GIS Touches Every Aspect Of Central Arkansas Water

By Chelsea Odle, Media Specialist, Central Arkansas Water

From the management of underground assets, like pipes, valves, and meters, to an automatic fire hydrant inspection notification system to efficiencies in our billing system, GIS increases the quality of service our utility provides every day.

Central Arkansas Water (CAW) is based in Little Rock, Arkansas, and serves 450,000 people in 17 surrounding communities. We maintain more than 2,500 miles of pipe.

The utility began using Esri technology in 1996. Since then, we've continually expanded, taking advantage of the capability to customize tools in ArcMap.

"GIS provides a lifeline from the workers in the field to critical information to help them on a daily basis, whether it's being able to quickly locate a valve, isolate a main break, or to find a meter to assist a customer," CAW's director of distribution Blake Weindorf said. "GIS enables us to have this information literally at our fingertips."