Untapped potential
Leak reduction is the most cost-effective urban water management tool
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15550994 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amanda M Rupiper (0000-0002-1177-156X, University of California, Davis), Joakim A Weill (0000-0002-3796-858X, University of California, Davis), Ellen Bruno (0000-0003-1055-0770, University of California, Berkeley), Katrina Jessoe (0000-0002-9476-8664, University of California, Davis), Frank J Loge (0000-0002-8264-7021, University of California, Davis, corresponding author), Frank Loge |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 034021-034021 |
| Publication date | 2022-02-14 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ac54cb |
| OpenAlex | W4213091858 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 14 |
Providing sufficient, safe, and reliable drinking water is a growing challenge as water supplies become more scarce and uncertain. Meanwhile, water utilities in the United States lose approximately 17% of their delivered water to leaks each year. Using data from over 800 utilities across four U.S. states, California, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas, we characterize the heterogeneity in water losses across the U.S., develop a model to assess the economically efficient level of losses, and use this model to compare the net benefits of several proposed water loss regulations and modeling approaches. Combining economic and engineering principles, our model shows that for the median utility, it is economically efficient to reduce water losses by 34.7%, or 100 acre-feet (AF) per year. The median cost of water savings from leak management is $277/AF, which falls well below the cost of traditional water management tools. However, the optimal level of water losses strongly depends on utility-specific characteristics, leading to large differences in the potential for cost-effective leak reduction across utilities. We show that water loss management can lead to water savings that generate net economic benefits, but only if management approaches incorporate economic and engineering principles
Business · Cost reduction · Economic cost · Economics · Environmental economics · Water resource management · Water resources · Water use · Computer Science · Environmental Science · Urban Stormwater Management Solutions · Water resources management and optimization · Water Systems and Optimization
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |