Grant

• Analyze the effectiveness of contemporary drought communication tactics, drought surcharges, budget-based reductions, and other pricing or allocation tools, including regulatory and operational barriers to implementation.
• Identify the utility characteristics (e.g., AMI availability, meter read frequency, customer mix, budget, and staffing constraints) that most strongly determine the feasibility of advanced drought response strategies.
• Identify the most effective practices and tools, the timeframe it takes to achieve meaningful demand reductions, the communication strategy, the enforcement mechanism, and the expected impact.
• Document a diverse set of high-level case studies of utilities that have implemented progressive drought management practices, highlighting lessons learned, communication and equity strategies, prerequisites, and pitfalls.
• Develop reasonable reduction expectation ranges given current water use levels (e.g., “typical achievable savings within X weeks under Y conditions”) for utilities planning for drought stages.
• Produce practical guidance materials, including operational checklists, communication templates and tactics, and decision considerations for utilities preparing for drought.

WRF RFP Contact: Sydney Samples

For instructions on how to submit proposals, refer to these instructions or this video.

The Potential Participants listed at the bottom of this page have indicated interest in participating in this research. This information is updated frequently as utilities are encouraged to volunteer throughout the RFP cycle.