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Water User (or Demand Side) Efficiencies: Energy Saving Investigation Process

What do the icons below mean?

  • Brown IconImplement increasing block water rates (with many tiers), including possible surcharges to higher demand customers. Doing this is the first step to actively encourage customers to be more involved in water conservation measures.
  • Investigate zero based rates which provide no water in the base charge.
  • Review the feasibility of high elevation rates or the establishment of high elevation surcharges to assess customers who place a higher pumping demand with related higher energy cost on the system.
  • Review and update the water conservation plans and strategies as necessary (See Conservation Related Efficiencies).
  • Review system Rules and Regulations to ensure that they promote conservation and penalize users for unnecessary water use and waste.
  • Green IconDemonstrate resource conservation strategies and water education by participating in or developing annual school water fairs.
  • Provide public education and assistance when possible to help conserve water or find known water losses.
  • Orange IconBlue IconDollar IconReduce system leaks and water losses by implementing fixed based meter read systems, which read meters daily and hourly. Tie customer water meter reading system to work in conjunction with a carefully implemented master meter systems. Generate daily reports, pinpointing areas where a water leak or break may be occurring. Use this system to assist customers in troubleshooting leaks on their side of the meters. Provide customers with daily water use statistics on company Web pages to promote usage understanding and conservation.
  • Brown IconRegularly test and calibrate meters and perform regular upgrades as necessary.
  • Follow AWWA Water Audit Standards or your own, and perform annual water audits.
  • Consider secondary water system metering, if you provide such, to save higher quality and treated water sources, and helping to avoid the often used term, “you better use it or lose it.”
  • Consider culinary irrigation metering systems or the metering of pools or large water features, separate from customer meters with large high use customers.
  • Consider ET Irrigation Control Systems, or providing ET data to customers to assist in the programming of their irrigation systems.
  • Provide customer on-site conservation and leak evaluations and audits.
  • If you utilize a fixed base and hourly customer meter read system, investigate and consider an additional demand surcharge based on peak daily flows, which have a larger impact on a distribution or pumping system than annual or monthly volume usage (similar to what power utilities do with a demand charge).
  • Investigate installation of real time leak detection monitoring equipment.
  • Orange IconBlue IconDollar IconConsider new developments in master meter where practical.
  • Investigate wastewater re-use systems and possible Membrane Bio-Reactor scalping plants to facilitate the irrigation of large institutional, agricultural, or private irrigation needs in adjacent areas.
  • Provide optimum lawn watering and irrigation schedules to customers.
  • Green IconImplement water theft regulations and provide the policing of such.
  • Provide annual water loss reports to your public and board.
  • Track what a system ERC standard really is, and trend regularly its claim on your water source capacity and water demand capacity.
  • Understand better what water use is in the middle of night in the winter to estimate more accurately the background or passive water losses, etc.
  • Green IconIf possible, install meters in the low flow PRV by-passes which are constructed around larger PRVs, and are used more at low water use periods to help establish a system or regional base leakage rate.

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