DEP-BWR-RFI-2026-AWWA-M36-WATER AUDITS

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is soliciting interest from Water Management Act (WMA) registrants and permit holders to receive a free American Water Works Association (AWWA) M36 "Top-Down" Audit from a private consulting firm hired by MassDEP. The audit will help identify water loss needs and objectives, and is required for WMA permittees not meeting the Unaccounted-for Water (UAW) Performance Standard of 10 percent or less. Key aspects of the project include: * Eligible entities are public water suppliers (PWSs) or municipalities with current WMA permits or registrations * A "Top-Down" audit is available to PWSs or municipalities that have not done an AWWA M36 water audit before, or have done a recent audit but did not obtain a data validity score over 51 * A "Bottom-up Component Analysis" is available to PWSs or municipalities that have recently completed an AWWA M36 audit and obtained a validity score of 51 or greater * Applicants must provide detailed system information, including production metering, distribution system pressures, and water conservation activities * MassDEP will evaluate applications based on criteria including the applicant's commitment to participate in the audit, ability to provide necessary data, and recent work to improve UAW rates.