When Northshore Utility District began searching for a new meter reading solution in 2006, achieving a strong return on investment was a critical factor in its selection process.
The city of Laredo, Texas, had been walking to read its 67,543 water meters – 59,138 residential and 8,405 commercial accounts – using a manual method that took up to ten staff on the streets nearly an entire month to read to meet a monthly billing schedule. With the dawn of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems, the City began their search for the right metering solution for the department’s needs.
Located just south of Montgomery, Alabama, the City of Troy is a unique mix of southern small-town charm and big-city amenities. Read the full case study to learn how the City leveraged Sensus’ Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution to gather more data and monitor for issues likes leaks or pipe breaks
Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, has a scarce and precious water supply. In 2013, Santa Fe’s Water Division became aware its drive-by meter reading system was failing. The Water Division implemented the BEACON Advanced Metering Analytics (AMA) managed solution with ORION Cellular endpoints and E-Series Ultrasonic meters from Badger Meter.
Situated along the Arkansas River and Lake Dardanelle in the heart of the Arkansas River Valley, Russellville, Arkansas is known for having plentiful amounts of high quality, fresh water.
Clayton was plagued with exceptionally high non-revenue water rates in the 50 percent range. The city attributed the problem to leaks in its water system (parts of which have been in place the 1920s) that are exasperated by high pressure levels needed to pump water to more than 3200 service connections throughout Clayton’s mountainous terrain located 2200ft above sea level.
Located in Daviess County, Indiana, Washington is a small city that is poised for growth. An expansion of the heavily traveled I-69 highway has added new connections to the region between Evansville and Indianapolis, improving access to jobs, education and healthcare.
Berkeley County Water & Sanitation (BCWS) has moved from manual meter reads to remote readings that happen with the push of a button. The result? Massive amounts of data but no clear view into how to use it to benefit its more than 24,000 customers and better plan for tomorrow.
With a 2,400 square mile service area and approximately 40,000 customers to serve in southeastern Illinois, EJ Water Cooperative was having difficulties scheduling the nearly 4,000-mile monthly drive to complete a meter reading cycle. The rising cost of their aging system and the need to reduce operating costs prompted the search for a new meter reading system.
CMU was in the process of replacing more than 4,000 outdated water and electric meters when it determined that the project also presented an ideal opportunity to implement a systemwide advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network.
The Public Works Utilities of Billings, Montana, began their partnership with Neptune Technology back in the 1950s and was an early adopter of Neptune’s ARB® absolute encoder meter reading technology in the 1960s.
Public Utility District No. 1 of Skagit County (Skagit PUD) in Washington state was at a crossroads, facing a number of challenges related to its meter reading system. Because the utility was using a touch-read/visual-read system, it was highly dependent on its water meter readers’ acquired route knowledge. Two of the PUD’s three meter readers were planning to retire soon, and it would take at least a year to hire and train new employees to fill their experienced shoes. At the same time, the community was growing at a steady pace, and a significant number of its existing meters were reaching the end of their useful lifecycle.
For the Village of Lombard’s Water Division, consistently delivering high-quality tap water to the community’s nearly 44,000 residents and the businesses serving them was once quite a juggling act: constantly fixing old, temperamental analyzers; feeding reagents into the old analyzers; and staying ahead of callers complaining about “musty” water tastes and odors. Not today.
Web-based software services, more commonly called cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS), are being implemented globally by users in virtually all types of organizations.
Organizer is Seeq’s application for engineers and managers to assemble and distribute Seeq analyses as reports, dashboards, and web pages.
How can your water utility protect present investments in technology while building onto those investments as you need, at your own pace?
You may be surrounded by data, but starved for insights. To go beyond basic meter reading and billing, your utility needs tools that provide a deeper understanding of the data you collect — that turn it into meaningful information for a smart water network.
Recordall Compound Series Meters from Badger Meter combine two metering technologies in one innovative package. A positive displacement chamber measures low flow, while a turbine chamber records high flow. These meters are an ideal choice for facilities that experience rapid and wide fluctuations in water demand, such as hospitals, universities, residential complexes and manufacturing or processing facilities.
Building smart cities takes technology and networking solutions with in-depth views and infrastructure control. The Sensus FlexNet® communication network is a long-range radio network that provides scalable and reliable two-way infrastructure.
Mueller Systems extends its commitment to providing utilities with smart metering solutions designed to increase efficiencies, conserve energy and water, and improve customer service, with the addition of MegaNet™, a high-powered, long-range, fixed-network advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. The MegaNet system complements Mueller Systems’ other metering solutions, including the Mi.Net® infrastructure network AMI system and HotRod™ automated meter reading solution.
Venturi Inlet (Single Jet) - The Venturi inlet conditions the water into a jet directing the flow and force of water towards the tips of the impeller.
The 3G Mobile AMR solution provides most every benefit associated with fixed network — without the infrastructure — in a convenient cost-effective package.
Technology is on pace to reach a milestone of 26 billion devices connected through the Internet of Things (IoT) by the end of 2019. In the water industry, IoT capabilities are enabling utilities to leverage meter reading data collected via secure private cellular networks to satisfy multiple purposes — increasing its value exponentially. In this Water Talk interview, Kristie Anderson from Badger Meter discusses how advances in smart solutions, smart water, and smart city technology are delivering real-world benefits that seemed like futuristic promises just a few short years ago.
Smart water technology, which produces mountains of data, has the potential to improve water system operations and widely impact consumer habits. The latter, however, is only effective if the information is embraced by individuals. In this Water Talk interview, Ian McLeod, vice president of marketing for Master Meter, discusses how a newer method of connecting smart water solutions to a popular tech device will likely boost ratepayer engagement and lead to behavioral changes.
Finding new ways to capture and utilize data is important for utilities looking to improve operating efficiency and customer service. This interview with Frank Brooks and Dave Rubin from Aclara — a smart-infrastructure solutions partner for water, gas, and/or electric utilities — outlines ways to do both within a common infrastructure.
The LoRa Alliance is a non-profit association of members who are collaborating together to drive the adoption of a communication protocol that offers long range, long battery life and open architecture. For water utilities specifically, the LoRa wide area network (WAN) would allow devices from multiple manufacturers to be able to communicate with each other across long distances.
Historically, a mechanical water meter has lost accuracy over its life time as parts wear and its mechanics deteriorate. However, the new Sonata meter from Master Meter is a non-moving parts product utilizing ultrasonic flow measurement sensor technology to help reduce inaccurate water measurement.
Turning off water service for non-payment is one of the hardest parts of the job for utility workers. It can also be dangerous as agitated consumers can become verbally and sometimes physically abusive seeing their water service shut off. A new remotely-controlled meter helps remove workers from the chance of physical confrontation.
E-Series ultrasonic meters offer the latest in innovative electronic metering technology with the release of the new e-series ultrasonic plus with integrated shut-off valve. Offering all of the benefits of the original e-series meter, the ultrasonic plus features a patented flow restriction valve that supports open, closed, and partial closed settings. It allows water utilities to actuate the valve remotely to temporarily restrict water service safely and efficiently. Watch the full video to learn more.
Every day you work to optimize your operations, protect quality, find innovative solutions, and reduce costs.
Water Meters|Automatic Meter Reading Systems|Fire Service Meters|Control Instrumentation
Mueller Water Products, Inc. manufactures and markets products and services that are used in the transmission and distribution of safe, clean drinking water and in water treatment facilities throughout North America.
Water Meter Manufacturer|National Chain of Distributors for Sales and Service|Award-Winning AMR Wireless RF Meters
Badger Meter is a leading manufacturer and marketer of flow measurement and control products, serving water utilities, municipalities and industrial customers worldwide. Measuring a variety of liquids, from potable water to oil and lubricants, to industrial processes, our products are known for their high degree of accuracy, long-lasting durability, and their ability to provide valuable and timely measurement information to our customers.
Aclara, now part of the Hubbell Power Systems family of brands, is a world-class supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) and services to more than 800 water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Aclara SIS offerings include smart meters and other field devices, advanced metering infrastructure and software and services that enable utilities to predict and respond to conditions, leverage their distribution networks effectively, and engage with their customers.
ABOUT AMR, AMI & METERING
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) is a system and process used to remotely collect water meter data without the physical presence of personnel at the reading point. The system can be configured to read multiple meters at exactly the same point in time such as midnight or at the end of every month. Automatic Meter Readers (AMR) also known as SMART Meters afford suppliers with a cost effective solution to meter reading. Automatic meter readers use a real time wireless communication network to connect digital water meters with a central management system. Digital water meters use ultrasonic measurement technology to provide precise meter readings. AMR is a key driver of efficiency for water utilities by lowering costs by optimizing maintenance interventions and lowering reading operations. An effective AMR system can only work if the water meter has a pulse out where a radio transmitter will be attached to it. Multiple meter readings will then be transmitted to a device called the repeater. Using GPRS the readings will be transmitted to a server. The data can then be obtained from the server for use. AMR devices incorporate smart image recognition technology (OCR – Optical Character Recognition), BPL (Broadband Power line) as well as PLC (Power line Communications) technologies.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) are the systems beyond simply the meters that allow utility professionals to not only collect and analyze water usage, but also communicate back to metering devices, either on request or on a schedule. These systems include electronic/digital hardware and software providing continuously available remote communications. A typical AMI solution equips the customer with advanced solid state, electronic AMR meters that collect time-based data. These meters have the ability to transmit the collected data through commonly available fixed networks such as Broadband over Power Line (BPL), Power Line Communications (PLC), Fixed Radio Frequency (RF) networks, and public networks (e.g., landline, cellular, paging). The meter data are received by the AMI host system and sent to the Meter Data Management System (MDMS) that manages data storage and analysis to provide the information in useful form to the utility.
Utilities are turning toward advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems as part of larger “Smart Grid” initiatives. AMI extends current advanced meter reading (AMR) technology by providing two way meter communications, allowing commands to be sent toward the home for multiple purposes, including “time-of-use” pricing information, demand-response actions, or remote service disconnects.
