Economic and Conservation Evaluation of Capital Renovation Projects: Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 1 (Edinburg) - Curry Main - Final

Initial construction costs and net annual changes in operating and maintenance expenses are identified for a single-component capital renovation project proposed by Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 1 to the Bureau of Reclamation and North American Development Bank. The proposed project involves installing 1 mile of 72" pipeline to replace a segment of the Curry 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 2,258 ac-ft of water per year and 1,092,823,269 BTUs (320,288 kwh) of energy per year. The calculated economic and financial cost of water savings is estimated to be $24.68 per ac-ft. The calculated economic and financial cost of energy savings is estimated at $0.0000598 per BTU ($0.204 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 $27.49 per ac-ft of water savings. The initial construction cost per BTU (kwh) of energy savings measure is $0.0000568 per BTU ($0.194 per kwh). The ratio of initial construction costs per dollar of total annual economic savings is estimated to be -2.84.