dc.description.abstract | Initial construction costs and net annual changes in operating and maintenance expenses
are identified for a single-component capital renovation project proposed by Brownsville
Irrigation District to the North American Development Bank (NADB) and Bureau of
Reclamation (BOR). The proposed project involves constructing a 72" and 48" pipeline to
replace 2.31 miles of the “Main Canal.” Both nominal and real estimates of water and energy
savings and expected economic and financial costs of those savings are identified throughout the
anticipated 49-year useful life for the proposed project. Sensitivity results for both the cost of
water savings and cost of energy savings are presented for several important parameters.
Annual water and energy savings forthcoming from the total project are estimated, using
amortization procedures, to be 1,872 ac-ft of water per year and 318,479,103 BTUs (93,341
kwh) of energy per year. The calculated economic and financial cost of water savings is
estimated to be $27.98 per ac-ft. The calculated economic and financial cost of energy savings
is estimated at $0.0001933 per BTU ($0.660 per kwh).
In addition, expected real (rather than nominal) values are indicated for the Bureau of
Reclamation’s three principal evaluation measures specified in the United States Public Law
106-576 legislation. The initial construction cost per ac-ft of water savings measure is $58.60
per ac-ft of water savings. The initial construction cost per BTU (kwh) of energy savings
measure is $0.0003444 per BTU ($1.175 per kwh). The ratio of initial construction costs per
dollar of total annual economic savings is estimated to be -1.53. | en |