How much water does Topsfield use?  Below is a chart that shows how much water was used on a daily basis for the past few weeks. The totals include all of the water consumed including water used by customers, leakage, flushing and fire fighting.  The volumes on this chart are calculated using pump flow and tank level data from our control system.  System demand is calculated by correcting withdrawal volumes for changes in storage tank levels.

Water main breaks will show up well, particularly in the winter months, due to their large effect on use.  On a typical winter day we normally use about 300,000 gallons but this increases as summer approaches.  Daily use in the summertime can vary quite a bit depending on weather and water use restrictions but can't exceed 550,000 gallons per day on average from May 1st to September 30th.

During 1995, 20% of the water withdrawn was unaccounted for - lost due to leaks, theft, inaccurate meters or any number of other reasons.  Our highest monthly withdrawal rate occurred in July 1995 when the average withdrawal was over 1.0 million gallons per day for the entire month.  Since 1999 our withdrawals have decreased and our unaccounted for water has dropped to just over 10% for 2007 and just under 5% for 2008.  Withdrawals are now limited by a summer cap and by mandatory water restrictions that are based on Ipswich River stream flow.