What’s Going on in California? – State Enacts First Ever Statewide Water Conservation Mandates
On the heels of a record-low snowpack and a seemingly endless drought in California, Governor Brown announced new statewide water conservation mandates that aim to reduce water usage by 25 percent. The overall savings will amount to nearly 1.5 million acre-feet of water through the remainder of 2015. The state has lost approximately 11 trillion gallons of water during this historic drought, and the governor’s mandates will bring California to unprecedented action.
What Does this Mean for You?
California isn’t the only state suffering through an unprecedented drought. If you are in a state that is experiencing a drought, you might need to help your municipalities prepare for similar statewide mandates to spur on broad water conservation. Even if your state or town isn’t experiencing these types of conditions, there are steps you can take to guard against water loss in your system.
The HUB
The Harriman Utility Board (HUB) provides electric, gas, water, and sewer services for the city of Harriman, Tennessee and the surrounding area. Over the years, HUB also has absorbed smaller water service providers and integrated them into its system. This created a patchwork of technologies for monitoring its water system. Their new integrated system was riddled with leaks that were difficult to identify, and HUB was left with a significant water loss, which was increasing annually for a number of years.
In order to identify their problem areas and spend less time “chasing leaks,” HUB implemented a cloud SCADA system. Since the system was put in, the water loss has been reduced by 10%. HUB frequently would get calls from customers about low water pressure and overflowing tanks. With the new system, those calls have been dramatically reduced along with overtime costs.