Reference Guide - Indian River County

assistance for existing fixtures. Enforce all local and regional watering restrictions during
routine meter reads. Require additional metering and sub-metering and track as indicators of
performance.
SUGGESTED DOCUMENTATION:
Submit details of how rates are structures.
Provide information regarding rebate, including any advertising to make consumers aware.
Provide strategy of how restrictions will be enforced.
Describe metering plan and expected end use of information collected.
BENEFIT:
Various strategies exist to promote water conservation – some incentive based, and some
enforcement based. Choosing one, the other, or both may help achieve water conservation goals.
Some, such as the shallow well metering program suggested, may simply educate water users on
the amount of water used for certain purposes, such as irrigation. Water users should be
educated to the fact that all sources of water are a scarce commodity in Florida, not just potable
water.
RESOURCES:
Florida Water Conservation Initiative Final Report: Water Pricing Chapter
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/waterpolicy/docs/WCI_2002_Final_Report.pdf
Georgia issues in water pricing
http://www.griffin.uga.edu/water/fs98_16.pdf
City of Melbourne, FL plumbing retrofit programs
http://www.melbournefl.org/watercon/plumbing.htm
Education
Credit 5: Community education.
ACTIVITY:
a) Utilize informative billing. (1 points)
b) Distribute printed material or create internet content detailing water wastewater source,
quality, treatment process. (1 points)
c) Create an education campaign for water use reduction (xeriscape, rainwater, etc.). (1 points)
d) Maintain an on-call water quality program. (1 points)
e) Become part of groundwater guardian program. (1 points)
f) Offer home and business audits. (1 points)
g) Enable customers to track and analyze their usage via the internet. (1 points)
APPROACH:
Develop informative billing that educates customers about current and past usage. Develop and
post an “environmental report” on a website or in printed form that details the process of
water/wastewater treatment including raw materials consumed, processing specifics, water
quality and emissions information. Team with the extension service on a demand side water
conservation educational program. Maintain an on-call program that answers questions and
conducts field investigations in response to citizen concern of water pollution incidents. Become
a partner in the national groundwater guardian program. Acquire staff capability to conduct
home and business water audits to identify areas of potential conservation opportunities, such as
Florida Green Local Government Standard – Copyright Florida Green Building Coalition, Inc. 2004, 2005 R69