This past Sunday's Miami Herald had a nice article on the surprise decrease in the amount of water we South Floridians consume. Water managers at the South Florida Water Management District were not surprised that the water consumption dropped, but were surprised at HOW MUCH it dropped. This of course begs the question, "Was the big decrease in water use due to the downturn in the economy?" We can't be sure, but to give credit where credit is due, a big effort has been made to get the word out to the public. The past decade has seen water consumption in South Florida drop by 20 percent. That's pretty significant. The Herald cited lawn watering restrictions, more efficient plumbing fixtures, recycling of wastewater and other conservation efforts.
Other efforts by municipalities strapped for cash include water loss programs. These programs can help recover what is known in the business as "non-revenue" water. Our experience has shown that by implementing a Comprehensive Meter Program, the "non-revenue" water can be reduced by 20 percent. Interestingly enough, that's the total consumption drop that was seen in the past decade. These programs are time consuming and can be costly to implement if the meters in the water distribution system need to be replaced. However, a successful program will easily pay for itself as can be shown by our work. http://www.westhorp.com/z-10336-Water-Loss-Reduction-Program-Town-of-Medley
It's a great accomplishment for South Florida and certainly for WASD that came out from being told in 2007 that an investment of over $1 billion was necessary to meet water demand rejections through expensive AWS projects. Some of which are now canceled or deferred! And your work in Medley is certainly testimony that this projects work and are good for the utility and for the rate payer.
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