Colorado Takes Aim At Water Loss In Ambitious Plan

If Colorado water utilities don’t crack down on water loss, the state is unlikely to reach its goal of conserving 130 billion gallons of water a year by 2050.

That’s according to a state legislative interim committee convened last week to discuss the potential for water shortages, according to The Colorado Independent. Governor John Hickenlooper unveiled a sweeping water plan for Colorado two years ago, charting out a path for water management in his state, where shortfalls are expected to hit by the middle of the century.

The water plan proposed by the state says water utilities lose 25 billion gallons of water a year to leaks and water main breaks, according to the Independent.

“For water providers and utilities, that loss comes at the cost of extracting water and treating it, only to lose some of it before it reaches the user. In Colorado, water experts put the cost of that loss at about $50 million a year. In addition to actual water loss, there are also costs associated with incorrectly-operating water meters or other discrepancies,” the Independent reported.

Some policymakers are calling for new measurement tools around water loss, but the proposal is thrusting them into tension with utilities.

“The Colorado Water Conservation Board, part of the state’s Department of Natural Resources, and author of the state’s water plan, would like to see a uniform way of measuring water loss. It has developed a tool for utilities that would track water loss statewide. But the utilities aren’t all that enthusiastic about using it, pointing out that their own efforts are producing the desired results,” the report said.

Colorado is hardly alone in the fight against water loss and other problems linked to non-revenue water.

“The total cost to water utilities caused by non-revenue water worldwide can be conservatively estimated at $141 billion per year, with a third of it occurring in the developing world. In developing countries, about 45 million cubic meters are lost daily through water leakage in the distribution networks — enough to serve nearly 200 million people,” according to a report by the World Bank.

To read more about “non-revenue water” visit Water Online’s Solutions And Insight For Water Loss Prevention Solutions Center.