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Weekly UpdatesIn RVP Corner, JPM shares the thoughts and opinions of an IREM Regional Vice President on a single topic covered in the current issue.
As Region 4 Vice President, Brett Koutnik, CPM[R], oversees the activities of the five IREM Chapters in Florida and Georgia. He's also a senior property manager for Colonial Properties Trust, Atlanta, and is responsible for a portfolio of office properties. For this installment of RVP Corner, Koutnik discusses water conservation efforts in Georgia, which has been heavily impacted by drought.
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How did last year's devastating drought in Georgia and the subsequent water shortage in Atlanta affect your properties?
The most visible and immediate impact was on outdoor watering and its effect on the landscaping. Initially, individual counties in the metro area implemented outdoor watering bans of different magnitudes. Then in September 2007, the state of Georgia issued a level four drought declaration for all of North Georgia. This effectively banned all outdoor watering and greatly impacted the economy, landscapers, nurseries and plant growers, in particular. As a result, many of our properties substantially reduced or eliminated their seasonal color programs and postponed landscaping improvements. We also learned about xeriscaping--a process of using drought-tolerant plants. The restrictions have since been reduced slightly with exemptions for things like gray water and reclamation systems, professionally installed landscaping, filling of swimming pools, etc.
What has been the most difficult challenge in dealing with the water shortage? How have you addressed it?
The most difficult challenge has involved maintaining the landscaping and dealing with its impact on the esthetics of the property. In addition, we have had to modify how we handle some outdoor operations. For example, under the water restrictions, we can no longer use in-house staff to pressure wash, but we can hire a pressure washing contractor to perform the same work.
As an interesting side note, due to the successful conservation measures citizens have taken, water consumption has actually been reduced so much that many municipalities have announced they will need to increase the rate they charge for water to offset the loss in revenue due to lower usage. Sometimes you just can't win!
What water conservation steps have you taken for your properties? Have they been difficult or costly to implement?
We implemented low cost conservation steps immediately, including the installation of low-flow aerators on faucets. Although it had a minor impact on water consumption, engineers tweaked the temperature on the condenser water so the cooling tower fans would not cycle on as much, reducing the amount of water lost to evaporation. We also performed cost-benefit analyses of more expensive conservation measures and improvements, like installing low-flow toilets and urinals in the restrooms and made recommendations to our owners about these potential improvements.
Tenants also play a key part in keeping water conservation on track. How can you get them--and keep them--on board with the efforts?
Education and communication are both key. We let our clients know about the installation of the water restrictors on the faucets, the reduction and/or elimination of seasonal color, and any other noticeable changes that we made. That allowed them time to buy into the changes and eliminated a lot of phone calls to the management office. We also offered to install flow restrictors on any tenant-controlled sinks within their space. We included water conservation tips in our newsletters and sent e-mail blasts to tenants encouraging them to take conservation steps, like only running the dishwasher when full and running the washing machine when full. One person alone making these changes won't have much impact, but multiply it by the entire metropolitan population and you can save millions of gallons a day.
For a full story on water conservation in the real estate management industry, see "Every Drop Counts" on page 26.
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