How Some Tech Savvy Can Help You Monitor Water Usage and Save Money

Usage graphs and leak notifications are the prime attractions of the site.

Usage. Usage is broken down into two side-by-side graphs: a default graph that shows your daily water usage for the past week, and one that shows total usage for the displayed period. All numbers are in cubic feet, but clearly explained in footnotes underneath. Usage can be further analyzed as follows: hourly usage by day; daily usage by week; daily usage by month; monthly usage by year; daily usage for the billing period; and usage for a user-specified date range.

For example, in the graph above, the 59-unit building saw an uptick in water usage on Friday, July 17 — it could be something normal, such as guests who needed to shower, or it could be a sign of a problem. That's where the leak notifications come in.

Leak notifications. Where the user has options for viewing and analyzing his or basic water usage, the leak notification program only requires ticking a box and opting in. The DEP examines your account and displays how far above your average water consumption you would have to go before you are notified of a possible leak.

This chart, which includes several different accounts under one company, shows how the average consumption increase and days before notification are customized based on the individual building.

One challenge in identifying leaks through the DEP's system, however, is the sheer size of a residential property. In a single-family home, observes Mark J. Schwartz, president of New York Water Management, a water monitoring company, when you "have a leak, your usage is going to skyrocket, and you'll get the notification. In a 50-unit building, [it would take] so many [more] leaks to offset the notification." The question to ask: how many leaks do you need to make it a blip on that radar?

For very large buildings, the DEP's tools are not that nuanced. For the specifics that boards need, you can turn to companies such as Schwartz's or the Vantage Group, helmed by Alan Rothschild. Regarding the DEP's information, Rothschild says, "The information is valuable and worthwhile, but takes time to look at it and figure out what it means. Water use can vary quite a bit in multifamily housing; it can be fairly erratic, and it takes some experience and a database of use history to determine if a period of high use is unusual." His company employs proprietary software to compare buildings of the same size and type. It also maintains a water use history for each building so Vantage can monitor usage patterns and detect if a spike in water use is expected or a sign of a problem.

But it's not just internal monitoring that's needed — boards should be aware what's going on with their water on a larger level as well. David Goodman, director of business development at Tudor Realty, says that though Tudor's buildings are enrolled in the DEP's eBilling program, they also work with New York Water Management when issues arise. "They seem to be able to dig into the DEP website further than we can," Goodman notes.

Still, Tudor Realty is enrolled in the DEP's eBilling program, and Goodman says they've found it to be very successful. "They send a notification with the bill amount, and we have an opportunity to go into the system and read the actual bill. They give us advance notice, a period of time [before they] will bill us X amount. It's about a week, then the money will be taken out of the account. So if there's an issue, we can arrange to stop payment."