Project Clearinghouse

Water Leak Detection Program

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

This project will help resolve the problem of water waste on campus. This project uses the student fellow to expand the usage of the campus water leak detection software by helping staff and campus residents understand the software better. It will also help these users set up the software to alert these staff and campus residents when leaks are occurring. Lastly, the fellow will perform regular review of the software to identify and generate work orders to resolve leaks.

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Funding Sources | How to Join | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Buildings & Facilities
Water
Project Status: 
Completed
Project End Date: 
06/01/2020
(estimated)
Affiliated Department, Unit or College: 
PPDO - PP - Energy
Project Location: 
On campus

Fackler Heat Plant


Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressContact NumberDepartment
Patrick Testoni
testoni@ucsc.edu
831-212-0450
PPDO
How to Join: 
email testoni@ucsc.edu if interested in supporting this project. Thanks! Patrick
Funding Sources: 
Campus Sustainability Plan Fellows Program

Project Description: 

Objective: Efficiently reduce water waste/leaks on campus
1) Hire Student Fellow (Jan 10); 2) Train Student Fellow on Beacon AMA software (1/11-1/18); 3) Fellow will perform weekly leak detection review and generate emails/workflows to resolve leaks (1/18-6/1); 4) Fellow will outreach to staff and campus residents to educate them on Beacon AMA and set up email/text alerts (2/1-4/1); 5) Fellow will document leak volumes, and resolutions to quantify water savings (1/18-6/1); 6) Fellow will generate a report of results of program in volume of water saved, cost saved, and users reached (5/15-5/31)

Metrics for Success: 

gallons of water saved per year and cost saved per year.

Project was very successful, as it not only saved 13 Mgal/year and $200,000 in costs...but the cascading effect of increased awareness will result in future cost avoidance and water lost.

Next Steps: 
documentation of users trained, areas they serve, and meters that they are connected to. This will help future staff/students update contacts over time, and re-connect with these users for continual training.
Result Categories: 
Infrastructure/Built Environment
Results: 

Water Saved in gallons per year: approximately 1.1 Mgal/month = 13.2Mgal/year
Cost Saved in dollars per year: approximately $200,000/year
People impacted in # of users trained and set up in system with alerts: Trained staff in CHES (4), Grounds (2), Farm (1), and set up email alerts to facilitate awareness for an additional 10 staff.
Overall impact 17 staff.