Advancing resource recovery to the left: how consumer information drives conservation

Advancing Resource Recovery to the Left:

How Consumer Information Drives

Conservation

Trevor Hill

President & CEO

Global Water Resources

4 October 2011

Altering Behavior

“A key to improving efficiency is understanding where, when, and why

we use water.”

Source: P. Gleick, Roadmap for sustainable water resources in southwestern North America, PNAS, 14 Dec 2010

The Silent ServiceINVISIBL

E

Why Should We Care?

Source: UN FAO (http://www.fao.org/nr/water/art/2008/wateruse.htm) and UN “World at Six Billion”

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Popu

lati

on, b

illio

ns

& POPULATION

Population

By 2025, 1.8 billion of the world’s projected 8.9 billion people will be living in countries or

regions that are experiencing “absolute water scarcity”, and two-thirds of the world population

could be under conditions of water stress

Where’s the Water?

Triumphs of the Past

Reality of the Present

20012002

20042003

20062005

20082007

2009

20001999

Engineered Solutions must give way to Collaborative Solutions that combine

infrastructure, incentives and information to effect change

Models for the Future

“In the 20th century we built this water system and it brings incredibly high quality potable water to our homes,

and we use it to drink and to flush our toilets and to water our lawns. It's a crazy use of a wonderful resource.”

Peter Gleick, Fresh Air, WHYY, November 27, 2007

Infrastructure – Dual Reticulation

0.10 0.100.11

0.11 0.11

0.38

0.27

0.16

0.12

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

No Recycling Recycled Water for Common Area Irrigation

Recycled Water for Common Area &

Residential Irrigation

Recycled Water for all Irrigation & Toilet

Flushing

Acr

e-Fe

et p

er D

U p

er Y

ear

Water Source Distribution

Potable Water Use

Common Area Irrigation Recycled Use (HOA/School etc)

Residential Recycled Water Use (Irrigation)

Recycled Water perpetually circulating in System

0.048

Water Efficiency of Recycled Water

Changing Behavior

“Truly sustainable water management and use requires efficiency, smart economics,

advanced technology and better governance and water management.”

Source: Dr. Peter Gleick, “The Real Cost of Water We Use”, presented at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, 9 Feb 2010

Changing Behavior

[…]interventions that combine appeals, information, financial incentives, informal social influences, and efforts to reduce the transaction costs of taking the desired actions have demonstrated synergistic effects beyond the additive effects of single policy tools.

Source: Dietz, T., Gardner, G., Gilligan, J., Stern, P.C., Vandenbergh, M.P., Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce US carbon emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(44), pp. 18452-18456, 2009

RATES + INCENTIVES + DATA

Why Rates are Important

Source: Brett Walton “The Price of Water: A Comparison of Water Rates, Usage in 30 U.S. Cities”, April 26, 2010, Circle of BlueSource: Oliver M Brandes et al, “Worth Every Penny: A Primer on Conservation-Oriented Water Pricing”, POLIS Water Sustainability Project, May 2010

Altering Behavior - Rates

Rate design offers the double anti-oxymoron: price increases are consumer protection, because:

1. price increases change behavior; and

2. behavior change yields lower total costs.

Source: Scott Hempling, “Low Rates, High Rates, Wrong Rates, Right Rates”, National Regulatory Research Institute, 2009

The Effect of Rates

On average, a 10% increase in the marginal cost of water can be expected to reduce

residential demand by 3-4% in the short run. In the long term, such an increase could be

expected to yield a 6% decrease in demand.

Source: Sheila M. Olmstead and Robert N. Stavins, “Comparing price and nonprice approaches to urban water conservation”, 25 April 2009, WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 45, W04301, doi:10.1029/2008WR007227, 2009 p. 4

As Rates Increase…

People will demand the information necessary to change their behavior – and save money

Source: Black & Veatch, 2009/2010 50 LARGEST CITIES WATER/WASTEWATER RATE SURVEY

Behavior Modification

% o

f Rev

enue

Tier

REBATE THRESHOLD RATE DESIGN

Base Rate

Bas

ic N

eed

Bas

ic O

utdo

or

Dis

cret

iona

ry O

utdo

or

Exc

essi

ve 1

Exc

essi

ve 2

Egr

egio

us U

ser

65%

35%

Volumetric Rate

Base Rate

Needs DATA

CONSUMER COST

Consumption

Cos

t

Rebate Threshold

Stick

Carrot

Smart Grid for Water

Utility

Consumers

CMMSCIS

GIS

SCADA

Information

Data

The Old Way

• Manual meter reads once every 1, 6, 12 months

• Lost revenue• Lost water• Data

Gatekeepers

Deconstructing the Utility Monolith

DERIVING KNOWLEDGE

FROM DATACapture every drop of revenue

Maximize the efficiency of utility operationsProvide the basis for real-time conservation

Improve the Consumer Experience

The NEW Way

• Automated Metering Infrastructure

• Data Gateway• Analytics

Transforming Data Into Information

Collect Organize Decide/Query

Location Address

Meter ID

Meter Usage > 0Customer Status = FINALLED

Meter Location

Customer IDCIS

GIS

AMIMeter Read

Meter Type

CMMS

Act

Meter Read

Customer Status

Meter Usage

Work Order = Isolate

Meter Location

Real Time Report

Improving the Consumer Experience

“Consumers want highly personalized information and they want it at any time on any device – Web, TV,

print, smart phone.”Source: Jesse Berst, “The six things utilities still don't get about consumers (but better learn fast!)”, Smart Grid News, Apr 5, 2011

DATA

How much water do I use?

How do I fare compared to my street, my neighborhood, my city?

How much water should I use?

Based on weather data and evapotranspiration calculations – how much should I have used outside?

Access to Data = Conservation

Real-time Conservation

Impact of the New Paradigm

Results

“The path to sustainability lies in the hands of our customers. We must give them the

data to make the right decisions.”