Water Conservation through Meter Technology

Jason Bethke, PEPresident and Chief Growth Officer

FATHOM

12 Regulated Utilities

Utility Operating Systems

Global Water FATHOM

ALL OF EARTH'S WATERDiameter approximately 860 mi (1400 km)Volume: 332,500,000 mi3 (1,386,000,000 km3)

LIQUID FRESH WATERDiameter approximately 169.5 mi (272.8 km)Volume: 2,551,100 mi3 (10,633,450 km3)

WATER IN LAKES AND RIVERSDiameter approximately 34.9 mi (56.2 km)Volume: 22,339 mi3 (93,113 km3)

Credit: Howard Perlman, USGS; globe illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©); Adam Nieman. Data source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources“ , 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).

The Blue Planet

Source: Durack & Wijffels, Journal of Climate, 2010 (CSIRO)Paul J. Durack et al, Ocean Salinities Reveal Strong Global Water Cycle Intensification During 1950 to 2000 Science 336, 455 (2012)R. Kerr, “The Greenhouse Is Making the Water-Poor Even Poorer”, SCIENCE VOL 336 27 APRIL 2012

“The faster water cycles, the more abundant and more violent those storms might be. And wet places getting wetter can lead to more severe and more frequent flooding. Dry places getting drier would mean longer and more intense droughts.”

“In a future GHG-forced 2° to 3°C warmer world, this implies a16 to 24% amplification of the global water cycle will occur.”

Water Volatility

Mixed picture.Between 2003 and 2012, GRACE data show water losses in agricultural regions such as California's Central Valley (1) (−1.5 ± 0.1 cm/year) and the Southern High Plains

Aquifer (2) (−2.5 ± 0.2 cm/year), caused by overreliance on groundwater to supply irrigation water.

J S Famiglietti, and M Rodell Science 2013;340:1300-1301

Published by AAAS

Water Scarcity

“A key to improving efficiency is understanding where, when, and why we

use water.”

Source: Gleick, P., “Roadmap for sustainable water resources in southwestern North America,” PNAS, 14 Dec 2010

Demand-Side Management

Customers need DATA to change behavior

• Water is becoming more volatile• Utilities are becoming more

customer centric• Instrumentation is becoming

affordable• M2M, mobile

• Convergence of technologies• Big Data

• Analytics• Push for efficiencies to maintain

lower rates

Context for Modern Metering

Source: Shadi Eskaf, “Are operating revenues declining for local government-owned water utilities? Evidence from six states”, 2013, Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina. (http://tinyurl.com/crd2rpt) ,

Revenue is Decreasing

Protecting revenue through proactive management of the resources is critical to utility financial performance.

Customers will demand tools to understand these costsSource: J. Beecher, “Trends in Consumer Prices (CPI) for Utilities through 2011”, Institute of Public Utilities, Michigan State University, 2012

Cost of Water is Increasing

“Understanding the role of information and the household consumer is integral for transforming

a ‘Water Supply City’ where the focus is on infrastructure alone to a ‘Water Sensitive City’

where infrastructure, users and the environment are integrated.”

Damien P. Giurco , Stuart B. White and Rodney A. Stewart, “Smart Metering and Water End-Use Data: Conservation Benefits and Privacy Risks” Water 2010, 2, 461-467

The Importance of Data

MeterComms

End-Point

Data Normalization

Read Management

Analytics

CIS

Customer Portal

Engineering/ Operations

Push Notifications

SCADAHydraulic Model

Leak DetectionNon-numeric ReadHi/Lo ConsumptionUnauthorized UseMeter Health MonitoringWater Balance

Conservation Aspects of Modern Metering Technologies

Utility Portal

Source: Symmonds, G., “Are You Leaking Water or Data?”, Water Canada, Sep/Oct 2011

Meter Accuracy Trending

Source: Mattar, R., “Kahramaa’s vision for non-revenue water reduction”, Water Utility 21, April 2013

Apparent Losses = 2 x Real Losses

LEAKING DATA

Data-Side Management

Geo-located meters ensure all meters are billed all the time.

GIS-enabled audit technologies ensure all meters are in the billing platform.

Highly granular meter data can be used to ensure accuracy of meter readings.

Non-Revenue Water

Real-time pumped-vs-billed analysis ensures highly accurate understanding of non-metered use.

Combined with real-time hydraulic models unmetered use can be pinpointed.

Non-Revenue Water

Combining CIS + AMI data finds water theft by disconnected customers.

Non-Revenue Water

GIS-based Field and Paper Audits find data voids.

Validating infrastructure vs relying on old data eliminates errors.

GIS-enabled best practices and Data Validation tools built into systems maintain the integrity of the data.

Non-Revenue Water

Real-time demand data + hydraulic modeling finds real leakage.

This “first-principles” approach validates flows and does not rely on established baselines – can identify pre-existing leaks which can be hidden in baseline acoustic or analytics methods.

Non-Revenue Water

How much water do I use?

How do I fare compared to my street, my neighborhood, my city?

How much water should I use?

Based on weather data and evapotranspiration calculations – how much should I have used outside?

Customer Data in Time and Space

Contextualized Data

Phone

CSA

Online

App

IVR

Auto Pay

Mail

Bank

More Data Means More Customer Interaction

Real-time Conservation

Push Notifications

• Money & Earth Saving Services• E-Bills Sign Up• AutoPay• Water Savings Tips

Easy & Intuitive Access to Information

Channel Shift via Customer Interaction

“Throughout history, a crucial feature of human behavior has been our propensity to copy or imitate

the behaviors, choices and opinions of others.”

Source: Paul Ormerod, “Social networks can spread the Olympic effect”, 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 | VOL 489 | NATURE | 337

Through the provision of instantaneous feedback on water consumption, average consumption can be

reduced by 14%.

Source: Wesley Schultz, Warren DeCianni and Alexis Roldan, “Water Conservation Pilot”, California State University, San Marcos

Customer Benefits

Source: Global Water Data

Conservation via Channel Shift with Meter Data

Demand Reduction

Overall consumption reduced by 12%

Demand Reduction

Source: Symmonds, G., “Get Smart!”, UIM, Jan/Feb 2012

Finding Drops in the Data

Source: Global Water Data

Data Means More Revenue

Source: CERES, Water Ripples: EXPANDING RISKS FOR U.S. WATER PROVIDERS, December 2012

More Efficient Infrastructure Deployment

In a recently completed Smart Grid for Water installation, replacing meters resulted in a 24.6% increase in billed volumes over the old meters, reducing apparent water loss and preserving revenue.

Throughout the first six months of operation, the full benefit of the internal processes and systems increased revenue by $1.63 million. In another utility, a Smart Grid installation resulted in:• A decrease in water loss from 34% to 14%• An increase in billed volume of 31.5%• An increase in revenue of 40.6%

Meter Data Drives Revenue & Resource Sustainability

Conclusions

Modern metering technologies:

• Provide highly accurate, granular data• Reconnect customers to their water use• Find leaks of water and data• Manage meter degradation• Allows for instantaneous water balance• Provide customers the data necessary for behavior

change• Find revenue• Extend the life of our existing infrastructure

• Increase Revenue• Decrease Costs• Delight Customers• Preserve Our Most Vital

Resource

FATHOM

www.TheSmartGridForWater.com

Questions