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Planning
Today for Tomorrow’s Drought 7/26/2006
“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining
when Noah built the ark.
” Unknown Author
In many parts of the country, the drought of
2002 was the most severe since the days of the
infamous Dust Bowl. The total economic effects
may never be fully known, but estimates of the
drought's damages to business and the
environment run well into the billions of
dollars.
Farmers suffered losses in crop yield and
quality, livestock producers were forced to
liquidate herds, and land prices in
drought-affected regions fell. Lurking just
beneath the surface of the all the arid turmoil
was the struggle many rural water systems faced
as they worked to keep a valuable commodity, water,
flowing to their parched customers.
Whether as a result of inadequate and
outdated water systems, or simply because there
wasn't enough water to go around when the
proverbial well ran dry, many systems soon
realized that the best way to combat drought in
the future is by planning today.
This year is already proving to be a scorcher
for many parts of the country. Down in Lubbock,
TX this week city officials are expected to
adopt a resolution asking local residents to
both fast and pray for rain. Officials in
Lubbock have relied on the power or prayer in
the past, and say that their prayers were
answered. In January 2004, after a year of
drought, the city and county set aside a Sunday
to pray for rain and were rewarded with the
second-wettest year since records have been
kept.
It's important for every water system to
remember that during the good times, and the
bad, customers count on their water system for a
scarce but essential human need-a safe,
affordable, and reliable supply of drinking
water. While meeting this need can be especially
difficult during prolonged periods of drought,
the work you do today can have a large impact on
your community's future.
In this issue of the Safe Drinking Water
Trust eBulletin we will take a look at
drought planning and other practical steps that
your system can take to ensure that the water
keeps flowing even when the rainy days are few
and far between.
Additional Resources
Online Drought Monitor
www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
Making the Best Out of the Worst
Situations
By doing a little planning now, you are
simply bringing the future into the present so
that you can do something about it today. While
there is clearly no way to prepare for every
situation, water systems large and small need to
take the time to map out the steps they will
take if suddenly faced with a drought or other
water shortage emergency.
In a nutshell, your very own Water Shortage
Response Plan will help your system establish a
set of unique "triggers" or weak
links, in your system that can be used as a
signal for initiating a specific drought
response. The plan will also show you ways to
make the most of the water you treat and will
set you down the road to educating your
customers on how to responsibly conserve water.
As with any good plan, a comprehensive Water
Shortage Response Plan should not only look at
how to identify when a crisis is looming, but
how to respond before, and even after a crisis
has occurred.
The planning process involved in preparing a
thorough Water Shortage Response Plan can be
broken down into four distinct phases of action:
1. Preparation: Preparing for droughts
before they occur (ex. exploring alternative and
emergency water sources, establishing drought
triggers, evaluating your rates, putting your
drought plan in writing, educating your staff
and customers, and reducing water loss).
2. Response: Taking action as a drought
begins to put a strain on your system and your
community (ex. determining if demand reduction
or supply augmentation (using less or finding
more water) offers your best bet, implementing
water-use restrictions, notifying the public,
and activating alternative water sources).
3. Enforcement: Enforcing water-use
restrictions during a drought. (ex. fines,
water-use surcharges, and ultimately,
termination of water service for those customers
who simply refuse to do their part).
4. And last, but certainly not least, Return
to Normal: Ending water
use-restrictions once the crisis has passed. It
is important that your system emerge from a
drought in the same measured stages that you
followed when initiating the action (ex.
notifying customers and reducing then
eliminating restrictions). Remember, droughts
rarely end over night. Returning things to
normal will generally be completed in stages.
Tip: A public water supply drought
"emergency" is commonly identified as
the point when the loss of supply will result in
normal operating conditions of less than 35 psi
through out the entire distribution system (for
example, your well goes dry!)
Additional Resources
Washington State Department of Health's
Guidance Document on Preparing Water
Shortage Response Plans
www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/Publications/331-316_water_shortage_response_plans.htm
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
By the time a water system first recognizes a
looming water shortage, it is generally too late
to simply increase the supply. There are long
lead times involved in drilling a new well,
adding plant capacity, or desilting a reservoir.
Advanced preparation is the key to properly
handling a drought.
One of the most affordable sources of
additional water that you can tap into is the
water that your system loses on a daily basis.
It is very important that every system initiate
a leak-detection and a preventative maintenance
program long before it begins to feel the heat
of a drought.
You don't have to feel like the Lone Ranger
when it comes to unaccounted for water loss. All
water systems experience some percentage of
water loss due to line breaks, improperly
maintained valves, non-working water meters, and
simple theft. While a water loss of between 10
and 15 percent is generally considered
acceptable, if your system is regularly losing
in excess of 15 percent of the water it treats
each month, then it's time that you pinpoint
where you are losing water (and money). Most
systems can accomplish this task either with the
help of sonic leak-detection equipment or other
devices that are designed to pinpoint leaks.
However, as with just about any situation, it
is also important that you use a little common
sense. If you suddenly notice a large jump in
usage in a particular area of town, the chances
are that either the local swimming pool company
is offering a really great deal on new pools, or
you have a water leak somewhere along the line.
To calculate how much water your system is
losing each month simply fill in the blanks:
A. Total gallons pumped for the month:
___________________________________
B. Total gallons billed to customers for the
month: ___________________________
(Remember: B should always be smaller than A
unless you have discovered an alternative
delivery system!)
C. Subtract B from A and you have your system's
total water loss in gallons: ________
Next, simply divide C (total water loss) by A
(total gallons pumped) and multiply the answer
by 100 to calculate your system’s percentage
loss (C÷A) x 100= % water loss.
Once you have taken the time to determine how
much water your system is losing on a regular
basis (hopefully not much), and have taken the
necessary steps to fix the problems, it is
probably a good time to take a close look at
your system's rate structure.
Your rate structure (how you charge customers
for the water they use) can be an effective tool
to use in controlling the demand on your system
and generating revenue for capital improvements.
Your water system may want to consider adopting
a rate structure that discourages water use and
promotes conservation, such as an increasing
block rate. With this rate structure, the
customers who use more water also pay more per
unit.
By implementing a fair and equitable rate
structure that promotes conservation and
discourages excessive water use and by getting
excessive leakage under control long before you
experience a drought, you are taking the first
steps in preparing for the future.
Tip: Remember that water service
meters not only serve as "cash
registers" for your system, but are also
great water management tools. In terms of water
conservation, one recent study found that
metered households use an average of 20 percent
less water than un-metered households.
Additional Resources
Efficient Water Use for Texas: Policies,
Tools, and Management Strategies
http://twri.tamu.edu/reports/2002/tr200/tr200.pdf
Conservation Matters
Preparing for a drought also requires the
basic components of public involvement and
public education. When you consider that the
average indoor water usage for a single-family
home in the U.S. is 69.3 gallons per person each
and every day it becomes clear that in order to
conserve water every one of your customers must
do their part.
An educated, well-informed customer is much
more likely to comply with voluntary and
mandatory water-use restrictions. Especially if
your customers clearly understand what they are
being asked to do, when they are supposed to do
it, and why, they will have a better chance of
actually changing their water-use patters. For
example, a well thought-out campaign that asks
customers to adopt voluntary conservation
measures can normally save up to 10 percent of
normal water demand. Bill stuffers are a
cost-effective way to reach out to each of your
rate-payers to spread the word about water
conservation.
The good folks over at the EPA also recommend
that water suppliers encourage
conservation-promoting practices in a number of
creative ways, including establishing or
encouraging:
-high-volume price disincentives
-system water audits, leak detection and repair
-promoting ultra-low flush toilets, showerheads,
and faucet aerator retrofit programs
-landscape irrigation audits
-water waste ordinances and enforcement
Additional Resources
EPA's Water Conservation Page
www.epa.gov/OW/you/chap3.html
Determining Drought Triggers
Unlike most other types of weather-related
natural disasters, droughts develop slowly over
the course of months and even years. Because of
the almost imperceivable nature of a drought,
water system decision makers should identify
drought triggers that serve as indicators of
potential water supply problems. By identifying
and monitoring these "triggers" you
will allow your system to take a gradual
approach to dealing with droughts and avoid over
or under-reacting based on the level of
available water.
Triggers are generally broken down into two
categories, Supply-side and Demand-side
triggers.
Basic Supply-side Triggers include:
Well-Depth Levels: How much water is
in your well.
Storage Tank Recovery: The ability of your pumps
to keep up with customer demand.
Reservoir Storage: How much water is in
your lake or pond.
Stream-Flow: The amount of water flowing
down the river or into your reservoir.
Basic Demand-side Triggers can include:
Plant Capacity: How much water can you
treat in a given day.
Total Daily Demand: How much water can
you pump from your supply source.
Pump Hours: A good indicator of how hard
your system is working to provide water.
The triggers you identify in your Water
Shortage Response Plan should be easy for you to
monitor and measure. This will help you
establish when and what actions your system
should take.
Tip: Be sure to check out the
Stages of a Water Shortage Response found in the
Safe Drinking Water Trust’s Tips and Tools
Section. To view this document, click on the
link below:
www.watertrust.org/images/pics/Water%20Shortage%20Guide.pdf
Remember, forecasting the severity or
duration of a drought is an inexact science at
best. When you notice that one or more of your
defined triggers is out of character, in
conjunction with the drought information
provided by state and federal officials and
other indicators, it is often a pretty good
indicator that a drought may be on its way. Once
you have determined that this is the case, it is
time to take action.
Additional Resources
Developing Drought Triggers and Drought
Responses: An Application in Georgia
www.tag.washington.edu/papers/papers/Palmer-etal.GA.2002.ASCE-Conf-Proc.pdf
Lights, Cameras, Action!
Once you have recognized that one or more of
your identified triggers have occurred, it is
time to respond appropriately and begin letting
your customers know what is expected of them and
what they can expect in the coming days and
weeks.
This could include such actions as issuing
media alerts requesting that folks use less
water, enforcement of outdoor lawn watering
restrictions, or even the issuance of rate
changes or drought surcharges designed to force
customers to restrict their water usage.
However, it is important to make sure that
the restrictions that you initiate don't
actually cause customers to increase water
consumption. This has often been shown to be the
case when alternate-day and odd-even watering
schedules are enacted. Customers tend to panic
and feel compelled to water their lawns even
when they don't actually need to.
Once the appropriate response plan has been
activated, the next step is to enforce the
requirements across the board. Many times a
little visible enforcement will go a long way in
deterring other customers from flaunting the
restrictions. It is very important that your
Water Shortage Response Plan clearly spells out
how you will deal with customers who won't
cooperate with water use restrictions. Remember,
enforcement must be consistent and
nondiscriminatory.
Additional Resources
Washington State Department of Health's Water
Shortage Response Plan for Small Public Drinking
Water Systems
www.tag.washington.edu/papers/papers/Palmer-etal.GA.2002.ASCE-Conf-Proc.pdf
Click this link to view
complete article:
http://www.watertrust.org/feature_article.asp?nID=39
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