Water Conservation: Sterling Ranch #WLAM
Sterling Ranch is a premier 3,400-acre new home community located at the base of the Rocky Mountain Foothills in Douglas County Colorado. As a community dedicated to sustainability and stewardship of natural resources, Sterling Ranch has elevated water resource management to new levels. The conceptual design for this initiative includes amenities, such as an 18-hole disc golf course and looped trails, carefully woven around detention facilities and low flow channels seamlessly integrated into the rainwater conveyance infrastructure of Providence Park. In this concept, the park’s detention ponds and rainwater storage facilities are tied together with low flow channels and natural vegetation. The water supply provided by this facility could then be utilized by park amenities—like a community garden, amenity pond, functional multi-use turf area, and tree-lined paths—enlivening storm water management.
Water at Sterling Ranch is supplied by Dominion Water Sanitation District, which manages community rainwater harvesting, and is a member of the WISE Partnership—a regional water supply project of Colorado municipalities such as Denver Water, Aurora Water, and several Douglas County systems. This partnership has significantly reduced water infrastructure costs and helped to make Sterling Ranch the first community in Douglas County to bring a majority of renewable water to its residents. With the infrastructure in place and renewable water flowing, Sterling Ranch continues to innovate to improve the way water is managed and conserved through intelligent community and home water usage practices:
Sterling Ranch conserves water with dual-water metering and smart irrigation controllers. They are the first community in the state to use a Siemens-powered dual-water meter system within the home, which accounts separately for outdoor and indoor usage, empowering residents to adjust their habits and helping them conserve water and save money.
Sterling Ranch provides a smart irrigation controller (Rachio) with every home. This leading-edge, innovative technology alerts residents of any water leaks and weather changes, allowing them to better manage usage by changing watering schedules accordingly to conserve water.
Sterling Ranch also implements connected irrigation control on a development-wide basis, to more efficiently manage the irrigation of common areas such as parks, open spaces, medians, and tree lawns.
Sterling Ranch enjoys a long-standing partnership with the Denver Botanic Gardens, which has allowed them to use research and expert knowledge to leverage landscape plans that prioritize beautiful, drought-resistant plants and grasses that thrive in Colorado’s arid climate.
Sterling Ranch has developed and implemented comprehensive guidelines and water demand management initiatives that constitute the framework for “watersmart” development. The initiatives provide for appropriate water use management within Sterling Ranch through the regulation of the design, installation, and operation of interior and exterior water fixtures, landscaping, and irrigation systems.
Sterling Ranch also happens to be Colorado’s first and only rainwater harvesting pilot site project. As part of this endeavor, PCS Group has begun working with Muller Engineering and LRE Water on coordinating park planning efforts in concert with potential rainwater harvesting opportunities identified by the team. The goal is to explore how potential park amenities could be integrated with rainwater storage and conveyance facilities in an artful manner to support water conservation and vivify stormwater management.