At the Lower Saucon Authority, one of our goals is to limit the amount of “Lost Water” in our system. We consider Lost Water, or Non-Revenue Water to be water that is purchased/produced that is not sold directly to customers or used for public good.
In the 4th quarter of 2022 we kept our lost water to 5.85% – an incredibly low number! We purchased/produced 26,268,740 gallons and sold/used 24,733,000 gallons.
Our normal (and somewhat ambitious) goal is to limit lost water to 10%. The accepted norms in the industry range from 20% to 25%, while some cities with old infrastructure can experience 40% and higher lost water.
Our tremendous success limiting lost water is due to the work of our staff, who monitor flows through SCADA equipment and then search for leaks based upon that data. Catching small leaks before they grow into water main breaks can save thousands of gallons of water every day!
The Authority also has a procedure to proactively replace aging pipe annually, before it gets too damaged and it becomes much easier to sustain significant breaks.
We realize that we have a financial duty to our customers to operate as efficiently as we can. Lost water ends up costing our customers in the long run, and that is a cost we try to minimize as best as we can.
