The cause of the city’s water loss might not be what originally was thought.
Instead of being a problem with commercial customers, it may be a software problem with reading residential meters, said Scott Foland, the city’s engineering and public service director.
After an audit earlier this month reporting an anticipated 28 percent water loss, which will cost the city about $1 million, Foland said he thought the cause of the water loss might be commercial meters in the city and went searching for the problem.
He focused on the city’s 170 commercial water meters because nearly all residential meters in the city have been changed to new computerized meters. The changeover began in 2003.
About 75 percent of the city’s water usage is residential.
Foland found that one commercial customer had bypassed the water meter and was getting water for free. He said city officials are investigating.
Also, two residential customers were classified as inactive but were active, he said. One customer was recorded as inactive for one year, the other was for two years.
Those findings account for some water loss but aren’t enough to account for the total loss, Foland said.
He searched city records to determine when the water loss began.
“It began with the residential meter change in 2003,” Foland said. “It may be a software problem.
“Water loss has steadily increased.”
In 2003-04 while using the old-style meters where meter readers went to each house and manually read the meters, the city’s water loss was less than 1 percent, Foland said.
It jumped to 3.7 percent in 2004-05; 16.3 percent in 2005-06; 22.3 percent in 2006-07; 24 percent in 2007-08; and 26.4 percent in 2008-09. This year it is anticipated at 28 percent.
On Tuesday, Foland asked the City Council for permission to seek bids to hire a company to test the commercial meters.
Councilman Dan Duderstadt asked Foland if residents will see bigger bills if it’s a software issue.
At this point, Foland said, he is trying to find the problem and fix it. He said there has been no discussion about recouping lost money.
本文转自：China Industry News
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