Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network (BASIN)
EPA Grant Number: R827057Title: Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network (BASIN)
Investigators: Scott, Donna , Barber, Larry B. , Heaney, James P , Rudkin, Chris , Waterman, James , McCaffrey, Mark
Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: November 1, 1998 through October 31, 2000
Project Amount: $400,000
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (1998) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Statistics , Water , Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The primary goal of BASIN is to help citizens make meaningful connections between environmental data and their day-to-day activities and facilitate involvement in public policy development.Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
For purposes of this report, the BASIN project includes four components: Information Management System, Communications, Data Analysis, and Lifeline Infrastructure.Information Management System (IMS)
The primary activities of the BASIN information systems contractor (Enfo.com) during calendar year 2000 included the testing, modification, and support of the BASIN information management system (IMS) and the development and integration of public data products from BASIN data resources. Additional activities have included the development of supplemental software products to support the public Web site and general technical support to all aspects of the BASIN project.
Continued development of the BASIN IMS has included expansion of the initial data object model to support multiple data sets and supporting information for a variety of spatial and managerial contexts.
In addition to the design, development, and support of the central BASIN IMS, Enfo.com has provided a variety of software development and information management activities in support of the BASIN project: bibliographic database and user interface; event calendar database and user interface; hazardous material spill database and user interface; photograph database and user interface; real time data acquisition and display protocols; e-mail Forum Support; Web site access statistics; BASIN Web site development and maintenance; and general project technical support.
Communications
The development of the BASIN Web Site (http://www.basin.org) was completed. The Web Site also has been complemented with related outreach and publicity elements, including newsletters, press releases, radio interviews and television programs, stakeholder meetings, and education programs. The BASIN Web Site has served as the centerpiece for the BASIN project, providing the primary interface for public access to time-relevant environmental information. Through the Boulder Community Network (BCN), volunteers have completed more than 800 hours during this period helping to develop, design, implement, and revise the BASIN Web Site. These hours are in addition to more than 1,000 volunteer hours in 1999; the total number of hours meets BCN's contractual obligations to the project.
The Water Quality Index has received strong positive feedback as well as constructive criticism, which has been reviewed and incorporated into the index's presentation. BASIN also has sought to emphasize how scientific data translated into information can lead to individuals taking personal actions that will be of benefit to the environment. While no formal "Action Guide" was published with the agreement of the Project Manager, substantial materials exist online to assist people in making informed decisions in their lives relative to the local environment and overall sustainability. These materials include: "Household Hazards and Alternatives," "Essays on Sustainability" by local professors Al Bartlett and Pete Palmer, "What Can You Do to Protect Water Quality of Streams and Rivers?" as well as the numerous learning activities under the Learning Theme.
In summary, the work status and progress of the Communications Component of BASIN is complete as of December 31, 2000. Preliminary results based on user feedback, informal peer review, and evaluation of statistics indicate that BASIN has been successful in meeting the primary goals of providing public access to environmental information and to begin to bridge the gap between the public and various environmental research and regulatory communities. Moreover, as BASIN's nomination for the 2001 Stockholm Water Prize and the support of individuals such as Dr. Gilbert White attest, the BASIN model holds strong potential as a technological model and source of motivation for other communities around the world. Through the process of data acquisition, translation of data into environmental information, and then using this information to inspire personal action and behavioral change, other communities can begin the crucial long-term challenge of informing and engaging their citizens about water resources and other topics related to building sustainable communities.
Data Analysis
In 2000, we have continued to add data for Boulder Creek to the BASIN Web Site. Monthly data for Boulder Creek is available for 17 parameters (water temperature, flow rate, pH, specific conductance, alkalinity, hardness, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), nitrate plus nitrite, nitrite, ammonia, total phosphate, orthophosphate, fecal coliform, dissolved oxygen, and total organic carbon). The parameters were temporally and spatially analyzed. Graphs and interpretations of the data, along with background information and water quality standards for each parameter, can be found in the Water Quality section of the BASIN Web Site (http://www.basin.org/watershed/wqhome.html). This data was (and continues to be) obtained from the City of Boulder's source water, storm water, and wastewater programs and from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In addition, we expanded the geographic scope of water quality data to South Boulder Creek (from the City of Denver), Boulder Reservoir and tributaries (from the City of Boulder's source water program), and the St. Vrain River (from the City of Longmont). The data collected by these entities have been for regulatory or internal planning purposes and have not previously been used in a report to the general public.
Boulder Creek Millennium Baseline Study - BASIN, the USGS, and the City of Boulder collaborated on a new water quality investigation of Boulder Creek. Stream chemistry is controlled by natural and human inputs, as well as chemical reactions that influence the fate and transport of these inputs. Detailed water quality sampling of Boulder Creek, including the main stem and major tributaries, will allow us to determine the sources and sinks of chemical constituents. The relative importance of different sources varies seasonally and, therefore, high- and low-flow sampling is an important step in characterizing the watershed. Water quality sampling of Boulder Creek from upstream of the town of Eldora to below the confluence of Boulder Creek and Coal Creek was carried out in June and October 2000. A variety of measurements were performed on the water samples, including pH, dissolved oxygen, and major element, metal, pesticides, and pharmaceutical concentrations. BASIN project team members Dr. Larry Barber (USGS) and Sheila Murphy designed and implemented the study, which included a large number of USGS and City of Boulder participants. This study will provide a baseline data set for constraining future impacts. More information about the study can be found at http://www.basin.org/basin/BCMB/index.html.
Lifeline Infrastructure
Innovative Urban Water Management - The overarching theme of this effort is to evaluate urban water supply, wastewater discharge, and storm water runoff in an integrated manner. Particular emphasis is given to managing the demand for these services in a way that is reliable so that the need for importing water supply and exporting unwanted wastewater and storm water residuals is minimized. Reuse of treated wastewater and storm water runoff are critical elements in these more sustainable systems. For reuse to be cost effective, piping costs need to be minimized by using individual or neighborhood scale control systems. Contemporary centralized systems discourage reuse because it is too expensive to return the residual to the community from one or a few remote downstream points. To evaluate the feasibility of these systems, it is essential to collect data at the single parcel scale. For urban water use, we developed and applied a new method to measure individual water using activities such as toilet flushes. Then, conservation effectiveness can be estimated by measuring water use with and without the water conserving devices. For storm water runoff, onsite measurements of rainfall and runoff were made and a retrofit of a test site was performed. A single commercial site in Boulder, the Environmental Center of the Rockies (ECR), was retrofit to illustrate the potential for more sustainable urban water management. The ECR site and the results of this effort are described next.
Environmental Center for the Rockies?The small-scale urban site used in this study is the ECR located at the southwest corner of Baseline and Broadway in Boulder, Colorado. The owners were committed to the goals of increasing the sustainability of the site by minimizing both the storm water runoff from the site, and the use of treated water for onsite irrigation. The site was redeveloped to route as much runoff as was possible through a series of three retention ponds, and several continuous monitoring stations were installed for measuring pond water stage. Additionally, site rainfall (on the roof) and several temperature measurements were made around the site. A shallow (19 feet in depth) groundwater monitoring well was installed in November 1999. Several water-bearing layers were encountered, the most significant occurred at about 7 feet in depth. The soils consist of clay mixed with sandy layers. To better understand the microhydrology and runoff of the site, a detailed topographical survey was done, and .15-meter (.5 foot) contour lines were constructed. To evaluate indoor and outdoor water use at the ECR site, monthly billing records were collected from the City of Boulder for both the indoor (main) and outdoor water meters. Intensive measurements of indoor water use were made at 10-second intervals. These signals were processed and converted to water use events such as toilet flushes. Also, an irrigation audit was performed on the site after it was put into operation.
The dual purposes of the ECR site retrofit are to minimize offsite discharge of urban runoff and to minimize outdoor water use by a combination of planting less water-using vegetation and using some of the captured urban runoff to meet irrigation needs. Prior to implementation of the design, a computer simulation was developed and run to estimate the expected performance of the site (Roesner, 1998). The primary conclusions from this effort are listed below:
- Even small sites such as ECR are complex from a hydrologic and water quality point of view (e.g., the site contained several separate drainage areas).
- Microclimates exist due to a combination of the building and the paved parking areas. These microclimates cause significant variability in outdoor water use demand around the building. The effects of the building on the microclimate make it less desirable to plant native species that might not be able to adapt to this man-caused change in the microclimate.
- The installed design was very effective in capturing and infiltrating storm water runoff over the 2 years.
- The vegetation took one season to get established and some initial concerns were expressed regarding its appearance. Some maintenance is required, although it is significantly less than the former lawn.
- The new irrigation system needs additional calibration to reduce over spraying. The original hope that no irrigation would be necessary is probably not attainable; however, the water application rate should be much lower than for a lawn system.
- The owners appear to be happy with the resulting project.
- The ECR is serving as a popular case study on lower impact development.
- It is important to jointly manage outdoor water use and storm water as part of the landscape design and operation.
- Soil moisture sensors should be added to get an improved idea regarding its variability with depth. Wide variability exists in judging when and how much to water.
- The largest component of indoor water use is the once-through cooling system at the ECR site. Few people are aware of the importance of these cooling systems with regard to using water. Significant opportunities exist to reduce this component of water use.
Urban Water Conservation - The Residential End Uses of Water Study (REUWS) was recently completed for the American Water Works Association by Aquacraft, Inc., and Planning and Management Consultants, Ltd (Mayer, et al., 2000). This study is based upon data taken from 10-second readings from 100 homes from each of 12 cities (including Boulder and Denver) for 2 biweekly periods?one in the irrigation season, and one in the dry (non-irrigation) season. Using signal-processing techniques, the 10-second data were reduced to duration, volume, and peak of designated end uses, both indoor and outdoor. This database is the first of its kind and makes it possible to develop better predictive models of water use. The original concept for this approach was developed in Boulder as a joint effort between the University of Colorado and Aquacraft, a local consulting engineering firm. These initial results were published in DeOreo, Heaney, and Mayer (1996) and Mayer (1996). We planned to extend some of these initial results as part of the EMPACT effort. The actual findings are described below.
Indoor Water Use Analysis - The results of the REUWS study showed that indoor water use across the United States is relatively constant. The key policy question is: How effective are the various water-conserving appliances such as low-flush toilets? The REUWS database provides indirect evidence that they are effective; however, the most direct way to do this evaluation is to use the same house and family members, and evaluate indoor water use with and without water conserving appliances. The initial EMPACT proposal contained provision to conduct such studies in Boulder; however, this effort was deleted from the scope of work when the budget was curtailed. Fortunately, Seattle, another REUWS participant, supported by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant, contracted with Aquacraft to conduct such a study. The results are just becoming available (DeOreo, et al., 2001). They indicate that indoor water use can be cut by more than one-third, to under 40 gallons per person per day, simply by installing water-efficient plumbing fixtures and appliances. Residents in 37 single-family homes were given a new clothes washer and one or more new showerheads, faucet aerators, and toilets. An interesting part of the study was the use of dual flush toilets that flush either 0.8 or 1.6 gallons, as needed. About one-half of the flushes were at the 0.8-gallon per flush level, a significant savings in water use. These toilets are popular in Australia. The majority of the savings in water use came from the more efficient toilets and clothes washers. Study participants were very satisfied with the new fixtures. These results will be of national interest and applicability. Based on these recent results, we can conclude that installing water-conserving appliances will achieve a significant reduction in indoor water use. This reduction also will be reflected in reduced inflows to wastewater treatment plants.
Outdoor Water Use Analysis - Nature of Outdoor Water Use. Whereas indoor water use is very homogeneous across the United States, outdoor water use varies widely ranging from a relatively small use in the wet and cool Northeast to the dominant water use in the arid and warm Southwest. In Boulder, indoor and outdoor water use is approximately equal on an annual average basis; however, outdoor water use dominates during the summer and is the primary cause of peak demands on the water supply system.
Within a given study area such as Boulder, the most significant factors that affect outdoor water use are: (1) whether an automatic sprinkler system was present (an automatic sprinkler system tends to result in increased outdoor water use); and (2) the size of the lot.
Missing from this initial analysis is the most important physical variable, the size of the irrigated area. Lot size estimates in REUWS were collected from the resident's survey. Also, lot size data also were available from the county tax assessor's database. Irrigated area is difficult to measure except by field survey. The State of California has implemented outdoor water use charges for industrial and commercial users based on an estimate of theoretical evapotranspiration (ET) needs of the vegetation. For example, a lawn area may have an annual ET need of 30 inches per year. The charges for irrigation water would have a lower price for water use up to 30 inches per year, and then much higher water rates for use in excess of 30 inches per year. The application rate is found by dividing the measured water use by the irrigated area. The outdoor water use is measured directly; however, the irrigated area needs to be estimated. A variety of remote sensing and related geographic information system (GIS) techniques have been investigated to estimate irrigated area; however, these estimates are not very accurate, especially for smaller parcels. Thus, direct onsite measurements are essential.
As part of the EMPACT study, irrigated area was measured for selected REUWS participants to assess the improvements in measurements in irrigated area that result from more accurate measurements of irrigated area. Also, detailed measurements of irrigated area were performed for three houses. If cost-effective ways to estimate irrigated area can be developed, then charging algorithms can be used to encourage more efficient outdoor water use by a combination of reducing application rates and reducing irrigated areas for residential customers.
Expected Cost-Effectiveness of Irrigation Retrofits. The indoor water conserving options such as changing toilets and clothes washers have been proven to be quite cost effective. Customers like them and use them in ways that are similar to their earlier behavior (e.g., they do not flush the new toilets more than the old ones). The results apply nationwide. On the other hand, outdoor water use patterns are much more unpredictable. Efforts to estimate outdoor water use as a function of lot size show wide variability. Some variability can be accounted for by whether the customer has an automatic sprinkler; however, this only explains a relatively small amount of the variability. Outdoor water use can be reduced in many ways including: reducing the size of the irrigated area, changing to less water using plants, reducing the amount and frequency of water use applications, buying a more efficient sprinkling system, using soil moisture sensors, and repairing leaks.
Given the many factors that affect outdoor water use, it is difficult to design experiments that provide conclusive information regarding the effect of changing one practice. An experiment was set up to retrofit the sprinkling system for a single house in Boulder. The house belongs to the student who did the retrofit. Following a thorough irrigation audit, the student prioritized what she felt to be the most cost-effective ways to reduce outdoor water use. Then, she began doing the retrofits including replacing sprinkler heads, realigning the distribution network, and changing operating schedules. It is too early to have conclusive evidence of the improvements because water use before and after the retrofit is needed and the work was done during summer 2000. Some suggestions that appear to be cost effective include: offer a hands-on course in sprinkler repair, encourage having a certified irrigation auditor recommend improvements for houses that appear to be using a high rate of water, and explore pricing algorithms that are tied to reasonable application rates.
Cost-Effective Ways to Estimate Irrigated Area. Lack of information on the actual irrigated area and what is being irrigated is probably the largest source of error in current evaluations. We can accurately measure the total amount of water that is applied for each customer; however, the REUWS study results indicate that customers are not able to provide accurate estimates of their irrigable area. Only rough approximations of the irrigable area can be obtained from the tax assessor's database. To address this issue, 47 houses from the REUWS database and three other houses were evaluated in detail regarding their irrigated area, and the results were compared to the previously reported estimates. The detailed evaluations of irrigated area for the three houses consisted of site visits with onsite measurements, and GIS evaluations. There is no simple way to estimate irrigated area and the apportionment of it among lawns and planting areas. This suggests that future studies of outdoor water use need to focus on carefully controlled experimental designs that allow the various components of outdoor water use to be quantified.
Urban Runoff Quality Management. The ECR study described earlier included a description of how the site was retrofitted to minimize offsite runoff of storm water from the part of the property that can be drained to pervious areas. Unfortunately, much of the runoff from the parking lot and some of the roof runoff drain directly to the street. This component of total impervious area is called directly connected impervious area (DCIA). This DCIA is a primary cause of urban storm water quality problems since about 70?80 percent of the annual runoff comes from small storms where the only runoff is from DCIA. This runoff carries the majority of the urban runoff pollution. Thus, it is important to estimate the nature of impervious areas and which land uses contribute most significantly to DCIA.
A 14.4-acre area in the Wonderland Creek neighborhood in north Boulder was used to evaluate the nature of imperviousness. This three-block area includes one lower density residential block that has a street without curb and gutter and one higher density block with the more contemporary curb and gutter design. Using detailed AutoCAD and ArcView coverages supplemented by field investigations, the total and directly connected impervious areas were measured for the individual parcels and the right-of-way. The results show that transportation is responsible for up to 97 percent of the DCIA in the area with curb and gutter drainage. Most of the DCIA is in the right of way. This finding suggests that the wisdom of curb and gutter drainage needs to be reconsidered. The use of swales permits the runoff to be dispersed over pervious areas, with most or all of it infiltrating onsite or nearby.
An important policy implication of these findings is that no charges are assessed on the transportation system for the large portion of the urban runoff quality problem that is attributable to this activity. Some investigators have suggested the need to set up a separate transportation utility that can bill users for this service, but that also would be responsible for paying for its portion of storm water management costs.
Leaking Underground Storage Tanks. This short-term effort developed from interest in providing more information to citizens about leaking underground storage tanks (LUST). The catalyst for this effort was the discovery, during monitoring of the Environmental Center of the Rockies site, that fuel contamination appeared to exist. The suspected source was a former gasoline station located across the street. Professor Joe Ryan from the University of Colorado developed an overview of LUST and links to other information sources in Boulder, the State of Colorado, and at the national level. This information was placed on the Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network and is accessible at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/waterworks/lust.html .
Supplemental Keywords:
EMPACT, water, watershed, community based., Scientific Discipline, Water, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Hydrology, Monitoring/Modeling, Wet Weather Flows, Environmental Monitoring, Ecological Risk Assessment, aquatic ecosystem, EMPACT, community-based approach, disinfection by-products, resource consumption, public information, computing technology, web site development, stormwater, water quality, community outreach, public access, storm drainage, public outreach, storm water, NPDES, air qualityRelevant Websites:
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin
http://www.basin.org/basin/BCMB/index.html
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.