"When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water" - Benjamin Franklin

In the United States, we take drinking water for granted. Did you know the World Health Organization estimates that globally, at least 2 billion people currently use a drinking water source contaminated with feces and that by 2025, half of the world's population will be living in water-stressed areas?

Unfortunately, this often buried, out of site resource has not kept pace with our increasing population demands. That's because in many places the plumbing systems we depend on to get our water are at least 100 years old, and in places like Washington, D.C., some pipes date back to the Civil War. In fact, some municipalities may still have a few pipes that are made of wood that distribute their water (note the fire plug).

In some areas of the Country, it is not uncommon to see water utilities lose up to 80% of the product that leaves their water treatment plant leak directly into the ground. Losses of 20% to 30% are considered normal.

Sadly, it is common to see these same inefficiencies in our wastewater systems. As aging pipes deteriorate, rainwater routinely infiltrates many sewer lines causing our sewage treatment plants to unnecessarily treat rainwater that is now contaminated with human and industrial waste. Worse yet, when soils are extremely saturated from snow melt and extended periods of rain, these flows sometimes exceed the capacity of our wastewater treatment plants leaving no choice but to bypass treatment and discharge this effluent directly into our streams and rivers.

Just in case you don't believe any of this, check out the American Society of Civil Engineers Annual Report Card to see how well your state is doing (drinking water and wastewater).

The bottom line, as our population grows our water usage will continue to increase. It is no longer acceptable to wait for a leak to show up at the surface. We must embrace technology to actively locate and systematically reduce leaks. From leak detection loggers and correlators to modulation and pressure control - there are many cost effective technologies that exist to help operate our water and wastewater distribution systems more efficiently and environmentally responsibly.

#NRW #leakdetection #smartcity #AMI #water