direct installs product rebates incentives education
hill deduction retrofits plumbing repair tax status
water bill pilot programs Fix a Leak Week seniors
housing authorities energy programs multifemily
landscaping income qualification leak identification
nonprofit partners recruitment efforts toilet sensors
weathenzation flow meters AMI major leak repair
Assistance That Saves
How WaterSense Partners Incorporate
Water Efficiency into Affordability Programs

. A

WaterSense

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Table of Contents
Introduction	3
Acknowledgements
Identifying Candidates for Customer Assistance and Efficiency	5
Income Qualification
Homes That Need Help
Leak Detection Overlay
Ensuring Eguity of Efficiency Offerings
Partnerships Make It Possible	9
What Makes a Good Partner?
Partners in Action
Potential Partners Checklist
Where Water Conservation and Customer Assistance Intersect	12
Slowing the Flow From Leaks
Install Long-Term Savings
Education as Motivation
The Great Rebate Debate
Lessons Learned	16
Resources	18
Case Studies	19
Increasing Eguity—and Savings—in Sacramento
ATale ofTwo Cities Saving Water in Michigan
City of Oxnard, California, Helps Multifamily Maintenance Staff Monitor Leaks Remotely
Portland, Oregon, Spurs Eguity and Assistance to Underserved Customers
Westminster, Colorado, Has Water Savings at Its Corps
Partners Help the City of Guelph's Customers Emerge From Water Waste
Cal Water Pivots From Fixture Replacement to Irrigation Improvements During COVID-19
Madison Water Partners to Bring Water-Saving Projects Home
From Plumbing to Pipe Repair, SAWS Uplifts People
DISCLAIMER
Please note that any references to products within this document do not reflect promotion or endorsement on the
part ofWaterSense or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Organizations should review to determine if they are
appropriate and allowed for use pursuant to their own policies and rules.

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Introduction
Water costs have been increasing steadily in the
United States for more than a decade. Even so, the
cost of water remains relatively inexpensive for
most Americans compared to energy. However,
for households considered low-income, paying for
water can pose a financial burden. According to the
LJ.S Census Bureau, the overall five-year poverty rate
from 2015 to 2019 was 13.4 percent; but in some
U.S. counties, the poverty rate exceeded 30 percent.
For people living at or close to the poverty level,
and others such as seniors on a fixed income, water
affordability is critical.
For many years, water utilities have worked to ensure
this essential resource is available to all customers
in their service areas with a variety of customer
assistance programs (CAPs). The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) compiled a compendium
of such programs in 2016, noting that 30 percent of
large utilities reviewed offered some type of CAP, and
closer to 20 percent of medium-sized utilities also
offer CAPs. When the COVID-19 pandemic led to an
increase in unemployment in 2020, even more utilities
became focused on providing affordability and bill
payment assistance. Now, they are looking for ways to
reach underserved populations with water efficiency
assistance as well.
CAPs can take many forms, from bill discounts and
flexible payment terms to subsidies and temporary
assistance to avoid water shutoff. More and more,
utilities are finding that a focus on water efficiency can
enhance their CAP programs, not only making water
more affordable for those that need it, but bringing
leak repairs and water-efficient products to homes
that are not able to pay the upfront costs. By reducing
unnecessary water use, these programs are helping
to reduce the financial burden on families that might
have to choose between paying their water bill and
some other necessity.
To get a sense of how utilities are helping customers
save both water and money with proactive plumbing
repair and other programs, EPA contacted a number
of interested WaterSense® partners to participate in a
series of roundtables and interviews on the topic of
affordability and water efficiency in early 2021. More
than a dozen utilities provided input, ideas, lessons
learned, and case studies about how they incorporate
water conservation programs into their CAPs, from leak
detection in low-income homes to direct installs of
WaterSense labeled products. Many of the programs
described in this document focus on single-family
homeowners, but utilities are also working to make
multifamily homes more efficient, since many renters
don't receive a water bill directly but are responsible for
water costs.
One of the most important aspects that emerged
from utilities that marry their affordability support
programs and efficiency is how important partnering
with related organizations is to the success of their
programs. Community organizations that focus on
low-income assistance, seniors, energy efficiency, and
underserved populations have proven invaluable to
customer communications, recruitment, and trust-
buiiding. Many program partners administer aspects
of water efficiency CAPs, from gualifying potential
customers to conducting in-home visits and plumbing
services. WaterSense partners provided a variety of
ideas and advice for finding and working with partners.
As more utilities look to address water affordability and
efficiency, it may also be time to re-evaluate existing
conservation efforts for their eguity and accessibility.
While rebates encourage many residents to replace
3

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old toilets and other fixtures, saving water and energy
costs, they tend to favor customers with the disposable
income to procure products, hire contractors, and
handle the paperwork. During the roundtables,
WaterSense partners discussed the potential for
discrimination in some of their conservation efforts.
Some are now undertaking initiatives to make water
efficiency more eguitable across their customer base,
by conducting outreach and focusing affordability
efforts on previously underserved populations. With
these efforts and an increased focus on CAPs that
help conserve water, more Americans will be able to
access—and save—this essential resource.
Acknowledgements
WaterSense would like to thank the following partners
who provided insight and input to this document.
Additional resources such as sample forms and
agreements provided by organizations for WaterSense
partners are available on the WaterSense partner
website.
Albuguergue-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority
(New Mexico)
California Water Service
City of Charlottesville (Virginia)
City of Dallas
City of Fort Worth (Texas)
City ofGuelph (Ontario)
City of Richardson (Texas)
City of Sacramento (California)
City of Westminster (Colorado)
East Bay Municipal Utility District (California)
Madison (Wisconsin) Water Utility
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Miami-Dade (Florida) Water and Sewer Department
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes,
and Energy (EGLE)
Orange Water and Sewer Authority (North Carolina)
Portland (Oregon) Water Bureau
San Antonio Water System (Texas)
Seattle Public Utilities
Tacoma Public Utilities (Washington)
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Identifying Candidates for Customer
Assistance and Efficiency
An important aspect of customer assistance
programs is qualifying participants who can benefit
most from efforts to make water more affordable.
WaterSense partners use a variety of methods to
identify and recruit customers for water efficiency-
related CAPs, including focusing on low-income
areas, neighborhoods with older homes, water
usage trends, household leaks, bill payment history,
and other factors, such as environmental and social
justice screens. Following are some of the ways that
have worked to increase equity while encouraging
efficiency in communities.
Income Qualification
If you are adding efficiency to an existing affordability
program, past bill payment history may be the
simplest way to identify customers that could benefit
from conservation assistance. However, certain
state regulations, organizational charters, and grant
protocols stipulate that free fixtures and other types
of conservation assistance should go to customers
with specific needs or incomes. For that reason, many
programs have household income as one of the main
criteria they use to qualify customers for their CAPs.
There are some differences in the ways programs
qualify participants and define"low-income,"but most
are designed to ensure that assistance is truly needed
and that providing plumbing repairs and WaterSense
labeled fixtures will make a difference in water bills and
usage.
For example, many utilities use the poverty level as a
starting point for assistance, but since many residents
living at that low an income don't own their own
homes, and state definitions of poverty vary, most of
them set minimum household income requirements
higher than the federal poverty index.
Several WaterSense partner CAP programs report using
125 percent or 150 percent of the poverty level for
their income qualification, and the City of Fort Worth,
Texas, uses 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
There appears to be no consistent qualification across
the country for participants who receive water utility
assistance. Programs also use the median household
income—or the point at which half the households
in a given area take in above or below that amount in
a given year—as an indicator for customer assistance
needs, and they set their qualifying incomes at some
point below the median for their area.
Setting Standards for Program Participation
Looking for a place to start when defining
"low-income"in your program efforts? The U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
publishes income guidelines for low-income
housing, as well as the median income levels for
each state and metropolitan area.
Whatever income-qualifying indicator your program
uses, you may need to verify applicants'income levels
through tax returns, pay stubs, or other confirmation
methods. One of the easiest ways to ensure your
program is reaching those who need it most is to
partner with an existing organization or energy utility
that has already conducted such income qualifications.
A successful partner could provide you with a ready list
of residents to recruit or customers to cross-reference
with your own.
For example, San Antonio Water System (SAWS)
established income eligibility at 125 percent of
the federal poverty level for its customer support
services. For many years, a city department collected
applications and qualified households. Recently, SAWS
moved to new methods that allow faster application
processing. An online tool tied to a credit agency uses
prior year tax records to qualify most applicants within
minutes. For cases where a tax record or social security
number is a barrier, internal SAWS staff collect the
information necessary to determine qualifications.
Fixed-income customers, such as seniors, are often a
target of affordability and efficiency efforts. The City
of Dallas'low-income minor leak repair program, for
example, includes seniors on a fixed income.The
simplest ways to qualify such customers are to look
5

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at their tax status or have them self-report. However,
some seniors accessing these programs have reported
difficulty with the online forms, and some don't have
the technology needed to complete applications
online, so programs offer hard-copy forms for them to
fill out and provide customer service representatives
to walk seniors through the guestions over the phone.
Be prepared to meet these participants where they
are, or partner with other organizations that already
have qualified senior citizens and piggyback on their
offerings.
Homes That Need Help
Sometimes the smartest way to combine efficiency
with affordability is to target homes that are more
likely to be in underserved communities with older
plumbing fixtures. Residents who live in older housing
stock often face the"double whammy"of limited
income and old or leaky fixtures, leading to higher
water bills than necessary.These are often the same
homes that could benefit from weatherization and
other efforts to increase energy efficiency so they hold
a lot of promise for partnership with energy utilities,
home improvement organizations, and local energy
assistance programs.
Many programs target specific neighborhoods with
older homes for marketing, outreach, and community
partnerships. What constitutes an "older home" often
varies by how much funding the program has available
and whether its direct install or rebate program has
already saturated an area. A number of utilities use
f
Targeting for Greatest Impact
With a population of nearly 250,000 below the
federal poverty level and older housing stock,
the City of Detroit is a good place to tackle both
water waste and affordability. The Alliance for
Water Efficiency (AWE) carried out a study to
consider how available census, socioeconomic,
and housing data could be combined at a census
tract level to assess opportunities for addressing
affordability and potential water savings from
fixture replacements.This kind of analysis can
help utilities to target their programs to parts
of their service area where they will be able to
achieve a win-win of customer assistance and
water savings. For more information, read the
AWE report, An Assessment of Water Affordability
and Conservation Potential in Detroit, Michiaan.
1994 as the cutoff to focus on homes that might have
toilets installed before national plumbing reguirements
set the maximum flush volume for toilets at 1.6 gallons
per flush (gpf).The City of Fort Worth offers a free toilet
voucher for any resident with a home built before
1994; nearby, the City of Dallas, which has had a robust
plumbing repair program for many years, now targets
homes built prior to 2004 with its toilet replacement
program that installs WaterSense labeled toilets using
1.28 gpf or less. Dallas also provides minor leak repairs
for low-income homes where the plumbing is failing.
Residents aren't the only customers who can benefit
from energy and water improvements in underserved
areas; restaurants, retailers, and religious organizations
can use a boost to their buildings with weatherization
and water efficiency. A number of programs are
reaching out to smali and medium-sized businesses
in disadvantaged areas with water and energy
assessments and free equipment. The subsequent
savings on utility bills could come in handy for
those places hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, the City of Pasadena, California, has a
Water & Energy Direct Install Program (known as
6

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WeDIP) that provides select commercial customers in
disadvantaged communities with free assessments
and installation of up to $7,500 in energy- and water-
saving eguipment, such as toilets, faucet aerators,
showerheads, and clothes washers. As long as the
business is a "small commercial"entity customer of
the City utility and uses less than 50 kilowatts (kW) of
electricity per year, they qualify.
Leak Detection Overlay
Lowering water bills is often about identifying
unnecessary usage and detecting leaks.The most
common way to pinpoint customers that may be
paying for more water than they use is through usage
trends. Some utilities just flag monthly water use and
contact customers when they see something out of
the norm; others use advanced metering infrastructure
(AMI—an integrated system of water meters,
communication networks, and data management
systems) to tell customers as soon as they spot
something that might be a leak. Flow sensors can also
tell customers directly if they have a leak.
On the low-tech side, some utilities are flagging high
water use trends or unusually high bills, especially in
lower income areas, and contacting customers by
phone, email, or letter to let them know that they
might have a leak. Simple leak repair is often residents'
first exposure to the utility's affordability and efficiency
program, and it can open opportunities for other ways
to save, such as direct installs or assessments.
Other utilities work through partners to target
neighborhoods for leak inspections as part of a
broader energy and water assessment, revealing pipes
and fixtures that could have been wasting water for
years. Sometimes wastewater leaks can be the impetus
for customers—who don't differentiate by type of
leak—to call the utility, so water and sewer services
may want to coordinate on community outreach.
Those who have installed AMI onsite in older, low-
income communities use metering to pinpoint
leaks and stop water waste quickly. AM! can create
Water heater installation in Sacramento
dashboards and generate home water reports that
target recommendations based on water use; some
systems report results and leak detection as fast as
within two days. To take advantage of AMI, however,
the homeowner needs to register for the data usage
portal, or conservation staff need to monitor the
dashboards and contact customers. One way to get
customers to sign up for the portal is to offer them a
water-saving fixture or direct install. In Albuquerque,
New Mexico, customers who qualify for the
Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority's
low-income bi credit receive a free onsite audit and
AMI installation.
Flow sensors such as Flume are another way to
monitor for leaks and signal the need for repairs. SAWS
has a flow sensor rebate program that covers nearly
the entire cost of the sensor. The rebate requires
up-front costs and has not been as popular in low-
income households. Sensors also require wi-fi access,
which could be a barrier to some customers. SAWS
has explored options through surveys to low-income
households to determine which ones already have wi-
fi and would like a flow sensor; a small number of flow
sensors have been provided to survey respondents.
One of these customers contacted conservation staff a
7

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few months later to discuss data and concluded they
had an early leak that the flow sensor identified. As
a next step, SAWS is looking to experiment with "hot
spot"devices that can provide just enough broadband
signal to operate a flow sensor; this will help determine
if providing both a hot spot and flow sensor would be
desirable and helpful for low-income households.
Ensuring Equity of Efficiency
Offerings
If you're looking to go beyond affordability and
promote your water efficiency offerings to a wider
audience, it may make sense to add eguity as a screen
to your recruitment efforts.Traditional conservation
programs such as rebates tend to benefit those in a
better financial position to buy and install water-saving
products, and traditional outreach and events may also
be missing a large portion of your community. Casting
a wider net with water conservation may not be
obvious, however.That's where partners can help; from
efforts that support African-American homeownership
to immigrant-oriented organizations, these groups
can help identify, recruit, and gualify individuals that
might be underserved by your conservation program
offerings.
Another way to identify communities that could
benefit more from your efforts is an eguity or
environmental justice screen. A number of tools are
available on the internet to pinpoint places that might
be more vulnerable to environmental impacts, as well
as low-income, minority, and non-English-speaking.
For example, the CalEnviroScreen hosted by the state
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is
a science-based map tool that helps identify California
communities that are most affected by many sources
of pollution, and that are often especially vulnerable to
pollution's effects.This tool uses environmental, health,
and socioeconomic information to produce a score for
each census tract in the state, and it provides a color-
coded map for the entire state, which can be searched
by individual counties, cities, and neighborhoods.
Some utilities, such as the City of Sacramento, use
Draft CalEnviroScreen 4.0
The Draft CalEnviroScreen 4.0 tool shows cumulative
impacts in California communities by census tract.
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•	Zoom in/out with a mouse wheel or the +/- itinns
•	Search by location or census tract number with
the search icon.
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it to identify disadvantaged communities in the
state and target their affordability and efficiency
efforts to specific areas. Information about race/
ethnicity, languages spoken, and share of low-income
households is included (see case study, page 20).
At the national level, EPA's EJ SCREEN is an
environmental justice mapping and screening tool
that combines environmental indicators, including air
guality indicators and proximity to waste sites, with
demographic indicators, such as percentages of low-
income homes, people of color, and individuals over
the age of 64. It can be used to identify vulnerable
communities by census tract, as well as "linguistic
isolation,"or households where the occupants over 14
years of age do not speak English as a first language,
and outreach in other languages might be needed.
WaterSense partners agreed that once they identified
specific underserved populations to target, trusted
organizations and individuals were critical to helping
them spread the word about their efficiency and
affordability programs. Using existing channels
and communications customers couid relate to,
these community partners helped pave the way for
recruitment, repairs, and results. Providing materials
and letters about leaks in the languages they speak
also helped convince more customers to participate
in water conservation efforts that brought their bills
under control.
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Partnerships Make It Possible
One thing came through loud and clear when talking
to WaterSense partners about their affordability and
efficiency programs—partners are critical to success at
the community level. Nonprofits, municipal programs,
energy utilities, and other community organizations
can help identify, recruit, and communicate with your
customers for affordability and efficiency programs.
Many of them have established roots and build trust
within the community, which can be key to reaching
your customer base. And if they are already running
similar programs for home improvement or energy
efficiency, they may be able to administer some
portion of your efforts, so you don't have to reinvent
the wheel.
If you are starting a new program, make sure to include
partners from the outset. Get their input on your
program offerings, qualification criteria, application
process, and outreach tactics; you may rethink your
initial assumptions about what customers need and
how to give it to them.Trust what your partners tell
you about the audiences they serve; they know their
constituents'motivations and barriers much better
than you do.
Before you assume partners want to work with you,
make sure you fully understand their mission and
community members. Find areas of overlap in your
affordability and efficiency objectives, to ensure that
what you are asking will help them achieve theirs.
Determine what business model they use, and
whether your program will work within it—don't
expect them to change their set procedures or assume
large amounts of financial responsibility before getting
reimbursed, since many of these organizations are
nonprofits that operate on a shoestring budget.
What Makes a Good Partner?
There are a variety of partners who are also focused
on efficiency and affordability, and some might even
work in the same building. Electric and gas utilities,
for example, often have bill payment assistance and
efficiency programs; if yours is a municipal entity, you
may share customers or administrative requirements,
so there will be built-in opportunities to combine
efforts. WaterSense public utility partners that are
connected with the local energy provider noted that
they don't have to conduct the income qualifications
themselves; if customers qualify for the energy
assistance, they qualify for water bill assistance as well.
Some electric and gas utilities send water efficiency
mailings to their customers and help make the energy-
water savings connection. Even if your local utilities
are privately owned, you may be able to piggyback on
their efforts.
Speak Up to Spark Support From State and
Local Energy Efficiency Programs
Looking for opportunities to include water
efficiency in programs that are focused on
energy efficiency or weatherization? Go right
to the source! Some state, federal, or utility
programs fund local energy improvements and
will include water fixture installations, but they
won't know that need unless you call attention
to it. In Michigan, the state Department of
Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy brought
funding to the table for their plumbing repair
pilot by going right to the source of energy
efficiency funds.They also convinced two local
utility programs, DTE and Efficiency United, to
provide free water heaters.
Community efficiency efforts are often supported
by local energy assistance programs, also known as
LEAPs or LIHEAPs (low-income home energy assistance
programs). Funded by utilities, contributions, and
grants at the federal, state, and local level, these
programs typically offer home energy check-ups,
tune-ups, and direct installation of products and other
improvements to reduce energy usage and utility bills.
Many already install water-efficient showerheads and
faucet aerators, so they understand the importance
of reducing water to save energy. For those that focus
on weatherization to improve home efficiency, a
9

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WaterSense labeled toilet would complement those
home improvements. Many LEAP programs already
have relationships with plumbers that install their
appliances, so they can check for leaks and complete
direct installs.
Beyond energy efficiency, local nonprofits provide a
variety of home ownership support in low-income
communities. From building homes to providing
assistance that helps struggling families survive, these
groups share common goals with your efficiency
and affordability efforts. Organizations that work with
seniors, minorities, immigrants, and other underserved
populations tend to have more trust among their
constituents than the local government or utility
does. Some of these organizations serve a specific
population; others focus on community improvement,
environmental justice, or faith-based initiatives. Find
places where your program goals align with theirs and
identify assistance you can offer them. For example,
can you provide free fixtures at a local food bank
event, or help a local Habitat for Humanity build get
donations of WaterSense labeled products for one of
their "blitz builds"?
Photo courtesy of Fulton County (Georgia) Department of Water
Resources
Get creative when thinking about potential partners;
nearby universities may have graduate students
looking for programs to study or support, and they
may be willing to provide you with free surveys,
evaluations, or communications and outreach. Local
cooperative programs and service-learning initiatives
may provide willing volunteers to help staff events,
conduct home visits, or canvass homes for recruiting
purposes. Likewise, don't forget about opportunities
to help your partners conduct outreach; invite them
to your water festivals or Fix a Leak Week events, and
promote your programs at their events.
Partners in Action
Following are some examples of successful
partnerships that WaterSense partner utilities have
forged to foster water efficiency and affordability:
•	In Washington, Seattle Public Utilities gets new
customer assistance enrollees from its energy
utility counterpart, so it doesn't have to gualify
participants but can just send a water mailer
to them. Tacoma Public Utilities operates in
a similar manner, and a shared utility customer
service department handles the intake of income-
eligible customers.
•	In California, the East Bay Municipal Utility
District (EBMUD) partners with Pacific Gas &
Electric (PG&E), which has a program that focuses
on low-income residences. PG&E performs most
of the legwork on gualifying participants, and
EBMUD piggybacks its services as a third-party
provider The Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California has materials translated by
the local gas company, which gets them into the
hands of those who need them most.
•	The City of Charlottesville, Virginia, has its
electric, gas, and water utilities under one
umbrella, so the water utility benefits from its
energy efficiency program for low-income and
elderly customers; all three utilities partner with a
LEAP run by a local nonprofit that installs efficient
fixtures.
•	In Wisconsin, Madison Water works with a
nonprofit that provides free energy efficiency
and other improvements for low- and moderate-
income homeowners who can't afford to hire a
contractor or get them to come out for a small
plumbing job.
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In North Carolina, the Orange Water and Sewer
Authority partners with local social services
agencies, as well as nonprofits such as Habitat
for Humanity that work on home improvement
efforts.
The City of Guelph, Ontario, partners with a
local grassroots nonprofit that offers tune-ups
in older single-family homes, another nonprofit
that focus on multifamily improvements, and a
local immigration services office to reach out to
refugees and other immigrants.
The City of Westminster, Colorado, partners with
a regional housing authority to run its leak repair
program and recruit participants; it also works
with a local job corps program that provides direct
installs and local workforce training as it conducts
Potential Partners Checklist
energy upgrades funded by an energy outreach
program in the state.
•	The Portland (Oregon) Water Bureau has a
partnership with the African American Alliance
for Homeownership; in addition to operating
Portland's leak repair program, the alliance refers
participants from among its constituents.
•	Michigan's Department of Environment, Great
Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) sought a wide variety
of partners to support its pilot program launched
in 2021; including grassroots nonprofits, county
assistance programs, utilities, state universities
for data collection, WaterSense manufacturer
partners, and a community environmental activist
and religious leader that instilled trust among
residents.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
~	Local utilities
~	Local energy assistance programs
~	Low-income home energy assistance
~	State energy offices
~	Weatherization programs
EQUITY AND INCLUSION
~	African American Alliance for Homeownership
~	Committee for Hispanic Families and Children
~	UnidosUS
~	Immigration and refugee service agencies
HOME OWNERSHIP AND IMPROVEMENT
~	Habitat for Humanity
~	Rebuilding Together
~	Operation Homefront
~	Homes for OurTroops
~	Volunteers for America
~	Christmas in April
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
~	Churches and faith-based organizations
~	Senior service agencies
~	Universities
~	Job corps/training programs
~	Service-learning organizations
~	Boys and Girls Clubs
HOUSING/ASSISTANCE
~	Housing authorities
~	Food banks
~	Area Agency on Aging
~	Meals on Wheels
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Where Water Conservation and Customer
Assistance Intersect
Utility water efficiency efforts dovetail well with CAP
programs, combining low-income customers'needs
with community water-saving goals. Using AMI for
leak detection and providing plumbing repairs, which
many conservation programs do, are a natural fit for
affordability. Installing WaterSense labeled products
directly in customers'homes is another way to reduce
water costs, and it may work better than rebates to
address affordability issues. Education is also a useful
approach to encourage future savings and keep water
bills in check.
Slowing the Flow From Leaks
Some affordability programs build in water efficiency
by structuring payment discounts based on water use;
instead of reducing the amount of the entire bill, they
apply reductions to or waive the fixed portion of the
bill, incentivizing customers to save water to reduce
the variable portion themselves. Others provide flow
restrictors to customers who cannot pay bills regularly,
so that they are able to access enough water for basic
health and daily needs, but not overuse it.
Leak detection is part of many CAP programs, because
it stops customers from wasting water they can't see.
As described previously, leaks can be detected by
reviewing monthly water bills, installing AMI, or using
sensor technologies. Leak detection is often included
in residential energy and water home check-ups, and
it can even be done over the phone. Some water
utilities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, had
customer service representative talk residents through
some simple leak checks at home. Use the WaterSense
Detect and Chase Down Leaks checklist or the Fix a
Leak Week At Home Activity if you don't have your own
list; both are available in Spanish. WaterSense partners
can also access the checklist in Simplified Chinese.
Who needs assistance with both bills and efficiency?Any
specific demographic targets?
Look for local or state organizations with similar goals,
design, recruitment, implementation, and outreach.
Consider options to deliver assistance in a way that
meets customers'needs and water-saving goals.
Work out how assistance will be provided, how eligibility
will be determined, funding limitations, etc.
Review state law, service agreements, funding provisions,
and liability concerns for installing products.
Develop contractor capability and internal capacity for
home visits and customer service.
Engage the public for recruitment and promotional
purposes, working through your partners.
Implement and include ways to evaluate the program
and make improvements over time.
EXAMINE
LEGAL ISSUES
SECURE LOCAL
PARTNERS
FIND STAFF AND
CONTRACTORS
ANALYZE
YOUR OPTIONS
CONDUCT PUBLIC
OUTREACH
EVALUATE
AND IMPROVE
INDENTIFYTARGET
AUDIENCES
DETERMINE AID
ELIGIBILITY
Smart Steps to a Successful Conservation-Oriented CAP
Each of these eight
steps, adapted from
EPA's compendium
on drinking water
and wastewater CAPs,
is also critical to any
program focused
on water efficiency
and customer
assistance, such as a
direct install or leak
repair effort. Some of
these topics—such
as partnerships and
financial eligibility—
are discussed in more
detail in previous
sections of this tool;
others are described
later in this section or in
the case studies at the
end of this document.
12

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Leverage Fix a Leak Week to Launch
Looking for an opportunity to launch a leak
detection and repair effort in a particular
community? Consider Fix a Leak Week, the third
week of March.The City of Dallas was one of
the first WaterSense partners to do so, March 15
through 21,2010, by holding "The Great Dallas
Fix a Leak Week Roundup"to address the backlog
with its low-income plumbing repair program.
Using toilets and other fixtures donated by
Kohler, the City rounded up as many plumbers as
it could to fix leaks and improve plumbing in 100
homes.
Some WaterSense partners have found that their utility
employees are more experienced in identifying the
source of residential water waste than plumbers, based
on their familiarity with the common leaks that make
customers'water bills spike.
Once leaks are identified, there might be simple fixes
the customer can make themselves. Worn flappers
are inexpensive to purchase, and WaterSense offers a
video on how to replace them. More complicated leaks
reguire new fixtures or plumbing repair. Major leak
and pipe repairs are a bigger issue, especially in older
communities. Weather events, such as the severe 2021
winter storms in Texas, can increase the need for major
leak repair, replacement of burst pipes, and plumbing
overhauls. Be sure to prioritize emergency responses
in low-income communities, where customers cannot
typically afford the up-front cost of major plumbing
repairs and wait for reimbursement.
For plumbing repair programs designed to help low-
income customers, be sure to have plenty of plumbers
on contract and ready to meet demand. Several
WaterSense partners reported difficulties securing
the contractors needed to service their leak repair
initiatives. Some plumbers don't want to do business
with municipal utilities, as the reporting reguirements
can be guite cumbersome. However, if you have a
plumbing contractor that services the city's buildings,
they may be interested in expanding their business
and able to handle the administrative paperwork.
When it launched its pilot program for Fix a Leak Week
2021, Michigan's EGLE engaged the local plumbers'
unions in order to ramp up installation efforts.
While looking for leaks indoors, don't forget about
outdoor water waste. In some drier parts of the
country, even low-income areas like to have nice lawns
and irrigate their landscapes. Even if your irrigation
evaluation program isn't income-based, if you offer
free outdoor audits and simple repairs, you could be
stopping sprinkler system leaks that cause water bills
to spike in the summer. WaterSense has Sprinkler
Spruce-Up materials available in English and Spanish
to support our partners'efforts; consider contracting
with irrigation professionals certified by a WaterSense
labeled program to conduct audits and provide
irrigation improvements.
Install Long-Term Savings
Because customers who have trouble paying their bills
are likely not able to afford to buy a new toilet to get a
rebate, installing WaterSense labeled models may be a
better way to assist with affordability when customers
are wasting water with old fixtures. Many direct install
programs focus on replacing older toilets.The utility
typically covers the cost of installation, which includes
removing the old toilet; make sure you have a waiver
the customer can sign before entering the home and
13

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plan for disposing or reusing the ceramics from the
toilets.
If you have a rebate program that reimburses
residents for the cost of the toilet and installation,
contractors may be willing to assist and front the cost
of the product and labor. If they keep WaterSense
labeled models on hand, plumbers can install them
in customers'homes and apply for reimbursement,
keeping the homeowner from having to pay any
money in the transaction. Another way utility
partners have kept direct install costs low is by
asking manufacturer partners to donate WaterSense
labeled fixtures, and several of those companies have
contributed to their efforts.
Community partners can also come in handy by
installing fixtures. Some utilities have found nonprofit
partners such as Habitat for Humanity chapters and
energy assistance providers that were already doing
home tune-ups and improvements and had access to
plumbers who were able to add WaterSense labeled
products to their services. You may find that local
energy assistance programs are already installing
faucets, aerators, and showerheads; it's not a big leap
to ask them to make sure they are WaterSense labeled
and consider installing a rebated high-efficiency toilet
as well.
There have been some downsides reported with
direct installs. In some instances, customers have been
reluctant to allow contractors into their homes due to
a lack of trust in the program or utility, and in others
contractors have found the plumbing repair reguired
in older homes that haven't been well-maintained
exceeds the costs allowed for installation. Following
the serious issues with drinking water contamination
in Flint, Michigan's EGLE found that customers were
more concerned about the guality of their water and
contamination from lead pipes than they were with
failing plumbing fixtures. Incorporating a healthy
homes initiative with a trusted community partner
helped alleviate skepticism and enhance participation
in their leak detection and direct install program.
Commodes to Roads in Colorado
One of the planning issues that must be
addressed in any direct install program is what to
do with the fixtures that are replaced, especially
old toilets, which shouldn't end up in other
homes or a landfill.To address this dilemma,
Colorado Springs Utilities came up with a plan
to recycled toilets many years ago. Because
the ceramic in toilets makes a good aggregate
material, and since the utility already had a
permit to recycle concrete and other materials,
they were able to crush the old, inefficient
toilets into aggregate suitable for road base,
and allowed transportation crews to pick up the
material for free. Known as "Commodes to Roads,"
the program was quite successful at solving
multiple challenges in the city!
In other partners'programs, customers were eager
for new fixtures, but after the products were installed,
they assumed the utility was responsible for plumbing
repairs for the life of the fixture. Some partners with a
direct install program reported receiving phone calls
from seniors and other recipients many years after they
installed toilets in their homes, so be prepared to have
customer service representatives respond to reguests
for repairs or replacements when installed products
have issues in the future.
Education as Motivation
While efficient fixtures can help reduce water use and
bills, behavioral changes can help keep charges at
bay. Many home check-ups, direct installs, and AMI
dashboards are accompanied by water conservation
education, including materials that WaterSense
provides and partners can customize. Some partners
incentivize education by providing one-time
discounts or reductions on water bills for taking a
water conservation webinar; others reguire those who
receive customer assistance to complete a course.
14

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The Great Rebate Debate
Many water utilities already have rebate programs, so
why don't more make these incentives part of their
affordability efforts? In areas where state regulations
might limit how and which funding can be spent
on programs that benefit seniors and low-income
residents over other customers, rebates may seem
like a viable option. In reality, however, rebates are not
usually designed with affordability in mind.
For starters, rebates reguire residents to purchase
the product up front, and those who struggle to pay
water bills might not have the disposable income for
a new toilet. If they're not the do-it-yourself type, they
also might not be able to afford to hire a plumber to
install it. Even if they are handy, some customers are
"time poor"with work and other obligations. What's
more, some seniors and other customers might not
have the vehicle or ability to buy and bring home a
toilet.That said, there are some benefits to rebates over
direct installs. For one, those who select and buy their
own plumbing fixtures take ownership of the product,
its installation, and whatever happens to it in the
future, so they are far less likely to call the utility when
something goes wrong with it. And rebate programs
generally don't reguire collection and disposal of the
replaced fixtures.
There may be ways to make the rebate work, for
example in multifamily buildings.The Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan)
operates a six-county water-efficient toilet rebate
program for its 26 member agencies. To better target
its efforts, Metropolitan reviewed local demographics
and determined that 60 percent of the multifamily
customers in its service area are in disadvantaged
communities (DACs), and decided to conduct a
Regional Rebate Pilot Program. Initially, property
owners of multifamily units were offered a rebate
of $250 for premium high-efficiency toilets flushing
with 1.1 gpforless—enough to cover the cost of the
new toilet and installation.To gualify, buildings had
to be constructed prior to 1994, and pre-installation
inspections were conducted to identify the older
toilets and collect water usage data.
Metropolitan contacted regional trade associations for
apartment owners, as well as sending information to
contractors who had previously participated in rebate
programs. The contractors were supportive of the
project and eager to engage property owners with
whom they had connections, especially because of the
funding incentives.
As a result of the successful promotion, Metropolitan
processed 67 applications covering nearly 8,000
toilets retrofitted during the pilot. About 40 percent
of the toilets were 3.5 gpf models, and 75 percent
of the toilets replaced were 1.6 gpf or higher. While
the program was not specifically geared towards
underserved properties, 54 percent of applications
received were identified as properties in DAC census
tracts; toilets in those buildings tended to have higher
flush volumes than those in non-DAC buildings.
Following the successful pilot, Metropolitan now offers
the pre-1994 multifamily program annually but with a
tiered approach—offering the full rebate of $250 for
replacement of toilets 3.5 gpf or higher, and a $125
rebate for replacement of 1.6 gpf to 3.4 gpf toilets.
Rebates can also work in conjunction with
partnerships; in Wisconsin, Madison Water partners
with a local nonprofit organization called Project
Home. As part of its free energy efficiency support for
low- and moderate-income families, Project Home
provides efficient showerheads and aerators; the
organization purchases WaterSense labeled toilets and
installs them for clients, then applies for the $100 toilet
rebate Madison Water offers. In that way, customers
who might not be able to afford a plumber—or be
able to get one to come out for a small job—can enjoy
the benefits of water savings and performance with a
new toilet too.
15

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Lessons Learned
With the wide variety of customer assistance programs
that incorporate water conservation of late, there have
been many opportunities to learn from utilities that
prioritize both efficiency and affordability. Following
are some of the lessons learned by successful—and
challenging—efforts:
•	Prioritizing partnerships increases efficiency.
Partners have been critical to the qualification,
credibility, and communications of successful
conservation-oriented customer assistance
programs. Grassroots organizations that customers
trust pave the way for utilities to promote their
affordable conservation programs within the
community, reducing the effort needed for
recruitment, qualification of applicants, and
promotion of your program.
•	Energy programs have weathered this before.
Some of the best partners might be other utilities,
agencies, and organizations that make energy
improvements such as weatherization for low-
income constituents.They are often funded by
state or federal funds, and many include water-
efficient showerheads and faucet aerators in their
offerings. Your efforts could be well informed by
their experience, and many are willing to to handle
purchasing the hardware and installing plumbing
fixtures.
•	Lose the legwork, piggyback instead.
You don't need to hold your own recruitment
campaigns, educational events, or product
distributions; partners can carry the water when
it comes to public outreach. Housing assistance
fairs, food banks, and nonprofit charity events may
give you the opportunity for a tabletop display
to distribute information and free faucet aerators
or showerheads. WaterSense campaigns, such
as Fix a Leak Week, can be used to launch leak
repair projects or programs in low-income areas;
WaterSense educational materials and outreach
templates available to partners can reduce your
communications and promotional costs.
•	Don't assume items will get installed. Just
because you distribute free fixtures, don't assume
they will get installed. One partner found Flume
devices they provided to customers didn't get
connected; another makes a point of checking
Facebook marketplace after distribution events
to ensure their fixtures aren't getting sold online.
Before offering free plumbing fixtures, consider
and remove the potential barriers customers may
face before they can use the products.That's why
many utilities depend on direct installs to get the
job done.
•	Line up leak repair professionals. Before
launching a plumbing repair or direct install
program for qualified customers, make sure you
have contractor support to manage the flow of
applicants. Don't assume contractors will be easily
accessible when you launch your program; line
up enough licensed plumbers ahead of time,
and keep a directory of providers available. Some
partners have found that one plumbing company
with a service area that matches theirs keeps
quality and communications consistent; others
found having multiple plumbers with municipal
contracts meant they were available when their
leak repair needed to ramp up. You may need to
provide incentives for them to participate, or an
easy way for them to purchase qualified products
and conduct installations, then get the rebate
directly from you.
•	Consider customer service. For utilities
undertaking their own direct install programs,
make sure you have dedicated customer service
representatives available to answer questions
from participants. And don't be surprised if those
questions keep coming long after customers
receive their toilets. Some WaterSense partners
found that direct install customers will attempt to
contact the utility when the toilet needs repair or
replacement, even long after the product warranty
has expired.
16

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Speak their language. Being able to
communicate with your area's diverse population
is instrumental in reaching customers who may
need assistance. Make sure your promotional
materials, forms, and websites are translated
into the language your customers speak, as well
as culturally appropriate for the communities
you want to reach. Partners whom your target
audience trusts are also the best source of
information and influence. Get partner input on
your programs'plans, processes, and promotions
to ensure they are understandable by and
resonate with customers.
Work with WaterSense partners where
possible. Some WaterSense utility partners have
found plumbing manufacturers in the program
who are willing to provide products for charity
builds, home makeovers, and direct installs. As
part of their sustainability goals, many companies
wish to align themselves with organizations that
encourage financial resiliency and conservation. If
your affordability effort involves outdoor efficiency,
make sure to contract with irrigation professionals
who have been certified by a WaterSense labeled
program.
Many of these lessons are apparent in the plumbing
repair, direct install, and other CAP projects that
WaterSense partners have undertaken in recent years.
The case studies on the following pages describe the
programs, qualifications, partners, and processes that
allowed partners to promote both affordability and
efficiency successfully—as well as what they learned to
do differently.
17

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Resources
Customer Assistance and Water Efficiency
Drinking Water and Wastewater Utility Customer Assistance Programs (EPA, 2016):
https://www.epa.aov/waterfinancecenter/compendium-drinkina-water-and-wastewater-customer-assistance-
programs
An Assessment of Water Affordability and Conservation Potential in Detroit, Michigan (AWE, 2020):
https://www.allianceforwaterefficiencv.ora/impact/our-work/assessment-water-affordabilitv-and-conservation-
potential-detroit-michiaan
Thinking Outside the Bill: A Utility Manager's Guide to Assisting Low-Income Water Customers (American Water
Works Association [AWWA], 2014):
https://www.awwa.Org/Portals/0/AWWA/ETS/Resou rces/ThinkingOutsidetheBill-2Ed.pdf
Water Rates: Water Affordability—Issue Brief (Pacific Institute, 2012)
https://pacinst.oro/publication/water-rates-water-affordabilitv-need-to-know-brief/
/\ 1/1/1/1/4 Journal Article on Affordability Programs (2017):
https://www.portlandoreaon.gov/cbo/article/663680
WaterWorid Article on the Future of Affordability Programs (2018):
https://www.waterworld.com/water-utilitv-manaoement/article/16190095/the-future-of-affordabilitv-proo rams
Where We Are Today: Identifying and Reaching Vulnerable Customers (Valor Water Analytics blog, 2019):
https://efcnetwork.org/challenaes-and-innovations-current-and-future-states-of-water-affordabilitv-part-2/
Equity
CalEnviroScreen: https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen
Portland (Oregon) Water Bureau Eguity Matrix:
https://pdx.maps.arcois.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=2e2252af23ed4be3a666f780cbaddfc5
Portland (Oregon) Water Bureau Small Business Utility Relief Program:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/water/80822
Multifamily Assistance
Portland (Oregon) Water Bureau—Multi-Family Financial Assistance:
https://www.portland.gov/water/water-financial-assistance/multifamilv-housing-financial-assistance
Low-Income and Multifamily EE programs (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy):
https://database.aceee.oro/citv/low-income-multifamilv
Customer Assistance Programs for Multi-Family Residential and Other Hard-to-Reach Customers (Water Research
Foundation):
https://www.waterrf.org/research/proiects/customer-assistance-programs-multi-familv-residential-and-other-
hard-reach
18

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Case Study
in Sacramento
Increasing Equity—and Savings—
The City of Sacramento (California) offers a rate
assistance program, fee assistance services, and
indoor and outdoor product rebates. The City also has
the .eak-Free Sacramento program, which provides
free repairs to eligible single-family homeowners
in disadvantaged communities and low-income
households. Leak Free Sacramento provides repairs,
replacements, or upgrades on plumbing and irrigation
fixtures, as well as mainline repairs.
Having mapped out its rebate recipients, the
City noticed that they tended to be in wealthier
communities, and there were some neighborhoods
with no customer participation. Although the City of
Sacramento is not aiiowed to discount or subsidize
a program for a specific community, they were
concerned by the data that they were not reaching
disadvantaged communities. During the last drought
and heat waves, it also became more apparent that
neighborhoods with less tree canopies and other
disadvantages are hit harder than other communities.
This can not only affect water and energy bills, but also
widen the gap between affluent neighborhoods and
disadvantaged communities.
The City uses the
CalEnviroScreen
mapping tool,
which evaluates
indicators along
exposures,
environmental
effects, sensitive
populations, and
socioeconomic
factors to identify
disadvantaged
communities
(DAC). For those
outside the DAC,
the City included
	'¦£' homeowners who
Sacramento DAC areas
are income-eligible and seeking utility rate assistance.
With this information, the utility used AMI data to
identify customers with potential leaks and contact
them by letter. To prioritize, they focused on the
biggest leaks with the most financial impact.
The City of Sacramento's Water Conservation Team
also provides free leak inspections, water-wise house
cails, and direct installs of toilets and other fixtures.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to
keep both inspections and the Leak-Free Sacramento
Program going despite in-person restrictions, walking
the customers through steps to detect ieaks over the
phone or virtually. However, the majority of the site
visit work was limited to outdoor efforts.
Once the City secured
additional funding for the
Leak-Free Sacramento
program, they hoped
to encourage plumbers
to participate. Getting
plumbers on board has
been a challenge, as
the costs of labor rose during the pandemic.The City
likes to have its plumbers participate as partners in
the program, and wants to ensure their willingness to
work in disadvantaged communities.They ended up
going with a plumber that was already under contract
with the City and familiar with the paperwork and
reguirements.
Leak-Free Sacramento also covers outdoor systems.
City staff can walkthe site and help customers
program their controllers, and a plumber or irrigation
tech can return to conduct minor repairs. Looking
ahead, the City of Sacramento is planning direct
installs of drought-tolerant landscaping, as well as
smart irrigation controllers, to address disadvantaged
communities affected by drought. Another program,
"Redo the Loo,"is geared toward multifamily buildings
and provides $250 toward the cost of high-efficiency
toilets.
4 LEAK
FREE
19

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Case Study
A Tale of Two Cities Saving Water in Michigan
Michigan's Department of Environment Great Lakes,
and Energy (EGLE) developed a water leak repair pilot
program in two different parts of the state aimed at
developing a scalable effort to reduce water waste
and utility bills in communities across Michigan. EGLE
selected two cities—Benton Harbor and Highland
Park—to fix leaks, replace inefficient toilets, swap out
other plumbing fixtures, and update old, inefficient
water heaters. EGLE launched the pilot during Fix a
Leak Week 2021.
To help develop the framework, plan, and implement
the Highland Park pilot, EGLE worked with Metro
Wayne Community Action Agency, a nonprofit that
provides consumer assistance in Wayne County,
Michigan, where Detroit is located. EGLE also worked
with the Highland Park Human Rights Coalition to
recruit participants. On the west side of the state, EGL E
enlisted the Benton Harbor Community Water Council,
an environmental group led by community activist and
local leader Reverend Edward Pinkney.
The input and credibility of the partners were critical in
learning customers'concerns and ensuring the success
of both pilot locations. For example, due to issues
with water contamination in Flint, Michigan, residents
were more concerned about the safety of their water
than saving it,To address this concern, EGLE added a
lead abatement aspect to its repair program through
the Michigan Department of Health and Human
Services'Healthy Homes Program. EGLE also has the
benefit of being the state's energy agency, providing
funding for energy-saving measures.To reduce the
cost of plumbing fixtures, EGLE was able to secure a
donation of WaterSense labeled toilets, faucets, and
showerheads from fellow WaterSense partner Kohler;
they also got water heaters from local utilities.
Months of planning and engagement by the
community organizations in Benton Harbor and
Highland Park has contributed to the early success of
the pilot. By engaging local partners in the process
from the beginning and letting them run with it, EGLE
ensured they had ownership and investment in the
project, and residents were more likely to trust those
organizations. EGLE initially budgeted $800 per home
to purchase and install fixtures, but some homes
needed more extensive plumbing repairs, so the
amount was increased to $1,000.
fiAntranikTavitian—USA TODAY NETWORK
To identify qualified participants in Highland Park,
the Highland Park Human Rights Coalition targeted
high water users based on the City's software and
launched their recruiting effort with a door-to-door
canvassing campaign during Fixa Leak Week in March
2021, In Benton Harbor, volunteers began canvassing
in January 2021 in neighborhoods where repairs were
most needed, leaving behind fliers and discussing
the high cost of leaks and effects of old plumbing.
Volunteers also distributed fliers at the Benton Harbor
Boys and Girls Club.To build trust and participation in
the project, Reverend Pinkney even provided his cell
phone number to potential participants, then followed
up and walked them through the audit and application
process over the phone. As of May 2021,10 homes in
Benton Harbor had received repairs.
EGLE's goal is to complete upgrades in at least 100
homes in each community as the project continues in
2021, then roll it out to additional communities across
the state. To analyze the pilot's successes and make
refinements, EGLE is partnering with the University
of Michigan to have engineering graduate students
evaluate lessons learned from the project. EGLE
continues to seek out other agencies and community-
level partners to keep the momentum going in the
future.
20

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Case Study
City of Oxnard, California, Helps Multifamily Maintenance Staff Monitor
Leaks Remotely
Leaking toilets are often a water-wasting culprit in
multifamily properties, but tenants don't always realize
they have a leak or report it to the management, which
runs up utility bills,To address this problem, the City
of Oxnard partnered with the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California (Metropolitan) on a six-
month remote sensor pilot at a multifamily property.
Metropolitan is a water wholesaler serving agencies
across the region with rebates and funding to spend
on local water efficiency projects. Calleguas Municipal
Water District, one of Metropolitan's 26 member
agencies, is also a water wholesaler, and supplies water
directly to the City of Oxnard.
In 2019, the City identified a
100-unit senior living complex
in Oxnard that had been
experiencing high water bills.
They worked with Sensor
Industries to install a device
on each toilet (at the angle
stop near the base) that
monitors and feeds water flow
data to a centra! network in
the maintenance office. The
system is designed to be easily
installed and monitored by
onsite maintenance staff, but it reguires a local wi-fi
network and a subscription service. The complex also
had to install a series of repeaters in the hallways to
extend the wi-fi signal throughout the facility, but this
allows the sensors
to send real-time
data to a cloud-
based dashboard
that maintenance
staff or property
owners can use to
remotely monitor
the water flow in
toilets throughout the building. Sensor Industries
sends weekly data reports and text message alerts if a
leak is detected, so that maintenance staff can repair it
immediately and reduce water waste and unnecessary
costs.
Results in the first nine days of collecting data at
the property showed that 47 percent of all water
used by toilets in the building was due to leaks!
After conducting the necessary repairs, that number
decreased to 4.4 percent.The six-month pilot helped
the facility reduce their water consumption by more
than 460 HCF (hundred cubic feet) compared to
the same time period the previous year, which is
eguivalent to over 680,000 gallons of water saved
annually. As toilet leak monitoring continues, the
property is projected to save more than $7,700
annually on their water bill. Other agencies in the
Metropolitan service area have begun installing the
sensors in a few of their multifamily buildings as well to
monitor units'toilet flows and make leak identification
easier.
¦«g JL*
67U
1*1
Sensor device
Toilet monitoring equipment
21

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Case Study
Portland, Oregon, Water Bureau Spurs Equity and
Assistance to Underserved Customers
The City of Portland Water Bureau offers financial
assistance in the form of bill discounts for sewer and
water charges, crisis vouchers, payment arrangements,
and water leak repair services.To respond to the
impacts of COVID-19, the bureau also relaxed financial
assistance program qualifications and created
Portland's Small Business Utility Relief (SPUR) program.
Through its Water Leak Repair Program, the Portland
Water Bureau provides leak repair, free water-efficient
toilets, and other efficiency support for approximately
100 residential customers living with low and fixed
incomes each year. Recently, the Water Bureau wanted
to find a way to prioritize customers that have been
historically underserved as it worked through the
waiting list for its leak repair program. The Water
Bureau used an equity matrix from its Transportation
department to map neighborhoods'income and race
data. This was then combined with other factors, such
as gallons used per day, the impact the leak had on
well-being, household income level, and time waiting
for leak repair.
The Water Bureau uses this matrix and the other factors
to generate an overall score to prioritize individual
customers for the next available leak repair visit. In
the future, they plan to use the equity matrix for more
focused outreach. In order to expand the program to
be accessible to more Portlanders, the Water Bureau
is working to adapt the letter they send to customers
with increased water use due to leaks or other
increases, as well as providing materials for Spanish,
Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese-speaking customers.
The Water Bureau is also testing application forms for
accessibility after realizing their original Water Leak
Repair Application was inaccessible to screen readers
and other assistive devices.
Collaborating with community organizations is vital
to the success of the leak repair program. The Water
PORTLAND
WATER
BUREAU
FROM FOREST TO FAUCET
Bureau has worked
with Multnomah
County on this program since 1998. In 2020, the
program was expanded to bring on the African
American Alliance for Homeownership (AAAH) and
Community Energy Project as partners. Customers
apply for leak repair through the Water Bureau and,
once approved, they are referred to one of the three
partners who coordinate the repair. Partners hire
plumbers to fix leaks and replace toilets, showerheads,
and faucet aerators with WaterSense labeled models,
and replace inefficient washing machines with ENERGY
STAR® certified models.
The partnership with AAAH has been key to increasing
the number of customers in the program who identify
as Black or African American. AAAH focuses on
education and home retention in the African American
community in Portland, as well as other programs that
dovetail nicely with leak repair. Homeowners enrolled
in AAAH's programs automatically qualify for the
Water Bureau's services, and the Water Bureau refers
customers to AAAH for their programs as well.
Community Energy Project is one partner in the Water Bureau's
leak repair program.
22

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Case Study
Westminster, Colorado, Has Water Savings at Its Corps
The City of Westminster in the Denver metropolitan
area offers three different types of customer assistance
programs with water efficiency at their core.The first,
an income-qualifying leak repair program, is run under
a contract the City has with Foothills Regional Housing
Authority. The City of Westminster used to identify
customers within its 33,000 water accounts that have
potential leaks based on monthly meter readings
that revealed constant flows over a 72-hour period;
now, the City uses a new AMI system that can detect
leaks instantaneously. City staff create a list of income-
qualified customers with a potential leak and sends
it to Foothills Regional Authority, which then hires a
plumber to fix the leaks and perform other needed
plumbing repairs. Foothills is reimbursed by the City,
up to $3,000 per home.
The other two programs are direct installation of
high-efficiency toilets, showerheads, and faucet
aerators; due to state law, all products are required
to be WaterSense labeled. One program focuses
on multifamily buildings, the other on single-family
homeowners. Westminster modeled its multifamily
program after a successful one in Long Beach,
California. In one building owned and operated by a
local housing authority, metered data show a savings
of 300,000 gallons of water per month following
upgrades in 72 units—a 48 percent decrease.This
translates into a $65,000 reduction in annual water
and sewer costs, allowing the housing authority to
invest in additional affordable housing support in the
community.The City invested $30,000 in this particular
project, so the payback period was very short; now
Westminster is using this return on investment
calculation to make the business case for market rate
housing to make similar investments.
Both the multifamily and single-family direct install
programs for income-qualifying residents are
administered by Mile High Youth Corps, which won
the work in an open competition. Mile High is an
4
WESTMINSTER
COLORADO
AmeriCorps program,
which means they
provide useful job
training, experience,
and stipends to
youth serving
underrepresented communities. The City takes
candidates from its water bill credit program and data
shares with a Colorado state agency (LEAP) that tracks
heating needs, to build a pre-qualified list of potential
customers that it sends to Mile High Youth Corps for
recruitment.The Corps members then send customers
information on Westminster letterhead describing
the free plumbing fixture program, which helps build
credibility in Mile High's outreach and enhances
customer participation.
Once homeowners sign up for the program, Mile High
Corps members visit the home to conduct an energy
and water assessment, during which they install
showerheads and faucet aerators. If needed, Corps
members with plumbing training return on a second
visit to install 0.8 gpf WaterSense labeled toilets, up
to two per home.The energy efficiency upgrades
are funded by Energy Outreach Colorado, and the
City reimburses Mile High for the plumbing fixtures
and labor.The program serves about 35 single-family
homes per year, installing about 50 toilets annually.
An example of the contract between the City of
Westminster and Mile High Youth Corps is available for
WaterSense partners.
Westminster has begun funding some of its efficiency
and affordability efforts as a capital improvement
project (CIP), since it sees reductions in water
consumption as a CIP-like investment that reduces
the need for spending on repair and replacement of
infrastructure. In the future, the City is looking to adjust
its turf removal program, which is currently conducted
as a cost-sharing arrangement, for inclusion in its
affordability offerings.
23

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Case Study
Partners Help the City of Guelph's Customers Emerge From Water Waste
To implement its conservation programs with
homeowners, the City of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) has
established contractual collaborations with several
local grassroots organizations. One such organization
is eMERGE Guelph, a nonprofit that provides free in-
home audits and energy"tune-up"consultations with
simple retrofits and recommendations to improve
home efficiency.The City pays eMERGE to include
water use assessments and provides free WaterSense
labeled faucet aerators and showerheads to install as
part of their tune-ups. During a tune-up visit, eMERGE
checks for leaks, swaps out the old fixtures for new
models, and suggests other do-it-yourself ways to
lower utility bills.
During these home visits, eMERGE also introduces
opportunities for customers to save money through
rebates, such as Guelph's Royal Flush toilet and rain
garden rebates, and provides an overview of how
to become Blue Built Home certified.The City's Blue
Built Home certification is based on a flexible checklist
that includes simple and low-cost options such as
WaterSense labeled faucet aerators and Healthy
Landscape visits for those with yards. Mid-range cost
options include WaterSense labeled toilets or ENERGY
STAR certified appliances, and community members
can apply for rebates to offset the costs of these
water-saving features.To promote the City's rebate
program, eMERGE even goes the extra mile by visiting
local home improvement stores and places stickers on
WaterSense labeled toilets.
Another reason for the longstanding success of
Guelph's partnership with eMERGE, which started
in 2009, is that the organization is a trusted and
knowledgeable local resource for energy efficiency;
eMERGE conducts public outreach, webinars,
workshops, and events for the Guelph community
and works closely with the City to ensure consistent
messaging and that expectations are clear with regards
to service delivery and performance indicators.
In 2021, Guelph partnered with Reep Green Solutions,
another local nonprofit, to conduct water audits in
multifamily residential units.This is in addition to the
rain garden rebate program that Reep is contracted
to administer for the City and the Blue Built Home
certification program that Reep promotes to
multifamily building owners.
In addition to partnering with local nonprofits to
encourage water savings, the City also engages
with international students and new Canadians. The
City works closely with the Guelph Wellington Local
Immigration Partnership and Immigrant Services for
Guelph and Wellington, which provide "Orientation
to Ontario" workshops. City employees present
information about water bills, conservation programs,
rebates, and water-saving tips and provide materials to
participants.
Become an everyday hero! ^_Guelph
Sign-up for a free eMERGE Home
Tune-up to find out if your home
can join Guelph's Blue Built Home
community of water-saving heroes!
24

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Case Study
Cal Water Pivots From Fixture Replacement to Irrigation
Improvements During COVID-19
California Water Service (Cal Water), which serves
customers throughout the state, offered a Bathroom
Fixture Replacement Program for single-family
households, but targeted its outreach to customers
who are eligible for the Cal Water Customer Assistance
Program (CAP), as well as those having trouble paying
water bills. One state-licensed contractor provided
plumbing services statewide; the firm procured
WaterSense labeled showerheads, faucet aerators,
and toilets that use 1.1 gpf or less and was reimbursed
for the fixtures and installation. A single contractor
ensured consistency of work and familiarity with Cal
Water's process, as well as clear lines of communication
with the utility.
Most funding for the program was provided through
rates, although the utility received a water-energy
nexus grant to complete installations in disadvantaged
communities in the East Los Angeles, Dominguez,
and Bakersfield, California, districts. Single-family and
multifamily customers in those areas could receive
multiple toilets, showerheads, and faucet aerators free
of charge, as could small businesses.
To recruit participants, Cal Water primarily sent direct
mail to targeted customers in specific districts based
on participation in the CAP and unusually high water
use. Participants signed up by phone or registered
online, and once they were verified as customers, the
contractor conducted a pre-inspection to ensure that
the plumbing problems weren't so extensive that
a new toilet wouldn't help. The plumber could turn
down the job if the necessary repairs were excessive
or install pressure-assisted toilets if needed, but most
of the toilets they installed were 0.8 gpf models. Cal
Water conducted inspections on a sample of the
installations to verify completion, and recipients had a
year to call the plumber back if there were any repairs
needed based on the installation.The plumber could
reinstall toilets after one year on a case-by-case basis,
as the fixtures are under manufacturer warranty if they
malfunction.

According to Cal Water, the
COVID-19 pandemic brought	,	, .
u 4-4-u I r 11 D 4-u	Quality. Service. Value.
about the end of the Bathroom
Fixture Replacement Program in 2020, since restrictions
kept plumbers and inspectors from visiting homes,
but the program had basically run its course in terms
of identifying and gualifying customers.The utility is
shifting its focus to outdoor water waste with a Smart
LandscapeTune-Up Program, using a model similar
to its bathroom fixture replacement program and
targeting low-income and high-water-using customers
with leaks.
Another single, licensed contractor is administering
this program; they inspect irrigation systems and look
for leaks, provide minimal repairs, and replace sprinkler
nozzles. The inspector prepares a report, and Cal
Water can then approve a professional to return to the
property to repair system valves, sprinkler heads, leaks,
and drip systems.They also install pressure-regulating
spray bodies if needed, provide a WaterSense labeled
weather-based irrigation controller, program the
controller, discuss other outdoor options, and leave
behind a folder about water efficiency and controller
care.
The Smart LandscapeTune-Up Program, launched
during the pandemic in 2020, is available to single-
family, multifamily, and commercial customers at no
cost, though most of the tune-ups are in single-family
homes. Cal Water has been pleased with the initial
uptake by a few hundred customers. The irrigation
tune-ups are a bit more complicated than plumbing
repairs; contractors need more flexibility to determine
what they can fix without scheduling a second visit,
so it's more difficult to determine fixed costs for the
program. In addition to low-income and high-use
customers, Cal Water plans to promote the program
to customers that had toilets installed through its
Bathroom Fixture Replacement Program using emails,
postcards, and materials translated into Spanish.
25

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Case Study
Madison Water Utility Partners to Bri
Projects Home
When Madison Water Utility in Wisconsin wanted to
expand its successful rebate program for WaterSense
labeled toilets and make inroads on affordability,
it turned to a local partner to make it possible.
Project Home, a nonprofit organization focused on
weatherization and other improvements for low- and
moderate-income homeowners, made the perfect
match. Due to state regulations on funding for
customer assistance, Madison Water wasn't allowed to
fund its affordability initiative through its conservation
program, so the utility makes a donation to Project
Home using unallocated "rate-of-return"funds.
Project Home was chosen because it has connections
and is a trusted source within the community.The
organization already had a screening process in place,
gualifying applicants based on household income,
and professionals who visit homes to make repairs
and install energy-efficient products, including
a master plumber. For customers that gualify for
Project Home assistance, Project Home installs
WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators,
as well as conducting leak detection and repair.The
nonprofit can also purchase and install new toilets for
Project Home replaced a toilet, fixed a tub faucet leak, installed
new windows, and repaired a broken ceiling fan in this Madison
resident's condo.
! Water-Saving	1.
£-j Madison
f i »TT_ Water Utility
homeowners and apply
for Madison Water Utility's $100 rebate on WaterSense
labeled models.
Madison Water Utility uses AMI and reviews water
usage reports; iftheythinka home has a leak, they
notify the customer and make referrals to Project
Home. Project Home screens them for eligibility and
considers them for energy improvements as well. Once
the leak is fixed, customers can apply for a one-time
leak adjustment bill credit from Madison Water Utility.
Through this effort, Madison Water believes they are
reaching a variety of families in the area that don't
normally benefit from their rebate program. Since
2016 (when the Project Home partnership started)
through 2019, 309 Madison Water customers have
received plumbing assistance. Fifty percent of those
customers are seniors, about one-third are single-
woman households, and one-guarter are people with
disabilities; the majority of assistance recipients are
people of color. Demand for the program has been
larger than what Madison Water Utility can fund using
rate-of-return revenues.
Making the link from energy to water efficiency hasn't
been a big step for Project Home. Madison Water Utility
provides a donation, and the nonprofit reports on
how they used it. Project Home has completed about
100 water efficiency improvements per year between
2016 and 2019; numbers were pending for 2020. While
the program currently serves only owner-occupied
homes, Madison Water Utility is looking to expand to
renters and multifamily homes by participating in a
pilot program in Dane County, Wisconsin, to provide
property owners with energy and water efficiency
improvements and tenants with conservation
education.
26

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Case Study
From Plumbing to Pipe Repair, SAWS Uplifts People
For two decades, San Antonio Water System (SAWS)
provided leak repairs to avoid water waste in homes
that needed assistance. While this has been effective,
customers often only learned of the program when
the leak and water bill grew to crisis proportions.
Staff began to look at what water use should be for
households identified as lower income to determine
if usage was higher than expected, given assistance
application information on household size.The idea
was to catch leaks before they become a financial crisis
for customers. Now, 85 percent of the time when staff
review water bills and customers respond, a leak is
identified and found faster!
SAWS has created an umbrella branding over all
its targeted customer assistance programs, called
Uplift. Over 34,000 families are enrolled in the Uplift
Affordability Discount. One Uplift Program—Plumbers
to People—provides leak repairs and product
replacements. Participating households must be at 125
percent of the poverty level or less to gualify, and the
home must be owner-occupied. With a more proactive
approach to identifying leaks among affordability
discount customers, participation in Plumbers to
People has increased 20 percent and now serves about
1,000 customers per year.
The severe winter storms and freezing temperatures
in Texas in early 2021 damaged many San Antonio
homeowners' pipes. SAWS guickly leapt to action,
creating its Community Pipe Repair (CPR) program
within days, using donations from community
foundations. After the first month, donations for
the CPR program grew to $1.1 million. The first 100
households needing help were identified within
24 hours due to calls from people who had used
Plumbers to People in the past. Qualifications for
the CPR program were broader than for Plumbers to
People; criteria included single-family homes valued
under $140,000 and households below 140 percent
of the poverty level. Rental properties meeting criteria
were included, with a landlord consent form. SAWS
processed 1,000 applications the first week; eventually
they had over 2,000!
San
Antonio
Water
System
Customers who could
afford to hire a plumber
could get some of their
costs reimbursed by the
CPR fund. However, 80 percent of affected customers
told SAWS they could not afford to and needed direct
plumbing services.To address the most immediate
needs, SAWS split the CPR into phases. During Phase
1, plumbers restored cold water to homes with no
service. They went back and addressed hot water once
the immediate service needs were met.
The existing Plumbers to People plumbing contractor
was able to begin CPR program work immediately,
but it was challenging to hire more plumbers due to
private sector competition for services after the storm.
Emergency contract options were available from SAWS,
but despite expedited processes, it took several weeks
to get to the full CPR capacity of four companies with
30 repair teams.This experience underscored the need
to proactively develop relationships with plumbers to
ensure their availability in emergencies.
To communicate with customers that can use
assistance, SAWS suggests many recruitment
methods. Networking with community organizations
to get people enrolled was highly effective, and
the CPR program was promoted by local media
and assistance organizations across the city after
the storm. During the CPR program deployment,
SAWS discovered that digital tools were effective for
maintaining communication with most CPR applicants.
Approximately 80 percent of the CPR applicants were
able to provide an email, and most applied on a mobile
device. While lower income households are unlikely to
have broadband or computers, up to 85 percent have
smartphones and email.
SAWS also deployed bilingual staff to help people with
applications, answer guestions, and provide updates to
those without digital access. After the storm, city and
SAWS employees checked on specific households of
those who were elderly or at higher risk.
27

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oEPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
(4204M)
EPA832-F-21-016
July 2021
www.epa.gov/watersense
(866) WTR-SENS (987-7367)
watersense@epa.gov

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