ANSBACH, Germany (Dec. 19, 2014) -- Both natural resources and budget resources are finite, and budgets seem to shrink every year. As a result, all government entities are charged with finding ways to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. One can only imagine the sizable consumption of resources required to propel daily operations of a military garrison like U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach.
In one's own home, it's easy to compare utility bills from month to month, analyze the costs and identify problems or trends. But an organization the size of an Army garrison needs more precise information to truly understand how and where resources are being consumed.
Several years ago, Army garrisons began installing metering devices all over their installations. Once these meters are emplaced, they can provide detailed information on electricity usage, natural gas usage and water consumption. These meters, however, in the quantities needed to provide precise data, are expensive to procure and install. The question is, are they worth it?
At present, Ansbach has installed and monitors 695 water, gas, and electric meters in office buildings, aircraft hangars, family quarters and single-Soldier barracks. USAG Ansbach's Directorate of Public Works also receives data from almost 400 more meters that are owned by utility providers. Plans are in the works to install even more meters in Ansbach.
The justification is simple: Additional meters provide more accurate, localized monitoring data. However, the argument that the data provided by these meters does not justify the cost of procurement and installation is still worth considering. Nevertheless, recent events here in Ansbach prove the necessity for continued metering and analysis.
A relatively new ability of the DPW is to closely monitor water consumption in 15-minute increments, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for those residences and facilities that have meters.
From his desk, Dieter Geppert, DPW's electrical engineering technician, has the ability to view metering data for different utilities. This includes water, for which he can examine input and output consumption (drinking and sewage).
"Water metering gives us an idea of where we might have unusual consumption," said Geppert. "We have kilometers of pipes all over the post, underground."
Geppert said USAG Ansbach started installing meters in 2009 and have been "slowly building up one by one as funds become available."
Yet another reason for meters is irrigation, said Regina Kranz, DPW energy manager and utility engineer.
When a new facility opens, new lawns and/or new plants may be part of that facility. In the case of the new Soldiers barracks at Bismarck Kaserne that opened this past fall, USAG Ansbach watered its new lawns during the summer. Typically, if a facility uses water, it will generally put that same amount of water back into the sewer as waste water. With irrigation, this is not the case.
"Basically you get a monthly water bill from a supplier," Geppert said. "Let's say you use 1,000 cubic meters. Let's say that you used 1,000 cubic meters drinking water, so you also have 1,000 cubic meters waste water. What comes in has to go out. That means if you use it for watering something, it does not go into the sewers.
"You don't pay for the sewer if you don't put it in the sewer, so therefore, we need a meter to get that recognized by the city, " Geppert explained, which is why meters also are fitted to hydrants.
"If you install meters there, we can reduce the payment from the city works," Kranz said.
Earlier this year, analysis of metering data revealed a substantial underground water leak. Since this leak never percolated to the surface nor caused any above-ground damage, it would have been almost impossible to detect without metering data. After ascertaining that a leak actually existed, the Directorate of Public Works' Operations and Maintenance Division launched plumbers to search for the leak.
Two individuals placed sensors all over Katterbach, and these sensors took underground acoustic readings at 2 a.m. -- when most people are in bed and not using water. In so doing, they hoped these sensors would "hear" water running underground. They did. Within weeks, the leak was located and excavation began.
Helmut Wieder, DPW water technician, was one of the people who found the leak at Katterbach Kaserne.
"We have two pipe circuits -- one for the housing on Katterbach and one for the kaserne here," said Wieder. "These two are different meters. I can see when I have a big leak in the system. Normally I have 10 liters a second that is going out and maybe when I have a big leak, then 20 or 30 liters goes out and I see it on the meter."
"In addition to this metering," Kranz added, "we also have a leak-detection equipment requirement for Storck and for Ansbach, and it makes it easy to find the leak."
It is unknown how long this 4-inch diameter water main had been leaking. What is known is that the detection and the repair will save the USAG Ansbach more than $770,000 per year in both water and sewer charges. One could argue this event alone justifies the procurement and installation of meters at all military installations.
Although this instance is a substantial example, there are numerous others that are much smaller but all add up. Water meter readings at the Urlas Housing Area revealed another problem; an abnormally large consumption of water in a specific duplex. Upon investigation, it was determined that a family had a broken toilet that had been running continually for three months. After identification and repair, it was determined that action will save the garrison more than $200 per month in both water and sewer charges.
(Stephen Baack, USAG Ansbach Public Affairs, contributed to this story.)
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