​SUD Elects Officers; Reviews Water Loss Metrics


by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Feb. 18 meeting, the Sewanee Utility District Board of Commissioners elected officers for the coming year. To educate the board on an issue critical to public water utilities, SUD manager Ben Beavers presented an overview of water-loss metrics, how water loss is calculated, and the financial ramifications.

The meeting opened with the swearing in of new commissioner Doug Cameron. Board President Charlie Smith welcomed Cameron back, “We’re glad to have your expertise on the board.” Cameron previously served two, four-year terms on the SUD board, five of those years as president.

The board elected Smith president, Cameron vice president, and Paul Evans secretary.

In discussing water-loss accountability, Beavers referred the board to the annual water audit report, a benchmark reviewed by the state comptroller in the annual audit assessment of public water utilities.

Of the 109 million gallons of water SUD produced in 2019, 30.3 million gallons counted as non-revenue water, or water not paid for. Non-revenue water includes water from three categories: water produced at the plant and used by SUD in its operations; water lost due to theft, meter inaccuracies, and other data system errors; and water loss from identified leaks, such as line breaks, unidentified leaks, such as aging, deteriorated water lines; and hydrant flushing.

Translated into dollars, of the total cost of producing water, 6.1 percent was for non-revenue water. “Actually,” Beavers said, “that’s very good compared to other water utilities of our size. SUD is in the top 25 percent statewide.” Some water utilities’ scores showed nearly 50 percent of their cost of production resulting from non-revenue water.

Beavers has a threefold strategy for reducing non-revenue water loss. SUD is replacing inaccurate dorm meters, upgraded to a new device to test meter accuracy, and this spring will conduct a sonar leak detection survey.

SUD will postpone the survey until the weather improves. “The ground needs to be fairly dry to transmit sound,” Beavers said. “If we have the survey data by the end of July, that will give us plenty of time to plan for the 2021 budget.”

SUD recently completed a waterline replacement project to eliminate leaks from aging cast iron water lines, and financed the project by drawing on cash reserves rather than taking out a loan. “By mid-year, cash reserves should be up to where they were before SUD undertook the waterline replacement project,” Beavers predicted.

Based on a country wide assessment of water utilities of SUD’s size, once SUD’s water loss from unidentified leak sources falls below 10.6 million gallons per year, finding the leaks can cost more than the lost revenue from the leaks Beavers pointed out.

The SUD board meets next on Tuesday, March 17. The board decided to change the regular meeting day from the fourth Tuesday to the third Tuesday.

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