Featuring Sacramento Suburban Water District on using targeted leak detection to find what rotational surveys miss, reduce non-revenue water, and build a water loss program that holds up under regulatory scrutiny
In the West, water loss isn’t just an operational metric – it’s water your region cannot get back. California’s water loss enforcement kicks in Jan 1st 2028, and other western states are watching. When a regulator asks “how did you decide where to look?” – a rotational schedule isn’t an answer.
Greg Bundesen of Sacramento Suburban Water District will share how SSWD shifted from rotational surveys to targeting the pipe segments most likely to fail, finding nearly 8 million gallons in hidden leaks, including non-surfacing failures no one knew were there. Together, the panel will cover how failure probability data drives targeted leak detection in practice, what it takes to build a non-revenue water program you can defend to regulators, leadership, and the public, and where to start if you’re not there yet.
Key Takeaways:
- How AI-based failure risk models work and what data they actually need to run
- How Sacramento Suburban translated failure risk data into a targeted, defensible leak detection program
- What Sacramento Suburban found, and what it means for your distribution system
- How utilities can identify hidden water loss and underperforming meters
- Practical steps for shifting to risk-based leak detection using data you already have
