John Wesley Miller Companies' Armory Park del Sol

2006 Water Use

Executive Summary

With Comparison to Civano, Sierra Morado

and Tucson Water

Prepared by Global Professional Services, Inc.   September, 2007

Results

 

2006 residential utility data show

• Armory Park del Sol: 119 GPHD (gallons per house per day)
• Tucson water use: 247 GPHD (all data are from homes built after 2000).

APdS high-performance homes show substantial water savings compared to Tucson homes built 2000 or after.

 

Graph 1. 2006 water-use comparison for APdS and Tucson.

Millions of gallons saved. Every day, APdS homes use half the water resources that Tucson homes use (see www.johnwesleymillercompanies.com for study details). Multiplied by the life-span of the home—decades—water savings exceeds 1.4 million gallons for each home. Qualitative shift. Graph 1 shows that smart, low water-use includes a qualitative shift: high summer peak water use is eliminated by concentrating runoff on-site during project start up; using xeriscape and water harvesting; small individual lots with inviting common areas; and conscientious occupant behavior.

 

Table 1. Water use in gallons per house per day (GPHD)

	1		2	3
Homes	GPHD		Common Area	Total
APdS by JMW CO’s	119		28	147
Tucson	247		?	247+
Civano	193		?(573)	193+
Sierra Morado	156		?	156+

GPHD indicates water use metered at individual residences (column 1). For occupancy in subdivisions, water used for exterior walkways, gardens, etc., i.e., the “common area”, is typically not evaluated in residential water-use studies (column 2). Real total residential water use (column 3) is therefore higher than measured since common areas are typically metered and paid separately as “commercial” water. Total water use was assessed for APdS, shown in column 3.

 

This report was prepared for John Wesley Miller Companies by Global Professional Services, Inc. All mistakes and omissions are the responsibility of GPS, Inc. Comments and inquiries can be directed to Cari Spring, Ph.D. (www.carispring.com) at caspr@theriver.com or 520-260-9713.

 

1. John Wesley Miller Companies would like to thank David Modeer and Tom Arnold of Tucson Water Company for evaluating Tucson residential water use and providing water data for Armory Park del Sol. Special thanks go to the residents of APdS who volunteer their utility data so that these studies are possible. GPS, Inc. would like to recognize ongoing discussions and collaboration with Al Nichols Engineering, Inc. that deepen the context of analysis.

 

2. Water utility data from April, 2006 and through March, 2007 are used in the Civano water studies by ANE, Inc. reported here in Table 1.

 

3. The Civano water use study released in 2007 (ANE, Inc.) did not report common area water use, but the study of 2004 (ANE, Inc.) reported 8,326 ccf (6,227,848 gallons) of water used annually for Civano’s common areas, with an expected build-out of approximately 300 units at that time (ANE, Inc., personal communication; the report actually assessed the impact of 150 Civano homes). Translated into gallons per house per day, this totals an additional 57 GPHD in Civano residential water use calculations. Armory Park del Sol’s common area water use for 2006 was 1,270 ccf (949,960 gallons), with build out expected to be 93 homes. Tucson Water does not report common area water use when providing residential water use data.

 

 

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Armory Park del Sol
3rd Ave & 16th St.
Tucson, Arizona 85701
520.798.7607

John Wesley Miller Companies
ROC No. 138185