Water retrofit eyed

Utility ponders requiring efficient fixtures at sale time

Daniel J. Chacón, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Denver Water is floating an idea to require existing homes and businesses to be retrofitted with water-efficient plumbing fixtures at the point of sale.

"Our main intent is that we don't hold up that sale process, but we do certainly want to save water," said Greg Fisher, Denver Water's chief planner.

"This isn't the type of conservation measure we're going to rush into, that's for sure," he added. "I think everybody . . . wants to be cautious with this one."

The retrofit regulation would include an inspection of homes to check for everything from leaky faucets to water-guzzling sprinkler systems.

The idea emerged during a Denver City Council committee meeting on Wednesday in which Denver Water's 10-year conservation plan was being discussed.

At least one council member wasn't eager to embrace the subject.

"How about those Rockies?" quipped Councilman Charlie Brown, who later said the idea was worth talking about.

"It's an intriguing idea, but is there political will to do it?" he asked.

In his annual State of the City address earlier this month, Mayor John Hickenlooper said the city and Denver Water intended to "embark on the most aggressive water conservation programs in the history of Colorado."

"As such," said Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, the mayor's spokeswoman, "we are open to considering a variety of new ideas on how to further promote water efficiency, whether it be in landscaping or homes or businesses or, obviously, local government."

Lent said "it's exciting that different ideas are being discussed, but what happens on that particular idea, I think it's still early to tell."

Denver Water manager Chips Barry agreed, saying it's an idea that's still in the early stages and "probably needs a lot of discussion over a couple of years."

"I don't see it being something we're going to jump off the cliff with this year," he added.

Barry said Hickenlooper told him the real estate industry would "hate" the idea.

"The feedback we're getting is if you're going to do it at all, you need to turn how it's sold" to the public into "a buyer's protection and not a limitation or a restriction on what people can do with the sale of their house," he said.

Barbara Lambert, chief executive officer of the Denver Board of Realtors, said the group is aware of the idea. But she declined to talk about it without knowing the specifics.

"What we applaud them on is water conservation, and what we will continue to be in dialogue with them on is any retrofitting at the point of sale," she said.

Brad K. Evans, a Realtor with Keller Williams downtown, called the idea "intrusive" and wondered how it would affect homeowners.

"If they bought in the last five years, in a lot of places, then they're upside down on their houses," he said.

"We're not in the boom times in real estate, unless you're a buyer. If you're a buyer right now, you're happy as a clam."

Denver Water, which serves about 1.2 million customers, plans to seek input from various stakeholders, including homeowners and real estate agents, Barry said.

"If it ripens from an idea to a full-blown concept and then becomes a proposal, it doesn't have any viability unless City Council were to turn it into an ordinance," he said. "If we asked the city of Denver to do that, we would be asking other jurisdictions we serve to do the same thing."

Denver Water could be in for an uphill battle.

In the coastal city of Santa Cruz, Calif., which adopted a plumbing fixture retrofit regulation in 2003, "it took a lot of work" to get it in the books, said Toby Goddard, the city's water conservation manager.

But the results have been worth the effort, he said.

"There's nothing as effective in terms of reducing per capita water use as changing from an old 5-gallon toilet to a 1.6-gallon toilet," he said.

Low-flow savers

Retailers quoted the following prices for water-saving devices that Denver Water may one day require in homes:

$114 to $250 for low-flow toilets

$7 to $12 for low-flow shower heads

$38 to $200 for low-flow faucetsSources: Home Depot, Lowes

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5099