Page 254 - Water Loss Control

Contr olling Appar ent Losses—Systematic Data Handling Err ors 227

In this way water consumption is monitored even though the property is issued a
“no-charge” bill.
Modern metering, automatic meter reading (AMR) systems, and customer bill-
ing management technologies offer outstanding capabilities to water utilities to
gather and utilize accurate customer consumption and billing data. It is strongly
recommended that water utilities measure individual customer consumption via
water meters and utilize computerized customer billing systems to store customer
account data. AMR systems are being implemented by a growing number of water
suppliers because of their cost-effectiveness and accuracy in gathering metered con-
sumption data. For water utilities that utilize these technologies, consumption data
is typically accessed via a variety of reports from the customer billing system.
Examples of typical reports are shown in Tables 14.1 and 14.2 for the fictitious
County Water Company, where consumption is summarized by meter size and cus-
tomer consumption category, respectively.
All active accounts should include the meter identification number, meter size, and
meter type. If an AMR system exists, the automatic meter reading device number and
meter reading route number should also be included
in the customer billing system, along with any other
pertinent information. First, assemble the total Remember to use the same
(uncorrected) water consumption for all accounts unit of measure for billed autho-
and connections for each size of meter by month (or rized consumption as the water
other billing period) and for the entire study period, supplied value—this will likely
as shown in Table 14.2. Remember to use the same require performing a conver-
unit of measure for billed authorized consumption as
sion, for example, from cubic
the water supplied value—this will likely require per-
forming a conversion, for example, from cubic feet feet to million gallons.
to million gallons.

Percent of Total Percent of Metered
Meter Size, in Number of Meters Meters Consumption
5/8 11,480 94.1 71.2
¾ 10 0.08 0.1
1 338 2.8 2.8
1½ 124 1.0 2.8
2 216 1.8 11.7
3 15 0.12 6.6
4 7 0.05 2.2
6 6 0.05 2.6
Total 12,196 100.00 100.0

Source: American Water Works Association. “Water Audits and Loss Control Programs.” Manual of
Water Supply Practices M36, 3d ed. Denver, Colo.: AWWA, 2008.

TABLE 14.1 Water Consumption by Meter Size for County Water Company: January 1 to
December 31, 2006