City of Asheville Comprehensive Non-Revenue Water Program Authors: Brandon Buckner, City of Asheville Larry Lewison, Cavanaugh Mountainous terrain, high quality water Regional System 183 square miles Over 1,300 miles of pipe 125,000 population served 20 million gallons per day 3 treatment plants 34 storage tanks 40 pump stations 55 Pressure Zones

Program Origins This is a story of good government, being proactive. No mandate compelling the City to look closely at its efficiency or make improvements. Biggest driver was the desire to be more resilient to future droughts, smart business for cost control, and a shift from reactive to proactive mentality - getting to root cause of line breaks and meter failures, for example - rather than staying in a fix-when-breaks approach. Over the past 10 years, the City of Asheville’s water loss improvements represent a powerful story of resource conservation. The 10-year window is relevant because 2007 was the approximate start of the City’s revenue bond-funded waterline replacement projects, followed by the full conversion of the City’s customer metering system from 2009-2012, followed by the formal start in 2012 to the City’s Non-Revenue Water (NRW) program including full time leak detection, meter testing efforts, AWWA auditing/validation, and other analyses. While normal monthly and seasonal variability can be observed, the overall trend is clear: The City has sustained 10 years of growth without increasing its water supply withdrawals.

A Team Based Approach Audit Input Team Valve & Leak Team Unbilled Customer Team Customer Service Team Metering Team Pressure Management Team We recognized early on that NRW affects nearly every part of the organization So we formed teams to focus on different areas Each of these teams have their own critical role We’ve found that ‘efficiency’ is the one issue that actually touches every discipline and department in the City

Data Tracking & Audit Input Assist in Gathering Data Partner with a Consultant Master Meter Testing Water Theft Tracking Reporting from Internal & External sources KPI Tracker Policy Relation & Review CIP Recommendations Our audit team focuses on tracking the data. There are a lot of moving parts – data coming from: Plants and SCADA Supply meter testing program Billing System Work order system Our audit team has worked to establish the routines to not only collect these many points of data, but checks and balances to validate the numbers as they are compiled.

Fire Department Audits Check for use of NRW Billing/Metering status Create Consistency Recommendations for Improvement Follow up There are several fire departments in the City and County – this project aimed to get everyone on common terms for communication and tracking Communication is key Overcoming barriers – not trying to restrict, only understand The more we understand about the FD usage, the better we understand about our own Water Losses Because they are mathematically dependent on one another

Proactive Leak Surveys In 2012 a dedicated crew was established to proactively canvass the system to find leaks that are not surfacing. They use acoustic technology to listen for leaks. The City uses strategically placed meters around the system to monitor for unusual flows that serve as early warning for rising leakage in a given area Sample Zone Flows for ‘Night Flow Analysis’ to Guide Prioritization of Leak Surveys

Proactive Metering Testing & Maintenance Radio read conversion Meter Testing Meter remediation based on payback Analysis In 2009, the City replaced nearly all customer meters with a newer technology – one that allowed data to be collected by radio signal. This improved measurement accuracy as well as reducing errors that can happen with manually handling data. In 2013, the City established a testing routine for its non-residential meters (which are larger consumers of water), to ensure revenue is being protected, and that good meters aren’t being replaced before their time. FUN FACT: At around 2,000 meters, these non-residential meters makeup only about 3% of the City’s 60,000 meters. But they represent nearly 50% of all of the water consumption.

-Meter selections from payback analysis Historic Large Meter Testing Program METERING Established in 2012 -Meter selections from payback analysis -Establishment of testing protocol (M6) -Field apparatus -Getting crews setup & training

Pressure Optimization For the last couple of years, City has been studying where in the system pressures can be reduced, which reduces leakage but also preserves the life of the pipe network. Also have been studying the system to find and eliminate pressure transients (hammers) which can wreak havoc on the pipes. These hammers are more common that you would think!

Billing System Improvements Even under normal billing operations, there is always the potential that programming or process issues can create ‘paper losses’ resulting in uncaptured revenue. Since 2007 the City has undergone 2 major billing system software changes, which amplifies this potential. Under the NRW program for the last several years, the City has been working ‘under the hood’ to identify and resolve billing system issues which have recovered missing revenues.

NRW Program – key points Challenges Change of Culture In department and out of department Relating NRW Projects to CIP Keeping Staff Focused on NRW Advantages Decrease in Water Loss Team focus – Employee Engagement Improved Communications Improved Business Processes Good Media Answer Hitting some key points here Biggest challenges – changes in culture Figuring out what projects and business practices we needed to put in place, staying focused w/everything else Out of it we have seen the team cohesion improve, as well as our processes and proactive management

RAA=rolling annual average Quick Note: The City is no longer looking at Water Loss as a % figure, because industry experts have abandoned that as an unreliable metric. Now we are tracking things in Gallons and Dollars.” In a nutshell, the City has reduced water loss from around 7 million gallons per day to around 4 million gallons per day over the last 10 years. When we look at what that accumulates to in water saved: nearly 6 Billion Gallons. That is real water - - avoided withdrawals from our source! That’s nearly enough water to supply all our customers for a year. Equivalent to over 8,000 Olympic swimming pools.

RAA=rolling annual average RAA=rolling annual average Taking that water savings in terms of avoided costs for treating and supplying that water: nearly 3 Million Dollars. The results to date have been a win for both the environment and the rate payer alike – as avoided costs correlate to an offset of where water rates would have been, had those costs been incurred.

Authorized Consumption The Path Forward Water Supplied Authorized Consumption MGD Water Loss

City of Asheville Comprehensive Non-Revenue Water Program bbuckner@ashevillenc.gov larry.lewison@cavanaughsolutions.com