Just completed a massive water audit for a hotel chain client with 8 properties in the Atlanta metro area. Atlanta Department of Watershed Management has been systematically overcharging commercial customers on their stormwater fees for the past 4 years. We found calculation errors, wrong impervious surface measurements, and incorrect rate classifications across all properties. Total recovery so far is $127,000 with more properties still under review. This could be the tip of the iceberg - anyone else seeing similar issues with Atlanta water bills?
Water audit goldmine - Atlanta Department of Watershed Management
Derek, that's incredible! We've had similar success with Knox Utilities Board here in Tennessee but nothing on that scale. Stormwater fees are definitely the low-hanging fruit in water auditing - most clients don't even understand what they're being charged for. Did Atlanta fight you on the impervious surface measurements or accept your corrections readily?
Outstanding work Derek! Charlotte Water has similar stormwater calculation issues. The impervious surface measurements are often wildly inaccurate because they're using outdated aerial surveys or satellite imagery. We've started hiring land surveyors for larger commercial properties to get precise measurements. The investment usually pays for itself many times over.
Terry and Derek O - Atlanta actually accepted most of our corrections without much pushback once we provided current aerial photography and detailed site measurements. I think they know their impervious surface data is outdated. The bigger fight was on the rate classification errors where they had some properties coded as "high impact" that should have been "moderate impact" based on the actual use.
This is fascinating - Louisville Water Company has similar stormwater programs but I've never done a deep dive audit on them. Derek, how did you first identify these errors? Was it obvious from reviewing the bills or did you have to do site visits and research to uncover the problems?
Jack, it started when the client questioned why their newest property (built in 2017) had higher stormwater charges than older properties with larger footprints. That led me to request the impervious surface calculations from Atlanta Watershed. When I compared their numbers to the actual site plans, the discrepancies were obvious. From there I expanded the audit to all their Atlanta properties and found systemic problems.
Derek, great detective work! Indianapolis has Citizens Water and their stormwater fees have been growing rapidly. This gives me some ideas for auditing approaches. Did you find any billing system errors or was it mostly just wrong base data feeding into correct calculations?
Greg, it was mostly wrong base data - incorrect square footage, wrong property classifications, and outdated impervious surface percentages. But we also found some billing system glitches where credits weren't being applied properly and rate changes weren't implemented on the correct dates. The combination of bad data and system errors created a perfect storm of overcharges.
This thread is gold! Chicago has separate stormwater billing through the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and I've always suspected there were audit opportunities there. Derek, did you use any specific software or tools to analyze the aerial imagery and calculate impervious surfaces?
Yuri, I used a combination of Google Earth Pro for initial assessments and then hired a GIS consultant for detailed measurements on the larger properties. For smaller properties, I found that county assessor records often have more accurate building footprints than what the utilities are using. The key is having defensible documentation when you challenge their calculations.
Excellent thread everyone! Water and stormwater auditing is definitely an underexplored opportunity. Derek's Atlanta case study shows the potential. Here in Memphis, MLGW combines water and stormwater on one bill and I've found similar calculation errors. The utilities often use outdated GIS data and rarely verify their measurements against actual site conditions. This is a great reminder to expand beyond just electric and gas auditing.