Abundant water resources in much of the eastern United States produce a sense of complacency. Even when drought or interstate fights over river flows occur, the next rainfall or reservoir release usually dulls the public’s perception of the need to design and implement long-range water supply management. The significant storms in the Delaware River Basin in 2005 and 2006 led to the formation of an interstate task force led by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and resulted in numerous recommendations. But the strong public impetus to implement these recommendations subsided with the return to more historically normal precipitation patterns. Even pictures of low levels of water storage in Lake Lanier or, more recently, images of the Army Corps of Engineers blasting passageways for barges in the Mississippi River, seem inadequate to reshape our long-standing perception that water shortages are a problem unique to the western states.
Despite the lack of broad public concern, water supply purveyors and the agencies that regulate them, like the DRBC, appreciate the risks of underestimating water supply needs. Whether or not extreme drought or rain events such as Superstorm Sandy are the new norm, water managers that ignore the risks of more extreme weather events do so at the peril of the public that they serve. Consequently, agencies are increasingly focused on evaluating how additional water storage can be developed and how overall water demand can be reduced. And importantly, in a time of limited public funds for constructing major water supply projects, the cost-effective alternative of reducing water use and water loss has taken a front seat.
In the Delaware River Basin, a new water audit tool has become an important component of water supply management. Due in part to water loss, water purveyors frequently bill less than half of the water that they treat and distribute. A water audit is designed to increase the reliability of the water supply system by identifying where the system is losing water due to leaks and other infrastructure problems or missing opportunities to meter and bill for water use. DRBC has established a deadline of March 31, 2013 for water purveyors that distribute water supplies in excess of an average of 100,000 gallons per day during any 30-day period to submit a water audit for calendar year 2012. DRBC’s regulations require water purveyors to use the audit methodology adopted by the International Water Association and the American Water Works Association. This methodology establishes consistent definitions, standards and metrics to measure and report “non-revenue water” and water loss. Where the percentage of non-revenue water reveals that system improvements are needed, water purveyors can implement corrective actions that will reduce water loss, increase their own revenue, and improve the efficiency of the water system through conservation. As public agencies seek to meet the increased water supply risks posed by extreme weather conditions, the water audit is a cost-effective step toward that goal.