Reducing leaks is a cost-effective way to save urban water without draining utilities, according to a new large-scale assessment of utility-level water loss in the United States. Before a drop of treated water in California ever reaches a consumer’s faucet, about 8% of it has already been wasted due to leaks in the delivery system. Nationally, the waste is even higher, at 17%. This represents an untapped opportunity for water savings, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that leak reduction by utilities can be the most cost-effective tool in an urban water manager's toolkit, provided utility-specific approaches are used.
“When I first heard about ‘leaks’ I thought it sounded boring, but leaks are a huge component of our water systems and have a larger opportunity than many other water-saving methods to make an impact,” says lead author Amanda Rupiper, a postdoctoral scholar with the UC Davis Center for Water-Energy Efficiency. “As the first state to regulate its water losses, a lot of eyes are watching California, and this is an opportunity to impact policy here and elsewhere.”
Wastewater Technician Finds Woolly Mammoth Tooth at Construction Site
A wastewater technician on a construction site in Sheldon, Iowa, recently found a woolly mammoth tooth scientists say is more than 20,000 years old.
“I had just gone back to that location just to check if anything else had been done or anything like that and I pulled up and started looking around, and then it was just laying right there on top,” Justin Blauwet, the technician, told WFXRTV News.
Blauwet said he recognized it was something more than just a rock because his 6-year-old is into dinosaurs and they watch the Discovery Channel together.
Wisconsin City to Distribute Bottled Water While Awaiting PFAS Solution
In other news, city officials in Wausau, Wisconsin, voted to fund distribution of water filters and bottled water to residents while it builds a new treatment plant to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The city recently discovered that all its wells contained PFAS, and while a new treatment facility is in the works and slated for completion late summer, officials say they’re working on adding designs that will give it the ability to treat PFAS.
