Federal Water Conservation Projects

2000 Federal Water Management Award Winners

12th Flying Training Wing, Randolph Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force
The wing implemented effective water management initiatives, public awareness campaigns, and conservation projects, including using 106 million gallons of recycled graywater to irrigate the base golf course.

Dyess Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force
The base optimized irrigation water use and implemented voluntary water rationing to reduce water consumption by 30%, for a savings of 154 million gallons of water, or $258,000, per year.

Fort Huachuca, Department of the Army
Leak detection and repair, installation of low-flow and waterless fixtures, and implementation of a high-visibility water conservation education program saved the base 86 million gallons of water, or about $284,000.

George Washington Memorial Parkway, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
The NPS used an efficient new technology for watering the 400 trees located on the site, to reduce not only water use and costs, but labor costs, as well.

Mora National Fish Hatchery & Technology Center, U.S. Department of the Interior
A sophisticated new water reuse system is being installed at the site, saving approximately 2.2 billion gallons of water (about $9.3 million) per year, while educating visitors about the importance of water conservation.

Other Successful Federal Projects

Denver Federal Center, Colorado—In this project, FEMP worked with DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the General Services Administration, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, several equipment manufacturers, and the Denver Water Department (the local utility) to meet the following objectives:

• Improve energy and water efficiency
• Deploy U.S.-manufactured water technologies
• Reduce life-cycle costs and improve reliability
• Establish a showcase site to demonstrate effective technologies and practices for water conservation.

PIX 00660; Warren Gretz, NREL Indoor and outdoor water-efficient technologies were installed in and around Building 67 at the Denver Federal Center.

The project partners have successfully retrofitted parts of a large office building in the Denver Federal Center with numerous water-conserving fixtures and installed a computer-controlled irrigation system on the grounds, among other measures.

Department of Defense, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.— A few years ago, estimates indicated that the Federal Facilities Division of the Department of Defense's Washington Headquarters Services, Real Estate and Facilities Directorate at the Pentagon used 8 million gallons of water each year to irrigate the formal plantings that surrounded the parade field at the site. The total cost of that water in 1998 was $35,000, which indicated that cost savings could be significant if water conservation measures could be implemented there.

A study found that there were few faucets at the site, and those few were frequently inoperable. Watering the plantings with hoses was time-consuming and difficult to schedule. So there was a definite need to upgrade irrigation practices at the site. The solution was to irrigate about 7.2 acres of plantings with a state-of-the-art, automated, underground irrigation system using water from the nearby Potomac River. You can read more about this project in an article titled "Pentagon Plans a Water-Conserving Irrigation Project," which appeared in the July/August 1998 issue of the FEMP Focus newsletter.

Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico—In the Federal sector, individual buildings and water-using processes within a building or facility are often not metered separately. This does not mean that it is impossible to determine water use per building or even per process, however. For example, at DOE's Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico (SNL/NM), site staff are taking a systematic, comprehensive approach to water conservation and surveying their facility's water use. Not only does this help SNL/NM staff better understand water use at their facility, it also helps them determine which buildings and processes have the greatest potential for cost-effective water conservation projects.

Staff have conducted a site-wide water survey by using data on metered sewer flows; process knowledge of major water users (cooling towers, evaporative cooling units, ultra-pure water production, irrigation, and industrial facilities); standard water use for building occupants; existing water meter flows; and data from portable water meters. By adding calculated, nonmetered sewer flows to the metered sewer flows, staff were able to develop a water balance. Calculated sewer flows were within 10% of the metered flows, indicating the accuracy of the calculated flow numbers. To find out more about this "meterless audit" method, see the article titled "Sandia National Laboratory Conducts Water Survey to Identify Conservation Measures" in the July/August 1998 issue of FEMP Focus. To read about new projects at SNL/NM, visit their water conservation program web site at http://www.sandia.gov/aqua/aqua.htm.

Department of Health and Human Services, Parklawn Building, Rockville, Maryland—Before this project began, approximately 5,000 staff members housed in the HHS Program Support Center's (PSC's) 1.6-million-square-foot Parklawn Building had been consuming 51 million gallons of water each year, at a cost of $165,000, during their ordinary, day-to-day operations. After a study was done to investigate methods of reducing this water consumption and associated costs, HHS worked with PEPCO Services to acquire alternative financing for the cost-effective water conservation measures identified.

By replacing old toilets and faucets with up-to-date, low-flow models, the PSC should realize an estimated savings of 6.3 million gallons, and $58,240, per year. These conservation measures will pay for themselves in approximately three years. For more information about this project, see the article titled "HHS Conserves Water at the Program Support Center's Parklawn Building" in the May/June 2000 issue of FEMP Focus.

And More—Here are some additional articles on water conservation projects that have also been successfully implemented in the Federal sector in recent years:

"Fort Polk Uses Performance Contracting for Water Efficiency"

"Saltwater to Replace Freshwater Irrigation at Tsunami Warning Center"

"Sandia National Laboratory Demonstrates Water Recycling"

"Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Conducts Wastewater Reuse Project"

"Fort Hood Tests New Top-Load Horizontal-Axis Clothes Washers"

"Report Helps Military Conserve Water"

"Fort Carson Investigates Water Conservation"

"Fort Carson Employs Two Major Water Initiatives"

If you have implemented a successful water conservation project at your Federal facility, let us know. E-mail your project description to trina_brown@nrel.gov. We may contact you for more information upon receiving your e-mail.