My
mother has a favorite saying, “We all make our own hell.” Of course, what she
means is that we are all ultimately accountable
for the situation we find ourselves in, and it’s up to each of us to find our
own solutions. When it comes to water resource management, we’re lucky to have so many options,
from infrastructure improvements to leak detection, to resource management via
AMR/AMI and data integration. But what if those options weren’t available? Or,
even worse, illegal? That’s the case in Fresno, CA, where water meters are
banned by a city charter, and residential water use flows unfettered and
unrecorded, propelling Fresno to the top of the urban water users in the
country.
In
her article, “Without Meters, Fresno Water Beyond Measure” Sasha Khokha
details how Fresno has become a water meter no-man’s land. Due in no small part
to a history of cheap water provided by state and federal projects, citizens of
this central valley community are adamant about their right to unmetered water.
In the 1990s, while head of the city’s water department, Martin McIntyre
initially succeeded in implementing a voluntary residential meter program.
Although 8,000 customers agreed to install meters on their property, a “vehement
group of taxpayers convinced city leaders to incorporate a ‘no meter policy’
into Fresno’s city charter.” As a result, meters were actually banned for
single-family residential units and McIntyre’s department was forced to remove
every single one of those 8,000 meters.
But change is coming.
California legislature now requires that any city using water from federal dams
must install meters by 2013—this new law deftly trumping
Fresno’s existing city charter. In the meantime, water will flow unchecked, and
Fresno residents will most likely continue to use—on average—290 gallons per home. The city is
not completely at the mercy of unrecorded water users. Fresno employs a small
group of “conservation specialists” who check leaky sprinkler systems,
malfunctioning showerheads, and, even, faulty toilets. These specialists come
armed with wrenches and low-flow showerheads, and their efforts do help raise
awareness of the need for water conservation.
Fresno is not alone.
Many cities in and out of California are only partially metered. And while water
meters (and their high-tech cousins AMR and AMI) are not a cure all, one wonders
how we can have any effective demand reduction strategy when we cannot even
measure how much water is being used.