Transforming U.S. Water Utilities: Charting A Sustainable Future With AMI

By Jon Ullmark

The U.S. water utility sector is at a turning point. Aging infrastructure, evolving consumer demands, and intensifying environmental pressures are driving the need for new and innovative solutions. There have been some gains made over the past two decades with the transition from automated meter reading (AMR) to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), but what we are experiencing today is more than a technology shift. It is a strategic opportunity for utilities and industry partners to redefine the future of water management in an era of unprecedented challenges.

One segment of the ecosystem this applies strongly to is the partnership between water utilities and wireless network providers. Recent advancements in wireless metering are transforming utility modernization. With this, network operators now play a central role in utility infrastructure projects, reinventing delivery with new protocols, pricing, and customer engagement models tailored to low-bandwidth applications like water metering and other water management use cases.

Industry Drivers

For water works professionals, the stakes are high. Decades-old leak prone distribution infrastructure, water scarcity intensified by climate change, and customer interest in digital tools to manage usage are contributing to an increased need for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and sensor-based water management solutions underpinned by wireless connectivity.

Federal and state policies are also driving infrastructure modernization and water conservation programs. At the federal level, the U.S. EPA’s WaterSense Program encourages utilities to implement smart metering to enhance consumer awareness and conservation, while the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and Clean Water Act (CWA) make the case for AMI to monitor water usage, reduce non-revenue water, and monitor water quality. State-level regulations amplify these efforts. California, Texas, New York, Georgia, and several other states either mandate or encourage consumption monitoring and conservation.

AMI Adoption In The U.S.

Despite proven benefits and regulatory pressures, the adoption of AMI for water metering in the U.S. remains low compared to other regions across the world. This delay stems from several practical and systemic challenges creating a cautious approach among U.S. water utilities.

Legacy Infrastructure: Many water systems rely on aging mechanical meters that are still functional, reducing the urgency to replace them. Transitioning to AMI requires not just meter replacement but also integration with existing distribution networks, which can be complex and disruptive.

High Initial Costs: Implementing AMI systems involves significant upfront expenses for new meters, communication networks, and data management infrastructure. Many utilities, especially smaller ones, struggle to justify these costs against immediate benefits, given tight budgets and competing priorities.

Regulatory and Funding Barriers: U.S. water utilities often face fragmented regulatory environments across states, with varying requirements for metering upgrades. Unlike electricity, where federal incentives like the Smart Grid Investment Grant spurred AMI adoption, water utilities lack similar nationwide funding programs, leaving them reliant on local ratepayers or limited grants.

Limited Consumer Awareness: Unlike electricity smart meters which tie directly to visible energy savings, water AMI benefits (like leak detection or conservation) are less tangible to customers. This can stifle public demand and political will for investment.

AMI Benefits By The Numbers

Initiatives to address utility caution and build awareness of the benefits of AMI for water utilities have been underway for some time. In addition to programs initiated by the EPA, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) began integrating AMI into its mission of advancing water management in the early 2000s and continues to recognize AMI as a critical tool for improving water management, reducing non-revenue water, and engaging customers in conservation efforts today.

Quantifying exact cost savings from AMI and smart metering for U.S. utilities depends on utility size, customer base, infrastructure condition, and implementation scope. However, studies and industry reports provide estimates of operational efficiency gains.

Non-Revenue Water Reduction: Estimates suggest U.S. utilities lose about 6 to 7 billion gallons of treated water daily due to leaks, with annual losses reaching around 2 trillion gallons. A major benefit of AMI is its ability to quickly identify household leaks, which the EPA estimates waste about 900 billion gallons annually nationwide. AWWA research indicates that utility AMI-based programs that provide end customers with visibility to water usage through online portals can achieve water savings of 2–10% through community engagement alone. Savings can be significantly higher when AMI and sensing technology is used to detect leaks in the overall distribution system.

Manual Meter Reading Elimination: AMI automates meter reading, reducing labor costs. AWWA research states that traditional meter reading takes approximately 70 seconds per meter, while AMI meters can be read remotely in 1/7th of a second. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates utilities can save $10 to $20 per meter annually by eliminating manual reads.

Billing Accuracy and Customer Service: AWWA reports AMI meters have an accuracy rate of 99.97% compared to 97% for conventional meters. With more accurate data, billing disputes and call center costs can be reduced by an estimated 10–20%.

Outage Management: Access to real-time metering and infrastructure monitoring data cuts outage response times, saving on crew dispatch and downtime costs.

While total savings vary, aggregate data from industry sources suggest that mid-sized utilities with 50,000 to 200,000 customers can save $1 million to $5 million annually, while larger utilities with 500,000+ customers may save $10 million to $50 million.

A Vision For Progress: Complete Network Coverage And New Deployment Models

Low Power Wide Area network technologies like unlicensed LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) and cellular-based LTE-M and NB-IoT operating on licensed spectrum are redefining the AMI landscape, offering utilities a roadmap to resilience, cost savings, and community trust.

LoRaWAN has rapidly emerged as the backbone of AMI globally, offering long-range, low-power connectivity ideally suited for meter reading and other water management applications. Its unlicensed spectrum reduces infrastructure costs, and an implementation comprised of umbrella gateway coverage, densification on demand, and cost-effective repeaters that extend reach where needed, makes LoRaWAN not only a technically sound choice but a financially strategic one for utilities aiming to scale smart metering while managing capital outlays. As a mature and widely deployed technology, LoRaWAN also offers the openness of a true standard — free of vendor lock-in — with multiple sources for devices and meters, long-term reliability, and no risk of forced sunsetting or variable traffic congestion typical of multipurpose cellular networks.

In circumstances where the customer or service levels require it, a LoRaWAN network can be supplemented with secondary networks such as NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) or Long Term Evolution Machine Type Communication (LTE-M) to provide total coverage.

In addition to providing complete coverage and performance guarantees to meet service level agreement (SLA) targets, newer business models offered by forward thinking network operators provide extreme flexibility for connecting smart meters. These offerings align with diverse budgets and operational goals, from small cooperatives to metropolitan systems, including:

• Network-as-a-Service (NaaS): Delivers seamless public network connectivity, removing the need for utilities to build or manage their own AMI network.
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): Provides a unique combination of local control and managed network services to support utility owned network rollouts.
• Metering-as-a-Service (MaaS): Offers an option for utilities that want a fully funded, end-to-end smart metering solution, with no upfront costs.

By embracing these new network infrastructure and business models, U.S. water utilities have the potential become stewards of resources and champions of community trust, positioning themselves as leaders in a critical infrastructure sector that is in great need of an upgrade.

Providing value beyond meter reading, a LoRaWAN network built for AMI is a versatile platform, enabling utilities and municipalities to extend their impact without additional infrastructure costs. For water utilities, this network unlocks additional sensor-based water management applications while municipalities can harness the same network for smart city initiatives, reducing energy consumption, addressing operational inefficiencies, and transforming urban services — contributing meaningfully to the evolution of a smarter, more sustainable world.

Jon Ullmark is Executive Vice President, North America at Netmore Group. He brings deep expertise in business and product leadership across cloud-native technologies, Wireless/IoT, 5G/private networks, and applied AI/ML within the telecommunications and IT sectors. At Netmore, Jon oversees commercial operations and growth strategy in North America, with a focus on business development in the U.S.