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…

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

4

What is Sustainability?

Sustainable Infrastructure

1. Human health, environmental, and service goals

2. Fiscally sound over the long-term

What is Sustainable Infrastructure (SI)?

Time

$ Costs

Revenues

For the nation, the gap is roughly $540 billion over 20 years (by EPA estimates using data through 2000).

$540 BILLION

Gap

Unsustainable InfrastructureA UTILITY‘S PATH TO FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Time

$Costs

Revenues

Limited by affordability

Limited by potential for efficiency

?

A Path to Financially Sustainable InfrastructureA UTILITY‘S PATH TO FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Utilities need to be able to assess: 1) how much they can reduce costs through efficiency2) how much the community can afford

Greater effort in an existing framework is not always the answer

Is there a better way?

1. To be sustainable (economically and environmentally) as a community, you need sustainable water infrastructure.

2. To achieve sustainable water infrastructure, you need sustainable utilities.

SI and Rural Idaho Communities

Infrastructure Stability Community Sustainability

Financial Viability Operational Optimization

Water Resource Adequacy Operational Resiliency

Stakeholder Understanding Employee Development

Product Quality Customer Satisfaction

SI Includes:Principles of Sustainable Infrastructure

~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.

Energy Management and Sustainability

energy usage

operating costs

increased heat and power generation

climate impacts / carbon footprint

water usage

sustainability of water infrastructure

sustainability of community

Water and Energy Efficiency (and Generation) at Utilities =

OregonEnergyTrust

EPA

BonnevillePower

ODEQ OR AssnClean Water

AgenciesZero Waste

Alliance

OR Dept ofEnergy

McMinnville

Gresham

Lewiston, ID

MedfordNewberg

PortlandShady CoveRedmond

Silverton

Vancouver, WA

7 Workshops Energy Management, Renewable Energies,

Climate Action Planning, Energy Benchmarking, Financing/

Incentives, Communication Strategies

Oregon Sustainable Energy Project 2010 - 2011

OR Sustainable Energy Management Systems Cohort

$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 GrafeEPA Region 10 Sustainable Infrastructure Lead208-378-5771grafe.cyndi@epa.gov