AMR, AMI AND METERING RESOURCES
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SaaS technologies for metering data management (MDM) offer opportunities well beyond sending bills. But water utilities first need to understand their options before choosing a provider.
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Advancements in cellular-based advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) make it a viable way to provide reliability and cost-effectiveness in practical solutions for water utilities and municipalities.
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As the water industry continues to adopt more high-tech and data-centric solutions, it is important to consider the communications infrastructure that supports such investments.
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Ultrasonic clamp-on meters offer a cost-effective alternative to traditional electromagnetic meters (also called mag meters) and other metering technologies for non-billing applications.
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Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is particularly impactful in drought prone areas, incentivizing water conservation and alerting both service providers and consumers to possible leaks in real time. Researchers at UC Berkeley have used FirmoGraphs’ database of meeting minutes and capital improvement plans to analyze recent trends in AMI adoption among California drinking water agencies.
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The top 1000 largest business customers have a combined consumption of around 26 million m3of water. For these companies, Vitens has launched an AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) tender, that provides realtime information on their water usage and invoicing.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.