Full Description

This project, conducted for the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Technical and Education Council (TEC), documented the value of continued implementation of the water fixture standards in the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 1992. In order to develop information on the value of the national plumbing standards, a nationwide survey of water utilities was conducted. The twenty-question survey was sent to 3,700 utilities located across the United States using the AWWA and 653 utilities responded. The project analysis showed that retaining the national plumbing efficiency standards will reduce water production by about 8 percent by the year 2020, or 3.5 billion gallons per day. Estimated reductions in projected daily water savings ranged between 5.9 and 11.4 percent of total 2020 water production depending upon system size. Water savings vary regionally and where there is a higher proportion of water used indoors, the percentage of savings due to the plumbing efficiency standards will be higher. This is more likely to happen in areas where outdoor water use is low, such as on the east coast. For example, the 2020 savings on the east coast ranged between 6.7 to 11.4 percent, whereas percentage savings in the west were a little less between 6.0 and 8.4 percent. The analysis also showed that utilities will save money by retaining the national standards due to reduced operation and maintenance costs and deferred and downsized capital projects. The utility savings will average about $26 per person or an estimated total $7.5 billion to the nation. Community benefits, which include energy savings by customers, will translate to $127 per person or a nationwide total of $35 billion. On a per unit volume the savings are in the range of $0.20 to $0.22 per 1000 gallons saved to the utility and about $1.00 per 1000 gallons saved to the community. Includes 7 references, tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/01/2001 Number of Pages: 17File Size: 1 file , 480 KB