Artificial Recharge and Aquifer Recovery

SUS is drought-resistant water supply planning. There is a need to further study this type of source water protection.

The Foundation's Board of Trustees approved two SUS projects in January 2004; "Design, Operation, and Maintenance Considerations of SUS Facilities (Project 3034)" and "Potential and Pitfalls for SUS of Recoverable Water (Project 3043)."

Asset Management and Capital Improvement Planning

One of the biggest issues for water utilities today is the need to reduce capital costs. The focus of most efficiency efforts of the past decade have been on reducing O&M costs. In most utilities, capital costs are equal to or greater than O&M costs. The only solution offered to reduce capital costs has been asset management, which so far appears to be more focused on database creation than on cost reduction. Most of the techniques being used in capital programs today (other than CAD and attempts to introduce design-build) are little changed from 15-20 years ago. In a recent study I performed, we were able to increase capital efficiency by 50% in 3 years. As CIPs get larger, it is imperative that capital efficiency be improved. If such a study cannot be accomplished, then a study should be done to focus only on how asset management methods can be used to reduce capital costs.

Community Relations

Utilities need a better way to communicate and collaborate with city and county planning groups. Council of Governments, ICMA, etc.

Customer Service and Satisfaction

How can utilities get past the first hurdle of the public's perception of reusing water?

See Foundation/WateReuse Foundation partnership Project 2919, "Understanding Public Concerns and Developing Tools to Assist Local Officials in Planning Successful Potable Reuse Projects." Also refer to Water Reuse: Understanding Public Perception and Participation (WERF 2003), which is a Foundationsubscriber only report.

Demand Management and Conservation

Comparative analyses are needed of weather-based (ET) controllers. If utilities could help developers, the residential community, and the agricultural community select the most efficient controllers, they could manage peak flows (i.e., smooth the peaking curves) and be better able to conserve water. Utilities could affect end use.

The Foundation does not conduct direct comparative analyses studies. If such a study were to be planned, it would need to be conducted blindly (i.e., no manufacturer identification).

Demand Management and Conservation

There is a need to know the environmental costs and benefits of conserved water (e.g., avoided capital improvements and advancements, increased flows to both source and receiving watersheds, "perceived" benefits). There may be an opportunity to partner with California Urban Water Conservation Council (CUWCC).

See Project 2935, "Water Efficiency Programs for Integrated Water Management." This project will give a basis for more detailed research in this area.

Demand Management and Conservation

Utilities need methods to identify, quantify, and promote privatized conservation BMP efforts.

Demand Management and Conservation

There is a need to reevaluate water rates as a water efficiency measure. An evaluation of the effects of water rates on water consumption (as opposed to water demand) would be valuable to utilities. Water demand has two meanings; 1) to a general audience - it related to the supply and demand issue, 2) to water engineers - it related to the loads they have to meet (flow as opposed to supply).

Demand Management and Conservation

If the main goal of conservation savings for a utility is to reduce water use during supply limited periods, a peak demand reduction program would be help to extend the reliability of the existing supply into the future. An average day demand reduction program may not affect peak demand and may not be considered as reliable of savings during water shortage periods for governments. Create conservation programs that would fit into a water supply situation for governments.

Demand Management and Conservation

Field studies are needed of new conservation technologies. Manufacturers could nominate technologies and a utility committee could select those for study. Pilots to validate manufacturer's claims and estimate conservation technical potential, field studies could look at customer marketing, measuring delta change on metered consumption in order to estimate achieved conservation.

The Foundation does not conduct direct comparative analyses studies. If such a study were to be planned, it would need to be conducted blindly (i.e., no manufacturer identification).

Demand Management and Conservation

What are the avoidable wastewater costs of water conservation?

See Project 2935, "Water Efficiency Programs for Integrated Water Management." This project will give a basis for more detailed research in this area.

Demand Management and Conservation

Lessons learned from agricultural water transfers. Utilities could benefit from a top ten do's and don’t's list. For example, how does this affect salinity?

Desalination and Salinity Control

There is a need to study salinity management at the source before membranes are considered and employed (e.g., softeners, desalting).

See Project 2841, "Water Quality Implications of Large-Scale Application of Seawater Desalination." Also, the Foundation is planning a workshop with US Bureau of Reclamation in early 2004 to identify salinity management research needs.

Desalination and Salinity Control

There is a need to understand the full environmental and economic impacts of desalination technology and implementation.

Information Management

Utility planners go to AWWA conferences, get information from vendors, or have consultants recommend use of models as a part of their work and they all sound like useful tools to help make better decisions. The reality is that often these tools don't provide meaningful output because the data that utilities collect is not accurate or representative. For conservation/water efficiency/non-potable programs, this phenomenon applies. If the utility has accurate historical data on consumption/production, then evaluating the efficacy of different programs or projects is meaningful. The ability to monitor conservation programs after they have been implemented is affected by collecting/analyzing accurate data. There is a need to define the data needed for utilities to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of water efficiency programs.

Information Management

A Model Clearinghouse would be very helpful to water supply planners. A matrix of options that could be cross-referenced is one idea.

New Source Development

Ensure proper infrastructure is in place to meet drought response needs (e.g., reservoirs, underground storage banks, etc.) Look beyond supply and demand curves for this type of infrastructure planning.

Operations and Maintenance

Effect of distribution system water pressure on water quality. How does pressure mgmt and for example, onset of dead-ends affect chlorine residual, etc.?

See Project 2686, "Verification and Control of Low-Pressure Transients in the Distribution System," Project 2769, "Evaluating Retention Time to Manage Distribution System Water Quality," and Project 3008, "Susceptibility of Distribution Systems to Negative Pressure Transients."

Source Water Protection

What role does climate change play in supply planning/CIPs?

See Project 2973, "Impacts of Global Climate Change on Water Supply."

Source Water Protection

Utilities need to know how to manage urban runoff to reduce non-point sources. Water conservation could be one solution. For example, stormwater runoff is an issue in west central Florida, so monies are provided by the utility to implement environmental horticultural-based BMPs like the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods. Clearly if stormwater pollution reduction is an issue, then appropriate conservation programming can be used to solve demand-related and storm-related issues.

Source Water Protection

Utilities need better storm water management programs. There is some Aussi work where they are capturing storm water. Urban runoff needs to be controlled (at rooftops, etc) before it hits the streets. Austin captures its first inch in catch basins, therefore getting the slug of contamination. It was suggested that ASCE be contacted for more info and partnership opportunities. ASCE has both an Urban Planning Council and a Storm Water Mgmt group. Larry W. Mays at Arizona State was suggested as a contact for ASCE's storm water management committee.

See WERF/UKWIR/Foundation partnership Project 2880, "Post Project Monitoring of BMPs/SUDS to Determine Performance and Whole Life Costs."

Water Reuse, Recycling, and Reclamation

What are the water quality impacts of concentrated waste streams?

The Foundation has entered into a partnership with WateReuse Foundation and WERF with the purpose of advancing research in the area of concentrate disposal of inland desalination. Project ideas are being developed and will be competitively procured via a RFP procedure.

Water Reuse, Recycling, and Reclamation

As an alternative approach to centralized water recycling facilities that collect, treat, and redistribute reclaimed water to customers over broad geographic areas, satellite water recycling centers are beginning to provide cost-effective, localized, reclaimed water use opportunities. Satellite water recycling centers (sometimes called scalping plants) treat the liquid wastewater phase and convey the residual solids to the centralized wastewater treatment plants while providing the treated, reclaimed water for localized applications. This approach is developing at a more rapid rate in recent years by small and large utilities alike. More technical study of this technique now appears warranted from the standpoints of collection system impacts, concentrated waste stream treatment impacts at the centralized plants, and for the potential satellite operational and customer impacts that might be associated with this reuse application. This information would be very valuable for reuse program planning and to help establish proper regulatory guidelines for these facilities, that often aren't currently addressed on a state-by-state basis as this approach continues to emerge as viable reuse technology.

Water Reuse, Recycling, and Reclamation

Risk assessment should be tied to regulatory efforts in reuse. Currently, no water reuse criteria in the U.S. are based on strict risk assessment methodology. Including risk assessment as one of the tools used to develop scientifically-based criteria would result in more rational and defensible criteria and increase pubic acceptance of such criteria.

Water Reuse, Recycling, and Reclamation

There is a need for better water quality indicators for reused water. TOC has limitations and needs to be replaced.

Water Reuse, Recycling, and Reclamation

There is a need to investigate and identify the long term impacts of reused water on commercial and residential landscape, as reused water continues to meet the demands of water utility customers. For example, Denver Water's future supply is projected to be 30% reused water, and they are being told that reused water is killing the conifers. What are the soil concentration build-ups that result from reusing water to irrigate?

Utilities and water supply planners could use a database of county-specific appliance use. American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA) tracks products for in-home conservation use.

This is not research.

It was suggested by several long-term Conservation Committee members that the list of recommended projects from a Foundation-sponsored workshop from early 90's be located.

The Expert Water Conservation Workshop report has been located and is being reviewed for consideration in this year's Solicited Research planning. The workshop was held on July 22-23, 1993 and provides a prioritized list of 18 project ideas.