Bozeman, Montana, has taken a step towards sustainable urban development and water conservation with the adoption of Ordinance 2155, which introduces water-efficient landscaping and irrigation standards for new developments.
The ordinance is aimed at addressing the dual challenges of rapid population growth and limited water supplies, says Jessica Ahlstrom, Bozeman water conservation manager, who was involved in its development.
“We have water supply challenges like many areas in the West,” says Ahlstrom. “Bozeman is a drought prone, headwaters community that relies on snowpack for its water supply. On top of that, we’re experiencing really rapid population growth.”
Ahlstrom says that these conditions necessitated a shift towards more sustainable water use practices, especially given that about 50% of annual residential water use goes into lawns and landscapes.
The ordinance development process spanned over two years, involving extensive community engagement and feedback. Ahlstrom emphasized the importance of this phase, saying that the municipality “focused a lot of our efforts on community engagement,” leveraging the city’s ‘Engage Bozeman’ framework to ensure transparency and active participation from various stakeholders. This involved focus group meetings and structured engagement sessions with landscape architects and irrigation contractors, among others, to co-create some of the standards.
One of the pivotal findings that spurred this ordinance was the discovery that “newer homes are using water less efficiently than older homes, despite being on smaller lots,” according to Ahlstrom. Outdoor water use was twice as high in newer developments. This data point was critical in shaping the ordinance and highlighted the need for a water-efficient landscape ordinance for new development.
The ordinance sets new standards and introduces a Landscape and Irrigation Performance and Design Standards Manual. Ahlstrom describes the manual as “part and parcel” to the ordinance. The manual is designed to integrate seamlessly into Bozeman’s existing plan review process and includes specific requirements for both sketch plan projects and more detailed site plans.
Despite the potential burden on developers, particularly in terms of additional design costs, Ahlstrom pointed out that many larger developers are already meeting many of the new requirements voluntarily. She acknowledged the cost concerns but noted that the increases are relatively low when it comes to the entire cost of a project.
“We really tried to keep the burden down for those like single households,” says Ahlstrom. “They just have a self-certification form, and we don’t require a design, so there’s no cost with that.”
As for the future, Ahlstrom hinted at the possibility of more water conservation measures, reflecting on the ordinance as likely “the first step” in a series of water conservation initiatives.
“As we continue to grow as we continue to prioritize water conservation as a community, there will be more that we do later,” she says. “We already, through some of the engagement, identified things to phase in later. An example would be requiring a distribution uniformity test prior to getting approval or a certificate of occupancy. There are things that we’re like, ‘Oh, this would be really great to do,’ and we see it happening in the future. So, we do think there will be changes ahead as well.”
