The American Water Works Assn.’s California-Nevada Section (CA-NV AWWA) announced the launch of its Water Loss Technical Assistance Program (Water Loss TAP), a $3.2 million program that will run approximately two years to train and assist California’s urban water agencies to produce validated system water audits. The Water Loss TAP is part of CA-NV AWWA’s broader initiative of combating water loss through the Water Loss Control Collaborative. CA-NV AWWA has selected the Water Systems Optimization/Cavanaugh team to serve as program manager for this initiative.
“Water utilities ask the public, their customers, to conserve water and that is important, but the public should also expect these same water utilities to manage their own facilities with the same quality and care. What that really means is understanding their water system’s apparent and real losses and from that data, developing an economically efficient water loss control program,” said Tim Worley, executive director of CA-NV AWWA.
The work now underway is part of the broader collaborative that supports systems employing best practices for water loss management in California. The Water Loss TAP will specifically aid systems in complying with the provisions of California Senate Bill 555, which established the requirement that each urban retail water supplier, on or before Oct. 1, 2017 (and annually thereafter) submit a completed and validated water loss audit report to the California Department of Water Resources.
“Ultimately we want all utilities to develop strong water loss control programs which regularly and accurately assess the opportunities to reduce losses. Having a validated audit is a crucial first step,” said Sue Mosburg, chair of the CA-NV Water Loss Control Committee, immediate past chair of CA-NV AWWA, and program manager at Sweetwater Authority.
CA-NV AWWA received a grant through the California State Water Resources Control Board to provide a comprehensive program of training, technical assistance, and water audit validation for the roughly 450 largest California water systems. Through the Water Loss TAP these systems will attain a base level of competency with the water balance and audit concepts, the free AWWA Water Audit Software (on which SB 555 is based), and the process of water audit data validation. The Water Loss TAP will be funded from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Technical Assistance set-aside.
Source: CA-NV AWWA
