Final Report On Lausd Water Usage 10 22 09

Opportunities to Conserve Water in
Los Angeles Schools

October 2009

Contents
Contents ........................................................................................................................... 2
Our Water Crisis ................................................................................................................ 3
Summary of Project............................................................................................................ 4
Project Goals .................................................................................................................. 4
Scope of Work ................................................................................................................ 4
Project Staffing and Workflow .......................................................................................... 5
Summary of Findings.......................................................................................................... 7
Overall Water Usage and Cost ......................................................................................... 7
Indoor Water Fixtures ..................................................................................................... 8
Outdoor Irrigation Systems .............................................................................................10
Landscape.....................................................................................................................10
Management and Operations ..........................................................................................10
User Behavior ................................................................................................................11
Strategies to Reduce Water Usage......................................................................................12
1. Replace outdated toilets and urinals..........................................................................12
2. Centralize control of irrigation ..................................................................................13
3. Implement low-flow irrigation systems ......................................................................13
4. Replace turf or high water use plants with drought tolerant plants ..............................13
5. Assign responsibility to track water usage and manage water use down ......................14
6. Share water usage information with school sites and create incentives for campuses to
decrease usage .............................................................................................................15
7. Optimize central irrigation system per each irrigation zone..........................................15
8. Provide water conservation training to school and plant administrators ........................16
9. Launch an awareness and conservation campaign .....................................................16
Next Steps........................................................................................................................18
Implications Beyond the LAUSD .........................................................................................20
Generation Power, the Social Enterprise of the Infrastructure Academy .................................21
Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................23
Appendices .......................................................................................................................24
Appendix 1: LADWP Water Conservation Rebates ............................................................24
Appendix 2: Estimated Labor Costs for New Toilets and Urinals ........................................26
Appendix 3: Schools Audited..........................................................................................27

2 Opportunities to Conserve Water in Los Angeles Schools
© Infrastructure Academy
October 2009

Our Water Crisis
Southern California faces a severe water crisis. Supplies from its three external sources of
water are all seriously constrained:

1. Eastern Sierra Nevada – The Eastern Sierra is Southern California
producing less run-off due to lower snowfall over Water Reserve Levels
the last several years. In addition, court restrictions
to address Owens Valley dust mitigation and Mono
Lake renewal have limited the amount of water
available for export to the City of Los Angeles.

2. Colorado River – The Colorado River basin is
experiencing a seven year drought. Since 2000 due
to high demand and lower rainfall than previous
decades, the reservoir has lost 100 feet of elevation
and decreased its storage from 96% to 43% of
capacity. In 2008, the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography issued a paper titled “When will Lake Mead go dry?” which set the odds
of Lake Mead drying up by 2021 at 50-50. Water imports from the Colorado River to
Southern California have decreased from 325,000 acre-feet per year in 2000 to 265,000
acre-feet in 2009 (note: an acre-foot is one acre of water one foot deep).

3. State Water Project – The State Water Project, which currently provides one third of
the region’s water is also constrained due to court actions over environmental concerns
(threats to the Delta Smelt). In addition, according to the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California, the Delta is under threat from a weakened system of earth levees
which could collapse in a major earthquake and lead to massive salt water intrusion into
the Sacramento Bay Delta region. This could lead to a two-year delay before fresh
water deliveries could be restored to Southern California.

While California has been experiencing less Capacity of Major Reservoirs (January 2009)
rainfall than in previous years, geological analysis Oroville Dam 27%
suggests that the last century has been much San Luis Reservoir 28%
wetter than the average precipitation for the Pine Flat Reservoir 16%
region over the last several hundred years. Lake Mead 48%
Moreover, climate change will likely lead to Diamond Valley Lake 51%
Source: Metropolitan Water District presentation,
August 17, 2009

decreased rain and snowfall in California and
decreased fresh water runoff. In comparison
with other arid regions of the world (which also
enjoy high standards of living), we use far
more water per person.

The bottom line is that we must learn to
live in an arid region while consuming far
less water.

October 2009

Summary of Project
Project Goals
At the project inception in February 2009, Generation Power and the Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power (LADWP), which commissioned this study, set the following goals:
1. Conduct physical water audits of at least 120 LAUSD school campuses, including water
fixture counts, analysis of makes and models of toilets, and analysis of irrigation
controllers and field conditions.
2. Develop an ongoing technical and media force for water conservation and campus
sustainability.
3. Develop the organizational, technical, and knowledge capacity to have a significant and
ongoing impact on water usage within the LAUSD.

Scope of Work
The project was divided into six deliverables:

1. Physical School Water Audits
Field teams of six students, working under the direction of an adult supervisor, will
deploy to campuses for a half-day audit per campus. Audits will include:
Physical inventory and data recording of all indoor water fixtures including types of
toilets, urinals, faucets, showers, and classroom lab faucets (excluding fire sprinkler
heads and fire hydrants). Digital pictures of all water fixtures will be taken.
Physical inventory of the sprinkler heads and irrigation control systems for all irrigated
areas of the campus. Digital pictures of all irrigation control systems will be taken.
2. Quantitative Analysis of LAUSD Water Usage
We will review water bills to track longitudinal water usage and costs across schools to
develop useful metrics and cross-school comparisons to better design water
conservation programs and water fixture maintenance and improvements for LAUSD
campuses.
3. Google Earth and GIS Analysis
We will develop a water usage database of a subset of LAUSD school campuses for use
in Google Earth and GIS software to analyze all irrigable areas and buildings.
4. Development of Summary Report
At the completion of the 120 audits, we will finish the project with the development of a
summary report detailing all work done.
5. Water Education Trip
All student water conservation specialists will visit Mono Lake for a week of
environmental education to learn about the impact of water use and the need for water
conservation measures. Students will return from this week with a deeper
understanding of water issues and a heartfelt concern for water conservation.
6. Media Event
Upon completion of 120 school audits, we will hold a press conference with the
leadership of the City of Los Angeles, the LADWP, and the LAUSD to report the findings
and acknowledge the work of the student water conservation specialists.

October 2009

Project Staffing and Workflow I never imagined that my first
Our team consisted of approximately 40 young people official job would be flushing toilets
through the Spring and Summer and two adult leaders and timing how long the water ran
(approximately 1/3 of the team were legally adults but were for or running across football fields
inexperienced and ranged from 18-22 years of age). Michael getting wet while trying to flag
Winters served as Interim General Manager and Carlos sprinklers. But working for
Barajas was the Field Manager. Four community college Generation Power during the
summer wasn’t as bad as it sounds.
students served as field supervisors and data supervisors.
I became an employee in July 2009
Six team members were asked to serve as Crew Leads. The
not knowing what to expect, not
team was 40% female and most of the students were low- only was I new to the company but
income and drawn from the Infrastructure Academy program I was lucky enough to become a
sites. Twenty of the student-employees qualified for team leader which came with many
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funding through the Los other responsibilities. The first
Angeles Conservation Corps, UCLA, or the Archdiocese. couple of days were hard because
These funds of $1,500 per student-employee effectively not only did I have to scarify myself
raised the project budget by $30,000. to wake up at 4 in the morning
everyday but also had to learn how
the company functioned. There was
The field crew consisted of 27 young people who were
a lot of filling out paperwork for
assigned to four teams (one in the spring and three in the
each restroom audit that was done
summer). Each team would arrive to the Generation Power and at first it all seemed so
offices at the Metropolitan Water District (next to Union complicated. As time went by it all
Station) at 6:30am for a morning briefing. Crews would became easy for me because not
return to the office by 3pm for dismissal. The data team, only did I learn how the process
which consisted of 10 young people, worked a staggered worked but I also realized why being
schedule in the office. Over the course of the summer, a part of Generation Power was so
employee attendance was very high and there were very few important.
unexcused absences.
I started realizing how much water
was being wasted on every day of
Indoor (Restroom) Audits: Teams would depart by 6:45 school. I also got the opportunity to
with a list of five school sites they were to audit. Each team go camping with my co-workers
would arrive to a school site and meet with plant managers which was such a great experience.
to obtain keys and school site maps. Restroom audit teams Not only did I continue to learn
were subdivided into two person teams, a timer and a data more about the history of Mono
recorder. Each two-person team would identify the make Lake but I also had the chance to
and model of the flush valve mechanism, count the number bond with my co-workers.
of toilets and sinks, photograph the restroom fixture layout Working for Generation Power this
and draw a diagram of the restroom. Once the inventory and summer was a great experience.
the pictorial work was complete, the team would flush and Not only did I realize the importance
time each of the toilets three times to evaluate time per of water but it helped me grow as a
flush. The field teams were able to complete five and person.
eventually six, seven, and even a record of eight schools per
day. Maricela Zurita
Generation Power Crew Lead
Orthopedic Medical Magnet
Irrigation Audits: After all of the indoor (restroom)
assessments were completed our irrigation phase began. There were three teams dedicated to
irrigation. The irrigation teams evaluated sprinkler control systems and inventoried the time and
day of week for outdoor irrigation per controller. These teams manually turned on each zone,
flagged each sprinkler to identify the make and model of sprinkler heads and identified any

October 2009

repair issues. The team also evaluated permeable soil conditions including excess run-off, dry
areas, or extremely marshy areas. The field crews were able to complete 5-8 schools per day.

Data Entry and Analysis: The data team would receive the data entry forms from the field team
and would input the various data sheets into several data sets for each of the schools. Each
data specialist was responsible for a complete school data set and would organize the file in a
uniform manner. Photos were cataloged and all forms were cataloged into a physical and an
electronic file format for subsequent review. The data management team would evaluate the
data and then integrate it into separate centralized data sets. Periodically, the database was
reviewed and evaluated for data anomalies and errors. Once the data was fully verified, various
data reports and findings were made and progress reports developed for the clients’ review.

October 2009

Summary of Findings
Overall Water Usage and Cost
High Overall Water Usage in the Schools: The Los Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD) is the largest landowner and water and energy customer in the City of Los
Angeles. LAUSD water usage in 2008 was 2.6 billion gallons (7,979 acre feet) overall.
LADWP water bills (for schools in the City of Los Angeles) reflect usage of 2.0 billion
gallons, which is roughly equivalent to a football field of water over 6,000 feet tall!

A Reducible Expense: LAUSD spends a significant amount of money on water. In
2008, the average monthly water bill for the district was $672,427. In addition, sewer
bills cost the school district an additional $256,000 per month. Across 94 middle and
high schools (for which we received water bills), the average monthly water bill in 2008
was $1,826 for a middle school and $3,235 for a high school.

Unless the school district changes its infrastructure and the behavior of its water users,
water bills will likely increase given the LADWP’s increase in rates and move to tiered
billing. Reductions in water and sewer costs are “low hanging fruit” that could return
funding to support instructional activities while preserving an increasingly scarce and
vital natural resource.

Per Student Costs: Water usage is predictably cyclical with the lowest demand in the
winter and highest demand in the summer. On a per student basis middle schools
consume more water. Interestingly, per student demand at middle schools has been
increasing while high schools have been lowering their per student demand over time.

October 2009

Indoor Water Fixtures
Number of Toilets and Urinals
We conducted physical inspections of 120 LAUSD schools within the City of Los Angeles.
We focused on the largest campuses which we expected had the most opportunities for
water savings.
Average
Average # Students Urinals Students
Total Average Toilets/ per per per
Audited Schools # Schools Enrollment Enrollment # Toilets School Toilet # Urinals School Urinal
High School 57 134,605 2,403 4,746 83.3 28.4 2021 35.5 66.6
Middle School 63 109,582 1,739 3,913 62.1 28.0 1577 25.0 69.5
120 244,187 8,659 3,598

Extrapolating this data to the schools that we did not visit (and assuming that
elementary schools have similar fixture ratios as middle schools) suggests that there are
over 29,000 toilets and urinals. This does not include the many specialty schools
including adult education centers, early education centers, SPAN schools, continuation
schools, district offices, and so forth.
# Toilets # Urinals
Non-Audited Schools Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated
Elementary School 520 297,316 10,617 4,279
Middle School 9 15,651 559 225
High Schools 13 31,239 1,082 469

Total 662 588,393 20,917 8,571

Inefficient indoor water fixtures: 120 high schools and middle schools were
audited and 19,793 water fixtures (toilets, urinals, and sinks) were cataloged.
 Toilets: Of the 8,585 toilets cataloged, 62% (5,333) are out of date and consume
3.5 gallons per flush (gpf) or more. This is more than 2 gallons more per flush than
LAUSD’s current toilet specification for new construction of 1.28 gallons per flush.

Assuming the proportions remain constant for unaudited elementary, middle, and
high schools, there are an additional 13,716 3.5 gpf toilets.

October 2009

 Urinals: Of the 3,428 urinals cataloged, 60% (2,056) consume 1.5 or more gallons
per flush. An additional 39% (1,347) consume 1 gallon per flush; only 1% (25) are
waterfree urinals.

Extrapolating the percentages out for for unaudited elementary, middle, and high
schools, there are an additional 3,724 1.5+ gpf urinals.

 Long flush times: Toilet and urinal flush times are a function of local water
pressure and the maintenance of the flushometer. Timings of toilets and urinals
indicate that many of the rubber “diaphragms” and vacuums have worn out and
need to be replaced and lead to significant additional wastage beyond the
manufacturer’s specifications. Flush times are far beyond the targets of 6.5 seconds
for a 1.5 gallon toilet and 4.5 seconds for a 1.0 gallon urinal.

Toilets Urinals
Target flush time Target flush time
= 6.5 seconds = 4.5 seconds

#of
Fixtures

Seconds Per Flush Seconds Per Flush

October 2009

Clean Bathrooms: School restrooms are generally clean and well-maintained by
school custodial staff. Restrooms are cleaned twice daily on most campuses.

Outdoor Irrigation Systems
Schools Complying with Drought Regulations: Most schools are in compliance
with LADWP drought regulations which specify outdoor irrigation timing.

Water Irrigation Timing Not Optimized: Many irrigation systems have identical
settings for all irrigation zones and are not optimized to the specific needs of each plot
of land. Some areas are underwatered while others are overwatered.

Control Over Outdoor Water Usage is Contested: One of the challenges we
observed in managing outdoor irrigation is the decentralized irrigation controllers on
each campus. At many high schools, the plant manager does not have control (or full
control) of the watering of sports fields. Site gardeners and district staff are sometimes
physically locked out of the irrigation control system by athletic coaches who overwater
fields. In some cases, they have even replaced facilities’ padlocks with their own.

Inconsistent Irrigation System Maintenance: Many schools face challenges with
broken irrigation pipes, student/community vandalism to sprinkler heads, and damage to
sprinkler heads from lawn mowers and vehicles. In addition, we occasionally found
electrical wires which were cut within the irrigation controller area rendering them
unusable, main and local valves which had been manually shut off, dysfunctional pumps,
and inconsistent water pressure across the same school campuses.

Landscape
Non-California Friendly Vegetation: While landscape audits were outside of the
scope of this project, it was evident in our visits to many of the older campuses that
many non-drought friendly plants are growing on campuses.

Management and Operations
Prioritize Water Conservation: LAUSD Facilities has emphasized energy reductions
but has not made a similar investment in water conservation. Although some LAUSD
staff are clearly responsible for plumbing and maintenance of water fixtures (and were
very supportive of this project), there is not yet a systematic effort to reduce water
usage.

Lack of Information about Water Consumption or Costs: LADWP water bills are
not routinely analyzed and no one at a school site that we met had ever seen their
schools’ water consumption. Note: LAUSD Facilities recently launched the Utility Shared
Savings Program to address this situation and provide schools with incentives to
conserve water and energy.

Lack of Water Efficient Tools: While we did not formally audit cleaning processes,
we often noticed school facilities staff washing areas with hoses rather than more
efficient tools such as water brooms.

October 2009

User Behavior
Lack of Awareness of the Value of Water: In our many conversations with
students, faculty, and staff, we found that most users were unaware of the severity of
the water crisis and each individual’s need to conserve. For example, in our initial water
audit at Roosevelt High School, we observed an enormous pool of water in the Gazebo
area (that ranged in depth from a few inches to a foot) as submerged sprinklers ran for
many hours. Students, teachers, and staff all noticed the water running but no one
addressed the situation until our team intervened by working with the site maintenance
staff to manually turn off the sprinklers.

October 2009

Strategies to Reduce Water Usage
Following is a summary of the opportunities for water savings that the district should consider
implementing:

Indoor 1. Replace outdated toilets and urinals
Water Replacing toilets and urinals with high efficiency devices will provide
Fixtures significant water savings. LADWP estimates that every 3.5 gpf toilet
that is replaced with a new 1.28 gpf toilet nets a .0425 acre foot
savings. 1.5 gpf urinals can be replaced with 0.25 gpf, 0.125, or
waterfree urinals for significant water savings. This project is
expected to last one year of full-time work for a team of 7.4
journeymen plumbers and 7.4 maintenance workers.

Water conservation incentives are available from the LADWP in the
amount of $500 per urinal and $300 per toilet. Materials costs
would be covered through LADWP incentives.

Replacing the 5,333 toilets and 2,053 urinals identified across the
120 middle and high schools that participated in the study would
save 231 acre feet each year and an additional amount in sewer
costs. This would save over $300,000 annually in water and sewer
costs. Thereafter, at existing water rates, the project will save the
district $34,615 each year in reduced water and sewer costs. The
project will breakeven four years after it is completed.

LAUSD Maintenance and Operations will have to determine whether
to implement Ultra Low Flow or waterfree urinals. We encourage
the district to consider waterfree urinals in those areas where they
can be installed correctly and cost-effectively as they will never
consume any additional water and have been successfully installed
in many high-use facilities and other school districts.

Estimated Cost:
Materials cost:
$1.6 million ($300 rebate * 5,333 toilets) for toilets
$1,028,000 ($500 rebate * 2,056 urinals) for urinals
Labor cost (to be borne by LAUSD):
$1,699,470 (see Appendix B: Estimated Time and Labor Costs
to Install New Toilets and Urinals)

Action Steps:
 Outline a retrofit plan based on replacing toilets and urinals at
the highest consuming schools first
 Negotiate agreements with equipment manufacturers,
contractors, and labor to complete the work

October 2009

Outdoor 2. Centralize control of irrigation
Irrigation We recommend the installation of a centralized irrigation system
Systems that is managed by central facilities staff or at the local district level.
LAUSD Facilities recently began to scope out this program.

West Basin Municipal Water District is willing to fund the audit and
installation of centralized irrigation systems in the 110 schools in its
service area.

Estimated Cost: TBD, water rebates of $50 per station available

Action Steps:
 Identify high water use schools with significant irrigable area
 Conduct certified irrigation audits to assess water pressure,
irrigation zones, and settings for a centralized irrigation system
 Select and install a centralized irrigation system
 Assign responsibility for district-level management

3. Implement low-flow irrigation systems
Current sprinkler systems may overwater fields by pumping too
much water too quickly. Implementation of low-flow sprinkler
heads would reduce the amount of flow per second which could be
more appropriate given the type of sedimentation. LADWP rebate
incentives are available at $13 for rotors retrofit and $5 per sprinkler
head retrofit.

The district is also considering implementation of subsurface
irrigation systems which would minimize evaporation and reduce
damage to sprinklerheads.

Estimated Cost: TBD, LADWP rebate incentives are available at
$13 and $5 per sprinkler head depending on the type

Action Steps:
 Identify high water use schools with significant irrigation
costs
 Procure and install new sprinkler heads
 Apply for rebates

Landscape 4. Replace turf or high water use plants with
drought tolerant plants
Replacing high water use plants with California friendly plants (as
have been planted in new school construction) would lower the
water requirements of each campus. The State of California has
encouraged and increasingly is requiring (AB 325, AB2717, and
AB1881) the implementation of water efficient landscaping. The

October 2009

City of Los Angeles is also promoting sustainable development
practices which emphasize outdoor water conservation and drought-
tolerant vegetation.

The next step would be to conduct school-specific landscape audits
(starting with the highest water using campuses) and engage local
school stakeholders in a plan to change the landscaping to more
drought-friendly vegetation. Ideally, each school (beginning with
the most water inefficient) would develop and implement a
sustainable landscaping plan that addresses visual appearance,
functionality, local water storage (water buckets and cisterns), and
water usage. Additional incentives and partnerships may be
available through the LADWP and the City of Los Angeles as well as
non-profit organizations including Million Trees LA, Tree People, and
the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Watershed Council.

These projects present tremendous learning opportunities for
students to engage in service learning activities and to engage local
communities.

Estimated Cost: Will vary greatly by school site, LADWP
incentives available for turf removal at $1 per square foot of turf
replaced with drought-tolerant landscaping, in-kind resources and
labor available

Action Steps:
 Conduct landscape audits of schools with extensive irrigable
area and landscaping
 Develop school-specific plans to replace landscaping with
school community input
 Match plans with available funding sources and in-kind
resources

Management 5. Assign responsibility to track water usage and
manage water use down
Identifying someone with responsibility to lower water usage while
ensuring adequate service quality will be essential to making long-
term progress. The district has an energy management unit which
is also responsible for water but given the relatively low cost of
water compared to energy, water receives far less attention. Yet,
the potential for water and cost savings more than justifies
allocation of a position. This individual would oversee the
implementation of the recommendations in this document and
continually prioritize the best opportunities to conserve water, apply
for rebate funds, manage work, and save money.

Estimated Cost: 0.5 FTE

October 2009

Action Steps:
 Define job description
 Identify and hire internal candidate for role

6. Share water usage information with school
sites and create incentives for campuses to
decrease usage
Disseminating water usage and cost information to school sites on a
monthly basis would likely result in decreased water usage as plant
management staff and end users became aware of their
consumption as well as targets to reduce usage. Moreover, creating
incentives for schools and end users to decrease their water
consumption would engage each school community in the task.
Enabling schools to retain cost savings locally (which LAUSD
Facilities Management has recently arranged through the Utilities
Shared Savings Program) will provide a financial incentive for
schools to decrease consumption.

The development of contests and competitions could also engage
students, teachers, and administrators by changing attitudes and
behaviors that drive usage. An additional benefit is that these end
users, particularly children, will bring their new expectations to
hundreds of thousands of homes in Los Angeles.

Estimated Cost: TBD, ROI for water and energy reduction
Action Steps:
 Roll-out Utilities Shared Savings Program
 Develop process to regularly gather and process data
 Develop electronic channels to convey information to schools
 Manage ongoing process

7. Optimize central irrigation system per each
irrigation zone
Upon implementation of a central irrigation system, optimize
outdoor irrigation by employing a field team to assess the condition
of each plot periodically to ensure that each plot was watered a
sufficient but not excessive amount. Multiple checks over the
course of a year would be necessary to optimize the watering
solution per irrigation zone.

Estimated Cost: TBD
Action Steps:
 “Tune” settings over time with a field team based on frequent
soil and vegetation checks

October 2009

8. Provide water conservation training to school
and plant administrators
Educating school maintenance staff and plant administrators on the
importance of water and opportunities to conserve water would
likely have a huge impact as they have significant responsibility for
how water is used and how to avoid gross wastage.

Estimated Cost: TBD
Action Steps:
 Develop training program
 Offer training through existing maintenance channels

User 9. Launch an awareness and conservation
Behavior campaign and contests about water usage to
reduce end user (student, faculty, and staff)
usage
Emphasizing the water shortage and the need to conserve can have
a tremendous impact on user behavior. LADWP water restrictions
and greater user awareness about water shortages led to a citywide
17% decrease in water usage in July 2009 compared to July 2008
without major infrastructural changes. The school district achieved
an impressive 28% decline in water consumption over the same
period. A campaign should focus more heavily on high water users,
such as maintenance staff. Given that there are seven hundred
thousand students in LAUSD, a student-oriented campaign, perhaps
including competitions, would have the benefit of impacting
hundreds of thousands of families as young people would bring
home the messages of water conservation. Providing students with
opportunities to create Public Service Announcements (PSAs),
service learning opportunities, and public speaking would also help
to develop student voice and communication skills which would be a
positive instructional outcome and would deepen students’
appreciation for water as a scarce natural resource.

Estimated Cost: TBD
Action Steps:
 Identify funding source(s)
 Solicit a proposal
 Track progress on a school by school basis

October 2009

October 2009

Next Steps
Water conservation is a green jobs win-win situation:

 LAUSD Facilities Management wins by reducing its costs by taking advantage of utility
incentives and water savings over time
 Labor wins through the creation of green jobs and the development of a pipeline of
future talent interested in plumbing and related occupations
 Students win through the creation of learning and training opportunities for careers in
the green economy
 The environment wins as nature gets to keep more water

Implementation of the strategies described in the next section will take years and will require
an ongoing initiative and multiple programs. Most of the direct costs can be paid for by the
water agencies or through reduced utilities costs. Indeed, many of these projects have
relatively short payback periods and will generate significant cost savings over time. In this
challenging fiscal environment, the district must take advantage of every opportunity to reduce
costs.

As mentioned in the project goals, Generation Power seeks to be an ongoing technical and
media force for water conservation and campus sustainability and to develop the organizational,
technical, and knowledge capacity to have a significant and ongoing impact on water usage.

We recommend the district begin to implement the above recommendations by pursuing the
following steps. Generation Power is eager to assist LAUSD, the LADWP, and others concerned
with water conservation and we have identified opportunities that we could assist in reducing
water usage. We offer a low-cost, dedicated field team and data analysis capacity and a
passion for this work. We have developed detailed proposals in separate documents for the
LAUSD and LADWP to consider.

1. Landscape Audits
70% of water use is spent outdoors and the LAUSD is the largest land owner with
tremendous opportunity to reduce its water usage.

Generation Power would like to conduct certified landscape audits using catch-cans to
assess overall water usage through sprinklers and perform a vegetation survey. This
work will be important to the implementation of a centralized irrigation system and can
address the challenges of over- and under-watering different plots of land.

2. Water Conservation Program Management
Although many of these projects have an immediate ROI, ensuring that they happen in
a large, multi-site organization like LAUSD will require ongoing effort and leadership.

Generation Power would like to provide program management to track water and energy
data, publicize this information, develop campaigns and other incentives to reduce water
usage, and conduct ongoing indoor and outdoor assessments. We would leverage our
low-cost field workforce to continually gather data and disseminate information and our
data center to gather information and analyze it for program design. Generation Power

October 2009

would report into an individual within the district assigned the responsibility of reducing
overall water usage.

3. Commencement of a program to replace toilets and urinals
The 7,000 toilets and urinals represent an immediate opportunity for water savings,
work for LAUSD Facilities staff, and an immediate payback.

Generation Power would like to assist this major retrofit project through the
development of a pre-apprenticeship program with the Plumber’s Union. Pre-
apprentices would participate in classroom instruction in LAUSD schools and serve as
helpers on the projects. The plumbers union, which would be intimately involved in the
development and management of the program, would select the strongest pre-
apprentices for entry into the union as apprentices. Creating a pre-apprenticeship
program would connect this project work with an instructional and workforce
development opportunity to benefit young people from Los Angeles.

4. Continual indoor assessment of pre-1970 schools and benchmarking of new
schools to assess the lifespan of diaphragms
Our audit of 120 schools have provided a thorough overview of all of the makes and
models of water fixtures and irrigation systems and provide an outstanding baseline of
information for plumbers to retrofit each of these devices without re-visiting all of the
restrooms.

Generation Power would like to continue these assessments through the elementary
schools and the 21 middle and high schools that were not completed to ferret out all
outstanding high use water fixtures. In addition, we would like to benchmark new
schools to understand the water efficiency of toilets upon installation and performance
over time to assess the lifespan of diaphragms.

October 2009

Implications Beyond the LAUSD
Access to fresh water is increasingly a global challenge. As populations grow and climates
change, management of this most vital of resources will become ever more important.

This is certainly true in Southern California and the Western United States. We believe that we
must radically reduce current water consumption levels in order to create a sustainable life cycle
in an arid region whose indigenous water supply could probably only support several hundred
thousand people but which now is home to millions upon millions. Attitudes about water need
to change radically as they already have in other arid regions of the world such as Australia and
Israel.

School districts and the public sector offer tremendous opportunity to reduce water
consumption and promote water awareness to the public. Efforts to conserve water,
particularly in Southern California and the Western states, must address changes to plumbing
systems, infrastructure, and attitudes and beliefs about water.

October 2009

Generation Power, the Social Enterprise of the
Infrastructure Academy
Generation Power is a social enterprise of the Infrastructure Academy, a non-profit organization
dedicated to building a pipeline of diverse, well-qualified young people for the career
opportunities of the green economy. Generation Power provides training and employment to
young people to green their communities as they learn to perform valuable work and improve
their work skills.

Approximately 40 outstanding young people worked over 9,600 hours on this project from May
– September 2009. They did an extraordinary job.

Field Teams Data Team
Dallana Acosta David Marron Felix Lu
Juan Adan Rogelio Martinez Justin Bradshaw
Maria Aparicio Dana Medina Daisy Velasquez
Jennifer Araque Victor Menjivar Ryan Domingo
Mitzi Barroso, Salvador Osario Grace Guzman
Nelson Castillo Luis Ramirez Lesley Nolasco
Daniel Chagoya Irving Rodriguez Ian Trainor
Dante Chatman Daniel Romo
Maria Zurita
David De La Torre Ingrid Salazar
Moises Flores Osario Salvador
Cinthia Gregorio Edgar Ulloa
Claudia Gregorio Alejandro Vega
Ken Lou Maricela Zurita
Brenda Majano
Supervisors Management
Brian Duvardo Cindy Alvarez, Operations Coordinator
Malcolm McLaren Carlos Barajas, Field Manager
Jose Pineda Marcus Castain, CEO
Michael Winters, Interim General Manager

October 2009

October 2009

Acknowledgements
Completion of this project required the support of many people across several different
organizations. We appreciate all of their help and look forward to working with them to begin
implementing these recommendations to conserve water in Los Angeles.

 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP): Thank you to former CEO and
General Manager David Nahai and the Board of Commissioners for believing in the
Infrastructure Academy and providing us with the resources to connect young people to
green career opportunities. We appreciate the support of John Chen, Director of
Customer Service, who supported this project and his water conservation team including
Maria Sharma and Mark Gentili who worked with us to make it happen. Also, thank you
to Heidi Bass, LADWP’s premier account manager responsible for LAUSD who provided
ongoing enthusiastic support.

 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD): Thank you to the hard-working
Maintenance and Operations staff who provided us with access to the schools and data.
Special thank yous to Neil Gamble, Mike Brady, Greg Lewis, and Amber Allison. We also
appreciate Robert Walton from Roosevelt High School who hosted our teams many
times for training sessions. We also received tremendous support from plant managers,
custodians, and other staff (too numerous to name) who every day do their best to
provide students, teachers, and staff with schools that are safe, clean, and functional.
We are also in awe of the never-ending support from J. Gonzalez whose steadfast
commitment to marrying the environment with career and technical education has been
invaluable.

 Metropolitan Water District: We appreciate the support of the Metropolitan Water
District and specifically to Gil Ivey, Fidencio Mares, and Margie Wheeler for providing us
with office space and a home base for our young employees. Thank you also to Bill
McDonnell who planted the seeds of this project in 2008 by encouraging us to explore
water usage at the schools.

 WIA Providers: We appreciate the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, UCLA Office of
Instructional Development, Archdiocese Youth Employment, and the City of Los Angeles
Community Development Department for providing Workforce Investment Act funding to
some of our eligible young people.

 Infrastructure Academy Staff: We appreciate the Infrastructure Academy team for
providing invaluable teamwork and support for bringing this vision to reality. Thank you
to the staff in the spring and summer of 2009: Cindy Alvarez, Marcus Castain, Elizabeth
Guerrero, Jorge Madrid, and Acasia Wilson.

October 2009

Appendices
Appendix 1: LADWP Water Conservation Rebates

October 2009

October 2009

26
Estimated Labor Time and Costs to Install New Toilets and Urinals

No. of
Time per Number workdays to Crew
Hours of Crew Units installed Total complete Size Wage
work Site time Hours installed during shift Fixtures project (1 Year) Rate Labor Cost

Toilet Journeymen 8 7 8 1.5 4.0 5,333 1,333 5.33 $ 70 $ 746,620
Toilet Maintenance Worker 8 7 8 1.5 4.0 5,333 1,333 5.33 $ 45 $ 479,970
Urinals Journeymen 8 7 8 1.5 4.0 2,056 514 2.06 $ 70 $ 287,840
Urinals Maintenance Workers 8 7 8 1.5 4.0 2,056 514 2.06 $ 45 $ 185,040

Cost Savings at Current Water Rates Sum of Labor Costs $ 1,699,470
Acre- Cost Per Annual
Feet Acre- Sewer Cost
Savings Feet Cost Savings
Toilets 231 1000 380 $ 318,780 Labor Cost Per Toilet Installed $ 230

Opportunities to Conserve Water in Los Angeles Schools
Urinals 70 1000 380 $ 96,600 Labor Cost Per Urinal Installed $ 230
$ 415,380
Project Duration (years) 1.0
Time to Breakeven (years) 5.1
Monthly Savings Post-Project $ 34,615

No. of Journeymen 7.4
No. of Maintenance Workers 7.4
Appendix 2: Estimated Labor Costs for New Toilets and Urinals

October 2009

Appendix 3: Schools Audited
Indoor Audit
# School Name Date Irrigation Completed Date
1 32nd/USC Per Art Magnet 7/27/09 09/03/09
2 Adams Middle School 7/30/09 08/20/09
3 Arleta High School 8/5/09 08/19/09
4 Arroyo Seco Museum Science 8/3/09 09/02/09
5 Audubon Middle School 8/3/09 09/01/09
6 Bancroft Middle School 7/17/09 08/11/09
7 Banning High School 7/31/09 08/12/09
8 Belmont High School 7/27/09 08/10/09
9 Berendo Middle School 5/15/09 08/10/09
10 Bethune Middle School 7/28/09 08/13/09
11 Bravo Medical Magnet 7/29/09 No areas available for irrigation
12 Burbank Middle Shool 7/30/09 09/05/09
13 Burroughs Middle School 8/3/09 08/11/09
14 Byrd Middle School 7/9/09 09/05/09
15 Canoga Park High School 5/19/09 08/21/09
16 Carver Middle School 7/28/09 08/21/09
17 Chatsworth HighSchool 7/14/09 08/20/09
18 Civitas 7/29/09 Part of Roybal L.C.
19 Cleveland High School 7/13/09 08/21/09
20 Clinton Middle School 7/27/09 08/12/09
21 Cochran Middle School 8/4/09 08/12/09
22 Columbus Middle School 8/4/09 08/27/09
23 Crenshaw High School 6/16/09 08/25/09
24 Dana Middle School 6/9/09 08/20/09
25 Dorsey High School 7/28/09 09/02/09
26 Downtown Business Magnet 7/29/09 No areas available for irrigation
27 Eagle Rock Jr/Sr High School 8/3/09 09/02/09
28 El Camino Real High School 7/20/09 08/25/09
29 El Sereno Middle School 5/21/09 06/29/09
30 Emerson Middle School 8/3/09 08/11/09
31 Fairfax High School 7/24/09 09/02/09
32 Foshay Learning Center 8/4/2009 08/25/09
33 Franklin High School 7/30/09 09/03/09
34 Fremont High School 7/31/09 09/02/09
35 Frost Middle School 7/10/09 08/19/09
36 Gardena High School 7/31/09 08/12/09
37 Gompers Middle School 8/4/09 08/13/09
38 Grant High School 5/12/09 06/23/09
39 Hale Middle School 7/15/09 08/26/09
40 Hamilton High School Complex 7/22/09 08/13/09
41 Harbor Teacher Prep Academy 7/30/09 No irrigation
42 Harte Prep Middle School 7/31/09 09/05/09
43 Henry Middle School 7/10/09 08/18/09
44 High Tech High School 8/4/09 09/05/09
45 Hollenbeck Middle School 5/15/09 08/10/09
46 Hollywood High School 7/21/09 08/31/09
47 Holmes Middle School 7/13/09 08/18/09

October 2009

Indoor Audit
48 Irving Middle School 7/17/09 08/07/09
49 Jefferson High School 7/23/09 09/02/09
50 Jordan High School 7/29/09 08/21/09
51 Kennedy High School 7/13/09 08/19/09
52 King Middle School 5/28/09 08/08/09
53 Laces Magnet 7/24/09 08/28/09
54 Lawrence Middle School 7/14/09 08/27/09
55 Le Conte Middle School 7/14/09 08/10/09
56 Liechty Middle School 7/27/09 08/13/09
57 Lincoln High School 7/30/09 09/02/09
58 Los Angeles Acad Middle School 7/28/09 08/19/09
59 Los Angeles Global Studies HS 7/27/09 No Irrigation
60 Los Angeles High School 7/24/09 08/31/09
61 Los Angeles High School for the Arts 7/28/09 Part of Belmont
62 Maclay Middle School 7/8/09 08/19/09
63 Madison Middle School 7/13/09 08/17/09
64 Mann Middle School 8/3/09 08/12/09
65 Manual Arts High School 7/28/09 07/31/09
66 Marina Del Rey Middle School 7/21/09 08/14/09
67 Mark Twain Middle School 7/20/09 08/12/09
68 Markham Middle School 7/29/09 08/13/09
69 Marshall High School 5/27/09 08/31/09
70 Mid City Magnet 8/3/09 08/11/09
71 Millikan Middle School 5/22/09 09/05/09
72 Monroe High School 7/10/09 08/20/09
73 Mt. Gleason Middle School 5/28/09 In fire storm
74 Muir Middle School 7/29/09 08/12/09
75 Mulholland Middle School 7/16/09 09/01/09
76 Narbonne High School 6/10/09 09/01/09
77 New Tech HS at Jefferson 7/23/09 Part of Jefferson
78 New Tech HS at Jordan 7/29/09 Part of Jordan
79 Nightingale Middle School 8/3/09 08/27/09
80 Noble Middle School 7/14/09 08/28/09
81 North Hollywood High School 5/14/09 06/22/09
82 North Ridge Acad High School 8/4/09 08/18/09
83 North Ridge Middle School 7/16/09 08/28/09
84 Olive Vista Middle School 7/9/09 08/18/09
85 Orthopaedic Hospital Magnet 7/27/09 08/06/09
86 Pacoima Middle School 7/8/09 08/07/09
87 Palms Middle School 7/20/09 08/13/09
88 Panorama High School 7/9/09 08/28/09
89 Poly Technic HighSchool 7/10/09 08/31/09
90 Porter Middle School 7/10/09 08/18/09
91 Portola Middle School 7/15/09 09/01/09
92 Reed Middle School 5/18/09 08/17/09
93 Revere Middle School 7/20/09 09/02/09
94 Roosevelt High School 5/11/09 06/18/09
95 Roybal Learning Center 8/5/09 No water to irrigation
96 S.O.C.E.S. Middle School 7/14/09 Under construction

October 2009

Indoor Audit
97 San Fernando High School 7/9/09 08/19/09
98 San Pedro High School 6/8/09 08/21/09
99 Santee Education Complex 7/21/09 08/26/09
100 Sepulveda Middle School 7/13/09 Under construction
101 Stevenson Middle School 7/29/09 08/10/09
102 Sun Valley Middle School 7/9/09 08/17/09
103 Sutter Middle School 5/22/09 08/26/09
104 Sylmar High School 7/8/09 08/18/09
105 Taft High School 7/20/09 08/27/09
106 University High School 7/22/09 09/01/09
107 Valley Alternative Magnet 8/4/09 08/22/09
108 Van Nuys High School 7/21/09 08/24/09
109 Van Nuys Middle School 7/16/09 09/02/09
110 Venice High School 7/22/09 08/26/09
111 Verdugo Hills High School 5/26/09 08/21/09
112 Virgil Middle School 7/17/09 08/06/09
113 Webster Middle School 7/20/09 08/11/09
114 West Adams Prep High School 5/13/09 06/30/09
115 Westchester High School 7/23/09 08/27/09
116 Westside Leadership Magnet 7/28/09 08/12/09
117 Wilmington Middle school 7/30/09 08/20/09
118 Wilson High School 5/20/09 09/03/09
119 Woodland Hills Academy 7/15/09 08/25/09
120 Wright Middle School 7/21/09 09/09/09

October 2009

Final Report On Lausd Water Usage 10 22 09

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