Celebrating Innovation
Water Efficiency in Focus: Saving More Than Just Energy
Historically our Efficiency Team is known for managing our energy-related rebate programs, but efficiency is a value we promote for our electric and water customers. Water efficiency has become an equally important focus over the last few years, and especially this past summer, which was one of the driest summers on record for the Holland area.
Why Water Efficiency?
Even with the vast, seemingly endless supply of water we have in Lake Michigan, our Water Treatment Plant has a limited treatment capacity. On the hottest summer days, or when there is a drought—or both, as we experienced this year—customer water demands for watering lawns can strain the plant’s ability to treat enough drinking water for the entire community. Expanding the plant would require a large investment for only a few days use each year.
Residential Water Conservation
Since the problem is limited to just a handful of days, this year we rolled out new incentives to encourage customers to reduce summer lawn sprinkling. Residential water customers participated in a “Heatwave Sprinkling Holdoff” program. Customers with measurable water use reduction on specific days earned a chance to win a new electric lawnmower. On average, our residential water customers use three times more water per month in the summer than in the cooler months of the year, so sprinkling reduction was the primary opportunity for savings.
Business Water Conservation
For our business customers, we asked some of our largest irrigation users to voluntarily reduce or stop sprinkling on a similar handful of the hottest days. We also began piloting a new rebate to incentivize business customers to remove turf grass and install less water-intensive landscaping. Some of our largest customers also have significant non-irrigation water uses like cooling in a manufacturing process, so we began adding water conservation recommendations to our free energy walkthroughs that we offer to businesses.
Many customers showed a willingness to do their part to help us avoid peak demand days, and we are grateful for their efforts. Even with the record-breaking drought this summer, there were no days when the plant exceeded 86% of its rated capacity! We look forward to continuing our water conservation efforts. Be on the lookout next summer for ways you can get involved.
