ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

Abstract

Introduction: Energy costs related to the treatment and supply of drinking water accounts for over 4% of the United States? energy use annually (EPRI 2000). This energy use increases the carbon footprint of cities and costs transferred to consumers. There remains a high potential for decreased energy use in drinking water applications by improving inefficient management strategies and improper infrastructure plaguing many utilities. The Madison Water Utility (MWU), which supplies drinking water to the City of Madison and surrounding areas, is seeking to reduce its energy use via a comprehensive analysis of its facilities. With this goal in mind,three objectives were established for this project that would allow for better understanding of the energy consumption and causes of energy inefficiency in the system: 1. Determine the distribution of energy consumption at infrastructure locations, 2. Better understand the causes of site inefficiencies and ways to reduce energy use, and 3. Develop a long-term method to monitor and predict preventable future energy increases at all site locations due to infrastructure or operational inefficiencies. With the aid of historical operation and infrastructure records, seven sites were selected based on their unique characteristics for further study into the causes of inefficiency at the sites. Using data collected during sampling, methods were developed to investigate these objectives.