A water system that's designed around pump hydraulic efficiency alone is likely to miss a lot of other important factors

1. TOTAL SYSTEM EFFICIENCY
Brian Gongol
DJ Gongol & Associates, Inc.
March 22, 2016
Nebraska Rural Water Association Conference
Kearney, Nebraska

2. Efficiency: Who really cares?
Not the person who drives this
to the grocery store

3. Of course we SHOULD care, right?

4. Resources are finite
Only the state capitol gets a gold dome

5. Water systems are big users of energy

6. Utilities have a special responsibility
You provide essential services, usually under
a monopoly or near-monopoly condition

7. Rate dollars are after-tax dollars

8. Money saved is a leveraged bonus

9. Substitution effect

10. We can say it's all for the environment

11. But it's really about public health

12. Money wasted displaces other public goods

13. The problem is, we really DON'T care
"How can you say that?"
Well, it's simple...

14. Revealed preferences

15. What's your household public works budget?
(...if you even bother to have one)

16. How does it compare to your travel budget?

17. Why we don't really care

18. Low electrical rates

19. Cheap borrowing

20. Low regard for worker time

21. Public disregard for the state of public works

22. The day of reckoning cometh

23. Why we will be forced to care

24. Rising energy costs

25. Carbon emission regs and electricity costs

26. European electricity costs vs. our costs

27. Anticipated shortages of fresh water

28. Rising treatment costs pressuring budgets

29. Declining or flat populations

30. Aging infrastructure

31. Higher future interest rates

32. Shrinking water workforce

33. Compounding costs of deferred maintenance

34. Costs of catastrophic failure

35. The conventional definition of "efficiency"
Pump hydraulic efficiency

36. The second order definition is still too narrow
Maybe include motor efficiency
or throw in a VFD so it looks good?

37. Measure efficiency by total system impact
Think of yourself as a
trustee of public assets.
You serve the public best by
delivering the services they expect
with a minimum of waste.

38. Not everything that counts can be measured
The love of a child,
puppy kisses,
the smell of flowers
after a rain

39. But counting is a good place to start

40. What we might measure to gauge efficiency

41. Energy consumption

42. Losses (especially unmetered losses)

43. Labor costs (including opportunity costs)

44. Total cost of ownership (TCO)

45. Everything can be converted to dollars

46. Even hidden savings deserve a dollar value

47. Boards don't want to know your specialty

48. Dollars are common currency to every industry

49. Total system efficiency includes:
Hydraulic efficiency
Energy efficiency
Maintenance efficiency
Longevity/durability
Adaptability to future conditions

50. Part 1: Pump hydraulic efficiency

51. Clearances

52. Pump specific speed
A dimensionless value that indicates
the relative efficiency of a pump impeller design

53. Vane adjustments (numbers, angles)

54. Smooth coatings

55. Straight pipe entering the suction

56. Suction diffusers (straightening flow)

57. Part 2: Motor/engine efficiency

58. 110/220/460 volt differences

59. VFDs

60. Soft starters

61. Two-speed motors

62. Across-the-line starters

63. High-efficiency/premium-efficiency

64. VFD misapplication: Static head prevails

65. Fill towers at full speed

66. Hydrostatic tanks

67. VFD misapplication: Missing the (BE) point

68. Transmission losses

69. Part 3: Valves

70. Surge control

71. Save on pipe damage
If waves on a beach can erode boulders into sand,
what are surge waves doing inside your pipes?

72. Air control

73. Maximize pipe diameter

74. Throttling

75. Emergency cut-in valves for an emergency

76. Part 4: Pipework

77. Bends

78. Pipe smoothness

79. Corrosion and losses

80. Friction losses aren't just theoretical

81. Part 5: Labor and TCO efficiency

82. Preventive/predictive maintenance
Fix-on-failure wouldn't work for an airline,
so why do utilities use it so much?

83. Preventive maintenance and knowledge

84. Labor training and continuous improvement

85. Quantify downtime

86. Part 6: Longevity/durability

87. Major repair work is disruptive and costly

88. Realistically assess how long things will last

89. Is the system robust or fragile?

90. Can it survive periods of neglect?

91. Part 7: Auditing your system

92. Total water supplied (own plus imports)

93. Authorized consumption (billed/unbilled)

94. Losses (apparent and real)

95. Apparent losses
 Unauthorized consumption
 Metering error
 Data errors

96. Real losses
 Distribution losses
 Tank leakage and overflow
 Service connection leakage

97. Benchmarks and baselines

98. To recap
 We ignore efficiency
 We won't forever
 Pump efficiency matters
 It's not the only thing by far
 Total cost of ownership matters most
 TCO includes hydraulics, motors/engines, maintenance,
longevity, and adaptability to future conditions

99. Questions?
 Thank you for coming!

100. Thank you for your attention!
 Contact us anytime with
questions
 Brian Gongol
 DJ Gongol & Associates
 515-223-4144
 info@djgongol.com

101. References:
 US electric prices:
 http://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/7?
agg=0,1&geo=vvvvvvvvvvvvo&endsec=vg&linechart=ELEC.PRICE.US-ALL.M~~~ELEC.PRICE.WNC-
ALL.M&columnchart=ELEC.PRICE.US-ALL.M&map=ELEC.PRICE.US-
ALL.M&freq=M&start=200101&end=201402&ctype=linechart&ltype=pin&rtype=s&maptype=0&rse=0&pin=
 Germany, EU electric prices:
 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Electricity_and_natural_gas_price_statistics
 Fed funds rate:
 http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/FEDFUNDS
 Motor efficiency standards:
 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=18151
 Suction vane drawing and sample pump curve courtesy Patterson Pump Co.
 Valve photographs courtesy GA Industries
 Some material in Part 7 adapted from the AWWA water loss auditing tool:
 http://www.awwa.org/resources-tools/water-knowledge/water-loss-control.aspx
 Special thanks to Shane Kinsey (City of Johnston, Iowa) and Rose Ann DiGiovanni (Patterson Pump Co.) for
observations that extended the scope of this presentation
 All other photos are original work by and copyright reserved to Brian Gongol