Water Loss Control
California Water Code Section 10608.34 requires the State Water Board to develop water loss performance standards for urban retail water suppliers between January 2019 and July 2020. The State Water Board is required to evaluate the life-cycle cost of achieving these standards.
Executive Orders B-37-16 and B-40-17 direct the State Water Board and Department of Water Resources (DWR) to minimize water waste through system leaks.
Pre-rulemaking Meetings and Workshops
Public Stakeholder Webinar December 16, 2020
Presentations
Revised Economic Model: Water Loss Performance Standards
Revised Regulatory Proposal and Process: Water Loss Performance Standards
Reference materials:
- Fact sheet with overview of regulatory proposal and timeline
- Draft economic model to calculate water loss standards
- Summary of changes to economic model
- Draft Guidance to draft economic model
- Draft proposed water loss standards using default values in economic model
- Questionnaires on:
- Draft regulatory text
- Proposed alternative compliance pathway for existing low loss
- Draft Initial Statement of Reasons
Public Stakeholder Webinar May 13, 2020
Agenda | Revised Notice (Comment period extended to June 12, 2020) | Notice
Voluntary questionnaire for additional information on water loss audits
The purpose of the voluntary questionnaire is to support the State Water Board’s efforts towards assessing and establishing the reliability of and confidence in the water loss estimates reported in the water loss audits.
Materials for comment:
- Proposed Water Loss Performance Standards: Overview and Timeline
- Draft economic model for calculating volumetric standards (second version) (The model contains proposed default values for inputs and uses example values for supplier-specific input values from water loss audits - see item 6 for all values)
- Questionnaires for data submission requirements of the proposal on:
- Overview of proposed off-ramp provision
- Summary of current leakage and proposed draft volumetric standards for urban retail water suppliers
- Input values from water loss audits used to calculate proposed draft standards
Public Stakeholder Meeting #6 September 23, 2019, Sacramento
Agenda | Revised Notice | Notice
Reference material for the workshop was circulated through State Water Board’s conservation list serve. Sign up for the email list at https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/resources/email_subscriptions/swrcb_subscribe.html
Public Stakeholder Meeting #5 June 7, 2019, Sacramento
Materials for workshop (Uploaded June 11, 2019): The uploaded materials are documents that were shared during or prior to the workshop. The following materials are subject to changes based on stakeholder input, as the stakeholder process is ongoing.)
- Overview of framework
- Reference document describing preliminary assumptions and proposals for standard development
- Initial assumptions and considerations for calculations of benefits and costs for the economic model
- Calculation of standards, overview of compliance requirements and low water loss values
- Adjustments and variance process
Public Stakeholder Meetings #4 Sacramento and February 4, 2019, Chino
Agenda | Notice
The uploaded materials are documents that were shared during or prior to the workshop. The following materials are subject to changes based on stakeholder input, as the stakeholder process is ongoing.
- Staff proposal for framework of water loss performance standards
- Staff presentations:
Framework overview | Adjustments and Compliance | Economic basis
Public Stakeholder Meeting #3 September 17, 2018, Los Angeles
Agenda | Notice
Presentations:
- Avoided Cost of Water, State Water Resources Control Board
- IRWD’s Water Loss Control Programs and Cost-Effectiveness, Irvine Ranch Water District
- Water Loss Control in Los Angeles, LA Department of Water & Power
- Overview of Life Cycle Cost Assessment: Case Study of LCA Alternatives Assessment of Lead-Free Cast Brass for the Potable Water Supply Components, University of California Los Angeles
Public Stakeholder Meeting #2 June 1, 2018, Oakland
Agenda | Notice
- Monitoring and Estimation Technologies | Pressure management | Technology-Constraint Matrix, State Water Resources Control Board
- Machine learning and Pipeline Replacement Prioritization, East Bay Municipal Utility District
Public Stakeholder Meeting #1 March 9, 2018, Sacramento
Agenda
- Water audit data and topics, State Water Resources Control Board
- Water Loss TAP findings, WSO
Water Loss Auditing
California Water Code Section 10608.34 requires urban retail water suppliers to conduct and submit validated water loss audit reports to the Department of Water Resources on October 1, annually.
California Water Code Section 10631 requires all urban water suppliers to submit water loss audits with their Urban Water Management Plans every five years to DWR.
Department of Water Resources water loss program page, Water Loss Audit Reports, Regulations and Submission page
Water Audit Certificate Program by CA-NV AWWA’s Water Loss Collaborative
Technical Assistance
The State Water Resources Control Board awarded $3.2 million in funding in January 2016 for technical assistance programs for water suppliers to effectively conduct and validate water loss audits and comply with SB 555, through the formation of the California Water Loss Collaborative. The Water Loss Technical Assistance Program (TAP) provided training and validation to initiate California’s validated water loss auditing process.
Resources
State Assistance and Efforts
- Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
- Resources from the State-funded Water Loss TAP (California-Nevada AWWA)
- DWR’s Regional Offices for leak detection equipment for short-term lease under ‘Technical Assistance’
- Memorandum of Understanding between California and Denmark
Auditing, Validation and Control Strategies
- Free AWWA water audit software from the AWWA Water Loss Control Committee
- Fact Sheet on water loss control by the Water Research Foundation
- Manuals for validation guidance and concepts by the Water Research Foundation
- Resources from the Natural Resources Defense Council
- Alliance for Water Efficiency Library on water loss control
Policy and Programs outside California
Contacts
- Kartiki Naik
Kartiki.Naik@Waterboards.ca.gov
(916) 319-9468
- Media Requests