Annual Report (2013)

A summary of the year's activities.

Exciting times for the Alliance for Water Efficiency! We are engaged in truly meaningful work on water conservation and efficiency. In 2013 we began work on a groundbreaking rates project (“Financing Sustainable Water”) that will assist water utilities with the difficult task of maintaining revenue stability while undertaking effective water conservation programs. The project will result in a handbook and rate model that will be published in 2014 and be available for widespread utility use.

We partnered with the City of Westminster, Colorado on a publication that documents the financial benefits of conservation, showing that water rates would have been 91% higher had the utility not stayed committed to an aggressive water conservation program. In addition to this important rates work, we have continued to expand our activity on the nexus between water and energy, publishing a detailed research summary with recommendations to Congress. Finally, we keep exploring ways to improve services to our core constituents and members, and in 2013 we conducted focus groups and interviews as part of a Strategic Planning process to determine how to better address member needs. 

While our work concentrates on North America, we have become increasingly active with our international partners. This year I had the great honor of chairing the International Water Association’s Efficient2013 conference in Paris, where our participation was extensive, and our NeverWaste water bottle received a design award. We provided water efficiency training to Jordanian water officials visiting in Washington, DC during January of 2013. Our Philippine partner, the Maynilad Water Services Company of Manila, received the IWA’s prestigious Project Innovation Award in 2013 for its successful efforts to reduce leakage by 750,000 cubic meters per day. This enormous reduction in leakage was made possible in part by the months of on-site non-revenue-water training programs that the Alliance developed and ran for Maynilad Water utility staff.