The American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWRF) is developing an energy index to assist in benchmarking energy management for water and wastewater facilities (Project 03009). The objective of this project is to develop a useful index to measure the results of a utility’s energy management strategy for internal and external comparisons in much the same way ENERGY STAR^® measures and scores the energy performance of commercial buildings.

To date, the challenge has been that there is no comprehensive database of energy performance characteristics for water and wastewater facilities similar to EIA’s Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) database.

AWWARF developed, tested and fielded a survey to water and wastewater facility supervisors to collect the necessary data. The survey instrument developed for the AWWARF project has been made available to CEE members (see links above) as a common starting point for data collection.

CEE members are welcome to use the survey questions as long as the three project sponsors are referenced (CDH Energy, the California Energy Commission and AWWARF).

For further information about CEE's National Municipal Water and
Wastewater Facility Initiative, contact Ted Jones at 617-589-3949, ext. 230.