Steve Cavanaugh, President and CEO of Cavanaugh and Associates, joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss an important yet misperceived area of water utilities: non-revenue water. Steve describes what non-revenue water is, how it can be optimized and the simple steps utilities need to do to get started with a non-revenue water program. With a little bit of work, your utility can optimize non-revenue water, while increasing its return on investment.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

What components make up non-revenue water
The different types of water losses making up each component of non-revenue water
The tools used to optimize each category of non-revenue water
How to look at non-revenue water from an economic standpoint
How to optimize your investment in non-revenue water reduction
Why economics and return on investment is the primary factor when considering non-revenue water reduction investments
How to get started with a non-revenue water program
The role meters play in a non-revenue water program
How some utilities have reduced non-revenue water by millions of gallons per day
Why the American Water Works Association scrapped the non-revenue water as a percentage of system volume metric in 2003 (and why some utilities are still stuck on that pre-2003 metric)
How to overcome the inertia common at many utilities regarding non-revenue water

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

Cavanaugh & Associates
American Water Works Association (AWWA)
AWWA page delineating the Water Audit Method
Best Practices in Water Loss Control
M36 Manual on AWWA’s website
PowerPoint on City of Philadelphia’s Non-Revenue Water Program
University of Georgia Extension website on Georgia’s Water Stewardship Act
Georgia Association of Water Professionals Talking Points re Georgia’s Water Stewardship Act and water loss auditing
Augusta Chronicle article on Georgia’s Water Stewardship Act
Article in Municipal Sewer & Water Magazine on Asheville's non-revenue water program
Asheville, North Carolina, website detailing its non-revenue water program

Transcript

Click here to download the Transcript for Session 61 of The Water Values Podcast.

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