Water Utility of the Future: A Case Study of Conservation as a Service
Target water conservation efforts toward top-consuming customers
By Michael Grinshpun, Jacqueline Ashmore, Josef Benzaoui
October 2019
Water utilities serving growing populations in dry climates face challenges in balancing water demand with scarce resources, often turning to demand management strategies like pricing and education. Research from the Institute for Sustainable Energy (now the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability) points to a new demand management best practice of targeting water conservation efforts toward top-consuming customers.
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Key Findings
- Examining data from New Braunfels Utility (NBU) in Texas, researchers found that the top 1 percent of water users represent 27 percent of the total water demand, meaning water conservation programs focused on this group could be more effective.
- Rather than asking tens of thousands of residential accounts to reduce water usage by 10 percent, researchers propose asking a few hundred high-demand accounts to reduce water usage by 30 percent to achieve the same total reduction.
- In this research, the Institute for Sustainable Energy shares a utility outreach program approach that can result in lower water bills, increased customer satisfaction, improved water conservation, and deferred infrastructure upgrades.
- This customized approach lays the groundwork for the water utility of the future by encouraging technology investments that would enable all customers to receive customized rebates and recommendations for water conservation.