AMR, AMI AND METERING RESOURCES

• Connecting Every Drop: Are Your Water-Loss And Conservation Efforts Up To Date?

  A new, peer-reviewed study published on Nature.com confirms what water utilities know and confront every day — water scarcity is already a problem, and its growth is forcing action now. Fortunately, there are proven, although not yet widely adopted, tools available to utilities to combat and resolve this threat cost-effectively and faster than conventional methods. Here are tangible steps that can be taken to meet such current and future challenges.

• Shifting To Cellular Solutions Underpins Long-Term Resiliency And Stability

  System longevity is a growing concern for water utilities of all sizes and locations. One of the biggest obstacles in achieving this goal is the use of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) that leverages fixed network communications. Not only do fixed networks require significant expertise to build and manage, but a shrinking workforce is also making it difficult to replace institutional knowledge when those experts retire. Additionally, emerging cybersecurity threats are making fixed networks a heavy load for utilities to bear.

• Achieving Better Visibility With Less Work Through Software As A Service

  Operating a water treatment and distribution system is difficult enough on its own, but the job gets even more complex for utility managers struggling to harness their metering data. Those lacking a comprehensive solution are likely dealing with older data, outdated software, and low visibility into their system. However, there is a cost-effective solution that overcomes all these challenges.

• How To Get Acoustic Leak Detection For The Price Of An AMI Meter

  Whatever number a utility estimates as its non-revenue-water (NRW) loss rate — 20 percent, 30 percent, or more — the willingness to address it is often inversely proportional to the cost of doing so. Now, leak detection options that include acoustic monitoring as a built-in feature of residential water meter replacement are cutting the costs and complexity of identifying NRW losses and recapturing lost revenues.

• Deconstructing The Master Meter Brand

  There is more to a brand beyond its associations with a specific technology. There’s brand history. How did a brand come to be? A brand’s culture drives the company’s evolving strategy and purpose. And then there is the crew behind the brand, which ultimately delivers on the brand promise. Incredibly, for a 40-year-old company, Master Meter’s management team represents nearly 250 years of utility market experience.

• Las Vegas Valley Water District Utilizes Field Tools App And iPhones To Expand Functionality

  The Itron Field Tools mobile app has allowed for our Field Technicians to use their iPhones as a multifunctional device. The Field Tools App also allows us to upgrade with minimal involvement from our IT teams. Testing the application prior to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) release allowed us to provide feedback making the acceptance level high for our end users. The App is easy to use enabling for quick, simple and minimal training in a virtual meeting environment. The Itron Mobile Radio also helped eliminate previous issues with antenna breakage on the FC300 handheld.

• SWAN Corner: Unlock Data To Improve Water Distribution System Operations

  Water distribution system infrastructures are designed to deliver drinking water to end users, but utilities are continually faced with distinct challenges to fulfill this fundamental objective. For example, these utilities improve customer service by delivering water with high pressure, but on the other hand, water conservation policies push them to minimize water distribution leaks. For this reason, water utilities invest heavily in SCADA and telemetry technologies to support operational decisions. However, unlocking historical operational data and fusing it with other data (such as billing information from AMR/AMI networks) to generate actionable insights has proven difficult.

• Got Water? Regional Water Supply & The Economy

  Got water? Sure, most of us in the United States do. But do we ever stop to smell the roses of odorless fresh potable water? Do we reflect on what reliable water means for the economic life of our community? Texas’s harsh deep freeze earlier this year reminded us Texans of our vulnerability, and after $200B in damages, it gave us a glimpse of how life looks without the core services that we take for granted daily.

• Listening For — And Finding — The Leaks That Can’t Be Seen

  Decades ago, farmers and ranchers around San Marcos, Texas, formed a utility to get water to cattle. Today, Crystal Clear Special Utility District (CCSUD) serves not only rural operations but swaths of a growing metropolis stretching from San Antonio to Austin, providing water to nearly 6,000 connections.

• Making Every Drop Count During Drought And Fire Season

  The year 2020 was truly devastating for wildfires. From California to Australia, the world got a firsthand glimpse into how warmer, drier conditions are enabling harsher periods of drought – resulting in longer fire seasons and greater water scarcity.