Free Water Fixture Replacement for Low-Income Households

As the third-largest city in Colorado, Aurora has a rapidly growing population.

While meeting the future water needs of the community will eventually require water supply expansion, the city's current goals revolve around water conservation.

The city has developed several conservation programs to educate and encourage water conservation, including rebates for installing new high-efficiency water fixtures. Even after the city produced clear evidence of water bill savings with the new fixtures, participation from low-income households was low. Low participation can be attributed to potential lack of financial stability to purchase products upfront and high up-front installation costs ineligible for rebates, issues that are traditionally representative of rebate reimbursement programs

Aurora knew that in order to promote water conservation community-wide, the city needed to remove barriers preventing low-income households from adopting modern, high-efficiency water fixtures.

Aurora created The Aurora Water Low-Income Water Efficiency Program (LIWEP) in 2011 to help low-income households become more water-efficient by replacing old fixtures with new, high-efficiency models.

The city conducted the project in partnership with the non-profit Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) which enlists youth to learn hands-on job skills while serving in their communities. In addition to aiding low-income households, the program also serves nonprofit buildings.

To qualify for LIWEP, participants had to be Aurora Water customers who owned their home and had a household income 60% or less than the median income in Aurora. Members of LIWEP would provide an in-home assessment of inefficient fixtures. For participants that qualify, the project replaces up to two toilets, two showerheads, and three faucet aerators with water-saving versions. MHYC would then install the new fixtures.

To generate interest and spread the word about the program, Aurora increased marketing to reach low-income communities, utilizing direct mail and printed collaterals for its neighborhood liaisons.

In 2013, Aurora and MHYC took steps to further eliminate obstacles to household participation by incorporating the database of Colorado’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) for income qualifications and outreach. This allowed Aurora customers who were LEAP recipients to automatically become income-qualified for the LIWEP.