How does a water utility calculate CO2 per kL supplied?
Add pumping and treatment electricity, multiply by 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, then divide by kL supplied. State whether you divide by water pumped or water billed: leaks and other non revenue water raise the figure per billed kL.
Inputs
- Pump station and treatment plant meters.
- Water pumped into the network.
- Water billed to consumers.
Why both
Fixing leaks lowers emissions per billed kL even when the pumps run the same hours.
Worked example (illustrative figures)
- Pumping and treatment: 400,000 kWh × 0.710 = 284,000 kg CO2.
- Water pumped: 1,000,000 kL, so 0.284 kg per kL pumped.
- Water billed: 700,000 kL, so 0.406 kg per kL billed.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.
Sources: CEA CO2 Baseline Database, GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-22.