Redmond Achieves Reduction in Water Usage
Efforts to reduce water usage in the City of Redmond have proved to be successful, as the City sees progress in its conservation. The City announced on July 31 that it reached a significant milestone, reporting a more than 30% reduction in water usage across its parks and municipal facilities in the months of June and July.
The achievement, which equates to saving nearly 8 million gallons of water compared to usage in June and July 2023, was made through a series of initiatives that the City put in place this irrigation season.
According to Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch, while the City already has conservation measures in place, the focus on reducing water in parks was a specific goal this year.
The work involves several new initiatives, including the installation of Smart Irrigation Systems to ensure optimal water usage. Routine audits and maintenance, identifying and addressing leaks or inefficiencies, as well as upgraded infrastructure, were also utilized to reduce water.
The City of Redmond has focused a lot of its efforts on public awareness, launching several educational campaigns to encourage water conservation among residents and businesses. It’s also encouraging residences to decrease outdoor watering use by 10% in 2024. On average, the community uses 2.6 million gallons of water daily during non-irrigation months and 14 million gallons of water daily during warm weather months.
The City’s efforts to reduce water usage comes at a crucial time, with fears around water availability looming as the population rapidly grows. At the end of June, Mayor Ed Fitch told the Source Weekly that the City will eventually need more water, in terms of volume, due to growth in the community.This year, Redmond is well ahead of where it planned to be years ago, already having met its population projections for 2030. Given the fast-paced growth, the City is going to have to have some certainty on water, Fitch said.
One way the City plans to do this, aside from increasing conservation initiatives, is to request access to more groundwater. When the City applied for an Oregon groundwater permit in 2023, the Oregon Water Resources Department indicated to Mayor Fitch that the permit application could potentially get denied.
While Fitch said he’s still optimistic that there will be a resolution that will work for the City, the hesitation comes from a new groundwater rulemaking that could make it harder for permits to be approved.
While the City of Bend has not expressed the same dire need for water in the future as its neighboring city, it has worked with municipal partners to reduce water through financial incentives and programs intended to help people save water.
“With accessible water use data to inform decisions and a continued focus on improvements in efficiency and water management, we’ve seen positive changes reflected in the water consumption,” said Dan Danning, the water conservation program manager with the City of Bend.
Bend Park and Recreation District, which manages more than 3,000 acres of land, started installing smart irrigation systems and will begin adding more non-irrigated spaces at new and older parks throughout the City, according to Mike Duarte, the landscape manager for BPRD.
Bend-La Pine Schools, the top water user of the City of Bend’s water customers, just recently announced a new initiative to start reducing water use. Last week, BLPS announced it cut back on the frequency of watering lawns at schools and other district facilities in July.
According to Scott Maben, the district’s sustainability plan focuses on outdoor watering conservation and efficiency strategies, since that’s the bulk of its water use in the summer.
Looking to the near future, Redmond will continue to look at new ways it can reduce water use. The City will begin having discussions with stakeholders in the fall to get feedback on how to improve conservation within residences.
Redmond also has plans to convert four city-owned landscaped areas to water-wise landscapes in the fall as a pilot program, reducing natural grass and featuring plants that require minimal water. This, Fitch said, will occur on City properties that are located in right-of-way areas.
“This was a big step forward. We’ve got a lot more steps to do, but we’re on the right path,” Fitch said.
