The general assembly makes the following findings:

1. (1) Safe and affordable drinking water is essential to public health and economic development throughout Indiana.
2. (2) The cost of providing reliable drinking water is increasing due to factors such as aging infrastructure, increased energy costs, and complex and costly changes in the regulatory requirements for safe drinking water.
3. (3) Water main breaks are visible and disruptive manifestations of the more widespread phenomenon of leakage from water systems.
4. (4) Leakage of drinking water from water distribution systems adds to the cost of service to customers and may lead to increased raw water demands that harm the natural environment.

5. (5) The failure of water utilities to recover revenue from some of the water delivered to users due to:

   1. (A) metering and billing inaccuracies; and

   2. (B) theft;

      increases the cost per unit of water that is billed to customers.

6. (6) Best management practices suggest that drinking water utilities should conduct an annual water audit in accordance with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Manual of Water Supply Practices M-36: Water Audits and Loss Control Programs.
7. (7) The AWWA has published software for use in categorizing and reporting water losses and has made the software available without charge.

8. (8) AWWA M-36 water audit protocol classifies water volumes entering water distribution systems into revenue water and non-revenue water, with:

   1. (A) revenue water representing billed water consumption; and
   2. (B) non-revenue water consisting of the difference between the volume entering the distribution system and revenue water.
9. (9) Regular auditing of water volumes is a necessary foundation for the adoption of cost effective strategies to reduce the level of non-revenue water to economically reasonable levels.

As added by P.L.102-2016, SEC.2.