WUE Annual Report Help

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Here are resources to help you fill out your annual Water Use Efficiency (WUE) report.

  1. Use the WUE Worksheet 331-767 (Word) to help you gather the necessary data to fill out the report.
  2. Read the Questions and Answers About Completing Your Annual WUE Report DOH 331-459 (PDF).
  3. Finally, these tips are also helpful, which are included in Chapter 8 of the WUE Guidebook 331-375 (PDF).
  4. Once you've collected the data, go online to our online reporting system and submit your report.
  5. You can then search for your completed WUE Report (Senty Internet link).

Submit Your WUE Report

Requirements

All Municipal Water Systems (MWS) must submit an annual WUE report by July 1 each year even if they haven’t fulfilled all WUE requirements. Submit your WUE Report using our reporting tool on this page (above). WUE reports must be submitted to your customers, the Department of Health, and made available to the public. Your report must include the following.

  • Service meter installation schedule, if applicable.
  • Identify the established WUE customer goal.
  • Total water production—the annual total amount of water pumped from all source meter(s).
  • Authorized water consumption—the annual total amount of water consumed from customer meter records plus any other authorized unmetered uses.
  • Information regarding progress of fulfilling any of the other WUE requirements, such as reducing water loss.

You are also required to make your annual WUE report available to the public. Send the WUE report by email or regular mail to your customers by July 1 every year. Sending your customers the same report you submit to the department may confuse them so consider sending a summarized version in your Consumer Confidence Report or newsletter. 

You can also make your annual WUE report available to the public in the following ways.

  • Post it on your website.
  • Distribute it to local libraries. 
  • Let your local media know it is available. 

At minimum, you must provide your annual WUE report to the general public upon request.

General Information

  • Be brief and concise when reporting to us. The online form limits the space you have.
  • Use the WUE Reporting Worksheet 331-767 (PDF) to gather information before submitting your report.
  • Avoid using graphs, tables, special characters, symbols, bold or underlined text, and special fonts. The database will see this as a security risk and delete it from your report.
  • Please fill out all fields in the WUE report. Some fields are required and won't allow you to proceed if you leave them blank.
  • Submit your report even if you don't have all the information. By submitting your WUE report to us you can show what progress you have made and meet the annual reporting requirement. Use the extra space provided at the end of the WUE report to explain any data fields you may have left empty.
  • You'll need to know the first five numbers of your water system identification number to get into the reporting system.
  • After thirty (30) minutes of inactivity, the system is designed to close automatically. If this occurs, you will lose any information you entered. The system warns you before it closes so that you have an opportunity to keep working on the report.
  • You will have an opportunity to review the report for accuracy. Once you submit the report, you will not be able to reopen it for editing. Contact your regional planner to make changes.

Meter Information

  • If your system isn't fully metered tell us approximately what percentage of the system is metered and when you intend to be fully metered.
  • Total water production—the annual total amount of water pumped from all source meter(s).
  • Authorized water consumption—the annual total amount of water consumed from customer meter records, plus any other authorized unmetered uses.

See our Water Meters webpage for more information.

Reporting Year Information

  • Select a reporting year from the drop down box. The reporting year is just like a tax year.
  • You may submit information from previous years.
  • Twelve Month WUE Reporting Period: Enter the beginning and ending months that establish your annual data information. For example, if you determined that May 1 to April 30 is your annual data for the 2024 reporting year, enter 05/01/2023 to 04/30/2024.
  • If you don't have a full year's worth of data then explain that in the space provided (for example, maybe your software data collection system crashed).

Production, Consumption, and DSL Information

  • Enter your total metered water use (total production), in gallons, from all sources for the year. 
  • Enter your total metered water use (authorized consumption), in gallons, from all of your customers for the year.
  • After you enter total production and authorized consumption, the database will automatically calculate DSL volume and percentage for the year.
  • Three-year average DSL percentage will automatically calculates once you submit three years' worth of data. The system drops the oldest year from the average.

See our Leakage and Water Loss page for more information.

Goal Setting Information

  • Indicate the date that you held your public forum to establish goals.
  • Identify the WUE goal established by the elected governing board. Make sure you identify a water savings target and timeframe for achieving the goal.
  • Report all progress you have made in achieving water efficiency for your water system and your customers.
  • Identify any WUE measures you are currently implementing.
  • If you established a goal to maintain a historic level, you must explain why you are unable to reduce water use below that level.
  • If you exceed the DSL standard, you must briefly explain what you are doing to control water loss by summarizing your water loss control action plan.

Data Validity

The Importance of Accurate Data

Collecting and reporting accurate water use data is not only a state requirement, it also provides you with valuable information about your water system. Evaluating usage data ensures that it is operating well and allows you to focus on providing safe and reliable drinking water to your customers at the best possible value.

See our questions and answers sheet Data Validation: Improve Your Annual WUE Report 331-585 (PDF).

Accurate Data Benefits Your Water System

Water systems that suffer from persistent leakage or unauthorized consumption are not financially sustainable. Accurately reading, collecting, and reporting water meter data allows you to recapture lost revenue. With better data, you can take strategic steps to remedy the cause of high water-loss, which can save your water system money by lowering operating costs.

Inaccurate Data

There is a good chance your water use data might be inaccurate if you're reporting:
Negative water loss.

  • Zero water loss.
  • Less than 2 percent water loss.
  • More than 50 percent water loss.

This could be caused by:

  • Inaccurate meters or incorrectly installed meters.
  • Incorrect meter readings or software errors.
  • An incorrect understanding of terminology and what constitutes authorized consumption.

See our Water Meters page for more information.

WUE Data Collection Tool

The WUE Data Collection Tool (Excel) helps you collect all your monthly water use for each type of customer and water pumped from your source. Use this data to make your annual reporting easier. The two orange boxes in the last column for each reporting year can be copied into the online annual report.

The tool also gives you more accurate information by eliminating data calculation errors. It automatically calculates your monthly data into yearly totals. From there, the data is used to populate a year-to-year chart that compares water pumped, consumed, and lost in the system.

The charts are automatically generated based on the data you input from each reporting year. There are a total of 13 years of monthly data (2007-2020) that you could fill in. If you have information from previous reporting years, fill it in and measure the progress you've made.

The tool is for your own data collection needs. It's not required that you use it, nor should you submit it to us.

How to Use the Tool

Please follow ALL of the directions below or the file won't work for you.

  1. Click to download it to your computer (Excel).
  2. Save it to your computer.
  3. Because this Excel tool uses macros to help you move between pages, when you first open the tool, you may see this warning: "Cannot run the macro...." Go toward the top of the page and select the "Options" tab in the warning box. Click "Enable this content." Then click OK. (See sample Security Alert box below.)
  4. Click on a reporting year and enter your data in the blue boxes. Don't enter data or delete the formulas in gray boxes, as they contain important information that makes the Excel file work correctly.
  5. From any page, use the button on the top left corner titled "Return Main Menu" to view other reporting years and see yearly comparison charts.
Image of a pop-up window showing a Macro security alert.

Questions? Email WUE@doh.wa.gov.