Water Services Training Group

1. Water Services Training Group 15th Annual Conference Water Services in Ireland – Organisational modernisation and new challenges 13th October 2011

2. Water Conservation& Mains Rehabilitation Ray Mannix Senior Engineer Waterford City Council

3. Presentation Summary Examine the topic of Water Conservation and how this was introduced to Waterford City and the progress that has been made. Show how Leakage Control has developed in Waterford City and the improvements made. Explore the issue of Backyard Services and the difficulties encountered in Waterford City. Present how Waterford City Council have moved to an automatic meter reading system for non-domestic meters and how this has impacted on water conservation. Annual Conference October 2011

4. Objectives of Water Conservation • Improve knowledge of the mains Network. • To reduce the level of unaccounted for water (UFW) on the public network • To improve Service Delivery (improved pressure and water quality) • Improve public awareness • Defer Capital Investment in new schemes through reduced consumption and improved supply • How is all this implemented? Annual Conference October 2011

5. Annual Conference October 2011

6. DMA’s in Waterford City In 1996 Waterford City was one of the locations chosen to pilot a water conservation programme. The first demonstration in Ireland of trenchless technology took place in the City on 800m of main. In 1997, 24 District Meter Zones/Areas (DMA) were set up in Waterford City. In 1998 EMR (Radio & Telemetry) set up a new SCADA telemetry system in the City. In 1999 following protracted negotiations the Water Conservation Team was established. Between 1996 and 1999 the water Network was digitally mapped using mapnet which later became mapinfo. Annual Conference October 2011

7. The new information systems and metering allowed data to be recorded for the first time. The Average Daily Consumption was starting to rise to levels that exceeded storage capacity A network performance appraisal was carried out in 1997 as part of the Strategic Operational and Investment Plan. The Network was found to be in a very poor condition in many parts of the City An active leakage control regime was introduced and statistics on leakage could be established. Annual Conference October 2011

8. How do you achieve effective Leakage Control? Annual Conference October 2011

9. The Six keys to effective Leakage Control • Passive Leakage Control • Active Leakage Control • Swift, Quality Repairs • Effective Infrastructure Management • Efficient Pressure Management • Complete Meter Management Annual Conference October 2011

10. Passive Leakage Control • Passive Leakage is Reactive – bursts / reported leaks – visible leaks including leaks noted when meters are installed. • Manage them appropriately – prioritise quickly. • Record leak details from initial customer contact • Get the repairs completed quickly • Record time and details of the repair • Note the repair impact on District Meter Area in particular night time flow • Remember these are the leaks people see – important for public relations Annual Conference October 2011

11. Active Leakage Control • Identify non visible leakage through DMA monitoring. • Analysis of water networks to target losses • Accounting for un-monitored water • Identifying consumption patterns • Identifying legitimate consumption • Understanding and recording flows • Pinpoint leaks – step test Annual Conference October 2011

12. Infrastructure & Pressure Management Requires a planned structured approach to implement effectively. Bring pipelines up to date through mains rehabilitation Modernise the network flow model to account for changes Introduce appropriate pressure reducing valves to manage network pressures efficiently Combine all the meters on the Network to a single integrated system allowing any flow variations to be identified instantaneously. Annual Conference October 2011

13. FUNDAMENTAL REASONS FOR MAINS REHABILITATION • Performance Deficiencies in Network • Water Quality • Pressure and Flow • Supply Interruptions • Increased Operation & Maintenance Costs • Excessive Burst Frequency • Additional Mains Flushing Required • Extra power costs to overcome hydraulic resistance of encrustation • Higher Quality Standards • More demanding standards (Lower lead limit etc.) • Customer satisfaction (Demands rise as cost rises) Annual Conference October 2011

14. The approach to Mains Rehabilitation in Waterford was undertaken on a DMA by DMA basis. • Prioritisation based on the following physical and performance characteristics: • Mains Properties – percentage of old unlined cast iron mains • Connections – Lead and Shared Backyard Services • Structural and Leakage Performance • Water Quality – length of cast iron mains, dirty water complaints, sample data. • Hydraulic Performance – areas less than 15m pressure at peak demand • Other Factors – critical customers, sensitive mains, development etc. Annual Conference October 2011

15. Mains Rehabilitation in Waterford City • Phase 1 Mains Rehabilitation started in Waterford City in 1999. • Between 1996 and 1999 data was recorded in order to establish what mains needed to be prioritised. • Approximately 20% of the network had been laid between 1900 and 1930. • Unaccounted for Water (UFW) was estimated to be more than 60% • 6.2km of cast iron mains was replaced at a cost of £1.65 million. • On completion of Phase 1 Rehab UFW had fallen below 60%. • Ongoing leakage control continued to reduce UFW, but an aging Network made it difficult to make real progress. Annual Conference October 2011

16. Small bore directional drilling under houses has been very successful in Waterford City. • Phase 2 Mains Rehabilitation commenced in 2008. • Further assessments of the City Network were carried out in 2004 and 2006. • These assessments helped develop the overall strategic investment plan for Water Services in Waterford City. • WSIP 2007 – 2009 approved a budget of €6.9 million for Phase 2 Rehab. • A total of 23.6km of mains was replaced in Phase 2 when the original Contract was extended • Trenchless technology was utilised as much as possible to reduce traffic disruption and public inconvenience. • 3,349 new connections were provided. • The outturn cost of Phase 2 was €8.9 million • Water pressure and quality improved immediately but UFW did not reduce as much as was anticipated. Annual Conference October 2011

17. Typical Cross Section of Cast Iron Pipe Removed The encrustation of cast iron mains caused reduced pressure, water quality issues and high burst frequency. Annual Conference October 2011

18. Example of a Valve Replaced in Mount Sion Avenue Annual Conference October 2011

19. Slide with photo or graph Annual Conference October 2011

20. Phase 2 Rehabilitation Areas Annual Conference October 2011

21. Lessons Learned Increased Pressure on Backyard Services caused more leaks. UFW not reduced as much as expected as a result. Site Investigations were not detailed enough. CESMM3 did not have standardised item descriptions for trenchless techniques. Public awareness prior to construction was poor and required a liaison process during the Contract. Advantages Dramatic Improvement in Water Quality UFW Reduced Removal of Lead Mains and Services Reduction in number and frequency of leaks and bursts on public mains. Annual Conference October 2011

22. Phase 3 Mains Rehabilitation • Remainder of cast iron mains to be replaced. • A budget approval of €6.1 million has been received under WSIP 2010 – 2012. • Design Work has commenced on 24km of main and construction work will commence in 2012. • Approval has been given in circular L3/11 to carry out works to replace service connections in private property. • Backyard/Shared Service must be replaced as part of this process in order to achieve the best results. • Need to incentivise property owners to separate from the shared service to an individual connection. The disruption and inconvenience not to mention the cost will only discourage owners from connecting to the new control box. Annual Conference October 2011

23. Backyard/Shared Services • Backyard services (BYS) generally run along the rear of properties that are in both private & joint (shared) ownership. • The property owners are jointly responsible for the service pipe. • There are an approx. 612 BYS connections serving almost 3,000 properties in the City. • It is estimated that almost 40% of all UFW on the network occurs on private side leaks on BYS. • High UFW levels are due to age of pipes and the pipe material which are predominately lead services. • Majority of leaks occur in service pipes and as these are smaller they tend to run unnoticed for a much longer period before discovery than those of mains. • The Mains Rehab Project Phase 2 Design Review Report outlines Three phases to reduce UFW • Mains Rehabilitation and network rationalisation • Replacement of Common & Backyard Services • Active Leakage Control Annual Conference October 2011

24. Associated Problems with Backyard Services • Poor water quality – high lead concentrations • Poor pressure • Restricted access to private property • Joint ownership and responsibility • Excessive Leakage • Structural damage to properties • Difficulty locating and repairing leaks • Extensions built over services connections to rear of property • In Morrisson’s Road DMA 60% of properties have extensions • Inadequate depths of cover to services leading to possible freezing of pipes in cold weather Annual Conference October 2011

25. Pilot Grant Scheme in 2006 to remove Backyard Services Johnstown DMA chosen during Phase 2 Rehab where 7 properties on 3 backyard services were replaced in January 2006. Property owner given a grant of €800 for the installation of a new individual service. Grant covers a fixed and agreed cost of €600 to a private competent plumber to carry out the installation to the stopcock in the kitchen at rear of house and disconnect the shared service. Customer used the remaining €200 to cover internal disturbance. WCC provided new connection pipe from the main to a new control box at front of property. Reduction of 132m3/day consumption or 18.9m3/property/day. Further 70 properties on 21 BYS completed in 2006 Average savings of 19.3m3/property/day UFW went from 74% down to 60% UFW in this DMA is currently 37%. Annual Conference October 2011

26. Benefits to removal of Backyard Services • Reduction in UFW • Removal of old lead services which may result in failure to meet the EC Regulation Standards on lead content currently at 25 µg/l. The new standard of 10 µg/l comes into effect on the 24th December 2013. • Improved pressures and flows • Independent/Individual connection • household unaffected by a leak in an adjacent property. • Houses cannot be metered without individual connections & control boxes to front of property • Improved water quality Annual Conference October 2011

27. Water Services Act 2007 S.I. 527 2008 Water Conservation Regulations established the use of new Waste Notices • Five separate notices provide a platform for each water authority to require a customer to repair a leak, reduce consumption or risk a disconnection. • Waterford City Council started to issue Form A waste notices in 2010. • Experience has thought WCC that initial approach is to encourage leak repairs rather than issuing formal notice. • First notices issued generated numerous queries. • Public unaware of regulations and consequences • Elderly fear of a possible supply cut-off or a fine • To date 80 Form A notices have been issued. • BYS throw up problems when issuing Form A notices • All households on a shared supply must be served with the notice. Annual Conference October 2011

28. Survey of BYS in 2011 Two DMA’s surveyed to examine the difficulties with the removal of all the BYS • Morrisson’s Road and Lower Yellow Road DMA’s are the oldest part of the City and have a high percentage of BYS. • 480 properties in Morrisson’s Road and 500 properties in Lower Yellow Road served by BYS. Approx. 10% have already connected to the new control box. • Approximately 60% of properties have extensions built on top of the BYS (Difficult to replace) • Poor plumbing practices • Pipes embedded in walls and solid floors. • Stop valves are buried, concealed or simply lost. • Shallow supply pipes vulnerable to freezing in cold weather • Many supply pipes are not water tight • The various complications make it difficult to apply a single method to replace these BYS. Annual Conference October 2011

29. What Should We Do? • Circular L3/11 provides for funding of certain works that encroach onto private property. • Although this will cover some associated costs, there is no funding for internal plumbing. • Majority of BYS located in parts of City where people cannot afford to pay for the internal plumbing works required. • Form A waste notices are not effective for BYS as it may not be possible to pinpoint a leak and responsibility for the repair is in theory shared between all the properties. • Domestic metering will be incomplete unless every property has its own control box. • TWO CHOICES (or a combination of both) • Force households to move to the new control box – Not easy - High fixed charge • Provide a grant to encourage property owners to connect to the new control box. Annual Conference October 2011

30. Leakage Control in Waterford City in 2011 Much has changed since 1996: Improved Technology – GSM Loggers Modern Electronic leak detection equipment – Correlating Loggers Data capture has been enhanced and provides swift analysis PRV’s Day/Night Controller allowing pressure reduction at night to lower night flows Integration of DMA meters and Non-domestic meters allowing accurate calculation of UFW in zones. Annual Conference October 2011

31. Non Domestic Water Background: Prior to 2003 Many commercial water supplies were not metered. Unmetered customers generally paid a fixed charge for their water supply, a system which provided no incentive for customers to conserve water or repair leaks. Private-side leaks continued undetected, placing unnecessary water demand on the network. Meters could be by-passed and/or tampered with without detection. Many water supplies served multiple addresses, making individual metering difficult and often impossible without undertaking major plumbing alterations. Microsoft Access Database was used for meter and account data. 575 meters installed on non domestic services. Annual Conference October 2011

32. 2003 - 2005: The Metering of all non domestic services started in 2003. 1,530 meters were installed by December 2006. All meter readings were manual – a time-consuming, costly and inefficient method of data collection which was prone to human error. Microsoft Access Database was used for billing and storing meter readings. This was labour intensive as manual inputting of reads was still required. Due to lags in readings being submitted, half yearly bills were not being issued efficiently and were typically a few months late. Annual Conference October 2011

33. 2006 – 2007 In 2006 water billing was moved to the Agresso Financial Program. 1,295 accounts were entered into the Agresso meter master database. This provided an easier billing system but readings were still manual. It took 3 Water Inspectors 4 weeks to do a complete set of non domestic meter readings. The issuing of bills was still slow due to the time taken to take readings, transfer to Agresso and issue bills. Annual Conference October 2011

34. Automatic Reading System 2008 • Decision made to move to automatic meter reading. • Reduce time to take readings. • Reliability of readings assured and recorded. • Bills produced much faster. 2009 • New Temetra Database is set up. • 1,111 cyble installations are completed and uploaded to Temetra and ready for automatic reading. • All meters are now read by a Technician and a full set of non domestic meter readings can be completed in 8 working days. • Issue Monthly Bills to the top 25 consumers. These make up more than 75% of the annual non-domestic consumption in Waterford City. All other bills are issued quarterly - Much improved cash flow. Annual Conference October 2011

35. 2010 – 2011 In 2010 the decision was made to move to a new billing system using Temetra. First Temetra generated bills are currently being sent out for September 2011 Monthly accounts. Annual Conference October 2011

36. Efficiencies and Benefits from AMR Conservation: quicker leak detection due to any readings deviating from expected ranges being highlighted in Temetra and on the handheld reader. Consumption Data: better records of volumes used on individual services and analysis of expected consumptions for different types of activities. Issue Tracker System: Customer queries or internal issues can be raised specific to a meter and will be tracked through to resolution. Data management: No delay in application of changes to customer, occupancy and meter replacements information. Annual Conference October 2011

37. Schools Water Consumption Impact of Moving to Metered Charges In 2010 Primary Schools received their first water supply bills based on actual consumptions Prior to this fixed bills applied based on the number of pupils. Actual consumptions were often higher than the estimated calculation of 3.5m3 per pupil per year. Conservation and repairs were encouraged and in the summer of 2009 Dept of Education grants were provided to schools for water conservation works. It can be seen from the following graph covering the period Jan 2009 to April 2010 the effect these works had on schools in the City. Schools like St. Martins, St. Declans and Mount Sion NS have all had significant reductions in consumption. The two schools that remain the highest users are the biggest in the city with attendances far exceeding the rest. Annual Conference October 2011

38. Hotels and GSM Logging Trials In March 2011 WCC proposed a trial of GSM Loggers for the water meters of the 10 main hotels in the City. These loggers were fitted free of charge by WCC. The loggers give continuous data on water usage and allow detailed analysis of daily consumptions, night flows, periods of high usage etc. The Hotel Managers can access this info through the web based Meter.ie portal which allows them to approach water conservation in a proactive way. WCC are continuing to liaise with Hotels who are showing high night flows and possible leakage in efforts to reduce water wastage. The success of this scheme will see the Large Consumers offered this product at a reasonable cost. Annual Conference October 2011

39. Despite all these improvements! Highest leakage zones are two zones where mains rehab has already been completed These two zones have the most Backyard Services in the City – 980 out of 1860 (52%) UFW remains relatively high overall at 46% Unless backyard services are tackled, which I believe will require some form of incentive or grant scheme, UFW will remain relatively high and full Domestic Metering will not be achievable! Annual Conference October 2011

40. Thank You Annual Conference October 2011