Sacramento, California - The Bureau of Reclamation and the West Kern Water District have released an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for the West Kern Water District Water Use Efficiency Project.

The proposed action is for Reclamation to provide up to $300,000 of financial assistance to the water district in support of their project through the CALFED Water Use Efficiency Grant Program. Reclamation provides cost-shared funding on a competitive basis for on-the-ground water conservation and energy efficiency projects.

The project will increase rebates offered on new clothes washers with WaterSense Specification designations and will install new water meters with Automated Water Meter Reading in the water district. Work to install the water meters is expected to occur from July to December 2015 and July to December 2016.

Automatic Meter Information Management Technology used with the AMR on industrial businesses within the water district’s service area would improve leak detection and focus repair efforts. The water district’s pipeline water delivery system covers the largest area of any retail municipal and industrial water provider in California. The area covered and length of the pipe distribution system is approximately 170 miles, which presents a challenge of timely meter reading, leak detection and leak repair.

Implementing the project will save approximately 1,456 acre-feet of water each year, which is approximately five percent of the water district’s average annual water supplies. Indirect benefits of the project include reducing energy consumption used to pump water for use in the water district by 815,360 kilowatt-hours per year and 25,578 therms per year, respectively; a reduction in greenhouse gases from reduced pumping; and increased flexibility in water and energy resources management.