University of Virginia’s water usage hits 6-year high; Water data adjusted for 2008 meter error

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Monday, June 29, 2009

The University of Virginia’s rate of public water usage has increased by about 42.1 million gallons from the previous year.  In the fiscal year that ends this week, the University reports that it has used about 511.6 million gallons of water during 2008-09, that is an increase of almost 9% from the 469.5 million gallons used during 2007-08.  The 42.1 million gallons of additional water used would fill a pool the size of a football field to a depth of about 117 feet.

In a November 2008 article, Charlottesville Tomorrow assessed the University’s water usage trends.  This past month, the University provided Charlottesville Tomorrow with updated data covering the past school year.  In their response, the University reported that a meter error had been corrected in fall of 2008 which added another 65.8 million gallons to their water bill from the City of Charlottesville.  According to Ric Barrick, the City’s Director of Communications, Charlottesville collected $167,440 in additional water fees from the University once the discrepancy was resolved.  The adjustment also led the University to restate its FY 2007-08 water usage, increasing the total for that year by 3.89%.

Because the University uses approximately 7 - 8% of the total water distributed by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA), these updated usage estimates are relevant to the ongoing discussion over the 50-year community water supply plan.

The University of Virginia provided the following additional information about water usage in the 2008-09:

• There was approximately 14.8 million gallons of additional water consumption related to newly constructed facilities (3% of the FY 2008-09 total).
• Water usage data for the current and previous fiscal year have been restated after a meter configuration error was detected early in FY 2008-09.  The City of Charlottesville issued a billing correction for approximately 65.8 million gallons of estimated water usage. Part of this correction (approximately 17.6 million gallons) was accounting for consumption that actually occurred in FY 2007-08.
• The corrected water usage total for FY 2007-08 is 469.5 million gallons.
• The University experienced a few water line breaks in FY 2008-09 which resulted in water being lost from the distribution system. The University is still gathering information on these events to estimate the amount of water loss.

Comments

[cvilletom]

Officials at the University of Virginia contacted Charlottesville Tomorrow after this story was published to clarify that the amount of water reported above as used in FY 2008-09 was the amount for which they were billed by the City of Charlottesville. The University maintains it was billed for 16,445,567 million gallons of water that may not have actually been used, as the City was forced to estimate usage in some months as result of the meter problems.

If none of the disputed amount was actually used by the University, the adjusted total for FY 2008-09 would be 495,203,769 million gallons, an amount that would represent a five-year high in the University's water usage trend.

Brian Wheeler

[Betty Mooney]

When you say that the increased water use of UVA is significant for the 50 year water supply because UVA uses 8%(even if we use your higher number) of the total yearly water -- do the math, 9% times 8% equals less than 1% of the total water usage of the city of Charlottesville, i.e. it is insignificant to the 50 year water supply. What is significant to the 50 year water supply is the fact that UVA has decreased their water use by 24% in the last decade through conservation.

[Dave Phillips]

Since the City, County and UVA have different needs and perspectives on water, I'm starting to think it would be better to STOP cooperating on water. Generally I am for more cooperation, but this may be a case where there is a need to separate the users. The city folks will blame rising rates on the County and UVA -ignoring their own decaying infrastructure that is a big cost item - and, as we have seen, will try to stymie the progress toward any sort of long range solution.

I'm not sure how it could work, but maybe the County could buy out the city and take over the water system. Then, cut some sort of long-term deal to provide the city with water that would protect them from having to pay for the expanded needs of the rest of the community. The catch is that they would have to pay for the repair and maintenance of their decaying infrastructure. Probably an impossible task, but worth considering.