AWWA SOURCES59248

On March 15, 2001, the El Paso Water Utilities started a turf rebate pilot program. The program was to be evaluated at the end of one year to quantify not only water savings, but also to measure customer satisfaction and ease of program implementation. The budget for the pilot program was $500,000, with the rebate amount set to $0.50 per square foot of grass removed for front and side yards only. The minimum area for conversion was 100 square feet, but there was no maximum. Converted areas had to include living plant material that when fully mature would cover a minimum of 50% of the converted area. Television commercials, bill inserts, and press releases were utilized to promote the program. Interested customers were asked to send in photos of the established grass areas planned for conversion, along with name, address, phone number, and El Paso Water Utilities account number. Once received, a decision was made to either approve or reject the site based on photos and consumption history. All records were entered into a database. If approved, a package containing program guidelines, landscape information, graph paper and a template (for use in drawing the new design) was mailed to the customer. The customer was asked to mail in the proposed landscape design once approval into the program was granted. After the conversion was completed, the customer was asked to call El Paso Water Utilities for a final verification visit. El Paso Water Utilities would then take pictures and verify installation of new plants to make sure all is according to previously submitted plans and measurements. The customer then signed a rebate form and, once processed, the rebate check was mailed to the customer. Difficulties encountered were that customers sometimes would not follow program guidelines and would complete a conversion without proper approval. In those instances, we worked with the customer on a one-to-one basis to determine savings potential and, in many cases, offered a partial credit. Includes tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

01/11/2004

Number of Pages:

9

File Size:

1 file , 360 KB