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CUC water loss falls to 59 percent
CUC chief assures more efforts to reduce loss further
For the first time in many years, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s water loss has fallen to 59 percent, according to CUC executive director Gary Camacho.
“That’s a great number. Many utilities don’t have those numbers. It’s something that we targeted,” said Camacho on Tuesday.
He assured, though, that 59 percent is not their final target and they are pushing to make that go further down.
He noted that the Water Division’s non-revenue loss—water that is produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer—in April was reported at 70 percent. In May, that loss went down to 64.4 percent.
Camacho attributed the progress to CUC deputy executive director William Gilmore, the management of the water division, and most especially in water and billing and other areas.
“Obviously, they worked together in trying to address some of the issues,” identifying areas that are unregistered, and that water usages have been corrected and properly billed, he said.
He said the division plans to intensify its efforts to push down that loss further. He said CUC wants to work with the American Waterworks Association, the American Public Power Association, and other associations that CUC is a member of. Camacho said these groups can assist CUC in preparing a strategic plan for water, power, and wastewater.
Camacho said they looked at areas like leak detection, identified unregistered usage and corrected them, and replaced dysfunctional meters with new meters.
“The results show,” he said.
Last February, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspector John Tinger disclosed in court documents that CUC loses about 70 to 75 percent of drinking water it produces and incurs substantial unrecovered costs.
Tinger said the loss means that only 25 to 30 percent of CUC’s water is billed to customers and generates revenue.
