New conservation efforts help recapture huge water costs.

The energy crisis of the 1970's should have been a wake-up call for fundamental change in the infrastructure of the utilities industries. Although many people still view our natural resources as limitless commodities, more and more people are jumping on the "green movement" bandwagon and becoming increasingly conservation and environment conscience. In recent years, politicians have started to support this track, and the Energy Star Buildings Label Program, launched earlier this year, is certainly a major step forward in energy conservation.

But in the area of water, in some regions our most valuable resource, there are no major governmental programs in sight. However, it seems that market dynamics and private initiative are "paving the way" to more reasonable water conservation efforts. Water submetering, a conservation created technique is being heavily championed by landlords and residents alike.

According to environmental studies, water consumption in the U.S. is three times higher than in Europe. In fact, many cities around the country have seen water and sewer rates climb dramatically over the past several years - in many cases exceeding electricity costs. The main cause for this phenomenon is the necessity to upgrade existing water systems to comply with regulations such as the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act enacted in the 1970's. Both regulations require many of the 30,000 water providers across the U.S. to make huge investments to upgrade their systems in order to apply higher safety standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates these costs to be more than $137 billion over the next 20 years. In response, many of the smaller, private providers and municipalities have to raise the cost of water.

Another contributing factor to the continuously rising water cost has been the explosion in the population over the past few decades. In areas with limited water supplies, costs will continue to increase in order to stay in line with the dramatic expansion on the demand side.

In an effort to alleviate these rising costs and curb increased water consumption, Americans are now turning to water submetering, a method that the European community has used successfully for decades. Using specifically designed submetering systems which are installed inside individual units (like RKES' proprietary Istameter) to accurately measure the consumption of water by individual units, water submetering has become a viable solution to create an incentive for residents who take active control over their consumption.

Through water submetering, landlords and managers are able to make each resident pay for the definite consumption instead of passing on the water cost randomly through their rent. And, on the other side, landlords can recapture water costs, increase cashflow and reduce the risk of the ever-increasing utility costs much easier than through the installation of low-flow faucets and devises. Long-term studies in Europe where water submetering is already mandatory in some countries - have shown decreases of water consumption by up to 40 percent after installing professional submetering systems. In this way, environmental and/or cost-conscious tenants can reduce their individual water and sewer costs dramatically, since they do not pay for their neighbors' water waste.

In this way, water submetering, an emerging industry solution to controlling rising water costs and reducing overall water consumption in the U.S., is quickly becoming the wave of the future.

Peter Bachsleitner, Chief Executive Officer, Raab Karcher Energy Services (RKES)