Water Conservation Results
The results are in from our largest water conservation project yet.
We’ve been working with Denver-area HOAs to reduce their water bills, and conserve the important natural resource in this semi-arid region, for some time. Denver Water’s report this week on just how much we’ve saved was shocking. Here’s the story:
Over the course of about a year, ending this past winter, our team partnered with Denver Water and the Shadow Wood Condominium Association, a 318-unit HOA located near Denver’s Tamarac Square, for an extensive interior retrofitting of the condos. We replaced old toilets, showerheads, and faucet aerators in 231 units (at least one such item in each). Many units had modern fixtures that did not need to be replaced, so work was done only on about 72% of them. We determined which units needed new water-saving devices through an auditing process, where we achieved 96% compliance.
After commanding such a great response from Shadow Wood homeowners, and demonstrating that we were intent on saving as much water as possible, CAP Management was, upon project completion, awarded Denver Water’s “Top Partner” award. While that was certainly a great honor, we did not yet know precisely what the impact of our work would be, in terms of savings. Sure, we had some estimates, more conservative in nature than not, but we did not expect to see what was written in the report we received this week. Because of our efforts, Denver Water has determined that we ushered in the following savings, on an annual basis:
- 3.6 million gallons of water. Yes, that is millions! That’s a whole lot of water. Just picture what that may look like in jugs stacked upon one another. Now picture it in a (full) reservoir capable of sustaining Denver’s growing population. This is a big deal! It represents a…
- 30% reduction in indoor water use at the HOA. Considering that not all units had work done, this figure goes to show just how wasteful obsolete, 5-gallon-per-flush toilets and other old fixtures are.
- $24,000 is how much money the HOA will save each year as a direct result of the water conservation project. This means that what they paid for the project is recaptured during the first year and returned to reserves, and the community will only be saving money, in the way of many thousands of dollars, each year going forward.
We are so pleased to see these results. We have always known that our water conservation efforts would result in substantial savings for homeowners associations, but these figures show just how meaningful such projects are. From xeric landscaping, to toilet replacement, to comprehensive irrigation repair, CAP Management can lead your HOA to great financial savings…and help conserve perhaps the most important natural resource for our region. Give our Chief Sustainability Officer, Alex Bergeron, a call at 303.832.2971 ext. 102 to learn more.