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Show of Planning and Budget, December 1984 - revised April 1985). There are an estimated 80,000 secondary water connections in the state of Utah. Weber Basin alone has approximately 46,800 of those secondary water connections. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District requires metering of all secondary water system connections as a requirement for conservation funding under Section 207( b) & ( e)( 2). Current Metering or Measurement Options Metering of secondary water systems is not economically feasible now because no meters are currently available for individual small diameter secondary water connections. Secondary water is untreated, and in most systems the water is lower quality and contains suspended solids. A more cost effective and maintenance free meter ( such as the meter researched by Utah State University) needs to be developed, produced and marketed. Providing and maintaining filtering systems is costly, a fact that can discourage the development of secondary water systems. As noted with agricultural metering, propeller or turbine type meters are available in many pipe sizes with a broad range of costs. But they can only feasibly be used where water delivered through the system and through the meters is relatively clean and delivered in service connections larger than two inches. Magnetic type meters are not affected by sand particles and debris. But the cost of the meters is extremely high. Venturi shunt meters ( VSM) described under agricultural metering are also available. Little metering or measurement of secondary water uses occurs at the user level. Limited metering that is done generally consists of master meters located in the larger diameter main supply pipes for the secondary systems. The WBWCD currently uses meters in main supply pipes to measure water they supply to irrigation companies and secondary water systems within the Weber River Basin. The meters, however, 32 have required extensive maintenance because soil particles and other debris that enter the untreated water systems damage bushings for the meter's moving parts. Irrigation and canal companies control the amount of water supplied to secondary systems by providing headgates and other control structures that regulate the flow of water to each system. The control structures are commonly set to provide a flow that will not allow the system to exceed their allocated water rights or the number of water shares they own in the irrigation company. The 1985 study by Vaughn Hansen and Associates found that the quantity of average yearly indoor and outdoor water uses were approximately equal in areas where only M& I systems provide water for residential use. It was also found that communities with dual water systems have significantly higher water use. The report, Small Diameter Meters for Unfiltered Water Systems ( unreleased draft), by the Utah Water Research Laboratory at Utah State University, suggests the higher water use in communities with secondary systems, is at least partially due to the fact that secondary water systems are not metered and give the water user no incentive to conserve water. Higher water use may also be due to larger than average lot sizes in areas where secondary water is provided. Costs The Utah State University report identified four types of meters currently available for small diameter service connections and evaluated their potential for metering unfiltered secondary water. Table 1 lists the four types of meters, their approximate costs and the evaluation results. The report concluded that none of the existing types of meters listed in the table is feasible for metering unfiltered water. In order to meter unfiltered water, a new type of meter would need to be developed. Utah State University ( USU) developed and tested a probe |
