Five rebates reward water conservation

JAMES CITY, VA – Building on the popularity of the rain barrel rebate, the James City Service Authority rolled out five more rebates this weekend. The largest is up to $500 for conservation landscaping, according to a staff memo. To get the rebate, customers need to hire a certified landscape designer and install a watering system conforming to water conservation guidelines.

They then submit a detailed aerial landscape and irrigation plan to the authority, which will refund up to $300 if the landscape is designed by a Virginia Society Landscape designer. A rebate up to $500 is available for hiring a county-sponsored WaterSense irrigation partner.

A large rain cistern will also net customers a hefty benefit. A cistern is like an overgrown rain barrel, in this case 1,000 gallons and up. They are often installed underground, JCSA manager Larry Foster said. The authority will rebate up to half of the lawn irrigation fee for installment, not exceeding the cost of the cistern. The irrigation fee currently ranges $250-$1,400. If the customer disconnects from the irrigation system altogether, the authority will refund the full amount up to the cost of the cistern.

You can also get a refund up to $100 for hot water “on-demand” systems, in which a series of pumps keep a continuos supply of hot water at the tap. When the water in the pipes cools, it circulates back to the water heater.

The authority will reward EnergyStar high-efficiency appliances by returning up to $150 against the cost of washing machines, $100 for dishwashers and $75 for toilets that use less than 1.28 gallons per flush.

The authority decided to expand the program after overwhelming response to the rain barrel program. “We really didn’t know what to expect,” Foster said of the barrel rebate. “We had an intuitive expectation. Fifty would have been a reasonable expectation and would have been a success.” Instead, he’s given out about 200 rebates.

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Source: The Virginia Gazette