SUSTAINABLE WATER SUPPLY FOR AUCKLAND

1. Myth Busting! SUSTAINABLE WATER SUPPLY FOR AUCKLAND Craig Brown Ergonomics Centre for Ergonomics, Occupational Safety and Health, Department of Management, Massey University Greywater systems ECOplus On-site wastewater design/consulting Craig Brown Consulting

2. Myth #1 • Sustainability is about the environment • Sustainability is anthropocentric

3. Sustainability is anthropocentric • Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992): • Principle 1: Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature • Even from a ‘strong sustainability’ viewpoint: • People’s behaviour is the cause of unsustainability …which leads us to…

4. Moray, 2000 …Myth #2 • Sustainable water is about new technologies • Not without attending to social/behavioural systems • Without accounting for users, the overall design will be ‘sub-optimal’ (and may not work at all) • Sociotechnical system design

5. Human behaviour is key to demand management- The ‘socio’ part of the sociotechnical system - The bit that gets forgotten in design • Without ‘users’ there would be no ‘use’, no ‘demand’ • Mental models • How do water systems appear to the user? • How can we give them comprehensible and usable (and salient and timely…) feedback? • Emotional design

6. Feedback! • Centralised systems give feedback… • Generally • overall water consumption/wastewater production • Or locally • water meters • But not in a salient or timely manner (the water bill being some time after the actual water use) • Hard to match specific activities to specific outcomes • There is no ‘hard limit’ on water use/wastewater production • Charging for water and wastewater use at actual cost is effective • Increases relevance of the information

7. Feedback! • On-site systems give feedback… • Locally • In a timely manner • Such that specific activities can be matched to specific outcomes • System performance • personally important to the user • feedback is attended to and acted upon • There is a ‘hard limit’ in terms of water availability and wastewater treatment capacity • You can’t beat on-site systems for feedback, but…

8. …you can improve feedback in centralised systems • We need a ‘litre-meter’, like a centameter • “Preliminary investigation indicates that customers with displays are more likely to use less water. Displays tailored to the specific needs of the user, such as those comparing current water use with neighborhood averages or with consumption in previous months, may help consumers further focus on conservation.” (“Smart metering for water utilities” - Oracle White Paper, September 2009)

9. Improving feedback in centralised systems • In sociotechnical systems terms: • Provide feedback close to the source of variance • Not a bill at the end of the month to the parent • Put a display in the shower so the teenage user can see the use (and cost) as it happens

10. How to manage this demand? • Emotional Design: • Visceral • Behavioural • Reflective

11. Emotional Design • Visceral: wired in, response to physical attributes • Genetic preferences • Largely shared by all people • Eg. children’s furniture, arts & crafts, spiders • Behavioural: use, performance • Function, understandability (conceptual models, feedback), usability, physical feel • Classic HF/E • Eg. the design of cook-top controls • Reflective: message, culture, meaning • Self-image • Learned preferences (eating bitter foods) • Fashion • Eg. riding a roller-coaster, holding a snake

12. Emotional Design • Viscerally and behaviourally the Kohler water tower shower wins! • Reflectively, experience, culture and education can lead to water conserving choices…

13. Myth #3 • We don’t need to save water “The country’s total annual precipitation is between 300,000 and 600,000 million cubic metres, and it has been estimated that New Zealand’s consumption of water only approaches 2,000 million cubic metres per year” (MoH)

14. Don’t need to save water? • In my inbox on the day I put this together, was the LGOL ‘what’s new’ • I followed all the relevant links and found…

15. Coromandel • Friday, 15 January 2010 • Large increases in water consumption have put pressure on some of the Coromandel Peninsula's hot spots and holidaymakers are still being asked to think twice before turning on the tap. • The amount of water used in Matarangi, Whangamata, Pauanui, Hahei and Tairua has risen by about a third between December 22nd and January 10th compared to a year earlier. • Hahei's water consumption was up by 49 per centon average over last year, Matarangi up by 33%, Pauanui and Whangamata both up by 25% and Tairua up by 21% (over the period). • Total hose and sprinkler ban water restrictions were imposed in the five beach towns to maintain supply and comply with resource consent conditions over the last two weeks.  increases in water consumption up by 49 per cent water restrictions were imposed

16. Northland • 14 January 2010 • Water restrictions loom if drought continues • The drought rapidly tightening its grip on an increasingly parched Northland may soon force the Northland Regional Council to limit the water taken from the region’s rivers and streams, its hydrologists warn. • Dale Hansen, the Council’s Water Resources/Hydrology Programme Manager, says the Far North, much of the east coast and central parts of Northland are bearing the brunt of three months of ongoing dry conditions. • With just 31mm – or 10 percent of its usual rain – falling there since November, rivers in the Kerikeri area are already at critically low flows and Mr Hansen warns many east coast and Far North areas will be in a similar position within the next fortnight. drought ongoing dry conditions 10 percent of its usual rain

17. Drought! drought assistance • The Government is keeping close watch on the "big dry" in many regions and will consider drought assistance if conditions worsen, Agriculture Minister David Carter says. Northern and eastern parts of the country are parched due to windy dry weather. Irrigation bans are in place in some regions. "Northland is rapidly approaching drought status and the eastern coasts of both islands are very dry, particularly parts of central Otago, coastal Canterbury, parts of Gisborne and inland Bay of Plenty," Mr Carter said. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry staff were monitoring the situation and liaising with 14 local rural support trusts which provide farm management advice and other help in communities battling adverse conditions. "Expected rain in parts of the country this week will provide relief, but it may not be enough to remove the risk of drought in some regions," Mr Carter said. "Many farmers are still recovering from last year's drought and have been working hard to build feed reserves, restock their farms and improve stock conditions," he said. Drought could have a devastating effect on farmers, rural communities and the economy, with the impact felt by all New Zealanders. Federated Farmers has said the looming drought could drain several billion dollars from the economy, in terms of earnings farmers would have to forego. The last significant drought, two years ago, cost the country almost $3 billion in lost earnings. (NZ Herald, 11 Jan 2010) drought status last year’s drought drought, two years ago

18. Myth #4 • Demand management is about saving water There is always more water…

19. …is there always more energy? • Auckland councils generate 25-40% of their carbon emissions providing water and wastewater services • RDC 35% • Waitakere 39% • Others?? • This is set to increase Rodney District Council (CCP-NZ Milestone 1 data)

20. …is there always more energy? • Water provision requires energy • Embodied in infrastructure • Resulting from operations • Mains: 61% life cycle energy and 28% life cycle carbon emissions (Mithraratne & Vale). • Different water sources require different amounts of energy • In California, water efficiency programmes save twice as much energy for the same cost as energy efficiency programmes (California Energy Commission, 2005) • In a world without fossil fuels, all energy will have to come from renewable sources (e.g. wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, marine, biomass), and that means there will be a limit to energy (and water) supply. Ghosh & Gabe, Landcare Research for ARC: Identification of Practical Applications for Localised Sustainable Energy and Water Systems within Intensified Centres of the Auckland Region

21. …and if there were sufficient fossil fuels? • Fossil fuel consumption leads to greenhouse gas emissions, leads to climate change • A future problem? • Climate change already kills people • 150,000 deaths globally per annum and five million DALYs Patz, J.A., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Holloway, T. & Foley, J.A. (2005) ‘Impact of Regional Climate Change on Human Health’ Nature. 438, 7066, 310-317.

22. …is there always more money? • Taupo district council: “Despite having a huge lake right at out feet, the problem with such increases in water consumption is the load it puts on the infrastructure required to treat and turn lake water into the treated water and deliver it to your tap. It's not an endless supply as some would think”

23. …is there always more money? • Of…importance to New Zealanders should be how we are going to fund our water infrastructure. Because we've got a problem. Analysis of long-term council community plans for the period 2009-2018 indicates significant increases in capital and operating expenditure in the provision of water services throughout New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs-commissioned analysis forecasts total expenditure will be $28.46 billion over this period, made up of $11.46 billion of capital spending and $17 billion of operational spending. The capital spending estimate now stands 30 per cent higher than estimates from the same plans for the 2006 15-year period, indicating an increasing infrastructure deficit. Unless this deficit is addressed, water infrastructure will deteriorate. (Murray Gibb, CEO Water NZ, in NZ Herald, 19 Jan 2010)

24. …is there always more money? • What could the $1bn per annum* that could be saved nationally (on water infrastructure and operations) be used for instead? • Tax cuts • Health care • Education • Environmental stewardship • ? * this would be a saving of less than a third of the projected expenditure

25. Myth #5 • One litre of water is the same as another

26. All water is not equal! • When is a leak not a leak? • Indoor vs outdoor • Hot vs cold • Peak vs off-peak Should we be trying to communicate this to ‘Joe Public’? If so, then we need to start by conveying the ‘water use is energy use’, or Water Miles concept www.watermiles.org

27. Myth #6 – getting a water efficient showerhead is a good idea • Assumption: people understand that they should conserve water and that replacing their showerhead(s) is a good way to do that • And they are motivated to do so • And they are able to act on their intention • Summary: they make and act upon a choice based on their reflective system, relating to their self-image, fashion, culture, learned preferences and maybe a desire to save money • So: They install a low-flow shower head, which mixes in air to maintain the same feel as a ‘standard’ shower head • Thus saving water • Great, right?

28. Maybe, but… • Mixing in air causes the water droplets to cool by the time they reach the user • So the person adjusts the shower to use a higher temperature (and maybe the hot water cylinder temperature) • So they’ve traded water use for energy use

29. Myth #7 Not a myth! • Demand management is the best, cheapest way to save water

30. Myth #7 rephrased • Myth #7a: Demand management is the only feasible way to save water • Myth #7b: Demand management is sufficient to defer new infrastructure investment • Myth #7c: Rainwater use and greywater reuse is demand management • It’s new infrastructure, providing new water sources • Comparison: a new washing machine, which uses less water but doesn’t supply more water • But: it can have behavioural effects that can reduce demand also • Growing population means that additional water sources and infrastructure are required as well…

31. Solutions • Demand management • Definitely cheapest (energy and expense) • Essential but not sufficient in context of growing population and ‘triple crunch’ (peak oil, climate change, recession) • No new water supply • Decreases wastewater production (base load, not peak) • Wastewater concentration increases – implications?

32. Solutions • Rainwater use • Is a new water supply • Increases wastewater volume (base load) • BUT, properly configured, reduces peak loading because it attenuates stormwater • Hence no need to upgrade stormwater/wastewater networks • No need to introduce • Desalination • Dams (Riverhead) • Rivers (various, longish pipes)

33. Solutions • Water reuse/recycling • Is a ‘new’ supply • Decreases wastewater volume (base volume) • Doesn’t reduce peak loading (due to stormwater), but doesn’t increase it either • Wastewater concentration increases • Hence no need to upgrade stormwater/wastewater networks • No need to upgrade centralised water supply infrastructure if on-site; otherwise third pipe required

34. Myth #8 New reticulated supplies are cheaper than new on-site supplies

35. Water recycling cost-benefit analysis Brown, C. (2009) Recycled Water: Risks, benefits, economics and regulation by system scale. NZLTC conference proceedings.

36. Rain tank cost • Indoor + outdoor: $0.62 - $2.34 m3 • Outdoor only: $0.58 - $2.19 m3 • Cost effective in Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane • Because they have more rain! • (Auckland has more still) Tam, V., Tam, L. & Zeng, S. (2010) Cost effectiveness and tradeoff on the use of rainwater tank: An empirical study in Australian residential decision-making. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 54, 178-186.

37. Rain tank cost • Vale & Mithraratne (2007) NZSSES Talking and Walking Sustainability Conference paper • Rainwater is 36% cheaper than the existing reticulated supply, if used exclusively (no mains connection) • Life cycle energy was lower too • Vale & Mithraratne (2007) • Rainwater cheaper is used exclusively, then mains, then combination of mains plus rainwater • I.e. ‘doubling up’ increases cost… • …but by how much compared with other new supply options?

38. Myth #8 New reticulated supplies are cheaper than new on-site supplies Rain Tanks in this range Greywater recycling down here somewhere

39. Why the discrepancy? • Annualised vs levelised cost? • Most large-scale infrastructure capacity is surplus for many years (but money has been spent up front) • New on-site capacity can be steadily added • (Lack of) accounting for benefits to stormwater/wastewater systems? • Rain tanks can reduce peak flow in stormwater/wastewater system • Greywater reuse reduces base wastewater flow • Neither requires an upgrade to wastewater collection/treatment infrastructure • Neither requires an upgrade to potable water delivery pipes

40. Why the discrepancy? • Differing assumptions on treatment standards/equipment required? • Or just dodgy assumptions? • E.g. one recent study costing greywater systems assumed: • On-line chlorination and redox probe required • $50/month for chlorine • No increase in water prices over lifetime of product • No savings in wastewater production

41. Myth #9 • If we always do what we always did… we’ll get the best results

42. Yarra Valley Water • Melbourne area • 1.6 million customers • 395 employees • $381.5 million revenue • $1.3 billion assets

43. Yarra Valley Water • Underwent deliberate managed cultural transformation from ‘defensive, old style public service instrument’ into a ‘dynamic, energized organisation’ with new systems, behaviours and approaches… • So what?

44. Culture “One could argue that…centralised service delivery is a central paradigm embedded in water industry culture. From this perspective, some water practitioners consider alternative decentralised options as a problem. They argue that the environment will be worse off if we use more materials, that costs will increase, and that there will be greater risk to the community.” Francis Pamminger, Yarra Valley WaterAdvancing the Infrastructure Selection Process – Case Study (All quotes, data and graphs reproduced from this case study)

45. Case study “Along with targets for customer service, business culture, and efficiency, Yarra Valley Water aims to ‘provide services within the carrying capacity of nature and inspire others to do the same’.”

46. Case study • “There is insufficient water to meet growth” • “Port Phillip Bay [outfall for Melbourne’s sewage treatment] has reached its carrying capacity”

47. Case study • Work undertaken to help select more sustainable infrastructure options • Aimed to address perceived barriers to adopting systems different from conventional servicing options • Debate existed as to whether alternative servicing options could deliver improvements • Perception was that such options • would cost more • would require additional material and energy • resulting in increased environmental burden, • and increasing the business risks. • Unaddressed, this uncertainty stopped any future exploration of alternative servicing options

48. Case Study • Yarra Valley Water engaged RMIT and CSIRO to find the most environmentally sustainable solutions for their infrastructure works • The analysis included Greenfield development on the city periphery, infill development, and backlog areas • Options: • Conventional • traditional centralised servicing with reticulated water and sewage pipes connected to an existing central network. NB: Water efficient (3A) appliances. • Third pipe from STP • third pipe recycling using treated water from local sewage treatment plant. • Third pipe from stormwater • third pipe recycling using treated stormwater. • Onsite water supply and greywater • water supply solely from rainwater tanks and greywater treatment at each property.

49. Results Life cycle assessment (water efficient appliances)

50. Results Community cost