Santa Feans are notably dedicated to preserving our most precious environmental resources, including the conservation of water. We have one of the lowest GPCDs (gallons per capita per day) for internal water use in the country, due to the diligence of our community.
Now, City of Santa Fe Water is joining forces with related departments to roll out new efficiencies designed to keep Santa Fe water flowing reliably through science-based planning and data-driven tools.
Last month, we unveiled the new Systems Tool for Evaluating Water Resources Decisions and Strategies (STEWaRDS) model. This tool simulates our water system and allows us to predict future supply-and-demand scenarios, identify potential vulnerabilities and define possible adaptation strategies. It serves as the technical underpinning of Water 2100, our latest long-range water planning initiative that is currently in evaluation with the City’s new water conservation plan.
The water conservation plan will include another data-backed tool, the Water Resources Indicator Tool, developed by the City’s Water Division Director, Jesse Roach. Director Roach brought his expertise to the Water Resources Group in forming the Water Resources Indicator Tool to collectively assess all of our water sources when communicating levels of drought to our community. The tool was vetted by Water Division staff and County staff along with the Water Policy Advisory Committee at the County and City’s Water Conservation Committee. The Water Resources Indicator Tool will be presented to the community in early spring.
Community members have been vital to successful conservation efforts in the past, and will be just as necessary to make these new, co-managed resources and tools achieve the desired positive impact in the future. By learning about these new initiatives and tools, together we can build a sustainable Santa Fe for future generations. Learn how you can become involved and provide feedback to guide us in the policy responses required for each stage of drought. Please visit savewatersantafe.com to stay informed about upcoming public meetings and various other opportunities to provide feedback.
While you are on the website, please also visit our scorecard section. The water conservation scorecard is a great way for the public to see progress against water conservation goals. It is developed in alignment with Water Division goals and vetted by the City’s Water Conservation Committee. Guided by the technical tools available to the program, which helps us quantify our efforts, your responses on this scorecard help prioritize our efforts. When we surveyed the community during our most recent planning process, we learned that Santa Feans wanted the program to be transparent.
In response, we incorporated this feature into our scorecard. Each January, we now communicate our annual plan to the public through our scorecard process.
For more information about becoming a member of the City’s Water Conservation Committee, which is chaired by Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, please visit savewatersantafe.com or contact Christine Chavez, cychavez@santafenm.gov.
Christine Y. Chavez has abackground in water rightsadministration and energyand water conservationprogram managementin New Mexico. She is agraduate of New MexicoState University with a B.S.in environmental scienceand an M.S. in biology.Christine is the manager ofthe City of Santa Fe’s WaterConservation Office.She may be reached at505-955-4219 orcychavez@santafenm.gov.
