Many water system expenses are fixed. However, there are still opportunities to reduce costs at your system. Energy costs represent the largest controllable cost of providing water services. They make up as much as 40 percent of operating costs. Not only that, experts project that energy costs will increase 20 percent over the next 15 years. Energy management and water loss reduction strategies can help you decrease these costs.

In this workshop, attendees learned how to:

• Understand their electric bill
• Develop a baseline of energy use
• Reduce water loss
• Identify energy efficiency opportunities
• Prioritize and implement energy efficiency projects
• Identify financing opportunities for energy projects

Technical Assistance Follow-Up: We discussed opportunities for no-cost, remote technical assistance on energy management and water loss, such as assistance completing an energy use baseline.

CEUs: This course was approved under the North Carolina Water Treatment Facility Operators Certification Board for 6.0 professional growth hours (PGHs). 

Trainer: Carol Rosenfeld, Senior Project Director – The Environmental Finance Center at The University of North Carolina

Contact: Allison Perch, perch@sog.unc.edu

Who Should Attend:
While system operators are welcome, this training was best suited for individuals who make financial decisions on behalf of small water systems–-board members, local government managers, finance staff, system managers, clerks, and others who budget and/or set rates.

Partners:

Resources:
EFC at UNC presentation
SCRWA presentation
Asheville presentation
Better Plants Water System Cheat Sheet
Energy Management Resources
Tech Brief: Reading Centrifugal Pump Curves
Electricity Baseline Builder Tool