How are water utilities getting the deluge of real and apparent water losses under control? The City of Elmhurst, a stately suburb west of Chicago with a population of about 46,000 residents, is a case study on how one municipality took on the issue.

When Hurricane Sandy struck in October of 2012, Aclara's RF network technology, which was installed across New York City's five boroughs, was under pressure to perform effectively. 

With both water and power customers to serve, the City of Dothan, Alabama needed an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution that could work as well with 35,000 water meters located in pits as it did with 31,000 electric meters wired to homes.

Among the many challenges water utilities face are aging infrastructure, an aging workforce, water loss control, asset management, and paying for necessary infrastructure investments. Improving relationships with customers is also a challenge for one in five respondents to a 2019 American Water Works Association (AWWA) survey.

While AMI’s benefits are widely recognized, implementation remains a major challenge for many utilities. This article offers practical insights into navigating the complex path to AMI deployment.

Once utilities truly start leveraging that meter-to-cash investment called AMI, they will see they already have an IoT solution in place, and it comes with a built-in business case. 

Discover what makes point-to-multipoint RF networks a best bet for water utilities. 

Discover how analytics can amplify the benefits of AMI in identifying non-revenue water losses and enhancing customer service. 

Learn how water utilities can reduce apparent and real water losses by including analytics as an integral component of AMI strategy. 

In 2017, Orlando residents saw firsthand the negative effects of what could happen when a construction crew caused a major water main break downtown. Not only did the leak become an inconvenience for the city, but it also was expensive to repair.

In the evolution of water distribution, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has become a valuable asset in reducing labor requirements, improving customer service and billing, and providing a baseline of information for better data management. The question is how much more can AMI do, and how can water utilities take maximum advantage? Here are some insights and ideas.

For 20 years, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has been viewed primarily as a cost-efficient meter-reading resource — a key driver behind water utility ROI. More recently, however, utility operations increasingly rely upon AMI capabilities to cope with broader issues ranging from water scarcity to aging infrastructure. Here’s how an expanded view of AMI can benefit water utilities in both the short and long term.

Utilities that choose not to install proactive leak detection know exactly how much they are ‘saving’ by avoiding that investment. Unfortunately, they often have no idea of how much they are actually ’paying’ to forego it, since 65 to 75 percent of water leaks never surface to prove their hidden expense. Now, with challenges related to water scarcity, regulatory reporting demands, AMI implementation, and an increase in aging infrastructure, it’s a better time than ever to reevaluate those costs.