MERIT AWARD: Growing Water SMart

The adage, many hands make light work, is evident in Evans when it comes to implementing water conservation programs. In late 2019, the City participated in the Sonoran Institute’s Growing Water Smart Workshop.  Working with our neighboring City of Greeley, the City of Evans identified several steps and results desired to be included in the ten-year Municipal Water Efficiency Plan (MWEP) the desire to include a water-specific chapter to the City’s update to the comprehensive plan, and the need to develop metrics to track success and communicate the importance of water conservation. 

The City of Evans has taken large strides forward since the adoption of the MWEP in late 2020 and through implementation of the comprehensive plan update including the activities listed below.  The agency names in parenthesis provided support for these activities (Colorado Water Conservation Board, Division of Local Affairs):

• Development and implementation of a water fixture replacement program through two grant awards (WaterNow Alliance and Weld County CDBG).
• Finalized the Water Conservation Chapter of the comprehensive plan update (Sonoran Institute, Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, Del Corazon Consulting)
• Developing measurement/metrics tool to communicate how the efforts of many businesses and residents are building a successful program. This grant is identifying how to capture baseline data, methodology to measure the progress, and how to communicate the achievements (Sonoran Institute).
• Integrating water conservation metrics into a community–wide Master Plan Dashboard to communicate implementation of actionable goals found in the Master Plan, including water conservation.
• Developing partnerships with other water conservation organizations in Colorado (Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District).

The City of Evans would like to thank our partners and other communities who continue to graciously give their time to share lessons learned, best management practices, and collaborative support.