Peter Mayer

Bio 

Peter Mayer is a professional engineer and one of America’s foremost urban water experts.  For more than 30 years, Peter’s work has focused on urban water management, water use research, designing and evaluating water efficiency measures and programs, forecasting future demand, preparing water demand management plans, and conducting water supply scenario analysis.

Peter was the lead author for the Water Research Foundation (WRF) “Residential End Uses of Water” studies published in 1999 and 2016, and a key contributor to the companion “Commercial and Institutional End Uses of Water” study. He is the Principal Investigator for the “Residential End Uses of Water, Version 3, published in 2026 and the Principal Investigator for the California Department of Water Resources Indoor Residential Water Use Study.

In 2013, Peter founded WaterDM – Water Demand Management.  WaterDM’s clients include: the New York City Water Board, the City of Tucson, Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the City of Austin, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, Flume, and many more. Throughout his career Peter has worked with hundreds of water providers across the United States, Canada, and Australia.

In 2016, Peter testified as an expert witness on municipal and industrial water use at the US Supreme Court (FL v. GA, 142 Original) on behalf of the State of Georgia. In 2019, Special Master Paul Kelly’s report found in favor of Georgia and cited Peter’s testimony repeatedly.

Peter is member of the AWWA Customer Metering and Practices committee, and he chaired the subcommittees that prepared the 3^rd(2014) and 4^th (2024) editions of AWWA’s M22 Sizing of Water Service Lines and Meters. Peter is a four-time winner of AWWA and ASCE Journal “Best Paper” awards.  He has received prestigious awards including the Water Star (2025) Award from the Alliance for Water Efficiency; and the Peak Performance (2022) and George Anderson (2021) Awards from the American Water Works Association.

Peter earned his master’s degree in water resources engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1995 and holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.   He lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife Amanda and has two grown sons – Zachary and Miles.  His hobbies include playing electric and acoustic guitar, skiing, hiking, cooking, movies, and reading.