human health, environmental, and service goals • Fiscally sound over the long-term

Unsustainable Infrastructure A UTILITY‘S PATH TO FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Costs $ $540 BILLION Gap For the nation, the gap is roughly $540 billion over 20 years (by EPA estimates using data through 2000). Revenues Time

A Path to Financially Sustainable Infrastructure A UTILITY‘S PATH TO FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Limited by potential for efficiency ? $ Costs Limited by affordability Revenues Time Utilities need to be able to assess: 1) how much they can reduce costs through efficiency 2) how much the community can afford

Is there a better way? Greater effort in an existing framework is not always the answer

SI and Rural Idaho Communities • To be sustainable (economically and environmentally) as a community, you need sustainable water infrastructure. • To achieve sustainable water infrastructure, you need sustainable utilities.

Principles of Sustainable Infrastructure SI Includes:

Energy Management and Sustainability • ~3% of the nation’s energy consumption • ~$4 billion is spent annually • ~56 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) • ~45 million tons of GHG • Energy represents the largest controllable cost of providing water or wastewater services to the public • >16,000 plants in the US • 25-30% of the total plant O&M • As energy costs rise, operating costs rise • Most wastewater plants have untapped opportunities to harness wastewater as an energy resource.

Water and Energy Efficiency (and Generation) at Utilities = • energy usage • operating costs • increased heat and power generation • climate impacts / carbon footprint • water usage • sustainability of water infrastructure • sustainability of community

OR Dept of Energy Bonneville Power ODEQ OR Assn Clean Water Agencies Oregon Energy Trust Zero Waste Alliance EPA Redmond Shady Cove Portland Silverton Newberg Gresham Medford McMinnville Lewiston, ID Vancouver, WA Collaborative Cohort Oregon Sustainable Energy Project 2010 - 2011 OR Sustainable Energy Management Systems Cohort 7 Workshops Energy Management, Renewable Energies, Climate Action Planning, Energy Benchmarking, Financing/ Incentives, Communication Strategies $100,000 Project

Progress…Workshops • WA Energy Management Workshop : • 75 participants • Co-sponsored with 5 strategic partners • Anticipate WA Cohort in 2011

Progress…Case Studies • Small System: Weiser, ID (24% reduction, $19k savings) • Northeast Pilot anticipated savings: • 14 facilities • $3.7M • 33% annual energy reduction • 20M kWh saved • 17k tons annual CO2 reductions

EPA Region 10 Sustainable Infrastructure Team • Promote sustainable infrastructure practices • Help utilities implement sustainable activities • Resource, partner, and facilitator

Next Steps • Continue strategic collaboration focusing in: • Energy management • EPA/State strategic coordination • Develop support for Idaho training and technical assistance.

Thank You Cyndi Grafe EPA Region 10 Sustainable Infrastructure Lead 208-378-5771 grafe.cyndi@epa.gov

Sustainable Water Infrastructure and Opportunities in Rural Idaho