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Water Use & Efficiency

In the United States, per-capita water use has been declining since the 1980s, largely due to efficiency improvements from product standards, codes, and third-party certification programs. Federal and state regulations also impact water use. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 restricted water use in common household fixtures and appliances to save energy. The recent drought in California resulted in Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668, which limit indoor water use to 55 gallons per person per day until 2025.

Water efficiency is an important way to increase a utilities’ water supply reliability, decrease the capital costs of building a new supply, ultimately reducing treatment and distribution costs. Because water use trends will continue to change, utilities should be aware of and track the drivers of water use so they can plan appropriately for their service area.

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18 Projects 4 Web Tools 10 Webcasts
Customer Relations & Stakeholder Engagement
Management, Pressure
Water Demand & Forecasting
Water Loss
Project #4741

AMI-Meter Data Analytics

$659,706
2020
Completed

Project Highlights

A growing number of water utilities are implementing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) that captures detailed and frequent data from customer meters. To realize benefits beyond meter readings for customer billing, utilities need to understand the improvement opportunities enabled by the...

View more details
Principal Investigator
Terry
Brueck
Research Manager
Ms. Mary Smith

Recent Updates

Project #4917
Utilizing Smart Water Networks to Manage Pressure and Flow for...

Reporting Period: July 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019. During this reporting period, the project team...

Project Update
04/21/2020
Project #4917
Utilizing Smart Water Networks to Manage Pressure and Flow for...

During this reporting period, the project team made progress under the information gathering and project planning...

Project Update
11/12/2019
Project #4667
Long-Term Water Demand Forecasting Practices for Water Resources and...

The objectives of this project are to describe models, methods, and practices currently used to forecast...

Project Update
06/09/2019

News

Water Demand: Improving the Effectiveness of Forecasts and Management

06/06/2019

Water utilities employ demand forecasting at different time scales and for different purposes. Weekly demand forecasts are used for distribution system operations; forecasts a few years into the future are...

Developing Tools and Strategies for Improved Water Utility Energy Efficiency and Integrated Water-Energy Planning

06/06/2019

Energy is usually the second-highest cost item of a water utility’s operating budget. Many opportunities exist for the design and operational optimization of electricity use for water supply and treatment...

Water Utility Finances: Best Practices for Setting Rates, Financing Capital Improvements and Achieving Stakeholder Support

06/06/2019

Water and wastewater utilities are having difficulties meeting their budgets while operating within their current financial framework. The concerns for many can be summarized as rising costs, uncertain revenues, and...

View all Water Use & Efficiency News

Resources

Subscriber

Foundation Knowledge Webcast: Water Conservation - Customer Behavior and Effective Communications

Webcast
03/02/2010
03/02/2010
Public Plus

Water Conservation: Customer Behavior and Effective Communications

Report
#4012
07/30/2010
07/30/2010
Public Plus

Water Conservation: Customer Behavior and Effective Communications

Executive Summary
07/30/2010
07/30/2010
View all Water Use & Efficiency Resources

Related Projects

Project #4012

Water Conservation: Customer Behavior and Effective Communication

Completed

Investigates residential customer behavior relating to water use so that water utilities can develop appropriate water conservation communication tools and strategies to reduce residential customer water consumption. Investigates...

View more details
Project #4741

AMI-Meter Data Analytics

Completed

A growing number of water utilities are implementing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) that captures detailed and frequent data from customer meters. To realize benefits beyond meter readings for...

View more details
Project #4309

Residential End Uses of Water, Version 2

Completed

This project serves as a comprehensive update to WRF’s 1999 Residential End Uses of Water study. This update includes more varied site locations, hot water end use data...

View more details
Project #5057

Version 2.0 Level 1 Water Audit Validation Guidance Manual

In Progress

Under WRF project 4639, Level 1 Water Audit Validation, a manual was developed to provide guidance on Level 1 validation for audits prepared using the American Water Works...

View more details
Project #4979

Potable Reuse Demonstration Design & Communication Toolbox

In Progress

Many water utilities are considering water reuse as a strategy to diversify their water supply portfolios. The technology for treating wastewater to potable standards is proven, reliable, and...

View more details
Project #5055

Biosolids Research Summit

In Progress

There have been many new advances with biosolids beyond land application of Class A and/or B biosolids (e.g., energy from biosolids, high-quality or exceptional-quality biosolids, etc.). Despite the...

View more details

Related Topics

Link

Water Demand & Forecasting

Link

Water Loss

Link

Management, Pressure

Link

Customer Relations & Stakeholder Engagement

Link

Utility Management

Link

Water Supply Planning

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