Methodology

Why historical records matter

Agencies replace files, utilities resubmit them, and one utility appears under different names at different agencies. What we retain, and why each of these only accumulates if it is in place from the start.

The honest answer to the question of what a funded competitor could rebuild in a two weeks. The assembly is copyable. These are the three things that are not, and each line says what the catch-up costs, because a head start nobody can price is a head start nobody believes.

Historical copies of filings

Agencies replace files and utilities resubmit them. We retain each version as published, so a figure that changed can be compared before and after.

Agencies publish only the current file, and earlier versions are not available elsewhere.

Matching a utility to itself

One utility appears under different names and ID numbers at different agencies, and systems merge, rename and split.

Matching them is manual and cannot be reliably automated.

Corrections from utilities

Every page carries a process for challenging a figure on it. Responses tell us what the published record does not contain.

This only accumulates if the process is in place from the start.

Related

Cite as

Municorn.us, “Why historical records matter”, Municorn water loss index, https://municorn.us/methodology/why-we-keep-versions/ (source filings retrieved 2026-09-08).

CC BY 4.0 — reuse and redistribution are permitted with attribution to Municorn.us and a link to this page. Terms, and the one caveat that must travel with these figures.

"Water loss" is at least three different quantities depending on the jurisdiction, and nothing here supports a comparison between states.