REPORTS OF VILLAGE OFFICIALS – DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
Water System Leakage Report
REPORT PREPARED BY: Geoff Farr
Executive Summary
Report Date: May 26, 2015
The Village of Howard Water Utility has actively tried to locate the source of its water loss over the past several years.
The Water Utility began in 1955 and took many years to build. The reality is that system-wide leakage control efforts
take time to implement and produce results. Fortunately we are finally seeing the fruits of our labor with unaccounted
water losses down to 16% in 2014 from a high of 25% in 2011. This equates to an annual cost of lost water of
$428,000 in 2014, from a high of $753,000 in 2011. Howard is now the loss reduction leader in the metro area, save for
the Town of Lawrence and City of Green Bay. So we have made great progress thanks to our multi-faceted approach
and significant staff efforts.
Our initial goal is to comply with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s target of having less than 15% of
unaccounted losses. Ideally a goal of 10% or less loss is a worthy goal, knowing that 0% is not practical. I believe that
our loss control efforts in 2015 will bring us in compliance with our PSC target in 2015.
The Utility spent approximately $200,000 in contracted services for leakage surveys and repairs in 2014 (excluding
already Village budgeted staff time and materials).
Going forward, leak detection will be conducted twice in 2015. Howard could add the “Aqua Hawk Alerting and
customer portal” to enhance leak reporting, customer engagement, and data management for the Utility (please see
below). Our Utility is also beginning to map, classify and spatially trend leaks.
Water Supply Meters
Purchased water entering Howard’s Water distribution system has been routinely tested and found to be 99% accurate.
In addition, when the CBCWA compares all of its billing meters to its master meter, the accuracy has ranged from 99 to
101%. Generally the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) requires that meters have an accuracy range of 98.5%
to 101.5%. WPSC allows lower accuracy at low flow rates, for repaired meters and certain other types of meters.
Water Sales Meters
The Utility randomly sampled and tested its water sales meters. The majority of water meters are ¾” meters and
represent about 93% of all utility meters. With very few exceptions the meters comply with PSC standards. Some larger
meters were found to be under reading beyond WPSC accuracy limits that result in some lost water. No meters were
found to be over reading. This means that in a perfect world some percentage, hopefully 2% or less, will always be lost
to metering. Knowing that metering errors and malfunctions do occur a reasonable value for meter losses could be
estimated at no more than 5% or 6%. The Utility has begun replacement of all of its water meters and should resolve
any F:\USERS\UTILITY\water loss\Water Leakage Report 5-26-2015.docx
lingering metering accuracy questions going forward. Meter installations are being prioritized such that most large
meters are now installed. The entire replacement process for small meters is expected to be completed sometime in
early 2018.
The newly installed AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) system is already reducing meter reading labor and
providing added functionality as the new meters are installed. In the future this will allow staff to spend even more time
on leakage detection. The AMI meter system will greatly improve data acquisition to near real time; provide increased
customer service; added meter functionality (reporting, alarms, usage and data analysis); as well as increased staff
efficiency and productivity. The new metering system when fully functional will help reduce system leakage and allow
daily and monthly trending.
Service Locations
The Utility has located and GPS surveyed, primarily in 2010, 2011 and 2012, 2013 and 2014 in excess of 99.5% of its
service boxes in order to perform acoustic leak detection at these locations. The service boxes were compared to
businesses and homes where water meters are located in an effort to detect any un-metered services. None have been
found to exist. All system mains, valves and hydrants have also been GPS located.
Acoustic Leak Detection
Standard acoustic leakage surveys have been conducted on 100% of valves, hydrants and services in the utility system.
Leaks that have been detected are repaired as soon as possible. Leakage surveys do not include any portion of a
customer’s private water system. Acoustic leak detection is performed annually each summer. You can see we had a
large jump in the number of service line leaks that were detected in 2014.
Acoustic leak detection results by type:
2013
2014
2015
Total
44
64
Services
22
39
Hydrants
21
18
Valves
1
5
Mains
0
1
The only explanation that I can offer is that the severe winter in 2014 raised numerous driveways and sidewalks where
many service box tops are located. When the driveway rises it pulls upward on the service box. This may cause damage
to the service lines below. In the spring we pound many of the service box tops back down so they don’t stick up in
driveways and sidewalks and create a trip hazards. This action may also bear on the service lines. This is also supported
by the fact that monthly loss rates shot up dramatically February thru May of this year.
Because new leaks are constantly developing in new areas and old mains and services, acoustic surveys could be
conducted twice a year. This should reduce “detected loss volumes” by roughly half. This does not necessarily equate
to a reduction in our total annual leakage by half because acoustic leak detection does not locate all of the leakage that
is represented by our total annual leakage volume. The down side is that we will spend twice as much in survey costs.
Semi-annual surveys would cost somewhere around $60,000 per year. Unfortunately quantifying the volume of
“detected leakage losses” is impossible to measure. Going forward the Utility would conduct acoustic leakage surveys in
April and September.
District Metering
The Utility has created 30 unique District Metering Areas (DMA’s) that partition our water system into small metering
areas that can be individually evaluated for leakage.
F:\USERS\UTILITY\water loss\Water Leakage Report 5-26-2015.docx
This requires that staff isolate portions of the water system by manually closing valves and measuring the water that is
input to and removed from (or sold) in a DMA area to calculate the loss. Each DMA needs a water meter to measure the
water that flows into the area being evaluated. This is a big problem because zonal inflow meters don’t exist in water
systems. This issue is overcome by calculating the volume of water input to the DMA and creating a virtual water meter.
Then DMA sales meters are segregated from other utility meters, read, and totalized. This volume is subtracted from the
virtual input flow meter to determine the loss. This is done to determine which DMA’s have higher than average leakage
rate so that leak detection and repair efforts can be focused on the “hot spots”. Effectively this gives us x-ray vision to
help find those needles in the hay stack rather than just searching in the dark. In reality DMA testing is very time
consuming and is much more complicated than this simple description indicates. In time, as the new AMI system is
deployed, DMA testing will become quicker, more accurate and less complicated. This leak detection method is rarely
used by utilities because of the implementation logistics. I am not aware of any other utilities in Wisconsin using this
technique.
Permalogs
The Utility has purchased 10 cutting-edge remote acoustic testing units called “Permalogs” that are used to detect
leakage in watermains at water valves. These listening devices are active for 3 to 4 hours each night to optimally listen
for leakage when water usage is low, leakage rates are highest, background noise is the lowest (wind and traffic) and
eliminates human error. The units are moved from valve to valve weekly and will automatically email staff, via our new
AMI system, if a leak is detected. Our utility will begin use of the Permalogs in late 2014. This system has only been
deployed to a handful of pilot Utilities nationwide and is not currently available to the general public. This new tool has
the possibility to revolutionize leak detection efforts in the water industry because humans simply cannot devote the
number of detection hours, in the middle of the night, that would accomplish the same task. The use of these devices
has been delayed because training materials have not been made available yet.
Helium Tracer Gas
The Utility in early June of 2014 completed a pilot investigation on the use of Helium Tracer Gas (HTG) leak detection
technology on a small portion of our utility system. This was a first use of HTG technology in the State of Wisconsin and
one a handful in the United States. We have been contacted by a Utility in Texas considering the use of HTG. The
investigation verified that the process does work on our soil types as two leaks were found. The cost of this type of leak
F:\USERS\UTILITY\water loss\Water Leakage Report 5-26-2015.docx
detection is much higher than traditional acoustic leak detection methods so it would only be deployed in areas where
traditional methods have failed to locate the source of known leakage. Our traditional acoustic leak detection survey
covered the same area and did not find any additional leaks.
AWWA Water Audit
The Utility also plans to update the its 2012 Water Audit in 2015. That report will again re-evaluate the causes of water
loss by an outside firm. The report will include the evaluation of Utility leak detection efforts, staffing, resources,
historical operating and sales data relating to pumpage, sales, non-revenue water volumes, large customer water sales
trends, and an AWWA Water Loss Control Worksheet will be filled out.
6 month average unsold water trends
2010
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
2011
Jan
23%
Jan
26%
Feb
23%
Feb
25%
March
23%
March
26%
April
24%
April
May
25%
May
2013
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
2014
Jan
Feb
March
26%
April
May
32%
2012
June
21%
June
25%
June
July
20%
July
24%
July
Aug
22%
Aug
25%
Aug
Sept
21%
Sept
25%
Sept
Oct
22%
Oct
24%
Oct
Nov
20%
Nov
23%
Nov
Dec
23%
Dec
25%
Dec
June
28%
June
July
Aug
27%
Aug
Sept
Oct
25%
Oct
Nov
Dec
25%
Dec
July
Sept
Nov
Annual unsold water trends
Year
Pumped Sold
% Sold/Unsold
Not Sold (NS)
NS Acct* NS UnAcct**
% Unaccounted
Daily Cost of
UnAcct water
@ $4.16/1000
$1,011
$534
$513
$377
$647
$1,233
$198
$9
$677
$1,402
$1,224
$2,064
$1,882
$1,862
$1,174
Year Cost of
UnAcct water
@ $4.16/1000
2000
598,898 414,683 69%/31%
184,215
95,500 88,715
18%
2001
640,188 492,275 77%/23%
147,913
101,000 46,913
7%
2002
631,980 474,974 75%/25%
157,006
112,000 45,006
7%
2003
662,678 599,115 90%/10%
63,563
30,500 33,063
5%
2004
701,227 616,448 88%/12%
84,779
28,000 56,779
8%
2005
766,323 628,311 82%/18%
138,012
29,800 108,212
14%
2006
732,793 692,154 94%/6%
40,639
23,300 17,339
2%
2007
731,696 725,217@#99%/1%
6,479
5,700
779
0%
2008
623,490 557,077 89%/11%
66,413
7,050
59,363
10%
2009
643,244^ 513,143 80%/20%
130,101
7,080
123,021
19%
2010
616,348 490,936 80%/20%
125,412
18,050 107,362
17%
2011
676,803 495,692 73%/27%
181,111
8,000
173,111
25%
$753,000
2012
722,400 546,303 76%/23%
175,097
11,000 165,097
23%
$686,930
2013
691,845 528,510 76%/24%
163,335
15,000 148,335
21%
$679,630
2014
662,659 545,674 82%/18%
116,985
14,000 102,985
16%
$428,000
# CBCWA water supply began in Sept 2007
@ Monthly billing implemented in Jan 2007 and skewed sales
^ Bold data in 2009 corrected to actual pumpage. 2010 estimated data.
* 2010 – 0.05 M treatment process, 2 M Tank Overflows, 10 M system filling/flushing, 6 M fire fighting & training, 0 M meter errors, 5M detected
watermain and service leakage.
** 2010 – 107,362 M unreported/undetected watermain and service leakage, vandalism & theft.
Automatic meter reading was implemented between Jan 2004 and June 2006
Switched to Polyethylene Water Services in 1997/98
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Metro Area PSC Annual Reported Water Losses (Sold/ Unaccounted for Losses)
2011
2012
2013
2014
Howard
74/25%
76/23%
76/21%
86/16%
Allouez
87/12%
83/16%
84/15%
82/18%
Bellevue
83/15%
88/12%
78/21%
80/20%
De Pere
79/20%
72/28%
80/20%
83/17%
Lawerance
97/2%
100/0%
99/0%
87/13%
Ledgeview
87/10%
81/14%
91/5%
77/23%
Green Bay
95/5%
96/4%
96/4%
91/9%
GRAPH BELOW IS NOT UPDATED FOR 2014
Percent Real and Apparent Losses
30%
Reported Water Losses - CBCWA Members 2013
Allouez
Bellevue
De Pere
Howard
Lawrence
Ledgeview
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006 2007
Year
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
What is the cost of leak detection services excluding village staff time in 2014?
$30,000
What is the cost of contracted leak repair services and pavement repairs excluding village
staff time and materials in 2014?
$160,000
What new or more can we do?
Aqua Hawk Alerting and customer portal
• Provides customers with online access to their consumption, automatic after-meter leak
notifications via email, text or telephone.
• Estimated billing – customers can see the estimate cost of the water they have already used, as
well as projected to the end of the billing cycle.
• Expands online services and engages customers
• Data management to track leakage for daily and monthly trending.
Mapping of leaks, classification
• We are beginning to map leaks & breaks to more accurately track, spatially relate and trend leaks
that occur in the Village.
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PROPOSAL
An AquaHawk Alerting Proposal for: Village of Howard, WI 5.18.2015 Page | 1 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com HELLO!
May 18, 2015 Mr. Geoff Farr Village of Howard 336 Cornell Road Green Bay, WI 54313 Hi Mr. Farr‐ Attached is a proposal for American Conservation & Billing Solutions, Inc. (AmCoBi) to provide the Village of Howard with a customer portal using the AquaHawk Alerting™ solution and incorporating data from your Sensus FlexNet fixed base Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system. This project will provide Howard customers with online access to their consumption data, leak notifications, and much more. AquaHawk is a powerful customer service tool that expands online services and encourages consumer engagement. We strive to build long term relationships with our clients by consistently executing and delivering high value. Please contact us with any questions you have or additional information you need. Sincerely, Todd A. Brehe AquaHawk Alerting Office: (877) 410‐0167 x1979 Mobile: (719) 321‐3444 E‐mail: Todd@AmCoBi.com Page | 2 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com PROPOSAL
Village of Howard Background Village of Howard provides water and sewer services to residents in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Howard has deployed a Sensus FlexNet AMI system to read water meters remotely for 3,000 of 7,000 total accounts. Howard is considering implementing a customer portal so that consumers may benefit from the information and data recorded by FlexNet. AmCoBi Background AmCoBi is a privately‐held software development and billing company founded in 2008 and based in Colorado Springs, CO. AmCoBi has grown rapidly over the years by delivering valuable solutions to municipal water providers and through a steady stream of referrals. AmCoBi offers Web portal solutions, water conservation evaluation services, and utility billing. We currently work with 40 municipal water utilities and manage more than 350,000 accounts in the AquaHawk system. The AmCoBi Difference AmCoBi develops solutions designed to help water providers expand their online services and increase client satisfaction. Not only will AquaHawk encourage client self‐service and provide a powerful tool for resolving high bill complaints, it offers tremendous public relations value. Your customers will get a better understanding of how they're using water, be able to manage their expenses more effectively, and receive timely notifications when leaks or other issues are detected. By making it easy to communicate quickly with customers, in the communications mode they prefer, Howard can encourage clients to fix leaks quickly and prevent the property damage they so often cause. Our team is equipped and motivated to deliver the results you’re looking for. You can expect comprehensive capabilities, at affordable prices, and outstanding training and support. AmCoBi will be a trusted partner throughout this entire project. We are committed to accomplishing your objectives. We also know that your requirements will evolve over time. AquaHawk has been architected to support future changes and enhancements. Numerous capabilities added to AquaHawk have been a direct result of the responses and feedback provided by our clients. Howard can have a strong influence in the future development of this system. Page | 3 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com PROPOSAL
An Expert Team AmCoBi's software engineering team has decades of experience developing large scale, commercial Web and database applications for various industries including: utilities, computer networking, manufacturing, retail, and more. Charlie Whiteside is AmCoBi's lead engineer and heads up a team of seven experienced software engineers. Charlie has been a part of, and has managed, teams in Fortune 500 companies that developed and supported products sold worldwide. The software team is responsible for developing and maintaining the AquaHawk Alerting application. AquaHawk uses the Software‐as‐a‐Service (SaaS) model and is hosted at one of the world's most reliable hosting providers. The software team will be responsible for configuring AquaHawk, importing Howard account information, integrating AMI and other data, and launching the production site. AmCoBi's Client Care team will be responsible for managing the scope of work and ensuring that tasks are being completed according to designated timelines, as well as delivering progress reports to Howard. The team will also provide training and ongoing support. Page | 4 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com AQUAHAWK ALERTING
AquaHawk Alerting is a hosted customer portal solution that enables utilities to present water consumption data to their clients in a secure website. After registering online, customers gain access to their current usage, past usage, and other useful comparisons. AquaHawk Alerting also offers the following capabilities: • Leak Detection & Notification: Howard employees use this module to notify customers via telephone, text, or e‐mail when potential leaks have occurred • Estimated Bill: Customers can see the estimated cost of the water they've already used (any time during the billing cycle), as well as a projected end‐of‐period bill. • Threshold Alerting: Customers can establish a billing or usage threshold ($ or gallons) and be notified when their bill amount/consumption exceeds, or is projected to exceed, that value. New features are continually added to AquaHawk Alerting. As an example, support for mobile Web browsers (smartphone access), group messaging, and other reporting capabilities will be released in the near future. Intuitive and Easy‐to‐Learn AquaHawk was designed to serve a diverse audience with varying degrees of technical ability. It is an intuitive, easy‐to‐use application that requires minimal training to operate. Your customers will thank you for giving them the tools they need to better understand how they're using utilities. In addition, your employees can be trained on AquaHawk quickly. AquaHawk simplifies complex tasks so customer service and front desk employees can perform them effortlessly. Affordably Priced AquaHawk offers comprehensive capabilities at affordable prices. The AquaHawk service agreement may be terminated with a 30 day notice so the onus is on our company to continually earn your business. Supports Future Customizations We know that your requirements will evolve over time. AquaHawk has been architected to support future changes and enhancements. No Hardware or Software Purchases Required AquaHawk Alerting uses the SaaS or subscription model so that Howard does not need to purchase or install any hardware or software. Implementing the system requires minimal time and effort on the part of your IT team, and ongoing support and maintenance is provided by AmCoBi. Page | 5 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com AQUAHAWK ALERTING
Usage data from the Sensus RNI can be integrated into AquaHawk via an FTP process. Implementing AquaHawk is very straightforward and can be completed in 30 days. A unique instance of AquaHawk Alerting will be provided to Howard. Authorized staff members and customers operate the system using a standard Web browser. Reliable, High Performance Hosting AmCoBi uses a reputable, high quality hosting provider for the AquaHawk solution. Their cloud‐
based computing platform is flexible, cost‐effective, and instantly scales as more resources are required. The firm's service is secure, durable, and they maintain industry‐recognized certifications and audits such as: ISO 27001 and SAS 70 Type II. Their data centers have multiple layers of operational and physical security so you can be sure your data is safe and protected. Moreover, AquaHawk uses a commercial database noted for speed, fault tolerance, and high performance. Backups are automated and geographically diverse replication prevents any data loss in the event of a hardware failure, network disruption, or large scale power outage. Disaster recovery is built‐in. Comprehensive Training and Support Included The AquaHawk system is intuitive, user‐friendly, and easy to learn. To ensure, however, that your staff members can manage the application effectively, AmCoBi also provides comprehensive online training and support. AmCoBi will assign a dedicated account manager so you'll always be able to reach a live person via telephone or e‐mail. 95% of all calls are answered immediately. AmCoBi commits to following up all telephone and e‐
mail inquiries within twenty four (24) hours. We make extensive use of online conferencing tools for product training, support, and troubleshooting. Page | 6 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com SCOPE OF WORK
Scope of Work To initiate this project and make AquaHawk Alerting available to Howard customers, the following tasks need to be completed:  Configure the AquaHawk Alerting portal  Import customer account information  Integrate consumption data from Sensus FlexNet  Provide software training to Village employees  Launch the production site and notify customers of the new service  Provide ongoing support to Village employees. The following is a draft timeline for implementing the AquaHawk Alerting solution: Due Date Task Description Responsible Party Week 1 Howard signs an SaaS Services Agreement to proceed with this project. Village of Howard Week 1 Configure the AquaHawk Alerting portal for Howard. AmCoBi Week 2 Import customer account information. AmCoBi Week2 Integrate AMI consumption and weather data into AquaHawk (daily). AmCoBi Week 3 Provide software training to Village employees. Week 4 Launch the production site. Village of Howard & AmCoBi Village of Howard & AmCoBi Page | 7 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com REFERENCES & PRICING
References Please feel free to contact the following organizations to learn more about similar projects we’ve conducted: Chesterfield County Rural Water Authority Mr. Charlie Gray CEO 3477 Hwy 102 S. Chesterfield SC 29709 (843) 623‐2339 Oro Valley Water Utility Ms. Shirley Seng Utility Administrator 11000 N. La Cañada Drive Oro Valley AZ 85737 (520) 229‐5013 Pricing Pricing for the AquaHawk Alerting service is comprised of the following:  A one‐time setup fee to configure the system, upload customer information and data, and for initial system training  A monthly fee for each account in the system. This fee includes ongoing e‐mail and telephone support.  CMEP Report ‐ Sensus charges a one‐time fee of ($1,500) to enable the CMEP report AquaHawk uses for incorporating ongoing meter reads. Monthly Fee
Total (Yr. 2+)
Price per Account (Yr. 2+)
# of Meters
Setup Fee
AquaHawk Alerting v8.0
3,000
$ 7,500
$ 600 $ 14,700
$ 7,200 $ 2.40
AquaHawk Alerting v8.0
5,000
$ 7,500
$ 800 $ 17,100
$ 9,600 $ 1.92
AquaHawk Alerting v8.0
7,000
$ 7,500
$ 1,040 $ 19,980 $ 12,480 $ 1.78
Description
Page | 8 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com Total (Yr. 1)
SUMMARY
Summary Should Village of Howard choose to move forward with the AquaHawk Alerting solution, AmCoBi will send a Software‐as‐a‐Service (SaaS) Agreement for signature. A project plan and implementation schedule will also be delivered for your review and approval. AquaHawk Alerting is helping numerous water utilities around the U.S. elevate the level of service they provide to customers, and it can help your Village too. We commit to making this project a notable success. Let us know how we can best serve you. Sincerely, Todd A. Brehe AquaHawk Alerting Page | 9 Todd A. Brehe • AmCoBi PO Box 51356 • Colorado Springs, CO 80949 T. 719.694.1979 • F. 719.599.4057 • www.AquaHawkAlerting.com