Advancing Resource Recovery to the Left:
How Consumer Information Drives
Conservation
Trevor Hill
President & CEO
Global Water Resources
4 October 2011
Altering Behavior
“A key to improving efficiency is understanding where, when, and why
we use water.”
Source: P. Gleick, Roadmap for sustainable water resources in southwestern North America, PNAS, 14 Dec 2010
The Silent ServiceINVISIBL
E
Why Should We Care?
Source: UN FAO (http://www.fao.org/nr/water/art/2008/wateruse.htm) and UN “World at Six Billion”
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Popu
lati
on, b
illio
ns
& POPULATION
Population
By 2025, 1.8 billion of the world’s projected 8.9 billion people will be living in countries or
regions that are experiencing “absolute water scarcity”, and two-thirds of the world population
could be under conditions of water stress
Where’s the Water?
Triumphs of the Past
Reality of the Present
20012002
20042003
20062005
20082007
2009
20001999
Engineered Solutions must give way to Collaborative Solutions that combine
infrastructure, incentives and information to effect change
Models for the Future
“In the 20th century we built this water system and it brings incredibly high quality potable water to our homes,
and we use it to drink and to flush our toilets and to water our lawns. It's a crazy use of a wonderful resource.”
Peter Gleick, Fresh Air, WHYY, November 27, 2007
Infrastructure – Dual Reticulation
0.10 0.100.11
0.11 0.11
0.38
0.27
0.16
0.12
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
No Recycling Recycled Water for Common Area Irrigation
Recycled Water for Common Area &
Residential Irrigation
Recycled Water for all Irrigation & Toilet
Flushing
Acr
e-Fe
et p
er D
U p
er Y
ear
Water Source Distribution
Potable Water Use
Common Area Irrigation Recycled Use (HOA/School etc)
Residential Recycled Water Use (Irrigation)
Recycled Water perpetually circulating in System
0.048
Water Efficiency of Recycled Water
Changing Behavior
“Truly sustainable water management and use requires efficiency, smart economics,
advanced technology and better governance and water management.”
Source: Dr. Peter Gleick, “The Real Cost of Water We Use”, presented at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, 9 Feb 2010
Changing Behavior
[…]interventions that combine appeals, information, financial incentives, informal social influences, and efforts to reduce the transaction costs of taking the desired actions have demonstrated synergistic effects beyond the additive effects of single policy tools.
Source: Dietz, T., Gardner, G., Gilligan, J., Stern, P.C., Vandenbergh, M.P., Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce US carbon emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(44), pp. 18452-18456, 2009
RATES + INCENTIVES + DATA
Why Rates are Important
Source: Brett Walton “The Price of Water: A Comparison of Water Rates, Usage in 30 U.S. Cities”, April 26, 2010, Circle of BlueSource: Oliver M Brandes et al, “Worth Every Penny: A Primer on Conservation-Oriented Water Pricing”, POLIS Water Sustainability Project, May 2010
Altering Behavior - Rates
Rate design offers the double anti-oxymoron: price increases are consumer protection, because:
1. price increases change behavior; and
2. behavior change yields lower total costs.
Source: Scott Hempling, “Low Rates, High Rates, Wrong Rates, Right Rates”, National Regulatory Research Institute, 2009
The Effect of Rates
On average, a 10% increase in the marginal cost of water can be expected to reduce
residential demand by 3-4% in the short run. In the long term, such an increase could be
expected to yield a 6% decrease in demand.
Source: Sheila M. Olmstead and Robert N. Stavins, “Comparing price and nonprice approaches to urban water conservation”, 25 April 2009, WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 45, W04301, doi:10.1029/2008WR007227, 2009 p. 4
As Rates Increase…
People will demand the information necessary to change their behavior – and save money
Source: Black & Veatch, 2009/2010 50 LARGEST CITIES WATER/WASTEWATER RATE SURVEY
Behavior Modification
% o
f Rev
enue
Tier
REBATE THRESHOLD RATE DESIGN
Base Rate
Bas
ic N
eed
Bas
ic O
utdo
or
Dis
cret
iona
ry O
utdo
or
Exc
essi
ve 1
Exc
essi
ve 2
Egr
egio
us U
ser
65%
35%
Volumetric Rate
Base Rate
Needs DATA
CONSUMER COST
Consumption
Cos
t
Rebate Threshold
Stick
Carrot
Smart Grid for Water
Utility
Consumers
CMMSCIS
GIS
SCADA
Information
Data
The Old Way
• Manual meter reads once every 1, 6, 12 months
• Lost revenue• Lost water• Data
Gatekeepers
Deconstructing the Utility Monolith
DERIVING KNOWLEDGE
FROM DATACapture every drop of revenue
Maximize the efficiency of utility operationsProvide the basis for real-time conservation
Improve the Consumer Experience
The NEW Way
• Automated Metering Infrastructure
• Data Gateway• Analytics
Transforming Data Into Information
Collect Organize Decide/Query
Location Address
Meter ID
Meter Usage > 0Customer Status = FINALLED
Meter Location
Customer IDCIS
GIS
AMIMeter Read
Meter Type
CMMS
Act
Meter Read
Customer Status
Meter Usage
Work Order = Isolate
Meter Location
Real Time Report
Improving the Consumer Experience
“Consumers want highly personalized information and they want it at any time on any device – Web, TV,
print, smart phone.”Source: Jesse Berst, “The six things utilities still don't get about consumers (but better learn fast!)”, Smart Grid News, Apr 5, 2011
DATA
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?
Access to Data = Conservation
Real-time Conservation
Impact of the New Paradigm
Results
“The path to sustainability lies in the hands of our customers. We must give them the
data to make the right decisions.”
Top Related