1. 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

2. 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 , 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. -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

10. 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!

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.

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

16. City of Asheville Comprehensive Non-Revenue Water Program