Facing Billion-Gallon Water Loss Problem, Town Changes Approach
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
The water division in Rockford, IL, treated 6.4 billion gallons of water last year. Yet only 5.1 billion gallons were delivered to the city’s 55,000 customers.
“That means 1.3 billion gallons of water were lost last year alone. That’s enough water to fill 1,968 Olympic-size swimming pools or 10.4 billion water bottles,” the Rockford Register Star reported.
Rockford Water Superintendent Kyle Saunders explained what that figure means.
“Remember, that is a combination of real loss and apparent loss,” he said, per the report. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we are losing 1.3 billion gallons of water. It means we can’t account for it.”
Rockford water officials have been anything but complacent about water loss. Instead, they set out on a quest to finding the missing billion gallons.
“Much as Sherlock Holmes might have done, Saunders said the Water Division will employ deductive reasoning, logic and science to solve the water-loss mystery,” the report said.
Rockford brought on consultants to help, the report said:
A consultant with specialized equipment that “listens” to pipes and can detect changes in frequency identified the locations of at least 39 previously undetected leaks after monitoring 250 miles of pipe across the southwest quadrant of the city. Some of the city’s oldest infrastructure is located in that area, Saunders said.
Eight service lines were leaking 70 gallons per minute, four water mains were leaking 60 gallons per minute, 18 valves were leaking 51 gallons per minute and nine hydrants were leaking 9 gallons per minute. The previously unreported leaks were repaired, preventing an estimated 99.8 million gallons of water a year from leaking out of the Rockford distribution system.
Rockford has also launched a water loss control program. The city aims to reduce water loss to 960 million gallons per year, or 15 percent of production, the report said.
“Each year, the city will scour a different quadrant of the city in search of previously undiscovered leaks. This year, the focus is on water lines in the southeast quadrant of the city,” the report said.
Another front in the battle is testing meters at production sites and among large industrial users.
“In a pilot test, meters at one of the city’s 26 production sites were 98 percent accurate and considered within industry standards,” the report said.
Saunders, the water official, stressed the need to invest in water infrastructure as a solution to water loss.
“After World War II we did an excellent job of investing in the economy and populations grew,” Saunders said. “But with that goes a very large commitment to maintenance and economic growth. Nationally, water infrastructure needs reinvestment. Water loss is a sign of the need for increased infrastructure investment.”
On its blog, Master Meter published a state-by-state comparison of water-loss policies imposed by authorities. Illinois, where Rockford is located, requires only minimal water loss reporting, the blog said.
Non-revenue water plagues every water system. According to a report by the World Bank, "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."
To read more non-revenue water visit Water Online’s Solution And Insight For Water Loss Prevention.