FIU Students Working with MDWASD to Develop Water Conservation Metrics for Dade County

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (MDWASD) serves 2.2 million customers and it is the largest provider of drinking water in Florida. Five FIU students have been working with Ms. Maribel Balbin, Water Conservation Manager at MDWASD to improve water use efficiency in Dade County. The students received extensive training on the new Automated Meter Reading (AMR) program, updating data in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and extracting data from different databases.

The project will determine the effectiveness of different best management practices (BMP) as a water conservation tool for customers in Dade County. The BMPs have been developed based on water efficiency measures, ease of implementation, cost effectiveness, and customer preferences. Program metrics are tracked and linked to countywide performance tracking software. The students have been analyzing and mapping water use data to characterize water consumption trends of residential customers. The project will quantify the effectiveness of water conservation initiatives such as retrofit and rebate programs implemented by MDWASD. In addition, targeted water conservation measures and appropriate incentives will be evaluated for cooling towers and green restaurants to implement sustainable programs that will save money for customers by conserving water.

FIU students Said Harb (Civil Engineering), Vanessa Caycedo (Civil Engineering), Blanca Barney (Information Technology), Bhargavi Pathakamuri (Environmental Engineering) and Edward J. Guerra II (Information Technology) with Ms. Maribel Balbin, Water Conservation Manager at MDWASD (third from left).

Students Bhargavi Pathakamuri, Blanca Barney and Said Harb are analyzing water consumption trends for customers participating in water conservation programs