A common drive among inventors is the hope of building “a better mouse trap.” There may be products that satisfy their users every day, but are crying out for improvement. One company has found that opportunity in water meters, taking a technology that has worked in the industrial space and offering it for the first time for residential applications.
Web-based software services, more commonly called cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS), are being implemented globally by users in virtually all types of organizations.
Electromagnetic water meters are becoming more and more popular for bulk measurement of residential and commercial drinking water, especially as pricing and metering gain traction as tools for more efficient use of water and water conservation.
Bethpage Water District’s (New York) outdated water metering system led to customer service concerns, such as a slow response time for detecting leaks and insufficient data for billing inquiries.
Leakage is one of the primary concerns for water utilities worldwide, yet North American investment in water loss has, historically, not addressed the problem with sufficient urgency or expertise. Slowly, the regulatory lag to efficiently control leakage is beginning to shift, however.
Salisbury-Rowan Utilities in Salisbury, N.C. prides itself on providing excellent customer service. While its commercial and industrial customers comprise just 15 percent of total customer accounts, they generate 65 percent of the utility’s monthly billed volume. That’s why, when it came time to select a new meter reading solution, the ability to receive data-driven analytics to better understand, monitor and manage its operations was a top priority for the utility’s leadership team.
Most recently, Frankfort Village officials decided to replace its water and electric meters and implement an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network to increase the operational efficiencies of its water and electric infrastructure in ways that would help improve employee safety, water and energy conservation and customer service while also reducing operational costs.
The majority of the water in the city of Simi Valley, California, is provided by Ventura County Waterworks District 8, serving approximately 26,000 metered connections — 22,000 of which are now read by Neptune’s R900® System.
The city of Yakima services approximately 19,000 accounts within 27 square miles in the Yakima Valley. Frequent droughts, above average water loss and inaccurate meters prompted the city to search for a vendor who could provide a turnkey solution complete with a quality product line. The selected vendor also needed to have an endpoint that could withstand the extreme conditions experienced inside their meter pits including high humidity and varying temperatures.
Dried up reservoirs, cracked dirt and empty swimming pools are just a few of the visual reminders of the ongoing California drought. But what most people don’t see is the water providers, like Mark Sprague at the City of Fountain Valley, working tirelessly to keep the water running.
While utilities use sophisticated systems to supply clean water as well as collect and treat wastewater, the effort to manage incidents and outages leaves room for improvement. Water utilities often rely on manual processes to handle customer reports of leaks, loss-of-service or quality issues.
Bethpage Water District’s (New York) outdated water metering system led to customer service concerns, such as a slow response time for detecting leaks and insufficient data for billing inquiries. By installing new meters and advanced metering analytics software, the district increased visibility into its operations, resulting in greater revenue and improved customer service.
The biggest flood in decades roared through the Village of Johnson City, NY, one day in September 2011, and the water department lost everything, including their office, which was submerged in several feet of water. Working with Neptune Technology Group, Johnson City began installation of its new Neptune meters, along with E-Coder®)R900i™ combination solid state absolute encoder/RF meter interface units.
CMU was in the process of replacing more than 4,000 outdated water and electric meters when it determined that the project also presented an ideal opportunity to implement a systemwide advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network.
DESIGN
The water utility industry is changing as the cost of treating and delivering water is constantly rising. Utilities need to be more efficient while utilizing fewer resources. Increased consumer awareness and higher water bills must be met with responsive customer service. Information is being demanded to analyze billing reads and consumption patterns. Large end-users are looking for techniques to assist with conservation and cost controls. Clearly, demands upon water industry professionals are increasing.
The Vehicle Gateway Base Station (VGB) is a portable radio-based device used for the acquisition of data from utility meters and other field-based diagnostic instruments. The VGB is compact and portable, allowing it to be used in any vehicle providing 12-volt DC power.
How can your water utility protect present investments in technology while building onto those investments as you need, at your own pace?
Mueller Systems extends its commitment to providing utilities with smart metering solutions designed to increase efficiencies, conserve energy and water, and improve customer service, with the addition of MegaNet™, a high-powered, long-range, fixed-network advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. The MegaNet system complements Mueller Systems’ other metering solutions, including the Mi.Net® infrastructure network AMI system and HotRod™ automated meter reading solution.
Using the mobileRDM application, workers can push a button to receive status information, read the meter, connect or disconnect service and run diagnostics.
The Sensus OMNI™ Verification (V²) portable test meter gives you a fast and efficient solution to test the accuracy and performance of your large meters. The test meter will quickly become an important part of your water system’s maintenance operation. Piping and flow pattern irregularities can influence your meters’ accuracy and testing them in-line provides a truer indication of in-service accuracy. With OMNI V² you no longer have to take your meters out of service to test them.
The STAR Network for gas utilities offers two-way communications that go beyond AMR by securely and accurately reading gas meters electronically – without meter readers, drive-by vans, or handhelds.
EcoMaster represents Master Meter’s latest innovation in the science of material design and construction.
The LoRa Alliance is a non-profit association of members who are collaborating together to drive the adoption of a communication protocol that offers long range, long battery life and open architecture. For water utilities specifically, the LoRa wide area network (WAN) would allow devices from multiple manufacturers to be able to communicate with each other across long distances.
With ever more sophisticated metering systems and software, utilities are racing to gain data-driven insights about their network beyond the traditional consumption metrics for billing purposes. As Christine Scorza, Senior Director of Product Management Software for Aclara explains in this Water Online interview, revenue assurance, leak detection, and even meter right-sizing have all become possible beyond billing with the advancement of sensors, big data storage and analytics in the water industry.
Aclara Technologies has been on a tear over the past 12 months. Acquiring General Electric’s meter business and the installation business Smart Grid Solutions. Rebranding the business and digging deeper into its customers’ needs to create metering solutions for the long run.
Historically, a mechanical water meter has lost accuracy over its life time as parts wear and its mechanics deteriorate. However, the new Sonata meter from Master Meter is a non-moving parts product utilizing ultrasonic flow measurement sensor technology to help reduce inaccurate water measurement.
In a time of pervasive drought throughout the Western United States, combined with the relatively newfound ability to account for every ounce of water treated and distributed, it’s no surprise that huge emphasis has been placed on smart, data-savvy metering.
Turning off water service for non-payment is one of the hardest parts of the job for utility workers. It can also be dangerous as agitated consumers can become verbally and sometimes physically abusive seeing their water service shut off. A new remotely-controlled meter helps remove workers from the chance of physical confrontation.
Working with smart meters and sensors, the FlexNet® communication network securely transmits and receives water distribution data.
Every day you work to optimize your operations, protect quality, find innovative solutions, and reduce costs.
BEACON Advanced Metering Analytics (AMA) combines the power of an intuitive software suite driven by ORION AMI technology to transform meter reading data into meaningful information that optimizes your utility management.
Water Meters|Automatic Meter Reading Systems|Fire Service Meters|Control Instrumentation
Maximize efficiencies. Enhance revenue. Improve customer service. Conserve precious natural resources. You can do it all with ARB® Utility Management Systems™ from Neptune. Since 1892, Neptune has provided utility metering systems that save time, money, and labor.
Mueller Water Products, Inc. manufactures and markets products and services that are used in the transmission and distribution of safe, clean drinking water and in water treatment facilities throughout North America.
Water Meter Manufacturer|National Chain of Distributors for Sales and Service|Award-Winning AMR Wireless RF Meters
Badger Meter is a leading manufacturer and marketer of flow measurement and control products, serving water utilities, municipalities and industrial customers worldwide. Measuring a variety of liquids, from potable water to oil and lubricants, to industrial processes, our products are known for their high degree of accuracy, long-lasting durability, and their ability to provide valuable and timely measurement information to our customers.
Aclara is a world-class supplier of smart infrastructure technologies to water, gas and electric utilities globally. Over 700 utilities in nine countries rely on proven Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Visit us at www.Aclara.com and follow us on Twitter @AclaraSolutions.
ABOUT AMR, AMI & METERING
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) is a system and process used to remotely collect water meter data without the physical presence of personnel at the reading point. The system can be configured to read multiple meters at exactly the same point in time such as midnight or at the end of every month. Automatic Meter Readers (AMR) also known as SMART Meters afford suppliers with a cost effective solution to meter reading. Automatic meter readers use a real time wireless communication network to connect digital water meters with a central management system. Digital water meters use ultrasonic measurement technology to provide precise meter readings. AMR is a key driver of efficiency for water utilities by lowering costs by optimizing maintenance interventions and lowering reading operations. An effective AMR system can only work if the water meter has a pulse out where a radio transmitter will be attached to it. Multiple meter readings will then be transmitted to a device called the repeater. Using GPRS the readings will be transmitted to a server. The data can then be obtained from the server for use. AMR devices incorporate smart image recognition technology (OCR – Optical Character Recognition), BPL (Broadband Power line) as well as PLC (Power line Communications) technologies.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) are the systems beyond simply the meters that allow utility professionals to not only collect and analyze water usage, but also communicate back to metering devices, either on request or on a schedule. These systems include electronic/digital hardware and software providing continuously available remote communications. A typical AMI solution equips the customer with advanced solid state, electronic AMR meters that collect time-based data. These meters have the ability to transmit the collected data through commonly available fixed networks such as Broadband over Power Line (BPL), Power Line Communications (PLC), Fixed Radio Frequency (RF) networks, and public networks (e.g., landline, cellular, paging). The meter data are received by the AMI host system and sent to the Meter Data Management System (MDMS) that manages data storage and analysis to provide the information in useful form to the utility.
Utilities are turning toward advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems as part of larger “Smart Grid” initiatives. AMI extends current advanced meter reading (AMR) technology by providing two way meter communications, allowing commands to be sent toward the home for multiple purposes, including “time-of-use” pricing information, demand-response actions, or remote service disconnects.
