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 Infrastructure A UTILITY‘S PATH TO FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Time $ Costs Revenues Limited by affordability Limited by potential for efficiency ? A Path to Financially Sustainable Infrastructure A UTILITY‘S PATH TO FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Utilities need to be able to assess: 1) how much they can reduce costs through efficiency 2) 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 StabilityCommunity Sustainability Financial ViabilityOperational Optimization Water Resource AdequacyOperational Resiliency Stakeholder UnderstandingEmployee Development Product QualityCustomer 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 =

Oregon Energy Trust EPA Bonneville Power ODEQ OR Assn Clean Water Agencies Zero Waste Alliance OR Dept of Energy 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 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 Grafe EPA Region 10 Sustainable Infrastructure Lead