Making Gains with Water Loss Control

Programs

North American Water Loss Conference 2017

Amy McNulty

Irvine Ranch Water District

Irvine Ranch Water District Facts

181 Square Miles20% of Orange County

530,000 Daytime Population

390,000Residential Customers

6 Cities ServedIrvine

Lake Forest

Newport Beach

Tustin

Costa Mesa

Orange

Unincorporated Orange County

2

IRWD Services

Drinking Water5 water treatment plants

27 Wells and 36 reservoirs

1760 miles of water pipeline

Sewage Collection1070 miles of collection pipeline

Recycled Water2 recycled water plants

525 miles of recycled water pipeline

Urban Runoff TreatmentIRWD San Joaquin Marsh

27 wetland treatment sites

3

IRWD Supply Reliability. Then and Now.

Total Water Demands: ~90,000 AF

66%9%

14%

11%

Imported Water

Clear Groundwater

Recycled Water

Local Surface Water

15%

36%28%

21%

Imported Water

Clear Groundwater

Recycled Water

Treated Groundwater

2017Population Served: 390,000

Total Water Provided: ~82,000 AF

1990Population Served: 114,000

Total Water Provided: ~70,000 AF

4

IRWD’s Water Efficiency Efforts

5

• Budget-based Conservation Rate Structure

• Landscape Irrigation Management and Transformation

• New Technology Implementation

Water Loss Control Program Review

Water Loss Control Program – Then

• Full-system proactive leak detection

– Whole System (12-15 months)

• Targeted customer meter replacement

– 17 year replacement cycle, based on 1994 study

• Large meter testing

• Annual Water Audits AWWA Software

Contract with Water Systems Optimization

• Component Analysis of Real Losses

• Program Payback Assessment

– Proactive Leak Detection

– Meter Replacement Schedule

• Level 2 Validation of Previous Audit

Proactive Leak Detection Program

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Leak Detection Program

• Currently Two Employees

• Two Segments Residential and Mainline

• Residential Survey Independently, Walking 4 to

6 Miles Per Day

• Mainline – Work Together, Drive Major Arterials

Streets and All Commercial Developments

• Systematically Survey The Entire District

8

Leak Detection Program

Potable, Recycled, and Untreated Systems

9

Contact points:

• Valves

• Fire Hydrants

• Air Vac’s

• Water Meters

If a leak is found:

• Customers are notified of scheduled repairs

• Repairs made within 48 hours

• If a customer side of the meter leak is suspected a work order is sent to the Water Efficiency Department to reach out to the customer.

• Fire Lines

• Service Lines

• Angle Stops

10

Modeled optimal frequency of leak detection:

Full system every 17 months

Analysis was conservative – did not include indirect benefits

of proactive leak detection like:

• Avoided emergency repairs and overtime pay

• Early leak discovery

• Field knowledge and monitoring of distribution system

infrastructure

Findings: Proactive Leak Detection Program

Pace of survey every 12-15 months is cost-effective and reasonable.

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Small meters may still perform acceptably as they approach

replacement at 17 years of age.

Findings: Meter Replacement Schedule

Recommendations

1. Pilot extended small meter replacement at 18, 19, and 20 years.

2. Continue proactive customer meter testing for all meter sizes.

3. Continue proactive leak detection at the current pace.

4. Adjust leak repair tracking to capture leak repair durations and a few pieces of additional infrastructure information in an easily-extracted format.

5. Consider studying the potential for District Metered Area (DMA) pilots.

Added goal: Improve audit data collection and management.

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Infrastructure Leakage Index:

1.03

Apparent Losses:

6.84

Real Losses:

20.77

Water Audit Results

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Infrastructure Leakage Index:

1.4

Apparent Losses:

7.4

Real Losses:

28.3

Apparent Losses and Revenue RecoveryA Tale of Two Stuck Meters

Meter A Meter B

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Zero Read Meter Report Content Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack

No usage for 3 consecutive months:

• Type of Account – landscape, commercial, residential, etc.

• Customer name and address

• Meter and Account numbers

• Service Descriptor – text field not always containing information

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PREM_TYPE ACCT_ID ACCT_NAMESERVICE_ADDRESS

LANDLORD_ID

PREM_UNDER_PROPERTY_MNGR SERVICE_DESCRIPTOR SP_ID SP_TYPE SP_TYPE_DESC BADGE_NBR

FA_TYPE_CD LOG_DTTM START_DT READ_DTTM

Commercial 1870400000 Customer A 123 M St. YES POOL AREA 1870400201 C-WSCommercial - Potable - Water & Sewer 60365309 12/25/1980 12/10/2003

Commercial 6190900000 Customer B 5325 Alton Pkwy YES UNIT A B AND/OR C? 6190900434 C-WSCommercial - Potable - Water & Sewer 60449038

Meter Check 11/13/2015 05/23/1990 03/20/2006

Commercial 7145984536 Customer C 14281 Franklin 7491000326 C-WSCommercial - Potable - Water & Sewer 49248148 07/28/2016 04/08/2004

Commercial 8580600000 Customer D 500 Deerfield NO SEWER, DRINKING FOUNTAIN 8580600529 C-WCommercial - Potable - Water - No Sewer 68463492

Meter Exchange 05/21/2015 09/26/1995 05/21/2015

Commercial 4056800000 Customer E 13402 Heritage CAR WASH 4056800940 C-WCommercial - Potable - Water - No Sewer 51120049

Meter Check 11/10/2015 06/21/1989 10/09/2007

Commercial 5110225665 Customer F 363 Floral View 0114210177 C-R-WSCommercial - Recycled - Water & Sewer 60966068 02/02/2017 09/15/2016

Commercial 7036610000 Customer G 69 Shady Canyon Dr YES DRINKING FOUNTAIN 7036610625 C-WCommercial - Potable - Water - No Sewer 76916576 12/09/2002 11/05/2002

Stuck Meter Detection ImprovementsA Whole New World

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User defined number of months without use:

• Type of Account – landscape, commercial, residential, etc.

• Service Descriptor – text field not always containing information

• Key Dates

• Summary Data

• Irrigated Area

• Historical Usage Graph

SA_TYPE

ACC_ID

STARTED

DATE

METER

INSTALLED

DATE

MONTHS

WITH ZERO

USAGE

MONTHS

SINCE ACCT_ID

STARTED

MONTHS

SINCE METER

WAS

INSTALLED

MONTHLY

AVERAGE

USAGE SINCE

ACC_ID

STARTED

(CCF)

LAND AREA

(SQ FT)

SERVICE

DESCRIPTION

WATER USE TRENDS

(Since Jan 2009)

SELECT

ROW

LI-R-W 7/25/2007 7/25/2007 6 123 123 548 164,657 NULLDouble

Click

LI-R-W 10/31/2011 10/31/2011 4 72 72 432 213,444 LNDSCP: EL CAMINO

SCHOOL

Double

Click

LI-R-W 6/1/2004 3/10/2014 3 161 43 359 344,124 NULLDouble

Click

C-WS 6/3/2003 6/3/2003 9 172 172 343 436 MULTI UNIT OFFICES

(8) & LANDSCAPE

Double

Click

AG-R-W 10/21/2014 3/12/1991 25 36 319 629 1,306,800 NULLDouble

Click

LI-W 11/16/1992 6/8/2015 16 299 28 210 108,900 LANDSCAPEDouble

Click

LI-R-W 6/23/1987 3/31/2004 5 364 163 179 111,514 NULLDouble

Click

LI-R-W 1/9/1995 12/1/2014 3 273 35 176 254,390 STRTSCP: PELICAN

HILL CIR

Double

Click

Individual Account Detail

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2003060360344600

ACCT_ID 6800100000

SP_ID: 6800100666

ACC Started Date: 6/3/2003 ACCT Status: ACTIVE

Name:

Address: 14805 JEFFREY, IRVINE

Phone: (714) 241-1550

Village:

Premise Type:

Service Point Type:

Service Point Description:

DW_Units: DW_Units Effect Date:

Service Point Installed Date: 12/25/1979

Landscape Area (sq ft): 436

Landscape Area Effective Date: 01-01-2000

Meter_ID: 6800006635 9 -

Badge_Number 60344606 172

Type: D-1-1/2 172 Stuck Date: Stuck Date Update:

Installed Read Date Time: 6/3/2003 343 (CCF)

Manufacture Code: NE 404 (CCF)

CUSTOMER INFO

Service Description:

Service Point Analysis

ARBOR COMM REAL ESTATE #0493

WILLOWS

COM

COMMERCIAL - POTABLE - WATER & SEWER

C-WS

METER INFO

MULTI UNIT OFFICES (8) & LANDSCAPE

Customer Service

Monthly Average Aloocation:

Comments:

Status Date:

Months with Zero Usage:

Months Since ACCT Started:

Months Since Meter Installed:

Monthly Average Usage Since ACCT Started:

Meter Stutus Code:

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

01-2

009

04-2

009

07-2

009

10-2

009

01-2

010

04-2

010

07-2

010

10-2

010

01-2

011

04-2

011

07-2

011

10-2

011

01-2

012

04-2

012

07-2

012

10-2

012

01-2

013

04-2

013

07-2

013

10-2

013

01-2

014

04-2

014

07-2

014

10-2

014

01-2

015

04-2

015

07-2

015

10-2

015

01-2

016

04-2

016

07-2

016

10-2

016

01-2

017

04-2

017

07-2

017

10-2

017

CCF

Water Use Trends Since 2009

Account Started Meter Installed Stuck Date Stuck Update Water Usage

<< BACK to DASHBOARD SAVE

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

1 1 - 2 0 1 6 1 2 - 2 0 1 6 1 - 2 0 1 7 2 - 2 0 1 7 3 - 2 0 1 7 4 - 2 0 1 7 5 - 2 0 1 7 6 - 2 0 1 7 7 - 2 0 1 7 8 - 2 0 1 7 9 - 2 0 1 7 1 0 - 2 0 1 7

CCF

AXIS TITLE

LAST 12 MONTHS WATER USAGE VS ALLOCATION

Allocation Water Usage

Revenue RecoveredFirst 6 months

Site AF* Revenue Recovered Payment Status

1 195 $137,640 Paid in full

2 141 $3,333(only 3 months

were back billed,174 months total)

Paid in full

3 306 $127,935 Payment plan

4 269 $129,514 Paid in full

5 69 $32,161 Pending back billing

Total 980 $430,583

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*AF is cumulative from the time the meter stopped registering usage.

Water Loss Control Program - Now

• Full-system proactive leak detection– Whole System (12-15 months at the time)

– Whole System up to ~3 years now due to new construction

• Reevaluate schedule & resources (future)

• Targeted customer meter replacement– 17 year replacement cycle, based on 1994 study

– Pilot test for 18, 19, and 20 year cycles (considering)

• Large meter testing

• Source meter testing (considering)

• Small meter testing (considering)

• Annual Water Audits AWWA Software

• Water Loss and Revenue Recovery Program (implemented)

• Data Collection and Management (implemented)

Data Collection and Management Goals

• New Data Sources

– Line flushing reports

• Reported Leaks

– Record precise times of leak

event discovery and repair

• Source Meter Reads

– Read first day each month

– Read waste meters too

– Add production and waste meters to billing database

• Identify waste meters from production meters

• Define waste meter relationship to production meter

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We Make the Road by Walking

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Amy McNultyWater Efficiency Manager949-453-5634mcnulty@irwd.com