AWWA CSC59673

The goals of the National Submeter and Allocation Billing Program study are to determine the merits of billing conversion programs including the potential water savings, costs, benefits, and the accompanying administrative and regulatory issues. Work on this study began in the first quarter of 2002 with completion expected during the first quarter of 2004. This paper presents the study methodology and some preliminary results from this research. The study project team developed a multifaceted approach to accomplish the research objectives. Sites selected for the study had to have both a combination of qualified properties and the cooperation of the local water utility. Properties eligible for further consideration were obtained from the billing records of read and bill companies and water utilities. Eligible sites were deemed to have in-rent, sub-metering, and allocation billed properties. Following extensive effort in this phase of the study 13 study sites were selected as meeting the identified criteria: Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Hillsborough County, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; Austin, Texas, San Antonio, Texas; Portland, Oregon; Oakland, California; Irvine, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Las Vegas, Nevada. A detailed and rigorous work plan to obtain data from each study site was developed by the project team that included surveys and historic billing records from 1999-2002, a four year study "window" to analyze changes in water use. This study assumes that the billing consumption histories provided by participating utilities and the mail surveys are accurate. For the selected study properties, the mail surveys submitted by the owners and managers of multi-family dwellings will be verified via site surveys. Includes 8 references, tables, figure.