Water Efficiency Mar-Apr-2012

MARCH/APRIL 2012
AMI | DEMAND MANAGEMENT | ENERGY
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I N V E S T M E N T
F I X E D
I N C O M E
B A N K I N G
|
E Q U I T I E S
March/April 2012 Volume 7, Number 2
features
11
16
11
16
AMIThe AllPurpose Tool
From the Ground Up
AMI not only allows utilities

to collect information, but
lets them use data to educate
and inform customers.
By Dan Rafter
COVER STORY
As water resource management

focuses on increased
efficiency, intelligent irrigation
products are set to shine.
By Ed Ritchie
34
40
Centralized
Management,
Controlled Savings
Waste Not, Want Not
Increasing process control

intelligence can allow a utility
to conserve water and energy.
By Don Talend
Cover photo: istockphoto.com/svejcar
Demand management takes hold

and delivers results for water
purveyors throughout the country.
By Paul Hull
24
34
24
Attacking Apathy and
Reducing Demand
Low-flow fixtures and intelligent
data systems can inspire
customers and help utilities finetune water resource management.
By Paul Hull
Editor
Elizabeth Cutright; ecutright@forester.net
Production Editors
Brianna Benishek
William Warner
Website Editor
Nadia English; nenglish@forester.net
40
Web Development/IT Director

Khalid Khan
Group Editor
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departments
8
47
53
53
54
Senior Designer
Judith Donlon
Graphic Designers
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Tyler Adair
Editors Comments
ShowCase
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Advertisers Index
The Buzz
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Doug Mlyn
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Joan Lloyd
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Steven Wayner; swayner@forester.net
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FORESTER
Editors Comments Elizabeth Cutright
Back to
Square One
EDITORIAL
ADVISORY
BOARD
RYAN J. ALSOP
Director of Government & Public Affairs
Long Beach Water Department
Long Beach, CA
MARIE CEFALO
Water Conservation Coordinator
Department of Public Works and Utilities
Cary, NC
SCOTT N. DUFF, MCIP RPP
ACCORDING TO THE US Drought Monitor Map, released last week by South Dakota
State University ( www.flickr.com/photos/mapei/6744840789/ ), many American cities
including Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Phoenix, AZ; and Oklahoma City, OKare situated smack dab in the middle of a drought
belt. Indeed, much of the western US appears
to be headed in the same direction. The maps
revealin vivid colorthe swathe of severeto-extreme drought conditions that cut across
much of the American South and Southwest.
And these cities arent alone. A second map,
this one from the World Resource Institute
(WRI, http://8020vision.com/wp-content/
uploads/2010/06/Global_Water_Stress.jpg ),
shows that many of the worlds largest cities are sitting uneasily in the crosshairs of
extreme weather change and water scarcity.
And if climate change models hold true,
these urban centers and megacities can expect conditions to only get worse.
And heres a taste of what we can look
forward to (courtesy of 8020vision.com,
http://8020vision.com/2010/06/27/waterscarcity-in-the-us/ ):
By 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in
conditions of absolute water scarcity,
and 65% of the worlds population will
be water stressed.
In the US, 21% of irrigation is achieved
by pumping groundwater at rates that
exceed the water supplies ability to
recharge.
The US is the largest exporter of wheat
to the world, but it takes 1,000 tons of
water to grow 1 ton of wheat.
Lake Mead (the source of 95% of water
for Las Vegas) will be dry in the next
four to ten years.
The Ogallala aquiferwhich stretches
across eight states and accounts for 40%
of water used in Texasis expected to
experience a 52% volume reduction
between 2010 and 2060.
8 WATER EFFICIENCY WWW.WATEREFFICIENCY.NET
We all know that the worlds cities are ill

prepared to handle the vagaries of extreme
climate conditions and exponential population growth, but we seem to be at a loss as to
how fund and implement the changes needed. And the stakes are high. During times of
severe instability, when all resource management is a challenge, water scarcity is not just
a financial issue or a political question, it can
mean the difference between life and death.
That may seem like a melodramatic statement, but the UN and other international
organizations have been sounding a similar
clarion call for the last several years.
Most recently, a June 2011 study released by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) released (Climate
Change, Water and Food Security, http://
climate-l.iisd.org/news/fao-releases-surveyon-water-scarcity-and-food-production/ )
argues that water scarcity in the Mediterranean, Americas, Australia, and southern
Africa will have an immediate and severe
impact on global food production. And a
2009 study by UNESCO substantiates this
claim, revealing water scarcity may limit
food production and supply, putting pressure on food prices and increasing countries
dependence on food imports ( www.unesco.
org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/
water/wwap/facts-and-figures/all-facts-wwdr3/fact3-water-scarcity-food-production/ ).
Other predicted impacts: regional food
shortages, increased fertilization costs, increased energy costs, and possible financial
speculation leading to a steep increase in
food prices.
This combination of inadequate water
supplies and decreasing water quality is
already negatively impacting not just food
production, but industrial facilities, international trade, and diplomatic relations. How
long before we see scenarios similar to what
brought down ancient Angkor played out all
across the globe? (See sidebar, Ancient Cities,
Manager, Program Coordination

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Ontario, Canada
CHRIS EARLEY
Principal,
Greening Urban, LLC
Richmond, VA
LEONARD FLECKENSTEIN
Senior Program Specialist
Santa Barbara County Water Agency
Santa Barbara, CA
LUIS S. GENEROSO
Water Resources Manager
City of San Diego Water Department
San Diego, CA
NEIL S. GRIGG
Professor of Civil Engineering
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
LLOYD HATHCOCK
Director of Program Development
Niagara Conservation Corp.
Durham, NC
GARY KLEIN
Affiliated International Management LLC.
Newport Beach, CA
GEORGE KUNKEL JR., P.E.

Water Efficiency Program Manager
Philadelphia Water Department
Philadelphia, PA
JEFFREY J. MOSHER
Executive Director
National Water Research Institute
Fountain Valley, CA
JIM PINGATORE
Water Conservation Planner
Valparaiso City Utilities
Valparaiso, IN
DANIEL RANSOM
Water Conservation Manager
City of Santa Fe, NM
PETER P. ROGERS
Professor of City Planning
Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental
Engineering, Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
DAN STRUB
Conservation Program Coordinator
Water Conservation Program
City of Austin, TX
BRIAN VINCHESI
President
Irrigation Consulting Inc.
Pepperell, MA
DAVID ZOLDOSKE, EDD

Director
Center for Irrigation Technology
California State UniversityFresno
Fresno, CA
Editor's Comments Elizabeth Cutright
Modern Problems.) And considering

the strong connection between water
and energy, we can assume that the
impact of water scarcity will only be
magnified and exponentially expanded
once power generation and delivery
begin to be effected by water shortages. As such, its not a stretch to say
that when it comes to water scarcity,
we might well be stuck with a one-way
ticket to a futuristic nightmare.
So what to do? In a blog for
Switchboard (the National Resources
Defense Council Staff Blog), Kaid
Benfield discusses the issue of urban
growth, smart cities, and water scarcity
in an entry titled Reconciling cities
with water scarcity ( http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/reconciling_cities_with_water.html ).
Benfield believes that the first
step is to help our cities expand intelligently, with an eye on efficiency and
sustainable water use. For cities, this

means implementing both increased
housing densityEPA research shows
that building 1,000 new homes at 8
units per acre instead of 4 can save as
much as 27 million cubic feet of runoff
per yearand insuring that new (and
existing) residential and commercial
properties come equipped with builtin water efficient technologies.
Which brings us back to the solution weve been touting all along: water
efficiency. It may not be the end of the
world as we know it, but even if the
2012 doomsday cultists and ancient
Mayan calendar enthusiasts are proven
wrong, theres no denying that as our
global water scarcity crisis expands and
explodes, the futures looking rather
grim. As such, our bestand perhaps
onlyoption is to start a rigorous, wellfunded course of smart, efficient water
resource management.
WE
Ancient Cities,
Modern Problems
Any student of history will tell you
that poet and humanist George
Santayana had it right when he said,
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it ( http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_
Santayana ). As the US Drought
Monitor Map and the WRI Global
Water Stress schematic illustrate, our
current metropolitan areas seemed
doomed to relive the same challenges and tragedies that felled one the
grandest ancient cities of yore.
Last year, a report from Live Science
(www.livescience.com/17702-droughtcollapse-ancient-city-angkor.html ),
revealed that droughtrather than
war, pestilence, or land overexploitationultimately led to the demise of
the ancient city of Angkor. Initially, the
city, which was capital of the 9th century Khmer Empire, thrived. Its success
was due, in part, to Angkors sophisticated water resource management
plan: an extensive system of moats, reservoirs, channels, and embankments
designed to collect and store monsoonal deluges for use throughout the
year. But this technologically advanced
infrastructure was not enough to protect the city from the vagaries of a
changing weather landscape. With
more information now available, its
likely that one of the most powerful
urban centers in southeast Asia for
almost 500 years was done not by
violence or mismanagement, but by
sudden and intense variations in climate that exploited the weaknesses
in Angkors infrastructure, causing the
city to collapse.
What can we learn from Angkor? As
researcher Mary Beth Day, University
of Cambridge, England, points out in
her statement regarding the research
findings, Angkor can be an example
of how technology isnt always sufficient to prevent major collapse during times of severe instability. Angkor
had a highly sophisticated water management infrastructure, but this technologic advantage was not enough
to prevent its collapse in the face of
extreme environmental conditions.
BADGER METER
AMITHE ALLPURPOSE TOOL

Utilities are discovering that advanced
metering infrastructure not only allows them
to collect information, but lets them use data
to educate and inform customers.
BY DAN RAFTER
One way that utilities can do this
is by not only relying on Advanced
Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to
collect data, but by using this data to
tell customers exactly how they can
reduce their own consumption.
We believe that the water world
has been preoccupied with supply-side
solutions to water conservation for too
long, says Hill. People always want
to build a large dam or a huge reverse
osmosis plant. They want to install
bigger pipes and pumps. Theres always
been this fascination with supply-side
solutions. But we believe that instead
we should use the resources we already
have, in better ways.
Its an approach that Hill says not
enough water utilities are taking today.
And that, he says, is unfortunate.
AMI can make a big difference in the
amount of water that utilities send to
BADGER METER
arge dams. Bigger pipes. Huge

reverse osmosis plants. Larger
pumps. Buying ever more water
from other providers.
These are the solutions
that water districts have turned to
far too frequently in their search
to maximize their water resources,
says Trevor Hill, president and chief
executive officer of Global Water, a
Phoenix-based company that owns
and operates 16 water and wastewater
utilities in Arizona.
Hill says that the better solution
is to use existing resources in more
efficient ways. In other words, utilities should educate their clients on the
ways in which they can minimize the
amount of water they consume each
month, resulting in water delivery systems that waste as few gallons as possible of this important natural resource.
Meters
like this
one help
increase
efficiency.
their customers each year, but only if

utilities use this technology to its
fullest capabilities.
At the same time, a proper use of
AMI, and the data it generates, can
save water utilities precious dollars
when it comes to the maintenance
and repair of their pipes, pumps, and
other infrastructure, says Paul Lekan,
vice president of marketing with
Hazelwood, MO-based Aclara. And
saving dollars is especially important
today when city budgets are facing
unprecedented squeezes.
It will take trillions of dollars to
completely renovate the water systems
across this country, says Lekan. But
for a fraction of this cost, water districts can deploy AMI to help them
better target the work that they need
to do now, to maintain their equipment. We are not going to be able to
replace entire water systems overnight. But AMI allows water utilities
to target their replacement efforts
where they are most needed.
The manufacturers of AMI
technology say that water utilities are
embracing AMI and using the data it
generates to study water use patterns
among their consumers.
This doesnt mean, though, that
water utilities are yet using AMI
to its fullest capabilities. And it
certainly doesnt mean that utilities
are using the data that AMI generates
to cut down on the amount of water
their clients consume.
Until the latter happens, say AMI
pros, water utilities will continue to
miss out on one of the most important
benefits that this technology provides.
TURNING DATA INTO A TOOL
For Hill, the problem is a simple one:
water utilities arent shy about investing
in AMI. And they dont hesitate to collect
the reams of data that AMI generates.
Unfortunately, too many utilities
still dont understand how to use this
data properly, Hill says.
Hill sought to change this in
2003. Thats when he founded Global
Water with the goal of building a water
conservation-oriented utility. Global
Water acquired 16 water utilities in
Arizona, and then made sure that each
of these utilities operated under the
same AMI platform, FATHOM.

The goal of FATHOM is simple,
Hill says. Utilities that use it will save
money on operating their systems
because theyll receive data that tells
them how they can reduce the amount
of water that their clients consume.
Today, Global Water sells its
FATHOM system to other utilities that
the company doesnt own.
All along weve been focused on
adopting and integrating those technologies that help us meet our greater
cause of reducing per capita water
consumption and demand, says Hill.
He adds that Global Water is ahead
such challenges as aging infrastructures, scarcity of water, new federal

and state regulations, and the increasing pressure from their city councils to
do more while spending less.
Utilities can meet these challenges
by using AMI to steer their customers
toward lower consumption, Hill says.
And the way to do this is to provide
them access to real-time information
about their water use.
It does little good to provide consumers with their water consumption
numbers a month after theyve already
consumed their water. This doesnt
allow customers to make changes in
The water world has been

preoccupied with supply-side
solutions to water conservation
for too long. . . . Instead, we
should use the resources we
already have, in better ways.
of the industry today, with many water
utilities still using AMI only to collect
data once a month or once a quarter.
This will change, though, as
customers demand more information
from their utilities. And like many
changes today, the sputtering national
economy will force it.
Customers are being squeezed
economically today, says Hill. The
average guy has less in his pocket than
he did five years ago. At the same time,
the cost of water is starting to rise.
These two lines will soon converge and
bring about a change. Look at it this
way: When customers water bills are
$15, they dont care that much about
how much water they are using. When
that water bill nears $100, they are no
longer indifferent.
Water prices are rising faster
than inflation today, Hill says, largely
because water utilities are dealing with
their consumption patterns, Hill says.

But if utilities allow their customers to click on an app or visit a secure
webpage, so that they can see how
much water they consumed yesterday
or this morning, it gives these customers the opportunity to change their
behavior immediately. This is a benefit
for the consumer, who sees a lower
water bill, and the utility, which sees
less water consumed.
We think that consumers will
soon demand more information from
their utilities, says Hill. Theyll get
their bills and say, Oh, my goshI
cant have used all that water. When
you can show them that, yes, they
are consuming that much water, they
have an obvious next question: How
can you help me use less water than
that? That trend is starting, and it
will only grow stronger as prices continue to rise.
REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION
Brian Fiut, Senior Product Manager at
Itron Water Sales Group, says that customers and water utilities truly benefit
when AMI, and the data it generates,
allows for a direct two-way communication between customers and the
water utilities serving them.
With Itrons AMI technology, utilities can receive updated water consumption data from their customers
on an hourly basis. When customers
call with questions about their water
bills, the utility can tell them exactly
how much water they consumed not
only each day, but also each hour of
each day.
This way, customers can pinpoint exactly why a water bill may
have jumped significantly for a particular month.
Customers who have issues with
a bill can get a real answer as to why
their bill was as high as it was, says
Fiut. Understanding how much usage occurred, and when, will enable
them to take steps, if necessary, to
make sure that their future bills arent
as high.
This isnt how things worked
before, he continues. In the old
days, utilities were doing monthly,
and sometimes quarterly, billing
statements. They would estimate the
amount of water that a residential
customer would consume. With the
technologies we have today, utilities
can drill in on any given day and on
any given hour and report back to customers what their consumption was,
the actual usage for these periods.
This gives new power to customer-service representatives to solve
potential customer billing problems in
real time, Fiut says.
Customers might call up to complain about a bill. The customer-service
representative can, relying on usage
data provided by AMI, determine if
these customers saw a big spike in
water-usage on a particular day. The
representative can then rely this information to consumers. One consumer
may realize he spent that day filling up
his backyard pool. Another may remember that this was the day on which
she forgot to turn her lawn sprinkler off
before heading to bed.
This data might also provide customers with a warning that they may
have a water leak that they need to fix
before it becomes an even bigger, and
costlier, problem, Fiut says.
And not only does this type of
AMI use make for more accurate billing, it also provides a credibility boost
to water utilities, Fiut says.
The ability to communicate quality information back to customers in
real time means that the trust is there
between customers and utilities, says

Fiut. You dont have utilities telling
customers that they dont know why
their water bills are so high. You dont
have utilities telling their customers
that theyll have to look into something and get back to them with an
answer later. Utilities dont have to
send someone out to look at customers meters. They dont have to drag
out the bill-reconciliation process.
They are providing quick answers in
MARCH/APRIL 2012 WATER EFFICIENCY 13
real time, and thats a huge benefit to

both utilities and to their customers.
Utilities who want to provide additional service to their customers can
send consumption reports to end users
through e-mail as an easy-to-read
PDF. This provides consumers with a
tangible record of their water usage,
and makes it clearer to them exactly
when their water consumption spiked
to higher levels.
Fiut says its important for water
utilities to explore ways to use AMI
and the data it generates to reduce the
costs of providing water.
This has always been the case, but
its even more crucial today, Fiut says.
Thats because the dismal national economy has forced municipalities across
the country to squeeze more out of their
budgets. To help balance their budgets,
some municipalities are cutting services
or asking their residents to pay more for
the services they do receive.
These budget problems have resulted in municipalities that have long
delayed needed improvements to their
infrastructures, something that Fiut
says can lead to serious problems.
When dealing with water, the
infrastructure quality is so important,
he says. Fresh water, and wastewater,
too, is so important to the health and
economic vitality of a region.
Water districts that can prove
that they are using AMI to produce
consumption data that helps consumers reduce the amount of water they
use can go a long way toward proving
to the boards and councils that govern
them that they are looking for ways to
reduce costs.
By clearly demonstrating the
benefits that AMI can bring, water districts might even convince their local
councils and boards to free up what
limited money they have so that they
can invest in additional data-mining
technology, Fiut says.
With budgets being strained, the
business case value for investing in a
robust AMI deployment is a little bit
harder to communicate to decisionmakers, to the city councils and
mayors, says Fiut. This is especially
true when other issues, perceived to be
more pressing, are in front of them.
Its incumbent on us, as a supplier
to utilities, to articulate in a meaningful way the efficiencies that utilities can

attain when they do invest in AMI, he
adds. We have to be able to show them
the payback profiles, the importance of
delivering better customer service. That
way, when an AMI opportunity presents itself, not only is the city council
or decision-makers on the board ready
to accept it, so are the members of the
community at large.
MOVING TOWARD EFFICIENCY?
Grant Van Hemert, water/wastewater
applications engineer with Schneider
Electric, says that municipalities are
becoming more comfortable with
AMI. But he agrees with Hill from
Global Water that most municipalities
are still unaware of all of the potential
benefits of the technology.
Its similar to what happens to
many people when they purchase the
latest smart phone. Theyre amazed at
what the product can do, how it can
simplify their lives. But rarely do most
smart phone users take advantage
of all the applications that their new
phones offer.
AMI today is already helping many
municipalities better pinpoint serious
leaks in their systems, Van Hemert says.
And thats not a small benefit.
for related articles:

www.waterefficiency.net/AMR-and-AMI
A municipality may have 100

million gallons of water a day going
into their plant and 20 million gallons
each going out into five distribution
zones. What happens after that point
is the big question, says Van Hemert.
The benefit of AMI is that operators
can determine that instead of a leak in
Region Five somewhere, that they have
a leak in the Maple Hill subdivision
on Maple Boulevard somewhere. They
can see that they are losing 10,000 gallons of water on that street specifically.
That results in a huge savings of both
time and money for municipalities.
By pinpointing the location of

leaks, utilities can not only repair
the leaks faster, theyll also waste less
manpower in doing so. They wont
have to send workers across their
water system searching for the source
of the leak. With AMI, theyll already
know where that leak is.
Like others in the AMI field,
though, Hemert is still waiting for water districts to tap into the true power
of this technology.
Part of the delay stems from the
fact that AMI systems and other waterdistrict technologies rarely communicate well with each other. AMI sends
water districts key information. But the
technology that districts use to analyze
and interpret this data doesnt communicate well with AMI systems yet.
Some water districts work around
this. Others simply ignore the vast potential for changing consumer behaviors that AMI presents.
Hemert describes the problem like
this: A municipality may be operating a remote communications system
that picks up key data from pump
stations and towers. They might then
use a second communications network
that connects with the districts AMI
infrastructure.
This, of course, is less than an
ideal system.
Over time what will happen is
that municipalities will wonder why
they are doing everything twice, says
Hemert. Theyll ask, Why are we
doubling up? Why are we making
twice the investment on radio and
communication networks?
Water districts arent yet at this
point, Hemert says. Part of the reason
is that AMI technology is still relatively new. Then theres the matter of
the budget crises that so many municipalities are experiencing. Theyre
simply too overwhelmed, thanks often
to skeleton staffs, to spend time planning ways in which to use their AMI
technology more efficiently.
AMI is relatively new. When I
look at AMI, I personally see something that the industrial control and
automation industry went through
during the last two or three decades,
says Hemert. The water districts
arent to the point, yet where they real-
ize they can do meter intelligence and

tie that in with their operational data.
Theyre not there yet. They still see
these two functions as separate. But,
over time, this will change.
At Global Water, Hill has already
embraced the new way of using AMI.
The water districts that his company
runs use AMI technology to tell their
customers, in real time, just how much
water they are using. This often leads
to a change in the way customers water
their lawns, do their laundry, or run
their dishwashers. It might even lead
them to take shorter showers.
We have always wanted to rely
on a tool that allows customers to
manager their own behavior, says Hill.
Ive always said that the best conservation tool in the world is the brain
our customer. There is nothing more
power than thousands of people finding ways to help themselves. It is our
fundamental core belief to put water
management tools in our customers
own hands so that they can manage
their behavior better.
Global today also makes its

FATHOM system available to other
municipalities through a cloud service.
Hill describes FATHOM as AMI technology coupled with customer information service technology.
Hill says that water districts will
soon have to provide this technology to their customers. The reason?
Customers will demand it. Global
Water already offers consumers an app
for their smart phones that they can
access to see instantly how much water
they are using.
It has to occur. People believe
that information should be put into
their hands, he says. The banks do it.
Twitter does it. CNBC does it. This is
where we see the market headed.
For now, though, an increasing
number of water districts are using
AMI technology to save money in
other ways.
Lekan, from Aclara, points to a
utility in the Northeast part of the
country. Officials with it had assumed,
like most would, that its oldest water
mains, the ones in the 50- to 100-year

range, would need to be replaced first.
However, by using AMI technology,
district officials were able to determine that it was actually the water
mains that were 30 years old that were
leaking the most. These mains, it turns
out, were located in marshy, salty areas
that ate away at them. The 100-yearold mains were located in areas that
were friendlier to long pipelines.
Instead of using guesses and
hunches, the people with this district
were able to hone in on what their system really needed, says Lekan. That
saved them a significant amount of
time and money.
WE
Dan Rafter is a technical writer and frequent contributor to Water Efficiency.
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As water resource management focuses on increased

efficiency, intelligent irrigation products are set to shine.
BY ED RITCHIE
ntelligent irrigation products are key to solving issues of

higher water prices, while reducing stress on aging infrastructure and facilitating corporate
responsibility programs. They also
help utilities stretch their budgets.
The good news is that manufacturers
are introducing products that provide
even more efficiency and flexibility for
saving water.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Soil moisture sensors are contributing significantly to conservation and
water savings. Rain Bird, in Azusa,
CA, recently introduced their new
Integrated Sensor System (ISS). The
ISS delivers real-time full central

control integration with sensors that
transmit soil moisture, salinity, and
temperature data. Because its integrated with Rain Birds central control
software, the ISS automatically sets
individual station run times based on
changes in soil moisture, in real-time.
Yet, managers and superintendents
define all parameters and retain customized control of their irrigation systems at all times.
Long-term data and computer
controls can have a huge impact on
complex sites such as a campus.
Universities are a big market,
says Dave Johnson, Rain Birds corporate marketing director, and we just
had a success story at the University of

Michigan. Its a complex area to control, because its very spread out and
has many different landscaping issues.
The University reported that Rain
Birds Maxicom2 Irrigation Central
Control System helped to reduce the
amount of irrigation water by 68%,
saving an estimated $141,000 a year.
The system is designed for multi-site
commercial or industrial irrigation
applications, and can control and
monitor hundreds of sites and weather
sources from one location, through
telephone, cellular modem, radio,
modem, Ethernet device server, Wi-Fi,
and more. Data from a campus weather station is used to calculate watering
RAIN BIRD
FROM THE GROUND UP
rates throughout the campus.

The savings make for a fast return
on the projects original investment
of $350,000. Moreover, the project
demonstrates a partnership between
University of Michigan and the EPA
Energy Star Program. Water conservation is a high priority for EPA, and in
November 2011 the agency announced
it would be awarding the WaterSense
label to qualifying watering technology and weather-based irrigation
controllers. According to the agency,
residential outdoor watering in the
US accounts for more than 7 billion
gallons of water each day, mainly for
landscape irrigation. Efficient controllers could save home and building
owners 110 billion gallons of water
and roughly $410 million per year on
utility bills.
CUTTING THE WIRES
The simplicity of wireless technology will play a major role in savings
from upgrading legacy controllers
to next generation smart controllers,
and automatically adjusts the daily irrigation schedule.

Wireless, weather-based data
storage systems are popular amongst
homeowners associations and landowners with large swathes of landscaped grounds that must be irrigated.
They have irrigation needs
spread out all across their properties,
but often dont have a central controller or weather system, explains
Heenan. With water conservation
being everybodys concern these days,
this is an inexpensive way to convert a
system to a smart system.
says Rick Heenan, national commercial sales manager, DIG Corporation,

in Vista, CA. Heenan notes that his
companys LEIT-2ET weather-based
system doesnt need wires to communicate with the irrigation system, nor
does it need to be wired to a power
source. Instead, its self powered, using
ambient light (solar) power to charge
lead-free super capacitors, rather than
batteries.
Solar panels make easy targets
for vandalism, and so they need to be
fenced off or protected, and positioned
for maximum exposure to sunlight,
says Heenan. Whereas the ambient
controller can pretty much go anywhereunderneath trees, bushes, or
buildingsand has a much smaller
footprint.
The controller stores weather data
from a LEIT weather station every
hour during daytime hours. Site information, provided by the LEIT RC2ET
handset, combines with the weather
station data to calculate the daily local
microclimate evapotranspiration (ET)
HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS HARD HIT

Rising water costs hit homeowner
associations hard, according to
Chris Spain, chief strategy officer,
HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc.
The homeowners association
market is huge because their secondhighest cost is landscape watering and
they typically see a 7 to 10% annual
increase, says Spain. In Chicago, a
25% increase is expected, so theres a
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Its just amazing to see how

little people understand that
outdoor irrigation can represent
40 to 60% of water usage.
HYDROPOINT
significant jump in water utility pricing, and thats a big issue. But its just
amazing to see how little people understand that outdoor irrigation can
represent 40 to 60% of water usage.
A rate of 40 to 60% might seem
low when compared to the Town of
Palm Beach, FL, where landscape
watering accounted for 85% of consumption, and, overall, water usage
was about six times more than the
average Florida household. With such
high levels of consumption, its not
surprising that the Dorchester Condominium Association in Palm Beach
found room for improvement
The association installed HydroPoints WeatherTRAK Smart Water
Management Solutions in early 2011,
and HydroPoint reports that they realized an immediate cash savings on the
first water bill. Over seven months,
the communitys water bills dropped
12%. The Dorchester has 26 landscape
zones, and WeatherTRAK identifies the
zones with programmable parameters,
such as plant, soil, and slope type.
The system uses daily ET data to
adjust irrigation schedules as local
weather conditions change. It also
activates a rain pause function during hurricane season and allows the
Dorchester staff to monitor and manage their smart irrigation controller
anytime by using the WeatherTRAK.
net Central Internet Management
application.
Remote Web-based management
systems can make it easy for nonexperts to implement a high level of
irrigation knowledge. With graphic
menus and questions that can lead users along the right
track, these systems are taking a lot of the guesswork out of
automated irrigation. In the case of ET Water Systems, Novato, CA, its as easy as pointing at a picture. Pat McIntyre,
CEO at ET Water, explains that the questions and graphics
lead users through categories of landscape such as turf, followed by characteristics such as warm or cool season turf,
root depth, soil, sun exposure, and irrigation output device,
such as spray or rotor.
After you have set up all the stations and input the
data, your controller will call into the cellular network,
explains McIntyre.
At that point, elaborates McIntyre, the server takes
all the weather date from an outside resources, and then
matches up with, the parameters of your landscape for the
optimal schedule and irrigation. Reliable, local weather
data is provided across the US from a network of over 8,500
local weather stations monitored around the clock.

GIVING LANDSCAPERS A HAND
The industry is seeing a need for a wide variety of tools
and services designed to help landscape professionals adapt
to new irrigation technology. According to Troy Leezy,
marketing manager at Hunter Industries in San Marcos,
CA, contractors vary in technical skill levels, but there
hasnt been enough product choices for those that wanted
efficiency without complicated technology.
One thing we learned from our data was that the
industry is really looking for a simpler solution that can be
at employed across a wide range of product categories, says
Leezy.
As such, a simple rain gauge can be either wired or
wireless. Thats critical because with smart controllers the
sensors need to see the environment, says Leezy.
The new intelligent

irrigation systems can
identify irrigation zones
using plant, soil, and
slope data.
Controllers arent the only technology thats getting smarter, easier,

and less expensive to install. In September 2011, Toro Inc. of Riverside,
CA, helped launch FreeSprinklerNozzles.com a Webbased water conservation program that allows customers
to learn how to retrofit their existing sprinkler system.
Customers receive a voucher good for 25 (residential users), or 100 (commercial users), free Precision Series spray
nozzles. The program has distributed over 170,000 of these
high efficiency nozzles, and Toro estimates that savings
over a five-year span exceed 1.2 billion gallons of water. The
program was tested in August 2010 through a partnership
of Western Municipal Water District (WMWD), Riverside
Public Utilities, and Toros Irrigation Business. The programs success has now led other southern California water
providers to join the effort.
Weve had success with spray nozzle technology and
sprayheads are probably the most prevalent type of sprinklers in the United States in terms of total units installed,
says Mike Baron, National Specifications Manager for water
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management products at Toro.

The Free Sprinkler program recently received a Best
Management Practices Award from the California Municipal Utilities Association, andaccording to Brent Mecham, industry development director, Irrigation Associationits just one of many examples where utilities have
promoted the use of intelligent irrigation products.
The utilities, that are located where water resources
are limited, are very much on board with smart controllers, pressure regulated sprinklers, and more sophisticated
nozzles, says Mecham.
Efficiency was a hot subject at the Irrigation
Associations November 2011 trade show says Richard
Restuccia, director of Water Management Solutions at ValleyCrest Landscape Companies in
Calabasas, CA.
Efficient products and water conservation were terms
that kept coming up in keynotes and general sessions, and
its much more of a major focus this year than its been in
the past, says Restuccia. I participate in the government
affairs committee, and were starting to see legislation
across the nation.
I know that if this
industry doesnt
do something
quickly, legislators
www.waterefficiency.net/irrigation
will start enacting
laws, and that may
ET data is used to adjust

irrigation schedules
based on local
weather conditions.
not be the way we want to go.

Look at North Carolinathey just
passed a law to reduce consumption of
water to 45 gallons a day per person by
2020, he adds. That is a real extreme,
so as an industry we have to do whats
best for everybody and get busy addressing these issues of water.
The City of Petaluma Department
of Water Resources and Conservation
(WRC) is an example of a utility that
isnt waiting around for legislation to
address water issues. In July 2011, the
WRC announced the launch of Smart
Yard, a water conservation program for Petaluma water
customers. Smart Yard provides efficient water use technology to homeowners with WeatherTRAK smart irrigation
controllers to qualifying water customers at no up-front
cost. Participating homeowners pay the balance with zerointerest financing from WRC, which places a fixed fee of
$14.95 (for one 12 station controller) on their monthly
water bills for five years.
The WRC expects savings from the smart controllers to offset program fees in most cases, and the program
provides landscape water use evaluations, plus installation
of the controllers, as well as a rain sensors and ongoing customer service. The WRC expects participants to save more
than 45 million gallons of water over the next five years.
Along with water utilities,

conservation awareness
continues to climb the corporate
ladder as a higher priority.
shortage, they still face the pressure of conservation efforts
from groups such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
The independent not-for-profit organization recently announced an agreement with Deloitte Consulting LLP in
the US, to drive the CDP Water Disclosure, an ongoing
program to help investors, companies, governments, and
other stakeholders by implementing water usage reports as
a standard corporate practice globally.
Its a serious effort that represents serious financial
consequences. The CDP has requested information on the
risks and opportunities companies face in relation to water
on behalf of 354 investors (up from 137 in 2010), with assets of US$43 trillion.
PHOTOS: HYDROPOINT
CORPORATE PROFITS DRYING UP

Along with water utilities, conservation awareness continues to climb the corporate ladder as a higher priority, especially in light of recent financial news, such as the
June 2011 news about US apparel chain,
The Gap, cutting its full-year profit forecast by 22% due to drought impact on
cotton farmers in Texas. Such events are
going to get worse before they get better,
according to McKinsey & Co. The global analysts expect a worldwide shortfall
between forecasted water demand and
available supplies of staggering proportions40%, by 2030.
Worries about the consequences
of water availability have led to tools
to indentify water risk and management, such as The Ceres Aqua Gauge:
A Framework for 21st Century Water
Management Report. The report was
developed in collaboration with the
World Business Council for Sustainable
Development and Irbaris, a sustainability consultancy. Creating a framework
for better water risk management, and
guidance on developing water strategies
are the reports key goals.
Although a corporation may not
be at an immediate risk of a water
RAIN BIRD
Water Conservation For A Growing World
Corporate responsibility and the

sustainability movement helps the
intelligent irrigation industry, says
Brian Vinchesi, president of Irrigation
Consulting, Inc., in Pepperell, MA.
Moreover, its had an impact on some
innovative resources for irrigation.
Rainwater harvesting is really
getting popular, and we do a lot on the
commercial side, but also the residential side, says Vinchesi. Planning for
reclamation can be complicated, but
its certainly doable, and the paybacks
can be good, depending on how much
rain you have.
Water reclamation is also a great
way for landscape architects to earn
points for certification in the US
Green Building Councils LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) program. Two points are
available for water efficient landscaping, and one point for reducing water
use for landscaping by 50% over normal means. A second point is available
by eliminating all potable water use or
by eliminating irrigation. Private and
public entities have embraced LEED
certification as a means of demonstrating sustainable practices, and,
for certain sectors, sustainability can
outweigh other factors, such as cost.
We see a lot of lead projects on
university properties, and theyre not
as concerned as the private sector is
with their return on investment, adds
Vinchesi.
Scott Thompson, project manager
at Irrigation Management Systems
(IMS), Portland, OR, agrees that universities tend to show a higher commitment to conservation, but he adds
that landscape can often play a role in
a corporations public image.
We have some large properties
like Nike and large business parks,
says Thompson, and they put a lot of
money into their landscaping and want
to look great, yet still conserve water.
IMS manages Nikes irrigation
system with Rain Birds Maxicom2,
central control system. It allows the
monitoring and irrigation of many
different parcels of property or landscaped sites from a single computeraccessed controller. The Nike campus
comprises more than 150 acres, but
Thompson observes that intelligent
irrigation is no longer limited to big

grounds with big budgets.
Smaller commercial areas are
finding it affordable to upgrade their
controllers, he says, and with rising
water costs, especially in California,
these businesses are much more interested in conserving water.
LOOKING BENEATH THE SURFACE
Many of those businesses are moving
to drip irrigation, says Dave Johnson,
Rain Bird. Drip is one of our fastest
growing areas. We used to say you can
use drip anywhere but turf, but we
Hunter Industries has also introduced a subsurface product line,

the Eco-Mat and PLD-ESD. The mat
installs under plant material to be irrigated where it becomes fully soaked
and then provides a constant water
supply directly to the plants roots.
To prevent root clogging, the fleece
keeps water readily available under the
plant material, so the plants roots do
not need to seek out the water source.
Hunter sees the Eco-Mat as the solution to locations when overhead irrigation is restricted or prohibited, and
high-traffic turf areas like amusement
Corporate responsibility
and the sustainability
movement helps the
intelligent irrigation industry.
introduced our subsurface drip product earlier this year, and it delivers
water to the roots so theres no evaporation and overspray.
Root intrusion has been an ongoing problem for subsurface irrigation,
but the new system uses a copper
shield design to protect emitters from
root intrusion, without the use of
chemical treated filters.
Subsurface systems have many
advantages. They are unaffected by
wind, evaporation or vandalism, and
watering schedules dont have to avoid
an areas time of usage. For example,
irrigation of a sports field occurs
below, while athletes play above. Rain
Bird reports savings of 30% to 70%
less water than overhead sprays, but a
smart control system and sensors can
boost the savings substantially.
You can use moisture sensors in
conjunction with this subsurface water
drip system and get to a point of 100%
efficiency, adds Johnson. It's also
engineered to regulate pressure so you
get the same amount of flow from the
beginning of the run to the end.
parks, public places, and commercial

complexes.
As recent introductions to the industry, subsurface systems have added
a new dimension to intelligent irrigation, and they exemplify the overall
philosophy defining the industrys
technology offerings: efficiency, simplicity of installation, and lower cost.
Its great to see the manufacturers
promoting the smart controllers, says
Restuccia. We have better ways to irrigate and keep our landscapes looking
good at much lower water use levels.
The other thing that we see is technology getting cheaper as water is getting
more expensive. As a result, both are
moving in the right direction to push
change.
WE
Ed Ritchie writes on energy, transportation, and communication technologies.
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How low-flow fixtures and intelligent data systems can inspire lackadaisical
customers and help utilities fine-tune water resource management
BY PAUL HULL
ost of us could do better.

Some water professionals
with whom I have spoken
tell me that the public does
not know and does not
care much about water problems.
As long as somebody else is addressing the problem and the cost isnt
too high at the moment, most of our
residents dont seem to care, was how
one professional put it. The comment,
I suspect, was as much an example of
frustration at inactivity as anger at the
general public. Let me start, then, by
pointing to two places where the public
is being helped to know and to care.
The Metropolitan State College
(Metro State), of Denver, CO, has more
than 23,000 students, and most of them
stay in Colorado after graduation.
Recently, an anonymous donation of $1

million was used to help establish an
interdisciplinary education program,
the One World, One Water Center for
Urban Water Education and Stewardship
(OWOW Center).
In Denvers urban environment,
water stewardship and sustainability
are especially important and relevant
topics, comments College President
Stephen Jordan.
In addition to the water studies
minor, the OWOW Center will have two
other major functions that will help develop urban water stewards and enhance
the students understanding of water as
a critical resource that must be sustained
and conserved: enriching co-curricular
activities and water stewardship activities on and beyond campus that promote
effective use of water resources.

When we researched the potential
for this program, we found that there
wasnt much being done at the undergraduate level to incorporate a variety of
disciplines in water education, observes
Sandra Haynes, dean of Metro States
School of Professional Studies. Through
the interdisciplinary model, our graduates have the potential to make lasting
impacts on water issues in our communities across the state and in their
chosen professions.
As a backdrop to this praiseworthy
step forward in education, it may be
appropriate to mention that in a 2004
study the Colorado Water Conservation
Board predicted that the regions annual
water demand will exceed available
supplies by 120,000 to 360,000 acre-feet
@ISTOCKPHOTO/ JANRYSAVY
ATTACKING APATHY AND REDUCING DEMAND
by 2030. Interestingly in this arena of

the struggle for water, the headwaters
of five major rivers count Colorado as
their home: the Colorado, Arkansas, Rio
Grande, South Platte, and White/Yampa.
It was the awful drought begun in
the late 80s that gave increased momentum to the Long-Term Water Supply
Plan for the City of Santa Barbara, CA.
The city joined the California Urban Water Conservation Councils (CUWCC)
Best Management Practices in January
1992. There are many interesting features
to the citys program. Santa Barbara implements an annual water main replacement program. Age, material, and break
history of water mains are tracked to
determine overall condition of main, in
order to determine the priority of mains
to be replaced. The City also replaces 3
miles per year of the 275 miles of main in
the water distribution system.
The City of Santa Barbara Water
Resources specialist conducts residential
water surveys [water checkups] upon
request by water customers, advises
Alison Jordan, Water Conservation
Coordinator for Santa Barbara. A
water checkup includes evaluating
all water uses on the property and
providing recommendations to the
customer for improved efficiency,
including both indoor usage and an
irrigation system. As an element of the
water checkup, the staff performs SIRspecific landscape water surveys that
include checking the irrigation system
for maintenance and repairs, reviewing the irrigation schedule and making
recommendations for adjusting the
program of the irrigation controller, and providing the customer with
evaluation results and water savings
recommendations.
The City has conducted an average
of 400 water checkups per year (including both residential and commercial
checkups) for a total of 9,290 surveys
since June 1990. The savings for this program is projected to be 400 acre-feet per
year for the 20-year period as projected
in the Long-Term Water Supply Plan.
The City also provides rebates for water
users, called the Smart Rebates Program
and co-funded through the Proposition
50 grant received by the CUWCC and
participating water suppliers in California. For residential customers, a water
broom has a rebate of $50, a high-efficiency clothes washer has a $150 rebate,
and a high-efficiency toilet has rebate of
$100. The Citys Toilet Rebate Program
was in place from August 1988 through
June 1995. The total number of rebates
issued was 18,842.
SMARTENING THE WATER MANAGEMENT IN A
COMMUNITY
A shortage of water in any community
can have several causes. Among those
frequently met, but seldom publicized,
are leaks in the supply lines and the
inability to use free rainwater. Leaks in
lines to residences have been estimated
over 30% nationwide, but their story
could be too simple for startling news
reports. If the water from the supplier,
private or public, does not reach the
end user as it should, there is definitely
a water shortage. Of more concern
should be that the lost water has been
treated expensively and rendered excellent for its intended purpose. If most
of the rain that falls, free and helpful,
just runs away somewhere that is surely
their water consumption for nine weeks.

By providing citizens and city officials with an integrated view of water
consumption, the Water Pilot resulted in
water conservation, increased the leak
reporting rate, and encouraged behavior changes. The smarter meter system
monitored water consumption every 15
minutes and collected and communicated data to the IBM Research Cloud.
Data was collected from information
including weather, demographics, and
household characteristics. Using cloud
computing, the data was analyzed to
trigger notification of potential leaks
and anomalies, and helped volunteers
understand their consumption in greater
detail. Volunteers were only able to view
their own consumption habits, while
city management could see the aggregate data. All homes participating in the
Water Pilot program were volunteers.
The data collected was anonymous and
contained no confidential information.
The participating households
received alerts about anomalies and
leaks and acquired a better understand-
A water checkup includes evaluating

all water uses on the property
and providing recommendations
to the customer for improved
efficiency, including both indoor
usage and an irrigation system.
a worrisome aspect of water shortage.
Are there answers to these everyday
problems? If there are, are they all too
expensive to try?
The City of Dubuque, IA, teamed
with IBM in research for its Smarter Sustainable Dubuque program and helped
reduce the use of water by 6.6%. Perhaps
of greater impact, the program increased
leak detection and response eightfold.
This Smarter Sustainable Dubuque Water Pilot Study empowered 151 Dubuque
households with information, analysis,
insights, and social computing around
ing of the consumption patterns. They

could compare their patterns with those
of others in the community. Among the
151 participating households over the
nine weeks, 89,090 gallons were saved.
That would make an annual savings per
household of 3,409 gallons (or more
than half a billion gallons annually for
the whole group).
Water conservation is a shared
responsibility, confirms Michael Sullivan,
Worldwide Program Director, Smarter
Water Management Solutions, IBM. Municipalities and water utilities can do their
part by keeping the water system in good working order, and

by making usage information available to citizens. And citizens,
armed with that information, can in turn make more informed
decisions about when and how they use water, and how much of
it they use. Water conservation will be most successful when its
a truly collaborative effort.
IBM has also been involved with the District of Columbia
Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) to modernize the management of the water and sewer infrastructure below our nations
capital. That infrastructure includes hundreds of thousands of
assets, like water distribution pipes, valves, public fire hydrants,
collection pipes, manholes, and water meters. IBMs Global Business Services and Research arms have begun collaboration with
DC WASA to integrate advanced analytics with asset management software from IBM and a mapping application from ESRI,
an IBM Business Partner. The availability of real-time, mapbased information and geoanalytics will help engineers from the
authority identify problems before they occur.
The work of water relies heavily on our ability to monitor
our infrastructure, notes George S. Hawkins, General Manager
of DC WASA. We can now manage almost every component
from central, computer-based programs.
Mujib Lodhi, chief information officer of DC WASA, explains another aspect of this cooperation.
Our work with IBM has allowed our assets to communicate with us, and were doing more than listeningwere taking
action, says Lodhi. We are able to deploy our crews faster, which
is key when theres water on the road, or customers are without
service. DC WASA is a regional utility that provides drinking
water, wastewater collection, and treatment to more than 500,000
residential, commercial, and government customers.
DIRECT HELP FOR THE RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER
A common criticism of the residential customer is that he or she
does not know enough about water to do anything progressive
and that educational programs have not worked. What if that
@ISTOCKPHOTO/ KODACHROME25
Municipalities and water utilities

can do their part by keeping the
water system in good working
order, and by making usage
information available to citizens.
And citizens, armed with that
information, can in turn make
more informed decisions about
when and how they use water,
and how much of it they use.
Older houses with older

water systems may qualify
for rebates or other
purchasing help for more
efficient equipment.
customer were given direct help? A

fine example of how to help residential customers directly is given by San
Antonio Water System (SAWS).
Few parts of our country have suffered worse droughts than
that part of Texas this year. Apart from landscaping advice and
rebates, SAWS gives help to those residents who do not have
landscapes to worry aboutwhich may be most residential
customers. Even if you dont try to maintain a beautiful landscape at your residence, you almost certainly have a toilet. SAWS
has a program called Kick the Can. With this program the
utility gives a customer two new water efficient toilets. Yes, gives.
Those eligible are customers who have water-wasting toilets in
their residence built prior to 1992. Also eligible are residential
customers with one or more rental properties built prior to 1991,
and for that renters must complete a Landlord Consent Form.
The other item your residence probably has is a hot water
producer. Many systems (from talking to neighbors, that should
read most systems) make you waste water while you wait for the
water to warm up. SAWS will give a $150 rebate on a SAWS-approved hot-water-on-demand system. Youll get your hot water
80% faster without wasting any. You could save up to 10,000 gallons per year (plus the money you would have spent on it). The
circulating pumps are easy to install and virtually worry-free.
SAWS will tell its customers which heaters are approved and
where to get them. There, then, are two most practical, helping
practices from a water utility that will save the customer money
and save the whole community water.
The Town of Culpeper, VA, has chosen Aclara to provide
a total Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution for
electric and water meters. (Aclara is part of the Utility Solutions
group of ESCO Technologies, Inc.) For the 6,400 water customers the town will use Aclaras STAR network system for water
@ISTOCKPHOTO/ EASYBUY4U
meters. Primarily, the town will be able to serve

its customers better through a Web portal that
provides access directly to usage data. One
aspect of the system is that Culpeper will implement acoustic leak detection to find water losses
in the distribution system. That is a huge step
towards better efficiency for residents, and the
technique is something that the average resident
(of Culpeper or any other city) is unlikely to
have or be able to acquire. The other significant
fact of this great step forward by Culpeper is
that it has recognized that energy and water
work together everywhere in a community.
Itron offers the Leak Sensor as another
water management tool that, when integrated
with the companys 100-W ERT, listens proactively for system

leaks. Water utilities that use Itron 100 ERT communication
modules can acquire hourly interval meter read collection (data
logging), whether in a fixed network, mobile network, or walkby data collection system.
Such flexibility can help water utilities transform their
business operations, notes Brian Fiut, Senior Product Manager
with Itron Water sales group.
By providing tools to engage customers about their usage (as well as delivering tools to help utilities better manage
precious resources), two-way communication to a meter also
enables off-cycle reads to be easily captured without having to
roll a truck. Utilities can access real-time and historical hourly
customer usage information that can expedite bill reconciliation
and enhance customer service.
By using in-home displays, continues Fiut, utility customers will benefit by gaining timely access to their water usage
information, helping them make informed decisions about
their consumption. This direct connection to water usage and

its cost will help conservation efforts and increase customer
satisfaction.
A VOICE FOR BOTH SIDES OF THE CHALLENGE
Linda Warner, Consumer Engagement Product Manager at
Itron, represents both providers and customers and has seen
the problems and solutions firsthand.
Giving consumers access to their consumption information
in near real time is powerful, says Warner. In my role with Itron,
I have the opportunity to test various products in my home. I
now have access to data coming from my water meter, and I was
stunned at how much water I put on the lawn. It was easy to look
at the report graphics and pick out the days when I did laundry.
It was rather surprising to me that
I learned things by something as
simple as looking at the patterns. I
learned them pretty fast.
My irrigation system has
a much different pattern from
my laundry pattern, she adds.
My showers use so little they
dont show up unless Im doing something in addition, like
running the dishwasher. I am
addicted to seeing my meter data
as a consumer now. Its like my
cell phoneI dont know how I
lived without it. I dont study it
any more, but I look at it regularly
to make sure Im on track and not
over-consuming.
Water utilities are looking at
which tools and enabling technologies are available to help them
educate their customers about
their usage and better understand
their consumption patterns. Even
if conservation is not an immediate concern, for most utilities it is
a concern sitting out there on the horizon, especially in waterstressed locales.
Asking customers to conserve before they understand their
particular household [or business] usage is not the fastest path
to success, observes Warner. Attempting to adjust consumption
behaviors is easier once you actually understand that behavior
and your role in it. There are compelling technologies that can
capture consumption information directly from the meter and,
via the Internet, display it on smart phones, iPads, and PCs, all in
near real time. The consumers can use a device they already own
to view data or have the option of an in-home display.
She continues: The technology and tools are available,
but few consumers have a way of knowing about them unless
their utility makes them aware through conservation programs.
What seems to be lagging is communications from the utility
to their customer base that such tools are available, and what
benefits they both can get from them. For example, why is realtime consumption important in the first place?
EFFICIENCY PRODUCTION
something and made them feel smarter.

The utility gave them something other
than a bill.
Successful implementation of a
water stewardship program begins with
knowledge and, with that knowledge, the
power to act, asserts Warner. Technology is now here to enable this empow-
KOHLER
The vendors addressing these aspects

of the issue can not only serve up meter data on a smart phone, iPad, PC, or
in-home display, many can also provide
value-added services to the homeowner,
such as remote control of thermostats,
lighting controls, remote control of door
locks, and other home automation features
that make life easier, safer, and more convenient. All these tools can be purchased
by the homeowner, by the utility, or some
by each.
Companies are partnering with utilities to offer consumers flexible choices for
viewing data. For instance, some utilities
will purchase one key element to make
the meter data available to the consumer,
and the consumer may then build on that
by purchasing other add-on products a
la carte.
How does a water utility or provider
benefit from this? There are studies and
utility surveys that show customers have
more favorable feelings towards their utility providers when they give them access
to near-real-time data. The most common
comment is that the utility taught them
Low-flow
fixtures are
ering process with tools
essential
that customers are used to
to demand
reduction.
interacting with. Reshaping
the relationship with utility
customers is one of the most exciting
opportunities in the utility industry
today. Taking a broader approach and
giving consumers access to water meter
Better resource
consumption data can
management
seem overwhelming, but, can help utilities
avoid costly
when the right products
repairs.
are in place, it sets the
stage for effective, wellunderstood conservation programs.
The utility/consumer relationship
can move forward in a way that was just
not possible before. It takes us, surely, to a
sustainable future.
American Water, the nations largest
publicly traded water and wastewater
company serving 15 million people in
more than 30 states and parts of Canada,
recognizes the importance of educating
consumers about the value of water.
We work with customers on an
ongoing basis to educate them on how to
use water wisely both inside and outside
their homes and businesses, advises Maureen Duffy, vice president of Corporate
Communications and External Affairs at
American Water. These efforts include
distributing to customers conservation
information, leak detection kits, and other
conservation tools and ideas through bill
inserts and on websites and our social
PHOTOS: HYDROPOINT
media channels, as well as providing conservation education programs online and

at community events and schools.
In American Waters western states,
where water conservation is a part of everyones daily life, the company helps customers reduce their water useand save
money on their water billby providing
them with additional vital programs and
resources, she says. These include free
residential and non-residential water
conservation audits, in which we assess
water usage, check for leaks, and install
water-saving fixtures at no cost to our
customers. The company also provides
rebates on WaterSense and other water
efficient appliances.
As a longstanding partner in the EPAs
WaterSense program,
American Water promotes WaterSense initiatives among its customers, including the annual
Fix a Leak Week, as well
as the use of WaterSensecertified appliances and
fixtures. American Water
also served as a lead
partner in the agencys
national Were For
Water campaign in the
summer of 2010, which
promoted wise water use
during this peak usage time.
For American Waters 125th anniversary this year, we launched a year-long
consumer education campaign aimed at
promoting the importance of protecting
water from source to tap, adds Duffy.
The cornerstone of the campaign included a series of television Public Service
Announcements, created in partnership

with the Student Conservation Association and EPAs WaterSense program, that
provide household conservation and wise
water use tips. American Water also has
two customer service centers that operate
24 hours a day/7 days a week, so we are
able to connect with, and respond to, our
customers if they call with questions or
need assistance.
In addition to trying to engage customers through communications efforts,
American Water continually provides
opportunities throughout the service
areas to visit some of the facilities where
they treat their water, so they develop an
understanding of the process and a heightened appreciation of the
true value of water. (In
general, when something
is valued, it is less likely to
be wasted.)
Across our footprint, we are focused on
educating communities
about the value of water,
says Duffy. People
everywhere turn on the
tap and expect water to
flow out, but many times
they dont think about
the extensive process that
is involved in making
that happen. As a water
services provider, we draw water from the
sourceseither from deep in the ground,
or from surface waters like lakes, rivers,
and streamstreat it to EPA standards in
a state-of-the-art treatment facility, test
it to ensure that it meets those quality standards, and then pump it into the distribution system of pipes so it gets delivered to
Customers have
more favorable
feelings towards
their utility
providers when
they give them
access to nearreal-time data.
Xeriscaping and
your home.
intelligent irrigation
can work together to
When you
enable water efficient
understand the
landscaping.
process, and consider the amount of
money we invest into our pipes, pumps,
and plants$800 million to $1 billion
annuallyto make this happen, and
compare it to the price most of our customers payabout a penny per gallon
you recognize the tremendous value that
is being provided, she adds.
As water and wastewater service
providers, we are all challenged by the
serious need for infrastructure repair
nationwide to ensure reliable service to
our customers, the need to comply with
increasing quality requirements, and
challenges with the quantity and quality of source water, continues Duffy. It
is essential that water providers share
information with customers about these
challenges and the solutions that we are
providing to them, so that, when they get
their bill, they understand what it is they
are paying for.
We are really at a crossroads as
a nation right now. According to the
American Society of Civil Engineers, the
nations water systems are near failure.
It is imperative that the country shift its
thinking about water. The critical state of
the nations infrastructure can no longer
be ignored. A recent ITT Corporation
survey shows that people value their

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When Data Speaks, Smart Utilities Listen

THE FINER DETAILS OF AMI SOFTWARE
Little more than a generation ago, many water utilities struggled
to achieve meter reading accuracy and were lucky to get bills out
every quarter, much less once a month. The advent of absolute
encoders and mobile radio frequency technology helped solve these
problems, but the data collected remained much the same one
basic meter reading.
It wasnt until the increased speed of data collection was combined
with 8-digit encoder registration that a new level of metering data
was achieved. With the ability to measure and read the consumption
down to a tenth of a gallon, and do so many times over the course of
a day, an additional tool became available to utilities: leak detection.
In a similar way, consumption graphs show where data indicated a
possible incidence of tamper or reverse ow.
Now, utilities had more than just numbers from a dial. They had
the foundation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Using
software to categorize and analyze the additional data, it was
possible to do other things than simply read-then-bill. In terms of
customer service, advanced leak detection could solve customer
inquiries regarding high water bills, detailing exactly how much
water was used and when. Even better, the same type of information
could be used to proactively notify customers of even minor leaks
before they could impact water bills.
NEW DATA FOR A NEW DAY
As metering functionality grew, the software side of the equation
became increasingly crucial. First of all, the sheer amount of
information gathered in shorter and shorter timeframes (particularly
with xed network systems) required sophisticated host software
to keep up, let alone make sense of it all. As municipal water
infrastructure continued to deteriorate and economic conditions
soured, accounting for water and revenue made this kind of
software even more useful. By analyzing system-wide consumption
through synchronized meter-to-meter readings, a utility could help
recapture Non-Revenue Water. That utility could even compare
water pumped versus water billed in District Metered Areas, down
to the neighborhood level.
Other issues have highlighted the importance of data analysis
that software provides as well as spurred continued software
development. One of these is water conservation. As communities,
especially those in drought-stricken areas, have struggled to hold
onto precious water reserves, AMI data has aided their efforts by
providing information on individual customer consumption. Not only
does this information easily allow utilities to better enforce water
restrictions, but it can also be used to encourage customers to

monitor and adjust their own consumption, saving water as well as
money that wouldve gone to pay higher bills.
UTILITIES GAIN POWERFUL N_SIGHTS
So, what should the ideal AMI software look like? First, it should be
intuitive and easy to use. Second, with just a few clicks, it should
offer system-wide overviews as well as the details of any one
given account from the macro-view drilling all the way down to
the micro details. Third, it should allow different utility personnel
to quickly retrieve the information they need, whether the user is
a customer service representative helping resolve a customers
water bill complaint; a systems specialist making sure all meter
interface units (MIUs) and collectors are operating up to maximum
efciency; or an upper-level operations manager requiring detailed
data to help recapture Non-Revenue Water or enforce water
conservation measures.
Neptune Technology Group designed and developed its N_SIGHT
R450 host software to provide this type of versatile functionality
while making its screens, navigation and overall operation as
simple as possible. This AMI software is a web-based thin-client
application, and its self-managing, so a utility doesnt need its own
database administrator on-site. N_SIGHT R450 also incorporates a
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboard format, with displays,
graphs and charts that make crucial data available at a glance. Not
only that, but users can also add individual KPIs to check for specic
types of leaks or reverse ow, for instance.
Customization is integral to the design of N_SIGHT R450. The
software expedites the process of nal reads for particular accounts,
collecting a current meter reading without having to roll out a
truck or put feet on the street. The system gives operators the
ability to import before-and-after photos of meter, encoder, and
MIU installations for each account photos which can be used
to identify instances of theft or vandalism. The system also gives
customer service representatives the opportunity to log date-andtime-stamped comments on an account to track interactions with the
customer as well as actions taken to that point.
N_SIGHT R450 THE WAY AHEAD IS TWO-WAY
In addition, utilities can group accounts with similar traits to
compare consumption. The franchise manager who wants to see the
differences in his commercial stores water usage? Not a problem.
Grouping also allows district metering, where the utility can look
for Non-Revenue Water by measuring ows at residences and
charting them against how much water is

distributed from the main. This functionality
is only possible with time-synchronization
of the meter readings, which also makes possible priority alarms
for selected meters. The host software directs a xed network
collector to congure specic endpoints so that immediate alarms
are sent back when parameters are met for conditions such as
continuous leaks, or minor or major reverse ow events.
Utilities can accommodate individual customers who require virtual
disconnects, such as those who leave their residences for months
at a time, or property owners with high rates of move-ins and
move-outs. Those accounts can be specically marked, so that any
readings that show up during unoccupied times will be agged as
possible leaks or thefts.
N_SIGHT R450s two-way communications, time-synchronized meter
readings, and grouping technology support water conservation
efforts as well, including the enforcement of water restrictions.
Utilities can compare hourly usage proles of separate groups for
example, those that use water on odd days versus those scheduled
for even days.
N_SIGHT IQ SHARING INTELLIGENCE ALL AROUND
Going even further is a host software package that works in tandem
with N_SIGHT R450, Neptunes N_SIGHT IQ. Employing cloudbased intelligent data management and reporting, N_SIGHT IQ
features an optional web portal that empowers a utilitys end-use
customers to monitor their own water

consumption, compare it to similar-sized
households in their area, and help set
water use thresholds. Customers can be
alerted of leaks on their online accounts
before the lost water greatly impacts their
bill, and can even be notied when they
exceed their average daily use threshold
by a congurable amount.
Using the same technology, utilities can identify historic trends
and better forecast for the future by analyzing up to ten years
of detailed consumption data. This advanced data storage and
real-time online access makes long-term planning much simpler
and much less expensive, because its all available without new
infrastructure costs.
System health. Customer service. Revenue enhancement.
Conservation initiatives. These days, utilities must go far beyond
basic meter reading to achieve the smart functionality they require.
Its no longer just a matter of speed or signal strength. Now it takes
more brains to do more with the brawn. With software such as
Neptunes N_SIGHT R450 and N_SIGHT IQ, its the data that does
the talking.
Learn more about how DATA SPEAKS at neptunetg.com.
TAKE CONTROL
neptunetg.com
JOHN FRANCIS
People
everywhere turn
on the tap and
expect water
to flow out, but
many times they
dont think about
the extensive
process that is
involved in making
that happen.
water service above all other household

services, yet it is still the lowest utility bill
in most households.
As a nation, we take water for granted. We need to recognize the value of
water service and understand that there
is a cost to maintain the pipes, plants, and
pumps that treat and deliver water. And
we, as an industry, need to educate our
customers about this issue.
Control is the key to success for water demand management at all kinds and
sizes of places. Littleton Public Schools,
in Colorado, must water an area of turf
that has nearly tripled in the last 15 years.
The school district has two irrigation
specialists to manage 24 public school
complexes with about 16,000 students.
There are drought concerns, too. To solve
the obvious potential problems, Littleton Public Schools now use (from Rain
Bird) a Maxicom Central Control with a
FREEDOM Remote Control System.
Thanks to Maxicom, the irrigation
Green lawns can

coexist with water
conservation thanks
to smart irrigation
technologies.
of 26 sites can be
handled by only two
technicians, explains Brad Leitner,
Structural/Grounds Manager. We have
seen an almost 30% cost savings over five
years on water alone. That doesnt take
into account the fact that we almost tripled the amount of land being irrigated.
Those water cost savings for the school
district have been $690,700, thanks to an
efficient Rain Bird control system.
In Washington D.C., the Department
of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has the
responsibility for maintaining 115 natural
turf athletic fields, at 75 different sites.
The necessary adjustments to watering
used to be made by an outside contractor
traveling around. The solution could be
a central control system, but none of the
sites had network or landline access, so it
was impossible for the satellite controllers
to communicate with a central computer.
We can now make automatic
Right: Gardens, yards, and landscapes

require intelligent irrigation.
scheduling adjustments at
these sites without having to
physically travel to them, says
Derek Schultz, Operations
Program Manager for DPR.
Thats especially helpful when
special events are scheduled at
the fields.
For LEGOLAND in California, there several diverse
landscapes in the 128 acres,
and reclaimed water is used for 90% of
the irrigation (and that can wear rapidly
on water valves if you dont have the best
ones). The entire theme park uses Rain
Bird irrigation products. Lupe Rivera, in
charge of the irrigation at LEGOLAND,
says that having a central control system
saves so much time and effort, and they
dont need to hire a lot of people to accomplish the work.
Rivera also says that the Rain Bird
reclaimed valves (specially designed for
this purpose) have made a significant
difference to the valves life and reliability.
The Rain Bird Maxicom system, in use
since the park opened, allows us to maximize the hydraulic capacity of our system,
which makes us more efficient with our
water. We can also see the benefits of the
cycle-and-soak feature, especially in our
sloped areas.
WE
Paul Hull is a frequent contributor to
Forester Media publications.
Scan here to share
http://gettag.mobi
MICHAEL PETERS
IBM
Below: Meter maintenance is at the

heart of more complicated systems.
Water Efciency
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digital!
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@ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ADVENTTR
CENTRALIZED
MANAGEMENT,
CONTROLLED SAVINGS
Increasing process
control intelligence
can allow a utility
to conserve water
and energy.
BY DON TALEND
anagement at United
Water New Jersey understands that implementing
a robust supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) system at a water treatment
plant can provide more than centralized
control of processes that ensures a reliable water supply for customers. United
Water operates SCADA systems for
water and backup and emergency power
at its recently upgraded Haworth Water
Treatment Plant in Haworth, NJ. The
utility depends heavily upon SCADA
when shedding load during demand
response events that are reducing the

plants energy costs.
The Haworth plant is one example
of the growing realization among water
utility managers that process control can
do more than conserve water or ensure
its delivery. The amount of power that
some plants consume is not insignificant
and process control can optimize operations as well as energy use. Utilities that
supply their own off-the-grid backup
power for plants also need process control for this mission-critical function.
The Haworth plant was constructed
in the mid-1960s with a 60-million-
gallon-per-day (mgd) capacity and was

upgraded into a 200-mgd peaking facility
in the late 1980s. The water distribution network also includes 13 wells, a
113-square-mile watershed, nearly 15,000
fire hydrants, and more than 2,000 miles
of water mains. In spring 2009, the plant
underwent a $100 million renovation that
improved process efficiency and water
quality and exceeds all current regulations. The renovation included high-rate
dissolved air flotation (DAF) for sedimentation clarification, making the plant
the largest in the nation to use DAF. The
network serves about 350,000 billable
customers and nearly 1 million people in
Bergen, Hudson, and Sussex counties in
northern New Jersey. Production usually
peaks at about 188 mgd in midsummer.
PSE&G supplies the main power
supply to the plant. PPL Electric Utilities
operates a backup power system at the
plant for United Water that consists of
four, 2-MW Caterpillar natural gas-fired
generators. Emergency power is supplied by Solar Turbines. United Water
buys electricity on the next-day, hourly
Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) market. United Water bids and contracts for
base level quantities of gas and electric
and purchases the balance of electric on
the LMP market. United Water runs the
backup power system when gas prices
are relatively lowespecially during the
summer months.
Water treatment and distribution,
as well as Solar Turbines for emergency
power, utilize a GE Proficy HMI/SCADA
iFIX system that monitors plant processes. A Schneider Electric ClearSCADA
system is used for remote site HMI. The
systems control pumps, chemical feed
controls, an ozone generation system,
filter controls, and a residual handling
system in the plant, and will control
system components at remote sites such
as wells, booster stations, distribution
storage tanks, pressure-reducing valves,
and regulators.
United Water is also in the process of
improving radio communications at the
remote sites and obtaining new licenses
for backhaul frequencies. The plant,
which serves as the hub of United Waters
northern New Jersey operations, is
equipped with an operator control room
staffed by three full-time employees. They
monitor integrated data points from the
sion organization that coordinates the

plant and PPL Electric SCADA systems.
movement of wholesale electricity in
Process control of water produc13 states and the District of Columtion is nothing new to United Water
New Jersey. When the plant capacity was bia. United Water has committed to a
6.1-MW load reduction at the Haworth
increased, a Westinghouse distributed
control system (DCS) was implemented. plant during demand response events.
We get a two-hour notice of an
Another DCS from HSQ later replaced
emergency event, and it can run up to
the original Westinghouse system. The
six hours, says Brophy. It can happen
GE SCADA system was implemented
multiple times per year, and we have two
during the 2009 plant renovations.
PPL Electric has a dedicated SCADA hours to reduce load as much as we can.
Weve usually been performing about
system equipped with Modicon PLCs for
100 to 150% of our commitment when
the plants main power supply. According to Chris Brophy, the resident SCADA required. Kolkebeck added that some
expert for United Water, this SCADA sys- of the plants larger pumps consume
tem pulls together 3040 different electric significant energy and that the facility
routinely pulls 1214 MW.
data for water production such as voltage
Our peak days generally coincide
and frequency for the plant operators to
with the electric operators peak days,
monitor.
Years ago, you basically had incom- says Brophy of the Haworth plants water
production. When its hot and humid
ing power, and thats what you knew,
and people are running air-conditioning,
recalls Brophy. You didnt know where
it was going to be consumed in the plant, theyre also using waterthe peak days
coincide almost exactly. Because the
and you didnt know what was efficient
plant pumps to demand, using water
and what wasnt efficient in the plant.
stored in tanks with some pumps powThe new equipment in the facility,
ered down is not an option, he adds.
including motor control systems and
Kolkebeck says that United Water
the DAF system, has power monitoruses the GE SCADA data to continually
ing so we can literally monitorbesides
monitor and control processes in the
the gross numbers coming ineach
plant. Process changes
process, so you can see
do not involve directly
which process is a little
We can literally
changing PLC codes,
off, how theyre comparmonitorbesides
but, rather, changing
ing to each other, and
where energy is being
the gross numbers parameters, setpoints,
and control points.
consumed, says Brophy.
coming ineach
We do pump
You cant manage it
process, so you can efficiency testing and
unless you have the
information.
see which process testing on our systems
to make sure theyre
Data are transmitted
is a little off, how
energy efficient, and if
directly from the plant
via fiber-optic/Ethernet
theyre comparing theyre not, we have a
program
and from field sites to the
to each other, and maintenance
in place to take correccontrol room, according
where energy is
tive action, he says.
to Keith Kolkebeck, engiBrophy says that
neering systems manbeing consumed.
since the plant upager for United Water. A
grades took place a
reporting program from
couple of years ago, it
utility technology and
appears that United Water has reduced
management consulting provider EMA,
its kilowatt-hours by roughly 1/2% to
Inc., compiles the data for analysis.
1% per million gallons of water. This
United Water New Jersey counts
might improve with greater monitoring
on its SCADA system during occasional
load shedding that is deemed cost-effec- capabilities built into the remote sites.
tive when natural gas prices are favorINTELLIGENCE-ENABLED DEMAND RESPONSE
able. Energy Curtailment Specialists
The more intelligent a water distribution
manages a demand response program
network becomes, the more challenging
on the grid of PJM, a regional transmisMARCH/APRIL 2012 WATER EFFICIENCY 35
it can become to shed power during a demand response event

without losing water delivery reliability. This is where further
automation of process controls can be helpful.
That is the stage of process control implementation at the
Perris, CA-headquartered Eastern Municipal Water District
(EMWD), one of the largest water purveyors in southern
California and serving a population of about 755,000 across
542 square miles. The EMWD is a major consumer of electricity, at $10 million in annual electricity costs. With this in mind,
the district enrolled in a demand response program managed
by energy management consultant EnerNOC and committed
to reduce electricity consumption by about 3 MW by shedding
load at its main treatment and distribution facilities.
For doing this, EMWD receives annual payments
from EnerNOC totaling about $120,000.
Dan Howell, director of purchasing and contracts for EMWD, pointed out that working with
a third-party demand response manager such as
EnerNOC is advantageous. EMWD has participated
in utility interruptible programs for the past 15 to 20
years, but the regulatory environment has changed
recently, Howell reports.
Were located in the South Coast Air Quality
Management District, which is probably one of the
most heavily regulated air districts in the United
States, he says. So we were challenged with operat-
Our EMS looks at the best

way to operate in terms of
both meeting our water
delivery obligations, and
from a financial perspective
with regard to energy use.
Right: Mid-Dakota Rural Water Systems central SCADA control

operation facility. MDRWS SCADA system controls and monitors
57 sites for pump speeds, tank levels, discharge pressures, and
any operational malfunctions.
MID-DAKOTA RURAL WATER SYSTEM
Below: View of Mid-Dakota Rural Water Systems water distribution

network via its SCADA system
plants; each of the latter has a dedicated system. None of the

ing generation assets in order to meet some of the interruptible
wastewater treatment plants is managed under the EnerNOC
provisions that the utility has under their programs. If you fail
program. The water distribution network is equipped with a
to interrupt when youre on an uninterruptible tariff, youre
assessed large penalties and fines associated with every kilowatt- Telvent OASyS SCADA system and a Derceto energy management system (EMS).
hour you use during that interruption period.
The water distribution network has a relatively high level of
Aggregators such as EnerNOC dont have penalties per se
automation, according to Howell. EMWD monitors tank levels
for failure to interrupt. The economic incentive is typically less
and pressure throughout the system, for example, and optimizes
under the third-party aggregators as it would be under the utilnetwork operation at any given time and level of water demand.
ity programs, but the penalty doesnt exist. In order to meet our
Not many water utilities are using that level of sophisticadelivery obligations, third-party aggregators such as EnerNOC
tion,
says Howell. Our EMS looks at the best way to operate in

became a good alternative.
terms
of both meeting our water delivery obligations, and from
California, the nations most populous state, faces greater
a
fi
nancial
perspective with regard to energy use. Its a real-time
energy supply challenges than most. To deal with the challenge,
pump
scheduler,
not a reporting system. Its literally looking at
Southern California Edison (SCE) manages programs such as
projected
water
demands
throughout our service area, and then
a Base Interruptible Program (Schedule TOU-BIP). Customers
looking
at
available
assets
to meet those demands and what it
that select this program are required to choose a Firm Sercosts
to
run
individual
assets
and then optimizing which should
vice Level that reflects the amount of electricity the customer
run
fi
rst.
It
takes
into
consideration
the utility rates, the time of
determines is necessary to meet their operational requirements
day,
the
pumping
capacities,
the
effi
ciency
of one pump versus
during an interruptible event. They must also choose a particianotherits
selecting
that
and
the
speed
at
which to operate.
pation option, which is the amount of time (15 or 30 minutes)
Th
e
water
SCADA
system also has a
the customer requires in order to respond
high level of sophistication for demand
to the event.
response events and may soon become
EMWD receives lower overall utility
even more sophisticated. When informed
rates for participating in the program.
of a demand response event, EMWD
The combined reduction efforts reduce
staff reviews SCADA information to both
the overall demand for electricity in
www.waterefficiency.net/energy
determine whether the utility can particiCalifornia and potentially prevent power
interruptions. Penalties are assessed to
commercial customers that do not participate when an interruptible event occurs. Customers that have
agreements with third-party aggregators, such as EnerNOC, are
not assessed penalties but merely forgo payments received from
the aggregators for non-participation in a given interruptible
event. For many organizations
public and private water utilities, for exampledetermining
how to shed load without compromising core operations poses
a challenge.
Demand response, and partnering with a third-party aggregator, suits EMWD because it cannot participate at all of its
facilities in every interruptible event, according to Howell. The
utility has more than 250 accounts with SCE and, in addition
to over 8 MWs enrolled in SCE programs, can shed another 3
MW of load during interruptible events among its Hemet Water
Filtration and Perris Water Filtration plants and five other facilities. Facilities with higher energy demand include its Hemet
Water Filtration and Perris Water Filtration plants, which
account for about half of EMWDs load shedding capabilities
under the third-party demand response events. None of the
facilities that are contracted with EnerNOC have backup power
systems.
There are challenges in meeting air regulations for operating those standby emergency generation generators, says Howell. We believe that where we do have contracts with EnerNOC,
that we have adequate water storage, and we have redundant
facilities perhaps elsewhere that can help supplement during
those events.
EMWD operates separate SCADA systems for its water
distribution system and for its four wastewater treatment
pate and, if so, how to operate the network in order to comply.

What were now working on is the potential to automate
thatwere looking at working with the utility, Honeywell, and
Derceto, and EnerNOC to automate the receipt of a demand
response event from [SCE] and EnerNOC through our SCADA
system in our Integrated Operations Center to allow the staff to
make a yes/no decision to participate or not, and then resolve
how the system will operate. So theres a human interface there. Thats the sophistication
thats coming into play.
The EnerNOC-managed demand
response program benefits both EMWD and
the state, Howell notes.
[The refunds] go to directly offsetting
our operating costs, he
says. So to the extent
This kind of map gives
a water utility a good
that we reduce operatidea of what and where
ing costs, it benefits
everything is in its
distribution system.
our ratepayers. We are
a municipal nonprofit
water district, so any opportunity to reduce
operating costs directly affects our ratepayersthis is one example of that. The benefit
to the environment and the state is that [the
program] defers the cost and the impacts of
constructing additional power generation. It is a major undertaking in this state to construct power generation facilities.
More water utilities in California would be able to participate in interruptible events if they can increase their process
control sophistication, Howell concludes.
Other utilities that may not have that level of sophistication may be reluctant to participate because they just dont know
Security Risks and Cyber Attacks

As noted in the Water Efficiency editors blog (Water
Insecurity, www.waterefficiency.net/WE/Blogs/1145.aspx ), last
November, an Illinois water utility was thought to be the victim
of a foreign cyber attack. On November 8, the water utilitys
pump system failed, and initial reports indicated that utility
mangers feared the utility had been attacked by cyber criminals
hacking into the utilities network via their unsecured SCADA
system. Ultimately, the FBI and the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) determined that the utility had not been hacked
( www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396835,00.asp ).
In a statement relating to the investigation, a DHS spokesman stated, After detailed analysis, DHS and the FBI have found no
evidence of a cyber intrusion into the SCADA system of the CurranGardner Public Water District in Springfield, Illinois.
Although this particular SCADA hack was just a false alarm, cyber security experts warn that similar tactics could be used successfully in the future across a wide variety of SCADA systems; including
those used for nuclear reactors and chemical plants.
Unfortunately, outdated SCADA systems litter much of the
countrys industrial and commercial landscape. In an interview
quoted in Daily Tech (www.dailytech.com/Cyber+Attack+on+Illino
is+Water+Utility+Sparks+DHSFBI+Investigation/article23331.htm),
Lani Kass, former senior cyber policy adviser to the US Joint Chiefs of
Staff and the US Air Force, says, Many [SCADA systems] are old and
vulnerable. There are no financial incentives for the utility owners to
replace and secure these systems, and the costs would be high.
When initial reports of the alleged cyber attacks surfaced,

it was suggested that the perpetrators had accessed the utilities
SCADA system using stolen credentials from the SCADA software
companya methodology that is not too far fetched according to
Dave Marcus. Marcus, Director of Security for McAfee labs, warns
that SCADA networks lack some of the security protocols common
in standard computer networks, theres no way to know whether or
not our systems have not already been compromised.
In an interview in PCWorld (www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/244359/water_utility_hacked_are_critical_systems_at_
risk.html), Marcus outlines some of the biggest concerns regarding
SCADA systems and suggests some preliminary precautions that
can be taken in response to this new security threat. He also recommends some of the following precautions:
Include cyber in all risk management.
Set up extensive penetration testing.
Set up extensive counter-social engineering training.
Put a SCADA-specific CERT plan and team in place.
Network with law enforcement at all levels.
Expect to get attacked and take appropriate countermeasures.
The question remains, if SCADA networks represent significant targets for terrorists or other politically motivated attacks,
are we doing enough to defend our systems? Its difficult to
determine whether or not a cyber attack has already taken place,
but if SCADA networks are easy targets, perhaps its time to start
implementation of other, additional, security measures.
whats going on, he says. In this industry, we tend to err on the

side of being overly conservative when it comes to being able to
meet water supply, so without that good SCADA background,
we just wouldnt have the information in order to make these
kinds of decisions.
MONITORING A VAST RURAL TERRITORY
Across the often-vast distances of a rural water utility, a SCADA
system really helps out the staff by identifying problems in the
water distribution network from a computer screen, rather than
onsite visual inspection. Scott Gross, operations manager at the
Miller, SD-based Mid-Dakota Rural Water System (MDRWS),
which serves about 30,000 rural customers in 16 communities
in all or parts of 14 counties in a territory covering about 7,000
square miles, can attest to that. He is responsible for overseeing
a network consisting of about 4,000 miles of distribution pipeline, 115 miles of mainline, and 16 storage tanks ranging in size
from 100,000 to 2.5 mg for a total storage of 7.8 mg. The system
keeps expanding, too: the capacity of a treatment plant located
near Pierre, SD, was recently increased from 9 to 13.5 mg, and a
2-mg storage tank and 6,000-gallon-per-minute booster station
was added as well.
Gross recalled that the expansive nature of the system
meant that it took a while for a SCADA system to be fully
implemented. The treatment plant went online in 1997, but it
took until 2006 for a Micro-Comm SCADA system to cover
the entire network. MDRWS uses a SCADAview CSX (Client/
Server/X-platform) central-based (CTU) telemetry system,
a cross-platform application that has versions for Windows,
Mac OS X, and Linux. Gross and MDRWS primarily use the
system to monitor tank levels and flow rates. One major reason
why this system was chosen is the vast distances comprising
MDRWS, according to Gross. The system uses telemetry stations that compile operating data by radio signals. The system is
equipped for signal transmission across the vast spaces. Rolling
terrain on the western half of the territory does not make signal
transmission any easier, according to Harvey Aberle, whom
Gross succeeded in fall 2011. As a result, the SCADA system
uses antennas mounted on 14 water towers located throughout
the territory.
The combination of the SCADA system and VFDs enables MDRWS to achieve significant energy savings, although
MDRWS had not been able to quantify the savings as of fall
2011 with the ongoing expansion of the system.
The number one savings is that we dont have to have
manpower go out to each station twice a weekwe do that off
of SCADA, says Aberle. Also, some of the biggest power savings result from the fact that everything runs on VFDs. We have
control of VFDs, so we dont have that rush of power when we
start pumps up. We can also control the speed of the VFDs, so
we know that if we have a high demand coming in for the day
say if its 100 degrees Fahrenheit, we will actually start pumps
up from the central
computer here in
Scan here to share
Miller. Or, if we know
that its going to be a
cold week, we turn
http://gettag.mobi
the speed of the VFDs
down, because we dont need to move all of that extra water

into the tanks and not use it. I know that, to start up a pump for
the initial surge of power, with a VFD you save three times the
demand charge versus a hard start on a regular pump.
A SCADA system is a powerful tool, but human capital is
still needed for
maintenance.
The biggest killer for MDRWS is ice storms, says Aberle.
They ice up the antennas, and then we cant communicate. The
winters here are pretty tough, and we actually take a shotgun out
and shoot the antennas clear so that we can keep communications going.
Gross adds that the odds of damaging the antennas from
180 feet away on the ground are minimal.
You cant get guys up therethe ladders are too iced up,
he explains. Youre shooting [small] number eight shot, so
theres a pretty small chance of breaking anything.
A SCADA system is a necessity for monitoring such a
spread-out water distribution network, Gross concludes.
We couldnt run this without SCADA, he says. Wed
be running guys ragged without this, and it would probably
double the workloadwe only have 10 operators.
WE
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WASTE NOT,
WANT NOT
Demand management takes hold
and delivers results for water
purveyors throughout the country.
BY PAUL HULL
utreach to water users in

San Diego, CA, in the last few
years has been carried out by
the campaign No Time to
Waste, No Water to Waste.
This campaign was developed
to heighten the awareness and need
for urgent action during Californias
drought, and the need to stay within
supply allocations set by water wholesalers, explains Luis Generoso, Water
Resources Manager for The City of San
Diego Water Department. It has been
a good tool to use and the resulting
water usage was lower than expected,
good news for all. We have used both
traditional and non-traditional media.
Now that the drought response
levels have been lifted, he continues,
the campaign has switched to a more

inclusive, longer-lasting message
of San Diegans Waste No Water. It
brings in the community element,
that you are not alone in your efforts,
and that, collectively, San Diegans
have achieved significant water
savings.
Certain elements that lend to
the overall campaign have been successful, too, he goes on to say, like
the film contest that challenges high
school and college students to create
30-second PSAs. Information on the
contest is available on our website
[ WasteNoWater.org ].
In San Diego, the most popular
rebates offered have been those for
landscape water use, as more people
consider alternatives to traditional

landscape options.
Because recent changes in the City
of San Diegos Emergency Water Regulations have established new restrictions on water use, the enforcement
and penalty process for residents who
ignore irrigation restrictions has been
clarified. Currently, all water waste is
prohibited in Section 67.3803 of the
San Diego Municipal Code. Wasting
water is now illegal at all times, even
when Drought Response Levels are not
officially in effect. The City can penalize anyone who continues to waste water with a series of escalating penalties,
up to and including termination of water service. And if customers continue
to waste water after being contacted
PHOTOS: TORO
Micro-irrigation
can increase
crop yields and
efficiency.
by the Water Departments Conservation staff, the Citys Code Enforcement

Section can step in. At that point,
any continued refusal to discontinue
overwatering, failure to repair leaks,
or other water waste actions, empowers the Code Enforcement Officer or
Water Waste Investigator to fashion an
appropriate response.
As for all violations of the Municipal City Code, Code Enforcement
Officers have a variety of remedies to
help ensure compliance, starting with
education on the restrictions, and information about resources available to
assist customers with compliance.
Enforcement options also include
a series of stricter and more punitive
actions, including:
a warning letter
administrative citations ($100,
$250, $500, $750, $1,000)
a Notice of Violation (with civil
penalties up to $2,500 per day per
violation)
referral to the City Attorney for
civil or criminal prosecution
shut off the water service (only
when all other remedies have
failed)
CONTROL WITHOUT REPRESSION
The City of Hope Medical Center in
Duarte, CA, is a hospital campus, with
the Cancer Center, Research Institute,
and a graduate school. Its a 120-acre
campus with 125 buildings. There are
48 acres of landscape with diverse gar-
dens, including a famous rose garden,

and Japanese koi pond and reflection
garden. There are 1,600 different tree
specimens and more than a million
square feet of turf. Current restrictions
allow watering (irrigation) between
9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Too much
water or too little water can cause
problems, resulting in plant replacement or adverse impacts on the health
of specialty horticulture collections.
Overwatering can lead to liability for
slips and falls; or excess mildew, dust,
and mold, all of which are detrimental
to hospital structures and the hygienic
medical environment.
Enter HydroPoint WeatherTRAK.
The WeatherTRAK Central Internet
Management application automates
TORO
irrigation and enables remote programming changes around events, rather

than traditional truck rolls and manual
adjustment. Events? There are thousands of pedestrians and numerous
special events that stress the beautiful
open space landscapes.
Following events, the WeatherTRAK system alerts prioritized repairs
to sprinkler heads and other components. The system has smart irrigation
controllers that serve as a property
management tool to monitor outdoor
water requirements and irrigation
windows. The automated HydroPoint
WeatherTRAK Scheduling Engine
delivers precise amounts of water
based on specific landscape zones and
environmental conditions. Schedules
dynamically adjust as local weather
changes to eliminate water waste and
runoff.
The results? The HydroPoint
system has reduced irrigation run
times by 30%. The system has reduced
outdoor water use 25% over the entire
campus in its first year of operation.
It has achieved a 10% reduction of
As with all new technologies,

skill and expertise are needed
when you progress to use
them. You dont bring this
kind of important solution
to a water problem just
by writing a check.
overall water use (indoor and outdoor), despite 15% growth in facilities
and buildings. That, to me, looks like
control with benefits.
Lets move across country. Regency
Centers, headquartered in Jacksonville,
FL, has a portfolio of 399 centers and
55 million square feet as the owner,

operator, and developer of community
shopping centers. When it was discovered that 50% of their total water
consumption was used for irrigationrepresenting a significant (and
increasing) operating expense
Regency conducted an initial pilot

of smart irrigation controllers in
2007 with tests at six properties. They
discovered that HydroPoint WeatherTRAK delivered superior savings and
two-way communications technology.
In 2008, Regency installed the controllers at 36 properties.
The HydroPoint technology is
now used at 93 properties in 11 states:
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,
Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina,
Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Installation sites were chosen
based on highest water rate or highest water consumption. Many of the
controllers were financed by local
municipal rebates. Regency has implemented 169 WeatherTRAK smart
irrigation controllers at 93 properties
across the country, along with savings
of $350,000 and 96 million gallons of
water each year.
In Santa Clarita, CAa city of
about 185,000 residentsa 27% water
saving has been achieved, actually
surpassing the Citys goal of saving
180 million gallons per year. The City
achieved immediate fiscal relief by reducing the cost to irrigate its facilities,
saving $300,000 to $400,000 a year and
deflecting future water rate increases
that had been projected to rise from
20% to 40%. With this program, the
City of Santa Clarita automatically
complies with California AB 1881, as
well as SBx7-78 which mandate reduction of water use to 20% by 2020.
One of the main causes of the
citys higher water use was archaic
irrigation, including outdated clocks
used for 700 acres of City parks, medians, and streetscapes. 530 HydroPoint WeatherTRAK controllers were
installed across 40 landscape districts
for the city over 80 days. To keep the
systems in perfect order, nine different
landscape companies are responsible
for maintenance.
Above: Drip irrigation

is used in only 10% of
agricultural irrigation
systems.
HYDROPOINT
Below: Regular
maintenance of these
smart systems is key.
NOT ALL DEMAND IS MUNICIPAL OR RESIDENTIAL

When it comes to water resource
management, the challenges and solutions are not contained to metropolitan areas. In the city, irrigation refers
to landscaping at home or at the office
(and residential irrigation has drawn
deserved attention), but there is the
much broader, more consuming area
of water useagriculture.
Vast amounts of water (and
energy) are used for agriculture (over
60% in some areas, and close to 90%
along our nations food corridors).
As the world and our own national
populations increase into the several
efficient water use.

Toro has positioned itself as a
leader in drip irrigation and microirrigation for both residential and
agricultural customers.
One of the challenges the company faces when talking to growers is
convincing them that drip irrigation is
the best solution.
We must explain why drip irrigation is a better technique for them,
notes Claude Corcos, marketing manager at Toro Micro-Irrigation.
Much of the marketing work
involves breaking down barriers that
have existed for years. Todays growers
Were using half as much

water with drip as we did
with other irrigation methods
we used in the past, and
experience increase yields and
uniformity at the same time.
billions, that unproductive land must
be made productive. That means water
and fertilization. Although one solutionmicro-irrigationhas proven
useful, the sad truth is that less than
10% of growers use drip irrigation,
despite its ability to increase crop yield
dramatically.
Unfortunately, there continue to
be many growers who are unaware of
the newer technologies and innovations available to them. But as a new
group of younger, more informed
and better educated farmers join the
ranks of the agricultural industry,
theres hope. These new faces can help
eliminate to outdated practices and
begin to shift our nations agriculture
industry away from the inefficiencies
of the past and towards stronger, more
profitable enterprisesall with more
need to understand and experience the

benefits of drip irrigation for themselves, before considering the benefits
for local communities water supply.
As with all new technologies,
adds Corcos, skill and expertise are
needed when you progress to use
them. You dont bring this kind of
important solution to a water problem
just by writing a check.
Almonds are a popular and
economically important crop for
California. Today, some 90% of the
states almond acreage (represented in
the California Almond Sustainability
Program, CASP) is irrigated by efficient micro-irrigation systems. Recent
research also showed a key aspect of
these growers successone which refers us back to the comment by Toros
Corcos about skill and expertise
routine maintenance and informed

operation. In almond orchards that
are micro-irrigated, 90% are inspected
weekly for leaks and clogs in the system, 87% have the lines flushed at the
start or middle of the season, and 65%
have pressure-compensating emitters.
Cox Valley View Farms in Long
Island, KS, converted to Toro drip irrigation some years ago. The conversion
allowed owner Steven Cox to stretch
limited water supplies while increasing
yields and grain quality.
Before drip, we were trying to
flood irrigate 60 acres with a 250 gpm
well, explains Cox. We were lucky if
we got top yields on 25% of the field. I
now get top yields on 100% of the field
because of the increased uniformity
and efficiency I get with drip irrigation.
The farms central water source
the Ogallala Aquiferis dwindling,
making conservation key to survival.
By switching to drip irrigation, farming and the aquifer can sustainably
coexist. Cox has stretched his annual
allowance of 18 inches of water to
produce 300 bushels of corn per acre
compared to 150, and achieved a grain
test weight of 62 pounds per bushel as
opposed to the previous 58.
There have been other benefits
as well. In comparison with flood irrigation, drip irrigation requires little
labor, and the reduced energy requirements pivots. Fertilizers can be placed
exactly where needed, and no-till
farming becomes a reality. Best of all
is, no water is wasted due to evaporation, runoff, wind drift, or deep
percolation.
With a one-inch application of
water, the driest plant will get 0.9 inches of water, and the wettest will receive
1.1 inches, says Cox. This allows me
to get the most from every gallon of
water I pump from the aquifer.
The drip irrigation system took
less than two years to pay for itself,
much less than the owner had anticipated.
Less use of water, fertilizer, and
labor, along with increased yields and
reduced runoff, were also some of the
(usual) benefits for Standage Farms
Inc., in Vale, OR, when they made the
switch to drip irrigation.
Drip nurtures a healthier, stronger plant, advises Larry Standage,

owner of Standage Farms. That really
shows up during extreme heat events.
We also use less fertilizer with the
drip, which has been significant with
recent fertilizer costs tripling.
Standage also uses expertise and
skill to keep his familys drip system
functioning well. He has found the
best wetting pattern is achieved with
a 12-hour set, with intervals between
irrigations determined by weather and
sensors.
The 6-mil. Aqua-Traxx tape
[from Toro] is tough and durable. It
doesnt break or have problems like
some other tapes, says Standage.
If there ever is a problem, it is
Toros policy to be onsite within 24
hours, whether its the makers fault or
not.
One more drip irrigation comment comes from the Naumann brothers (Brian and Mike) who farm the
Naumann Ranch in Oxnard, CA. Food
safety is one of their major concerns,
as it is for all growers. They perform

system maintenance routinely (a
further example that skill and expertise are required for good results in
anything related to water use). During the irrigation season, the lines are
treated with chlorine to kill organic
growth and keep everything running
smoothly.
Recently, the Naumanns devised
a way to reduce chlorine expenses by
formulating their own calcium hypochlorite solution.
Also, the precision molded emitter resists clogging, comments Mike
Naumann. It delivers great uniformity
and that results in even water distribution throughout the field [of mixed
vegetables] and avoids puddles or
runoff that harbors E. coli.
The brothers believe that drip
irrigation has not only reduced water
use, but it has also improved yields
and quality for their crops.
Were using half as much water
with drip as we did with other irrigation methods we used in the past, and
experience increase yields and uniformity at the same time.

Some other interesting comment on water demand management
programs comes from Scott Duff,
Manager of Rural Development Policy
at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) in
Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Irrigated agriculture in Ontario
is somewhat unique, although some
of the concepts from the international and California experience are
relevant, says Duff. When looking
at demand management, it is important to consider the existing baseline
condition relative to demand management. In Ontario, experience shows
that most irrigators tend to under-

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and energy compliance standards; academics; and other environmental-quality professionals.
We publish practical, progressive, reference, and professional development books in the following subject areas:
Stormwater Management Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Construction-Site Compliance and Best
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Designing and Reviewing
Effective Sediment and
Erosion Control Plans
JERALD S. FIFIELD, PH.D, CPESC, CISEC
FORESTER
FP_Publish_11_.5p
REFERENCE RESOURCES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROFESSIONALS www.forester.net

FP_Publish_5p
irrigate for optimal crop production

conditions. Attempts to achieve water
savings through traditional demand
management techniques, such as
improved scheduling and a shift from
overhead to drip irrigation, typically
result in increased water use.
He continues: These techniques
are helpful at the farm level in terms
of optimizing production but do not
necessarily result in the desired water
savings for watersheds that may
experience seasonal supply shortages.
There are few-to-no communal water
supply and delivery systems. Therefore, unlike regions with large irrigation schemes [or municipalities with
communal supply and delivery], there
are basically no savings to be found
in the delivery mechanisms, because
there are essentially none.
The issue, then, can be definitely
local, which is probably no surprise to
most water professionals.
For each watershed situation,
the suite of demand management
tools that may be effective is different,
For each watershed

situation, the suite of
demand management
tools that may be
effective is different,
depending on
the challenge of
that watershed.
depending on the challenge of that
watershed, adds Duff. For example,
in some Ontario watersheds, in some
growing seasons, there can be low
water conditions resulting in supply
challenges at certain times of the year.
These are localized and seasonal.
OMAFRA also publishes some
guidelines for agricultural water users
in How to Prepare for Irrigation During Water Shortages and is a constant
Whats your
WATERPRINT?
1857
Gallons of water
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766
Gallons of
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37
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cup o joe.
With new
updates!
Waterprint is the rst, one-of-a-kind iPhone application

that calculates how much water is embedded in our daily lives.
Youll be surprised by how much water you useand so will your customers!
resource for their clients.

The guidelines address such practical questions as:
What more can I do if I have
an irrigation system that works
well? The issues of runoff from
faster-than-needed irrigation and
inspection for leaks are among the
answers.
If my neighbors and I all irrigate at
the same there may not be enough
water: What can I do? Understanding water rights and providing temporary storage for water
are in the solutions suggested.
What else can I do when water is
scarce? Among suggestions are
the development of an irrigation
plan, a scheduling program, and
an emergency plan to follow if you
run out of water for some crops.
What if I irrigate from a water
well? Operate within the Permit
to Take Water conditions and,
shortly after pumping, monitor the static water level of any
of your other wells or neighbors
wells, if possible. Consider hiring
a hydrogeologist to assess the
effect of your water withdrawal
on ground water and neighboring
wells.
I have a trickle irrigation system
do I need to do anything? Maintenance, scheduling, and monitoring the water supply remain
critical.
All over North America growers are aware of problems with water
supply, but perhaps not as aware of the
technologies available to them. While
some solutions are criticized as putting
too much emphasis on the importance
of growers, they all include ways to
save water and prevent the devolution
of prime agricultural land to virtual
desert.
WE
Paul Hull is a frequent contributor to
Forester Media publications.
Our exclusive waterprint calculator allows your customer to keep track of the water they use, while our
product and activity descriptions explain the numbers and provide tips to cut down on consumption.
Go to waterprint.net to nd out more and to download

the app to your iPhone, iPod, or iPad.
Or scan here to get the app

at http://gettag.mobi
Scan here to share

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ShowCase
ITRON
TORO CO.
Itrons Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions for water are proven
and flexible. Key to the Itron Water AMI solution is the 100-W ERT communications module. With full two-way communication to the meter, they can be deployed side-by-side in AMI fixed network, mobile automatic meter reading, or
hybrid configurations. Complimenting Itrons AMI solutions are comprehensive
leak detection products. They include DLD digital leak detector, DigiCorr, and
ZCorr, pinpointing exact leak locations; and ChoiceConnect 100-W ERT communications module with an integrated acoustic Leak Sensor for systemwide
monitoring of distribution systems. Itron helps utilities increase operational
efficiencies, manage water resources, and enhance customer service.
www.itron.com
The Toro Companys Precision Soil Sensor continuously measures moisture

levels in the soil and determines when to allow the irrigation controller to
water, maximizing the efficiency of your irrigation system. There are two
wireless components to the systema receiver that hooks up to the irrigation controller and a sensor that installs in the ground. Once installed,
the sensor calibrates itself automatically to determine the soil type. Any
time the moisture level exceeds the user-defined optimum level for the
plant material, the controller is prevented from running any irrigation
programs. This prevents unneeded watering and provides the possibility
for significant water savings.
www.toro.com
MICRO-COMM INC.
Micro-Comms M1550 PLC provides easy monitoring and control
with simultaneous distributed and centralized control operations. Its plug-and-play capabilities and plug-in terminal blocks
and memory make the M1550 easy to use and set up. A universal communications interface provides robust control and data
transfer via radio, dedicated line, phone line, Ethernet, and fiber
optic communication media. The M1550 is fully programmable
and features Modbus and Allen-Bradley Protocolsallowing it
to work in any system and to integrate complex systems.
www.micro-comm-inc.com
ETWATER SYSTEMS
The HermitCrab plugs into the remote port on most conventional controllers,
converting them to powerful ETwater Smart Irrigation. Via the HermitCrabs
wireless modem, the controller receives a weather-adjusted schedule to
eliminate overwatering. Remote management with a computer or smartphone
means savings in labor and better customer service. A typical HermitCrab retrofit has a payback of less than one year. And, due to compatibility with most
controller brands, customers can efficiently manage various controller brands
at multiple sites with the award-winning ETwater Manager system.
www.etwater.com
ShowCase
CLARUS ENVIRONMENTAL
FLOWWORKS
A complete suite of Graphical Data Editing QA/QC tools are now part of FlowWorks.
FlowWorks is a secure Web platform for gathering, analyzing, and understanding all
forms of environmental monitoring data. FlowWorks is hardware neutral, receiving
data from all manufacturers flow and level meters, rain gauges, data systems, plus
SCADA, USGS, and NOAA. Customers can use FlowWorks to gather all monitoring data
into one place and analyze it quickly to fully understand the solutions available.
www.flowworks.com
Clarus Environmentals Turbine STEP Systems are

designed for simplex or duplex applications in a
single polyethylene pump vault. With one of the
industrys largest selections of effluent turbine
pumps and vaults available in a variety of custom
heights, a Clarus Environmental STEP system will
fit most specifications. STEP systems are designed
for freestanding or suspended applications. Its
deep-pleated filter design yields high surface area
and is easy to remove and clean.
www.clarusenvironmental.com
ADVANCE PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS

Advance Products & Systems Kleerband Flange Protectors and Radolid Protection Caps
protects bolts, nuts, and flange faces on raised-face or full-face flanges in areas subject
to the ravages of extreme corrosion conditions. Kleerband Flange Protectors are a transparent polymer band with grease injection fittings and relief vent plug that allows 360
of continuous inspection without removing the flange protector. They are for use in valve
vaults, meter pits, lift stations, pump stations, and treatment plants. Radolid Protection
Caps with Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors (VCI) block the corrosive effects of electrolytes on
different types and sizes of bolts and nuts.
www.apsonline.com
CAPSTONE METERING LLC

Capstone Metering LLC brings to global water industries the first intelligent meter for residential use. The IntelliH2O meter,
patent-pending, incorporates breakthrough technology and solid
state electronics to manage, control, and conserve water. The IntelliH2O meter, completely engineered from the ground up, is housed
in a single, self-contained unit. Frequent two-way wireless network
communications, self-calibration, self-generating power, and remote
turn on and shut off are capabilities built directly into the meter.
www.capstonemetering.com
MASTER METER
The AWWA has selected
Master Meters MMPD as
the official water meter for
this years Meter Madness
Competition. The MMPD 3/4
designed with todays most
advanced computational fluid dynamic (CFD) design technology is an
engineering trifecta that dramatically reduces head loss and provides
Whisper Quiet performance with maximum revenue for more than 35
years typical use. With integral 3G AMR technology the MMPD delivers
actionable intel such as leak, theft, and tamper alerts; citywide synchronized meter data; and meter right-sizing profile information.
www.mastermeter.com
SJE-RHOMBUS
CONTROLS
The VFDC-1300 control panel uses
variable frequency drive technology for
pressure control in irrigation applications.
Built-in features such as PID control with
sleep function, fill pipe function, dry run
protection, and automatic restart make
this control solution ideal for irrigation
pumping systems. It can be configured for
simplex, duplex, or triplex pump control. It
is UL 508-listed and 100% factory-tested
and pre-programmed.
www.sjerhombus.com
Learn & Earn with Forester U

ebinars
New 2012 W y!
a
Register Tod
Thursday, March 22
5 Proven Tactics for Using Online Media to Engage Your Stakeholders

Erica Hooper, S. Groner Associates
Extend your outreach and campaign effectiveness with online media. Join Erica Hooper, Strategic Director at S. Groner Associates to explore real-world tested and approved online media
tactics that engage your audience and result in behavior change. Join Hooper to explore
online media and social networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) outreach, engagement, and
behavior change opportunities, as well as ve proven tactics to effectively utilize these in your
outreach campaigns.
1 PDH / 0.1 CEU Credit
Upcoming Webinars
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1 PDH / 0.1 CEU John McCullah, CPESC #311, Salix Applied Earthcare. Free!
sFebruary 23 Stormwater Pond BMP Management: Design, Operation & Maintenance
1 PDH / 0.1 CEU Shahram (Shane) Missaghi,
Extension Water Resources, University of Minnesota
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sMarch 15 Water Quality Management

1 PDH / 0.1 CEU Shahram (Shane) Missaghi,
Extension Water Resources, University of Minnesota
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ShowCase
PLASTICS PIPE INSTITUTE
H2O ANALYTICS
Water usage e-mails, dashboards, and social integration improve communications and drive conservation efforts. The Customer Messaging Service from
H2O Analytics interfaces with existing systems, automatically sending regular
e-mails with rule-driven content and dynamic water usage analytics. The
service is easily tailored to match the website or marketing theme. Business
rules managed in a spreadsheet drive the e-mail content, which is enhanced by
an analytic dashboard showing each customers consumption over time and as
compared to system averages.
www.h2oanalytics.com/cms
Plastic pipe systems are environmentally responsible and unmatched at

conserving natural resources. Strong,
durable, and flexible, these systems
require significantly less energy to
manufacture, transport, and install
than legacy alternatives. Superior
corrosion and abrasion resistance,
combined with incomparable
joint performanceleak-free or
watertightdelivers an exceptional
service life and a truly sustainable
underground infrastructure. The
Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) is the
major trade association representing
all segments of the plastics piping
industry. PPIs mission is to promote
plastics as the material of choice for
piping applications.
www.plasticpipe.org
TIDEFLEX TECHNOLOGIES
NEPTUNE TECHNOLOGY GROUP

The MRX920 Mobile Data Collector, with its 72-channel receiver, can process more
than 5,000 reads an hour and up to eight MIUs simultaneouslyand it fits in one
hand. Available as part of Neptunes ARB Mobile System, the newly redesigned
MRX920 is more portable than ever, weighing 5 pounds, which is 40 pounds less
than the previous model. It increases total reads over greater distances, faster and
more accurately. And its as affordable as a handheld data collector.
www.neptunetg.com
Many potable water tanks or reservoirs depend on a typical common inlet/outlet to

maintain drinking water quality. This often proves inadequate when water outside the
common inlet/outlet area of influence becomes stagnant, creating dead spots where
bacteria are likely to multiply. Tideflex
TechnologiesTideflex Mixing System
(TMS) improves the quality of drinking water in finished water storage
reservoirs. The TMS is a combination
of patented Tideflex Check Valve
technology and a piping manifold
that separates the inlet and outlet.
It can be installed in new or existing
water storage tanks to eliminate
stagnation and short-circuiting.
Operating on differential pressure already in place, the TMS keeps energy
costs low, while the all-elastomer
construction of the Tideflex Check
Valve renders the system virtually
maintenance free.
www.tideflex.com
Water Efficiencys ShowCase is based on

information supplied by manufacturers.
Some manufacturers did not respond
to requests for information. Publication
of materials received is subject to
editing and space availability.
ACLARA
CB&I
The industrys only fixed-network, remotely correlated, acoustic leak detection

system cost effectively helps water utilities quickly identify leaks on water
mains before they become major problems. Combining the Aclara STAR
Network Advanced Metering Infrastructure system with leak detection
technology from Gutermann International, the system automates the process
of gathering the necessary data to identify leak locations and minimize
water losses, enhancing
conservation efforts.
STAR ZoneScans
environmentally sealed
Meter Transmission
Unit prevents damage
caused by water or
snow and works on
pipes made of a range
of materials, including
metal, concrete, and
non-metallic types.
www.aclara.com
This 2-million-gallon
Hydropillar elevated water
storage tank, built by CB&I
for the City of Dublin, OH,
was a 2010 STI/SPFA Tank
of the Year award winner.
In addition to the unique
artwork, the tank houses
a first floor break room,
restroom, and storage
area. The first floor space
is heated by a geothermal
system that provides radiant
floor heating through the
use of an intricate piping
arrangement embedded in
the tanks floor slab.
www.cbi.com
w w w.
water
effi
w w w.water
efficienc y. cienc y.net
net
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THE JOU RN AL FORA L FO R W AT ER RE
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EM EN T
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ater IQ
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ShowCase
AMERICAN LEAK DETECTION
American Leak Detection is the world leader in accurate, non-destructive
detection of hidden water, sewer, and gas leaks for municipal, commercial,
and residential properties. Trained technicians use non-invasive, state-of-theart technology to accurately locate leaks, saving resources, money, and time,
and to avoid unnecessary property damage commonly associated with the
conventional search and destroy methods utilized to detect leaks. If a water bill
is unusually high or theres water running indoors or moist ground outdoors,
there may be a hidden plumbing leak.
www.americanleakdetection.com
INNOVYZE INC.
IWLive is a real-time monitoring and management system incorporating current
system demands, SCADA, weather, and hydraulic modeling to provide control room
staff with an advanced set of operations and security tools.With IWLive staff can
receive alarms of predicted operational challenges (low pressures, tank levels, etc.),
respond to real-time events (main break, extreme fire flows, etc.), evaluate operational scenarios that can save money or simply see the deviation between real-time
and predicted resultscreating a comprehensive water distribution detection and
monitoring system without the need for more costly SCADA or monitoring hardware.
www.innovyze.com
CAROLLO ENGINEERS
MARS CO.
Built for small or large requirements, the MARS MiniGate Fixed Network Gateway
System allows the implementation of the MARS SmartTransmitters in the field and
provides timely transmissions of the meter reading, alarm conditions date/time
stamp, and more, via e-mail to the Network Administrator. Additionally, the base
System includes two antennae, software, and network interface.
www.marswater.com
In an era when many engineering firms are cutting R&D, the

Carollo Research Group is going strong. The company believes
its more important than ever to find better, smarter ways to
reduce capital costs, operation costs, energy use, waste, and
carbon footprint. Carollo is currently improving desalination
operations by optimizing concentrate management techniques
that maximize water recovery.
www.carollo.com
Marketplace
Mid America Meter INC
Meter Testing,
Repairs & Calibration
nationwide service, new & rebuilt meters
1-800-324-0365
sales@midamericameter.com t www.midamericameter.com
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Advertisers Index
COMPANY
WEBSITE
PAGE
Aclara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.aclaratech.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4

American Water Works Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.awwa.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
Capstone Metering LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.intellih2o.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
ET Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.etwater.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9
Hunter Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.hunterindustries.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1
Isolux Technologies Div.; MEL Chemicals Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.zrpure.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9
ITRON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.itron.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Janney Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.janney.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Johnson Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.johnsoncontrols.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3
Micro-Comm Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.micro-comm-inc.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7
Neptune Technology Group Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.neptunetg.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3031
Sensus Metering Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.sensus.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
SJE-Rhombus Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.sjerhombus.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0
Sewerin USA LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.sewerin.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5
Sontek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.sontek.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Toro Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.toro.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7
THE BUZZ
About THE BUZZ

We all know that man is not an island. Most of us
dont work inside a bubble, and so our professional responsibilities often bleed into places that
are not officially in our job description. With
that in mind, were introducing a new feature:
The Buzz. As you may or may not know, Forester
Media, Inc. (our parent company) publishes six
national publications that focus on everything
from stormwater management to municipal solid
waste to energy efficiency. Because of the over-
lap that occurs between many of the industries

served by our magazines, we often find that the
insight provided by the editor or contributors of
one publication is relevant to a wide swathe of
our national audience. From time to time, we will
highlight some of these crossover pieces in the
pages of our magazine, and we hope that this
industry buzz will give you some new outlooks,
different perspectives, and even more access to
the tools and information you need.
Economy and
Environment
By Janice Kaspersen
From our sister publication, Stormwater, at:

www.stormh2o.com/SW/Blogs/1218.aspx
ast week, a former EPA administrator, William K. Reilly,

published an editorial ( www.
nytimes.com/2011/11/29/
opinion/keep-the-clean-wateract-strong.html ) in the New York
Times, marking the upcoming 40th
anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
He notes the many successes under the
actin 1972 when it came into being,
he says, two-thirds of the countrys
waters were not swimmable and fishableand, just as then-Administrator
Carol Browner did in the very first
issue of Stormwater magazine 11 years
ago ( www.stormh2o.com/SW/Articles/3376.aspx ), he cites the notorious
event that helped spur the creation of
the Environmental Protection Agency
itself: the 1969 fire on Ohios extremely

polluted Cuyahoga River.
Reilly also notes the continued
resistance to the act from big businesses, which have often tried to find
ways around it, such as trying to limit
its jurisdiction by claiming that certain
water bodies arent really covered,
that they arent actually waters of the
United States because they dont connect with interstate waters. He specifically mentions two Supreme Court
decisions in the last decade that have
made more ambiguous the question of
which waters the act actually covers.
The larger question he drives at,
though, has to do with the relationship between the economy and the
environment. He writes, The Ameri-
can economy has performed well over

the past four decades: real per capita
income has doubled since 1970 and
pollution is down even with 50% more
people. The choice between a healthy
environment and a healthy economy is
a false one. Yet he acknowledges that
when times are good, people feel better about enacting environmental protections, and when times are rough,
many feel those same protections are a
luxury we can dispense with. He warns
that we should not buy into the misguided notion that reducing protection
of our waters will somehow ignite the
economy.
Janice Kaspersen is the editor of
Stormwater and Erosion Control.
Now you can find the best of Water Efficiency all in one place.
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WE_WebPrint10_1p
THE BUZZ
Directions From the

Other Woman
By John Trotti
From our sister publication, MSW Management, at:

www.mswmanagement.com/MSW/Blogs/1079.aspx
ome years ago I found a wonderful piece of property near

the town of Weed, CA, and following the dictates of my heart
rather than my head, I went
ahead and bought it with no certainty as
to my ability to develop a secure source
of water without drilling clear to China.
After receiving the assurance of the two
top engineering firms in the area that
China might indeed be my best bet, I decided to suspend my natural skepticism
toward what I assumed to be the world
of the occult, and went to see a water
witch of good renown throughout the
region, known simply as Old George.
After explaining his preference for the
term hydrogeologist, George led off on
a high-speed reconnaissance lap of the
property, pausing just occasionally to
kick some dirt, sniff the air, and listen to
the wind. Then hed be off again, intuitively coming to but never crossing the
unmarked boundaries of the 640-acre
section in what was for the most part
lightly wooded rangeland.
At last he made his way to the top of
a massive rock outcropping that commanded a view of the entire Siskiyou Valley and its magnificent Mount Shasta at
the southern reach, where, seating himself comfortably, he pulled out a frayed
notebook filled with strange squiggles
and marks and proceeded to leaf through
several pages with an occasional nod accompanied by the word, Yup. Finally, after gazing out over the valley for a period
of about five minutes, he rose and walked
straight to one of the spots he had kicked
half an hour earlier, where he stood for a
minute more before pronouncing without
fanfare, Here.
A week later, he led Stu Donaldsons drill rig to the spot, mentioned
something about 60 feet and left. Two
days more and Stu called to say that Old
George was slipping. Hed had to go all
the way to 68 feet to find water. Taint
no gusher, he admitted, but its sweet as
clover, and enough for household needs
and a few head of cattle.
Pleased as I was for the water, on the
whole I was disturbed by the episode,
since Georges performance went counter
to my beliefs about witchcraft. It wasnt
until months later that my concerns were
laid to rest, when Stu explained how
George was well and away the most experienced hydrogeologist in the region, who
in his younger days had developed much
of the data for the US Geological Surveys
maps of the Shasta Valley by drilling,
blasting, and making soundings in order
to chart the complex geology of the area.
He knew where to find water on your
property long before you hired him, the
drill operator chuckled at the vision of
my being hoodwinked by the air-sniffing
act. Beneath all the rustic disguise, Old
George is a real professional who makes
use of the best tools available.
Nearly a year later, I ran George to
ground at what I prefer to call the Longest
Bar in Montague (CA), plying him with
several shots of his favorite whisky before
confronting him with my familiarity with
his deception.
Some people love to believe in
witchcraft, he offered with a grin. Keeps
em from facing the fact that theres no
substitute for hard facts and knowledge.
In my business, without accurate maps,
youve got nothing. Two more visits of

the Famous Grouse and he began telling
me of how his father, a mining engineer,
taught him to survey in the mountains
using a compass, transit, plumb bob, and
chain. Sometimes it would take a week
of brushing and scrambling around just
to shoot lines and find the boundaries of
a property the size of mine. Nowadays
[1972] a person with a laser rangefinder,
compass, and an engineering calculator
can do that in a day. After a pause to toss
back another drink, he went on to explain
what the future held in store.
One day soon, this will all be done
using satellite-based position-finding
gear in conjunction with an array of
subsurface monitors. All the x, y, and z
coordinates will be fed into a computer,
and it will come up with maps you wont
believe. For a while we both sat in silence, each trying to envision what magic
lay behind such promise. Oh, Lord, he
whispered fervently, Id give anything to
be around to see where that leads.
So would I, I thought.
A quarter of a century later, what
had seemed so impossibly advanced is
now almost quaint. GPS, GIS, sensors
covering every spectrum imaginable are
employed to reveal Earths most carefully
guarded secrets. Their use in vehicles is so
common, that many of us have come to
recognize that voice from above the dashboard as that of The Other Woman. In
our neck of the woods, after a rather slow
start in the waste businessit took what
seemed forever for Caterpillar to place its
first CAES system at a landfillGPS has
become a staple in the industry, important not only in assessing compaction,
but even moreso in making sure no airspace is lost through faulty lift placement.
Sad to say, Old George never got to
see the realization of his visionhe died
in 1974 after a brief illnessbut all it
would have done would be to have fired
his imagination to project the next leap
. . . and then the next.
John Trotti is the editor of MSW
Management and Grading and
Excavation Contractor.
Jobs and Water
By Janice Kaspersen
From our sister publication, Stormwater, at:

www.stormh2o.com/SW/Blogs/1120.aspx
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/BORISZ
new report, released

today by the organization
Green for All, advocates
investing in Americas waterrelated infrastructure. Thats
nothing newthe American Society
of Civil Engineers ( www.infrastructurereportcard.org ) and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers
( www.stormh2o.com/SW/Blogs/1196.
aspx ), among others, have long been
urging the same thing. Whats different here is the effect the report predicts this investment would have on
employment, and how those numbers
were calculated.
The report Water Works: Rebuilding Infrastructure, Creating Jobs,
Greening the Environment promotes
the use of green infrastructure as a
big part of the proposed investment.
It first defines some common lowimpact development or green infrastructure termsrain garden, green
roof, bioswale, permeable pavement,
and so onand offers examples of cities, like Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI;
and Portland, OR, that are successfully
putting them to use. It also identifies
co-benefits of investment in water
infrastructure, such as energy savings, economic development, and the
reduced health risks that would result
if we had fewer CSOs.
Produced by Green for All in
partnership with American Rivers,
the Economic Policy Institute, and the
Pacific Institute, the report takes as
a starting point EPAs estimate of the
investment needed to protect water
quality and manage stormwater, which
is $188.4 billion. If that money were

spent over the next five years, say
the reports authors, it would create
1.9 million jobs and generate $265.6
billion in economic activity. The jobs
would result from work on infrastructure projects themselves as well as
from increased manufacturing to meet
the projects needs and from increased
hiring in other sectors as people
working in infrastructure-building
and manufacturing spend the money
theyre earning.
Water Works includes state-bystate breakdown of the number of jobs
that would potentially be created, as
well as a list of specific jobspipelayers, cement masons, environmental
engineers, and othersand the median wage and education required for
each. Many require only a high school

education and some additional training rather than a college degree.
The report argues that the cost
of infrastructure investment is at a
historic low because of current low
interest ratesincentive to act now
rather than wait until the economy
recovers. You can read more about
the methods the authors used to arrive at their conclusions and decide
for yourself whether you agree, but
its an unusually detailed analysis,
and worth a look. The full report is
available for download from Green
for Alls website: www.greenforall.org/
resources/water-works.
Janice Kaspersen is the editor of
Stormwater and Erosion Control.
THE BUZZ
Rumblings From the Underworld
By John Trotti
From our sister publication, Grading and Excavation, at:

www.gradingandexcavation.com/GX/Blogs/1071.aspx
Over the past 100 years, urban per

capita water consumption has trebled, rising from 60 gpd to 180 gpd.
This means that at the very least our
urban water consumption has risen
from 1.5 to 360 billion gpd over the
period. Id be the first to concede
that all such figures are suspect, but
I offer them not for accuracys sake,
but to put into perspective whats at
stake over the next several decades.
Coming to Grips With

Crumbling Infrastructure
In the past, Ive gone with an estimated
cost range of from $15 and $30 trillion
that will be needed between now and
2050 to deal with the entire range of
infrastructure shortfallstransportation
and electrical transmission included
but that range is based on what it might
take to restore things to an adequate
level based on past demands. This
brings into focus two antithetical situations: (1) tomorrows needs are bound to
be greater than todays, and (2) with all
the competing needs for public funds,
its highly unlikely those kinds of monies will be set aside for infrastructural
repair or upgrade in anything approaching a proactive manner.

If past actions can be viewed as prolog, we will wait until failures pose such
an undeniable threat to public health,
safety, and commerce that we are forced
beyond finger-in-the-dike solutions.
One of the biggest hurdles we will have
to overcome is the institutionalization
of systems vital to the conduct of our
daily lives. One example is centralization,
which made sense during the installation
and initial build-out of our water, electric,
and gas systems, and in many situations
it still does. Then, too, there are deeply
rooted aspects of ownership, jurisdiction, and entitlement that compound the
challenges associated with change. But as
our urban centers have matured, spread,
eroded, and given way to suburbanization, we have to ask ourselves and those
who manage these institutions whether it
makes sense to continue along traditional
lines or seek new solutions.
These are challenges that the stewards of our vital municipal services as
well as our elected officials must face.
In a more immediate way, however, it is
we upon whom the burden of accomplishing the multitude of the tasks will
fall. The challenge will be great, but the
opportunities even greater for those
willing to develop the skills and
fine-tune the processes necessary to the complete tasks that
lie ahead.
John Trotti is the editor
of MSW Management
and Grading and
Excavation
Contractor.
ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/BORISZ
s the age of municipal

plumbing systems pass the
century mark, planners find
themselves faced with the
thorny issue of whether to
replace, renovate, or go to Plan C, whatever that might be. No matter what the
choice, the chances are that it involves
excavation work of some sort as part of
the process.
Two of Grading & Excavation
Contractors sister publicationsStormwater and Water Efficiencyare directly
involved with the situation, and anotherErosion Controlis involved, if only
tangentially. All three recognize the critical situation in which our nation finds
itself as we proceed through the second
decade of the 21st century, forced to face
the painful fact that we can no longer ignore the inadequate state of much of our
basic (mostly underground) infrastructure. Age, of course, accounts for a lot of
the problem, but there are other
equally fundamentalissues as well:
Population growth over the last 100
years has pushed many systems beyond their design limits. In 1900,
the US population was 76 million,
only one-third of which (25 million)
lived in an urban setting. We were
for the most part an agrarian society.
Today, the US population is 300 milliona 400% increasetwo-thirds
of which (200 million) is now
urban. Thats an eightfold
increase in the demand
for basic utility services, huge by any
standards,
but theres
more.
Leaks
eventually
tell you where
they are...
but can you
afford to wait?
A geyser caused by the rupture of a water main is a

big, expensive problem to fix. Find leaks before they
erupt with Aclaras STAR ZoneScan leak-detection
solution. Jointly developed by Aclara and Zurich-based
Gutermann International, the STAR ZoneScan locates
leaks while they are still underground. The solution
employs data loggers placed on gate or hydrant valves
to sample the sound waves generated by leaks along
the main, and automatically sends this data to the
utility over the Aclara STAR Network. There, the
systems software correlates the data, pinpointing any
leaks to within a few feet.
The STAR ZoneScan solution saves time by automating the process of collecting and transmitting data
about the water system. It also encourages practical
water conservation by helping utilities identify and fix
leaks before they become costly, water-wasting
emergencies. For more information, please contact
us at STARZoneScan@aclara.com or visit us at
bit.ly/STARZoneScan.

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MARCH/APRIL 2012

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We all know that the worlds cities are ill

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Editor's Comments Elizabeth Cutright

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