Existing Solutions

water accounting, water audit, water loss, water conservation, River Basin Commission,

policy

Technical, regulatory

The Delaware River Basin Commission was created by an interstate/federal compact in 1961.  The purpose of the Commission is to manage the water resources of the basin without regard to political boundaries.  The five members are the Governors of the four basin states – Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who represents the President and all federal agencies. Even though it is a relatively small watershed (13,500 miles² or 35,066 km²), it provides water to over 15 million people. New York City draws half of its water supply from the Delaware River headwaters and many downstream industries and municipalities also rely on the waters of the Delaware including the City of Philadelphia, (see map).

DRBC has regulatory authority for surface and groundwater withdrawals. It also has a water conservation program. One large problem across the globe is water system losses due to physical infrastructure failures and apparent losses resulting from inaccurate meter readings and erroneous billing practices. In the USA, an estimated six billion gallons per day are taken from water resources and never reach the customer. In the Delaware River Basin the estimate of loss is 150 million gallons per day. Many water system audits have been conducted in the absence of consistent definitions and standards and have often used inappropriate metrics for measuring the water supply efficiency.

DRBC is one of a handful of regulatory agencies in the USA that has changed its regulations to reflect the improved approach to water loss accounting made possible by the IWA/AWWA methodology.  The 2009 amendment to the DRBC Water Code requiring the new audit format was developed by DRBC staff and the DRBC’s Water Management Advisory Committee (WMAC).  Compliance with the program was voluntary in 2011 and required in 2012. DRBC, in partnership with a number of large municipal and private water purveyors, has held workshops and training sessions for water system operators.

The Delaware River Basin in the mid-Atlantic metropolitan area of USA. The basin is home to 8 million residents and it provides water to over 15 million people including New York City, which is outside of the basin.

The Commission was established in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy signed the Delaware River Compact into law. It was also signed into law in the four basin states and ratified by U.S. Congress.  The members are the current Governors of the four states and an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who represents the President. The state representatives and federal member each have one vote.

The development of water accounting regulations and mentoring of smaller water system operators was accomplished by a team of stakeholders and DRBC staff. Key players included the City of Philadelphia Water Department, AWWA, Aqua America, American Water and DRBC’s Water Management Advisory Committee, (WMAC), whose members include representatives of state and federal agencies, regulated municipalities and industries, environmental organizations, research organizations, agriculture, and academic institutions.

The majority of DRBC’s 43 member staff are technical (engineers, toxicologists, modelers, biologists, etc.) with a few members involved with communications, legal services and administration.

We completed the one year of voluntary compliance and education, and starting in January 2012, the audit reporting is a regulatory requirement.

Is there an example of a basin-wide approach to uniform water loss accounting and resulting water conservation?

Every drop of water counts.  Having a basin-wide requirement for uniform accounting and reporting across water systems will help reduce water loss and improve system efficiencies. The new AWWA water audit format and software contains financial performance indicator as well as outputs for the costs of water losses to the utility.  There is an emphasis in the new approach to draw attention to the costs of the losses to provide an incentive for addressing the issues.

The regulations have an annual reporting component requiring each system (>100k gpd) to conduct and report an audit to DRBC.  Through AWWA, assessment tools are already developed so DRBC will be well prepared when data sets are provided.

The uniform accounting and reporting system employed by the DRBC is based on the IWA/AWWA program and is very replicable. The regulations are being implemented.

  Some key lessons from the regulation development:

1. Engage stakeholders early in the process. DRBC staff spent a lot of time with the advisory committee, WMAC, and even established a separate subcommittee for this effort.  It took a little longer, but it made the final hurdle (adoption of the new regulations) much easier due to the stakeholder input upfront. 
2. Encourage involvement with a national trade association. The high level of involvement by AWWA was very valuable, they have great expertise and resources on tap (excuse the pun).
3. Have communication and implementation strategies built into the initial plan. Even though DRBC planned for outreach including a website, a workshop and other presentations, the outreach was and is a bigger job and needs more effort than anticipated.

Yes, Texas, Georgia and California have similar programs which were developed about the same time as that of DRBC. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission just adapted a water systems program based in part on DRBC’s efforts.

1. Web – www.DRBC.net
2. e-mail – carol.collier@drbc.state.nj.us
3. Address – P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, New Jersey (NJ), 08628-0360
4. Phone – 609-883-9500, ex 200
5. Fax – 609-883-9522

http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/programs/supply/audits/