Where Did
My Lost Water Go?
Justin Mahon
March 19, 2015
Imagine
the2015
result
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© 2013 ARCADIS
Learning
Objectives
• Basics of Non-Revenue Water
• Business drivers for managing
NRW
• Actions implementable by
medium sized utilities
• Lessons learned
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Agenda
• What is Non-Revenue Water?
• Business Drivers for NRW
Reduction
• Actions Taken
• Results Obtained
• Take Home Messages
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What is Non-Revenue Water?
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NRW Concept
NRW is the difference
between the volume
of water put into the
distribution system
and the amount of
water actually billed to
customers.
Water
Production
Water
Distribution
Metering
and Billing
Revenue $$$
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What is Non-Revenue Water?
Water
Exported
Billed Water Exported
Authorized
Consumption
Own
Sources
Billed
Authorized
Consumption
Billed Metered Consumption
Billed Unmetered Consumption
Total
System
Input
Water
Supplied
Water
Imported
Water
Losses
Unbilled
Authorized
Consumption
Unbilled Metered Consumption
Apparent
Losses
Unauthorized Consumption
Unbilled Unmetered Consumption
Customer Metering & Data Inaccuracies
Leakage on Mains
Real
Losses
Leakage on Service Lines
(before the meter)
Leakage & Overflows at Storage
Standard Water Balance Diagram (Ref. IWA/AWWA)
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Revenue
Water
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NonRevenue
Water
Business Drivers for NRW
Reduction
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Benefits of
Water
Accountability
Improved Water Accountability can:
• Raise revenue
• Reduce avoidable collateral impacts of
leakage
• Promote collaboration among
departments
• Support Effective Utility Management
• Lower water supply and delivery costs
• Support Community Sustainability
through water use efficiency
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Sustainable Infrastructure: Federal Guidance
EPA’s Four Pillars of Sustainable
Infrastructure - EPA believes that the
following practices will help utilities to
operate more sustainably:
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Full Cost Pricing
Better Management
Efficient Water Use
Watershed Approaches
10 Attributes of Effectively Managed
Water Utilities
• Utilities use EUM attributes
as a flexible framework to
set goals and service levels,
to monitor and measure
progress, and to recognize
success.
• NRW Management
enhances all of these
attributes, some directly
• EUM Initiative is a basis for
AMWA’s annual recognition
program
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NRW Management Enhances the “Triple Bottom Line”
NRW Management
Helps
optimize economic,
social, and environmental
performance
“Providing an adequate
and reliable water supply
of desired quality - now
and for future generations in a manner that integrates
economic growth,
environmental protection
and social development”
(AWWA)
Triple Bottom Line
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QualServe Benchmarking Performance
Indicators
• Service affordability
• System Renewal and
Replacement rate
• Distribution system
integrity
• Distribution system water
loss
• Existing water demand
• Available future water supply
• O&M cost ratios
 Triple bottom line index
Also: Return on assets, and cash reserves, others
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Actions
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Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)
• 1,560 Replacement Meters w/ Radios
• 1,624 Conversions to Radios
•
138 New and Replacement
• 1,486 Older Than 7 Years Remaining
• Most Tested Meters w/i One Percent
• Digital Data
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Million gallons/month
Track NRW
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Percent NRW
Track NRW
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2011 Water Audit
• NRW 36%
• Priorities
- Test master meters
- Use master meter
data
- Evaluate water use
by customer block
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Leak Detection
• Customer Notifications
• 1/3 Direct Contract
14 Leaks
25 Gallons per Minute (0.25 to 8)
$26,000 Annual Savings
ROI 0.6 years to 19 years
• 2/3 Consultant Subcontract
Zero Leaks
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Master Meter Accuracy
• Primary Entry Point
-Propeller meter w/ factory calibrated
internals installed in 2011.
-Registers between 100 and 101 percent
-No evidence of trapped air or solids
• Other Entry Points
-10+ years since calibration or
-Unmetered normally closed
• Utility Pump Stations
-10+ years since calibration
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2014 Water Audit
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Financial Indicators
Non-revenue water as percent by volume of Water Supplied:
Non-revenue water as percent by cost of operating system:
Annual cost of Apparent Losses:
Annual cost of Real Losses:
27.2%
11.4%
$33,900
$224,260
Operational Efficiency Indicators
Apparent Losses per service connection per day:
3.84 gallons/connection/day
Real Losses per service connection per day*:
97.07 gallons/connection/day
Real Losses per length of main per day*:
N/A
1.39 gallons/connection/day/psi
Real Losses per service connection per day per psi pressure:
Unavoidable Annual Real Losses (UARL):
22.93 million gallons/year
From Above, Real Losses = Current Annual Real Losses (CARL):
111.96 million gallons/year
?
Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) [CARL/UARL]:
?
4.88
* only the most applicable of these two indicators will be calculated
WATER AUDIT DATA VALIDITY SCORE:
*** YOUR SCORE IS: 69 out of 100 ***
A weighted scale for the components of consumption and water loss is included in the calculation of the Water Audit Data Validity Score
PRIORITY AREAS FOR ATTENTION:
Based on the information provided, audit accuracy can be improved by addressing the following components:
1: Water imported
2: Customer metering inaccuracies
3: Unauthorized consumption
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For more information, click here to see the Grading Matrix worksheet
Audit Validity Score
Focus
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Level III (Validity Score 51-70)
Audit Data Collection
Establish/revise procedures for data collection
Short-term Loss
Control
Establish mechanisms for customer meter
accuracy testing, active leak control and
infrastructure monitoring
Long-term Loss
Control
Begin to assemble business case for long-term
needs based on improved data becoming
available
Target-setting
Establish long term apparent and real loss
reduction goals
Benchmarking
Use Infrastructure Leakage Index for
performance comparisons for real losses.
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Audit Recommendations
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Area
Action
Imported
Water
• Adequate meters on all imported water
interconnections
• Annual meter accuracy testing
• Repair or replace meters outside of +/- 6%
accuracy
Customer
Meter
Inaccuracies
• Test a statistically significant number of meter
makes/models
• Replace significant number of poor performing
meters annually
Unauthorized
consumption
• Ensure that all known occurrences are outlawed
and penalized
• Create written procedures for use and
documentation of various occurrences as they are
uncovered
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Plans
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Meters
• Locate older meters
• Confirm unserved properties have alternate water
supplies
• Compile water usage for all customers annually.
• Compile the total volume delivered through each meter
• Report zero reads monthly
• Revise monthly read list
• Review the meters serving the 30 largest users
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Meters continued
• Test larger meters to establish replacement frequency
• Test master meters every five years.
• Test approximately five percent of the meters in each
age cohort
• Budget for replacing meters
• Budget for the replacing batteries. Coordinate budget
with the probable cost of the technology being
considered
• Use Water Meters-Selection, Installation, Testing, and
Maintenance (AWWA M6) and Sizing Water Service
Lines and Meters (AWWA M22).
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Loss Control
• Field check for unauthorized consumption (2014 audit
used 0.25 percent default value).
- Potential unmetered users and
- Users having consumption much lower than
comparable similar users
• Fix active leaks; for example locate and eliminate the
source of chlorinated water found in the abandoned
chemical feed vault at the former filter plant.
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Loss Control continued
• Monitor infrastructure:
Verify that fire hydrants are not leaking during semi
annual flushing
Verify annually that unmetered interconnections are
not leaking.
Repeat leak detection surveys
Meter private water main extensions
Verify that services have been properly abandoned
Utilize the Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) to
assess potential initiatives
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Managing
NRW is
Complicated
• NRW is complicated because
information is spread across disparate
systems in different formats
• Technology can help the decision
making process
• Prioritize activities to increase ROI
• Reduce costs and increase efficiency
• Reduce Leaks
• Maximize resources
• Conserve Energy
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Reporting
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Parting
Words
"Measurement is the first step that
leads to control and eventually to
improvement. If you can't measure
something, you can't understand it. If
you can't understand it, you can't
control it. If you can't control it, you
can't improve it."
H. James Harrington
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Learning
Objectives
• Explain basics of Non-Revenue
Water
• Identify the business drivers for
managing NRW
• List steps in the information supply
chain from meter to revenue
• Recognize how information
technology can help optimize utility
operations, including NRW
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Questions?
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Imagine the result
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