Water Innovations gives Water and Wastewater Engineers and end-users a venue to find project solutions and source valuable product information. We aim to educate the engineering and operations community on important issues and trends.
Issue link: http://wateronline.epubxp.com/i/628452
By Will Jernigan M ay you live in interesting times. Though widely purported to be Chinese, this phrase is of unknown origin. It is an ironic expression — intended as a curse rather than a blessing. Uninteresting times mean peace and tranquility. In today's world of water — like it or not — we live in interesting times. Access to enough safe water is a serious issue around the world, though we have historically been fortunate in this regard in North America. If we needed more water, we just added another supply line. Those days are largely gone, as the costs to develop the supply have gone up, and the availability of the supply has gone away. How we manage this precious resource is more important today than at any other point in history. The Tipping Point In October of 2015, the state of California passed landmark water loss legislation 1 that set into place requirements for all urban water systems to conduct American Water Works Association (AWWA) water audits, with formal validation of those audits. This puts California as the second state in the nation, after Georgia, with this requirement. Georgia steps forward with formalizing its existing water audit validation efforts by instituting a validation certification program — the first in the nation. Meanwhile, water loss control training initiatives are being launched in Colorado, 2 New Mexico, 3 Wisconsin, 4 and Oklahoma. 5 In December of 2015, the inaugural North American Water Loss conference was held in Atlanta. This special event — the first-ever dedicated water loss conference and exhibition on American soil — brought together over 500 attendees from 40 states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada, and 15 countries around the world. Established international water loss companies are swarming the North American market, and new water loss companies are emerging. The divide between water and energy is closing: The U.S. EPA now supports water loss control as eligible for state energy-efficiency funding programs, with billions of dollars being made available. 6 All of this points to the convergence of environmental, political, technological, and regulatory drivers for an explosion of adoption across North America for advanced water loss management practices. We are on the cusp of significant advancements in 1) the widespread adoption of established management practices, and 2) innovation in water loss technologies and management practices. System Optimization Every pipe network leaks. Every metering system misses water. Every billing system has quirks. And every water system experiences theft. These are the components of water loss, and every system has them — all of them. Each of these water loss components exerts a tangible, measurable cost on the utility. These costs are often masked. Chemical and power costs were up last year? Perhaps due to more leakage that you treated and pumped. Revenues not keeping up with expenses? Perhaps a decline in meter performance. The truth is that water loss is an embedded cost, so it's easy to pretend that it's not there. 12 wateronline.com n Water Innovations The 3 Trillion-Gallon Leak — Where's Our Water? The tipping point is here, and utilities are learning the best ways to prevent water loss and protect revenue. Landscape of water loss policy in the U.S. (2015)