Cal. Code Regs. tit. 23 § 980

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 980 - Definitions

As used in this Article:

(a) "Active leak detection" means a leak control strategy utilizing the appropriate combination of leak detection surveys and continuous monitoring of flows to proactively detect and locate leaks in water distribution systems owned or operated by urban retail water suppliers.

(b) "Annual audit" means the validated annual water loss audit submitted by an urban retail water supplier pursuant to Water Code 10608.34, subdivision (b).

(c) "Annual background leakage" means the estimated fraction of real loss that is not detected by active leak detection in a distribution system, in acre-feet per year. The default value shall be the value calculated in accordance with section 982, subdivision (a)(1).

(d) "Annual reported leakage" means the total volume of real loss occurring due to reported leaks on mains and reported leaks in lateral and service lines, in acre-feet per year. Reported leakage is a component of real loss. The default value shall be the value calculated in accordance with section 982, subdivision (a)(2).

(e) "Annual unreported leakage" means the average baseline real loss that remains after deducting the annual reported leakage and the annual background leakage from the average baseline real loss, in acre-feet per year. Unreported leakage is a component of real loss. The default value shall be the value calculated in accordance with section 982, subdivision (a)(3).

(f) "Apparent losses" mean losses in customer consumption attributed to inaccuracies associated with customer metering, systematic data handling errors, plus unauthorized consumption (theft or illegal use of water), as reported in the annual audit as "apparent losses."

(g) "Appurtenances" are valves (for example, isolation, automatic control, and air), fire hydrants, meters, and any other asset associated with the water distribution and transmission network that are additional to the pipe assets themselves. Leaks on appurtenances may be accounted for in the "mains" or "laterals and service lines" categories, as long as the accounting stays consistent.

(h) "Average annual rise in price of water" means the average expected increase in water price in real (inflation-adjusted) terms, expressed as a percent. Unless a supplier uses its own value in accordance with section 984(b)(1), the default value shall be 4.2 percent.

(i) "Average baseline apparent loss" means the average of the apparent losses reported in the annual audits submitted for the baseline period.

(j) "Average baseline real loss" means the average of the real losses reported in the annual audits submitted for the baseline period. If the real loss submitted for any year is a negative value, that value will be replaced by zero for purposes of averaging the baseline real loss.

(k) "Average duration between reporting and repair of reported leaks on laterals and service lines" means the average duration between the time when the urban retail water supplier becomes aware of a leak occurring on lateral and service lines and the time when it repairs the leak, in days, rounded to the closest whole number. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 8 days.

(l) "Average duration between reporting and repair of reported leaks on mains" means the average duration between the time when the urban retail water supplier becomes aware of a leak occurring on mains and the time when it repairs the leak, in days, rounded to the closest whole number. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 3 days.

(m) "Average flow rate for reported leaks on laterals and service lines" means the average real loss from reported leaks occurring on lateral or service lines, in gallons per minute per leak. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 7 gallons per minute per leak.

(n) "Average flow rate for reported leaks on mains" means the average real loss from reported leaks occurring on mains, in gallons per minute per leak. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 50 gallons per minute per leak.

(o) "Average leak detection survey frequency" is the average rate at which a supplier conducts active leak detection on a length of pipeline, in miles per month. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default values shall be as follows:

(1) For urban retail water suppliers with average length of mains less than 500 miles, average length of mains, in miles, divided by 24 months;

(2) For urban retail water suppliers with average length of mains equal to or more than 500 miles, but less than 1,000 miles, average length of mains, in miles, divided by 30 months;

(3) For urban retail water suppliers with average length of mains equal to or more than 1,000 miles, but less than 4,000 miles, average length of mains, in miles, divided by 36 months; and

(4) For urban retail water suppliers with average length of mains equal to or more than 4,000 miles, but less than 6,000 miles, 114 miles per month.

(5) For urban retail water suppliers with average length of mains equal to or more than 6,000 miles, 130 miles per month.

(p) "Average length of mains" means the average of the values of total length of pipelines owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier reported as "length of mains" in the annual audits submitted for the baseline period, in miles.

(q) "Average number of service connections" means the average of the values of the total number of customer service connections supplied by the urban retail water supplier reported as "number of active and inactive service connections" in the annual audits submitted for the baseline period.

(r) "Average operating pressure" means the average of the values of the pressure in the distribution system owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier reported as "average operating pressure" in the annual audits submitted for the baseline period, in pounds per square inch.

(s) "Average unit cost of leak detection surveying" is the average total cost incurred by the urban retail water supplier to conduct active leak detection, including equipment and labor costs and additional administrative costs associated with active leak detection, per unit mile of pipeline owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier, in dollars per mile surveyed. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 595 dollars per mile surveyed.

(t) "Average unit leak repair costs for mains" means the average total cost incurred by the urban retail water supplier to repair each occurring leak on mains, including equipment and labor costs and additional administrative costs associated with repair, in dollars per leak. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 5,946 dollars per leak.

(u) "Average unit leak repair costs for laterals and service lines" means the average total cost incurred by the urban retail water supplier to repair each occurring leak on laterals and service leaks, including equipment and labor costs and additional administrative costs associated with repair, in dollars per leak. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 2,330 dollars per leak.

(v) "Average variable production cost" means the average of the values of the cost to produce and supply the next unit of water for the urban retail water supplier reported as "variable production cost" in the annual audits submitted for the baseline period, in dollars per acre-foot.

(w) "Baseline period" means a four-year period of data to be used in the water loss model as inputs, and generally refers to the years for which data are reported in the annual audits submitted for the fiscal or calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, except as otherwise specified in this article.

(x) "Board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.

(y) "Compliance Period" means the three-year period preceding the date that compliance with the water loss standard is assessed. The first compliance period consists of the years 2025, 2026, and 2027.

(z) "Department" means the Department of Water Resources.

(aa) "Detected" means leaks found on the water distribution system owned or operated by an urban retail water supplier using active leak detection.

(bb) "Efficiency of leak detection equipment" is the average ratio of occurring leaks discovered by the urban retail water supplier on excavation solely due to active leak detection to the total number of leaks detected by active leak detection, in percent. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 70 percent.

(cc) "Executive Director" means the board's executive director.

(dd) "Exported water" means the volume of water sold to another agency as reported by the urban retail water supplier in the annual audit as "water exported."

(ee) "Full cycle of leak detection" means completing a survey of all mains in a distribution system. Other technologies can also be considered a "full cycle of leak detection" if they provide leakage data on the full distribution system.

(ff) "Imported water" means the volume of water purchased from another agency as reported by the urban retail water supplier in the annual audit as "water imported."

(gg) "Infrastructure condition factor" (ICF) means the ratio between the actual volume of background leakage in a zone or district metered area and the calculated unavoidable background leakage volume of a well-maintained system. Several methods can be used to quantify the ICF. The more accurate methods require a greater data collection effort. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 1.

(hh) "Laterals and service lines" means the pipelines in the water distribution system owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier that convey water from mains to service connections.

(ii) "Leak" means failure of pipeline or other parts of water distribution infrastructure that leads to real loss from the water distribution system owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier.

(jj) "Mains" means pipelines in the water distribution system owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier that conveys water from the point of input to the distribution system to smaller lateral pipelines that distribute water throughout the urban retail water supplier's service area.

(kk) "Marginal avoided cost of water" means the value of per unit volume of water saved due to reduced real loss, including the current variable production cost of water and anticipated costs for providing safe, accessible water, in dollars per acre-foot. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 1,275 dollars per acre-foot.

(ll) "Median household income determination" means the calculation conducted by the Board to determine the median household income for each urban retail water supplier service area based on the median household income data for counties of California and census tract data.

(mm) "Metered" means when the water furnished or delivered through a part of the water distribution system is measured through a water meter. "Water meter" has the same meaning as in Water Code Section 516.

(nn) "Month of implementation" means the month after the end of 2021 to implement water loss control, and ranges from 1 to 360. January of 2022 is the first month of implementation.

(oo) "Number of reported leaks on laterals and service lines" means the number of leaks that are found without active leak detection and are reported to the urban retail water supplier by the general public or the supplier's own personnel or contractors on its lateral or service lines, in leaks per thousand average number of service connections per year. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 2.3 leaks per thousand service connections per year.

(pp) "Number of reported leaks on mains" means the number of leaks that are found without active leak detection and are reported to the urban retail water supplier by the general public or the supplier's own personnel or contractors on its mains, in leaks per mile of average length of mains per year. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 0.2 leaks per mile of mains per year.

(qq) "Number of unreported leaks on mains" means the number of leaks that are found through active leak detection on its mains, in leaks per mile of average length of mains per year. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 0.01 leaks per 100 miles of mains per year.

(rr) "Number of unreported leaks on laterals and service lines" means the number of leaks that are found through active leak detection on its lateral or service lines, in leaks per thousand average number of service connections per year. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 0.75 leaks per thousand service connections per year.

(ss) "Owned or operated" refers to components of the water distribution system that the urban retail water supplier owns or uses, or both, to distribute water to its service area.

(tt) "Rate of rise of leakage" means the rate at which real loss rises over time in the distribution system owned or operated by the urban retail water supplier, in gallons per service connection per day per year. This is equivalent to the volume of leakage that rises per unit time between two leak detection surveys, after repairing all detected leaks through the preceding active leak detection and repair effort in portions of the distribution system. Unless a supplier uses its own values as indicated in this article, the default value shall be 5 gallons per connection per day.

(uu) "Real loss" means the volume of annual leakage due to physical leakage, not including apparent losses, reported in the annual audit as "current annual real loss." Real loss has three components: reported, unreported, and background leakage. When real loss in this article is expressed in gallons per connection per day, it can be converted to gallons per mile per day such that one gallon per connection per day equals 74 gallons per mile per day.

(vv) "Repair" means an action taken and/or paid for to stop real loss.

(ww) "Reported leaks" means leaks discovered in the water distribution system without the aid of active leak detection and that are reported to the urban retail water supplier by the general public or the supplier's personnel, staff, or contractors.

(xx) "Service area" means the geographical area in which an urban retail water supplier supplies water and has distribution system infrastructure and/or service connections.

(yy) "Service connection" has the same meaning as in Health and Safety Code section 116275.

(zz) "System" has the same meaning as Public Water System in Health and Safety Code section 116275.

(aaa) "Unavoidable background leakage" (UBL) means the minimum volume out of the average baseline real loss that is not detected by active leak detection in a distribution system.

(bbb) "Unbilled metered water" means the volume of water supplied by the urban retail water supplier that is not billed but metered as reported by the urban retail water supplier in the annual audit as "unbilled metered consumption."

(ccc) "Unreported leakage for 2027" means the sum of the twelve months of Monthly unreported real loss with intervention, as calculated pursuant to section 982, subdivision (a)(10), as follows:

(1) For urban retail water suppliers reporting by calendar year, the sum of the twelve months of Monthly unreported real loss with intervention for the months of January through December of 2027.

(2) For urban retail water suppliers reporting by fiscal year, the sum of the twelve months of Monthly unreported real loss with intervention summed for the months of July 2026 through June 2027.

(ddd) "Urban retail water supplier" or "supplier" has the same meaning as in Water Code section 10608.12, subdivision (t) as further clarified hereafter:

(1) If the supplier owns and operates at least one public water system that has provided an average annual total of 3,000 AF of water or more for municipal purposes for the previous two years, or has served an annual average of 3,000 or more municipal service connections (i.e., residential (single or multifamily), commercial, institutional, industrial, or landscape irrigation) for the previous two years.

(2) Multiple public water systems that are owned and operated by the same supplier are, together, considered an urban retail water supplier, provided they:

(A) Individually serve 200 connections or more;

(B) Collectively, meet the criteria in paragraph (1); and

(C) Meet one or more of the criteria below:

(i) The systems are permanently interconnected;

(ii) The service area boundaries are adjacent;

(iii) The supplier is using the system's data, such as population or landscape area, to calculate its urban water use objective pursuant to Water Code section 10609.20.

(eee) "Water from own sources" means the volume of water withdrawn from water resources controlled by the urban retail water supplier as reported by the urban retail water supplier in the annual audit as "volume from own sources."

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 23, § 980

1. Renumbering of former article 1 to article 2 and new article 1 (sections 980-986) and section filed 2-6-2023; operative 4-1-2023 (Register 2023, No. 6).

Note: Authority cited: Section 1058, Water Code. Reference: Article X, Section 2, California Constitution; Sections 116275 and 116902, Health and Safety Code; Sections 102, 104, 105, 350, 516, 1846, 10608.12, 10608.34, 10609.2 and 10609.4, Water Code.

1. Renumbering of former article 1 to article 2 and new article 1 (sections 980-986) and section filed 2-6-2023; operative 4/1/2023 (Register 2023, No. 6).