Full Description

Water utility operators have long known that throttling down system pressurereduces total consumption, and this strategy is sometimes used to deal withshort-term supply shortages. Water pressure can vary considerably acrosshouseholds if each dwelling is not fitted with its own pressure-regulatingvalve, especially in areas of varying elevation. And this uneven pressureaffects domestic irrigation the most, because the irrigation offshoot is oftentaken before the pressure-regulating valve, if such a valve is present at all.Therefore, there is good reason to believe that reducing pressure will savewater. For this reason, system pressure optimization is included as aPotential Best Management Practice (PBMP) in the Memorandum ofUnderstanding Regarding Urban Water Conservation in California (MOU).But, utility-operations staff normally harbor concerns about the impact ofpressure reductions on pressure-related customer complaints, although thesensitivity of customer complaints to system pressure has never beensystematically studied. This study examines how effectivethis PBMP is likely to be in practice in terms of both water savings andincreased customer complaints. One potential benefit that was not evaluatedin this study, however, is the impact of reduced pressure on lowering waterlost to leakage, which may be significant in older cities with a high percentageof unaccounted for water. Includes reference.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/15/2003 Number of Pages: 2File Size: 1 file , 200 KB