Reader Profile: Dan Strub

Dan Strub has observed that the move toward greater water efficiencies has increased in recent years not only in his city of Austin, TX, but nationwide, by “easy measures.”

“We’ve made great strides in improving fixture efficiency. A lot of potential savings have already been met,” notes Strub, Austin Water’s conservation program coordinator and water loss specialist. More difficult issues—human behaviors— stand at the forefront of needing attention.

“At the same time, there’s a huge movement towards reducing utilities’ water waste,” he says. “Several states have taken the lead: California, Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas have very good models for other states to follow.” It’s not only good environmental and resource management, but economically smart, as the industry enthusiastically embraces more sound business practices, he adds.

Strub is Austin’s point person for water loss, gathering data for water loss audits and also ensuring data validity. “It is my duty to make sure the utility is being as efficient and as effective as possible in delivering the water we treat to our customers, making sure water is safe in the pipes and that we’re fixing leaks within hours, not days,” says Strub. “We can’t tell customers they should be cutting back on water loss if we’re not being responsible ourselves.” Extreme drought—leading to water restrictions—has been a driving factor towards conservation. Austin sources drinking water from the surface water in the Highland Lakes system of the Colorado River, which had gotten to 36% capacity in late summer 2014.

Austin is one of a few utilities with a dedicated water loss specialist. “That’s allowed me to go into areas many utilities have not been able to examine more closely,” says Strub. “Because of that, faith in the validity and accuracy of our water loss numbers is much higher than in most places. We know where our water loss is occurring and can better focus efforts on problem areas. Beyond that, Austin has a progressive attitude where everybody understands we are all working together to preserve a common resource.”

What He Does Day to Day
His broad job demands mean Strub does whatever warrants his attention: dealing with metering accuracy, tracking fire hydrant flushing, examining potential pipe materials for criteria manual specifications, and performing quality assurance and quality control on water loss from leak incidents. Lately, he’s been looking at suspected water loss in a pilot district metered area project.

What Led Him to This Line of Work
Strub always wanted work “with an environmental purpose.” His undergraduate degree is in English; his Master’s is in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. A teacher cognizant of his water interest directed him to an Austin Water job opening. Strub’s first job was doing statistical xeriscape research for the water conservation program. Strub subsequently assumed other water conservation positions.

He moved into water loss “at a time when we were making sure the utility’s own house was in order after asking our citizens to be aware of their water use,” Strub notes. The water loss field has evolved of late with areas still to be explored, he notes.

One of Strub’s earlier projects was a large study quantifying customer meter accuracy. He strapped data loggers onto customer meters to ascertain water use. “I got numbers in which I have more confidence than [when we employed] the dated guidelines from the 1970s I had first come across when I started the job,” he says. “I daresay water consumption patterns have changed since then.”

What He Likes Best About His Work
Pushing beyond existing knowledge boundaries offers Strub satisfaction. “There are all kinds of tough problems where you can better quantify the amount of water that is lost to theft or the accuracy of the meters on the supply side of your distribution system,” he says.

His Greatest Challenge
That’s also his biggest challenge. “[Austin’s] system was not designed particularly well to measure that,” says Strub. “We do measure water entering our system, but there’s not a straightforward way to verify meter accuracy. That’s been something I’ve been working on for years and will continue to work on. It’s both a technological and an engineering problem.”