Enhancing Water Management for Cities and Towns with Smart Water Meters and Advanced Metering Infrastructure

 Article Takeaways

• Modernize Water Systems with Smart Meters: Cities and towns can reduce non-revenue water loss, improve billing accuracy, and enhance operational efficiency through smart water meters and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).
• Real-Time Monitoring and Leak Detection: Smart meters deliver continuous data for fast leak detection, remote monitoring, and automated alerts—empowering cities to proactively prevent water loss during leaks or emergencies.
• Proven Community Impact: Smart water meter projects across the country demonstrate the tangible benefits of AMI, saving nonrevenue water, reducing operating costs, and protecting infrastructure during extreme weather events. These success stories showcase how data-driven water management directly enhances community resilience and financial sustainability.
• Data-Driven Utility Management: Automated data collection and analytics empower utilities to identify usage patterns, optimize distribution, and plan infrastructure improvements more effectively.
• Performance-Based Funding Options: Through energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs), municipalities can fund smart meter projects with no up-front capital, paying for upgrades through guaranteed savings and increased revenues.

Smart Water Management for Cities and Towns

Smart water meters reduce non-revenue water loss for public works departments by enabling more accurate and efficient meter readings. Improved data visibility enables municipalities to understand water usage patterns better, identify billing inconsistencies, encourage water conservation behaviors, and expand revenue opportunities.

With advanced electronic water meters, utilities can achieve fast leak detection, remote monitoring, and water revenue optimization. Smart water meter solutions can start saving your city money while positioning you for a more sustainable future

Understanding Smart Water Meters

What is a Smart Water Meter?

A smart water meter, also known as a digital water meter, is a modern device that measures and monitors water consumption in homes, businesses, and other facilities. Unlike traditional water meters, which rely on manual readings by utility personnel, smart water meters feature various sensors and communication capabilities that enable automated data collection and transmission.

Smart water meters enable utilities to track and manage water usage accurately. As a result, cities that leverage smart water management save money and operate more efficiently.

How Do Smart Water Meters Work?

Digital water meters are wireless and rely on solid-state technology in compact, weatherproof housing. They have sensors that measure the water flow as it passes through them. These sensors can detect even the smallest amounts of water usage, making them more accurate than traditional meters. The meters continuously collect data about water usage and transmit it via wireless or cellular connections to the water utility for monitoring and billing purposes.

With remote monitoring and real-time water usage data, utilities can proactively identify unusual patterns in water usage from the smart water meters. For example, a sudden and unexpected increase in water flow might indicate a leak in the plumbing system. The meter can send alerts to notify homeowners or the utility company about potential leaks. The wireless water meter reading system empowers the utility to shut off water until the leak is resolved remotely.

Smart water infrastructure for utilities​ have more benefits than one—with these efficiencies, water utilities can divert personnel resources from manual meter readings to other key areas, safeguarding against labor capacity issues.

Are There Different Types of Smart Water Meters?

There are several different types of smart water meters, each with various features and capabilities. The choice of smart water meter type depends on factors such as the specific needs of the utility company, the level of data granularity required, and the available infrastructure for data communication.

Here are some common types of smart water meter solutions:

• Ultrasonic Meters: Ultrasonic meters use sound waves to measure water flow. They are highly accurate and can measure water flow bidirectionally (forward and reverse flow). These water meters are often used in applications where precise measurements are essential, such as industrial settings.
• Electromagnetic Meters: Electromagnetic meters use magnetic fields to measure water flow. They are known for their accuracy and are often used in larger pipes and commercial or industrial applications.
• Vortex Flow Meters: Vortex flow meters utilize the vortex shedding principle to measure water flow. They are suitable for clean and dirty water applications and can be used in smart metering systems.
• Hybrid Meters: Some smart water meters combine multiple measurement technologies, such as ultrasonic and electromagnetic, to enhance accuracy and versatility.

What are the Benefits of Smart Water Meters?

Smart water metering systems offer numerous benefits to water utilities and their customers. They help improve water management, reduce water waste, enhance customer service, and contribute to the efficient and sustainable use of water resources. These benefits make automatic water meters an important tool in modernizing water infrastructure and ensuring the availability of clean water for communities.

The top ten benefits of smart water metering technology include:

1. Accurate Billing: Smart metering of water provides precise and real-time data on water usage. This leads to accurate billing, reducing non-revenue water. Customers are billed for the exact amount of water they use.
2. Leak Detection: Smart water meters can detect abnormal water usage patterns, which will identify leaks within a property’s plumbing. Some smart water meter solutions can also detect leaks within the water distribution system. Early detection allows for timely repairs and prevents water loss.
3. Water Revenue Optimization: Reducing the amount of unbilled water due to accurate meter readings and timely leak detection can increase utility revenues.
4. Reduced Operational Costs: Automated data collection and remote monitoring capabilities reduce the need for manual meter reading, saving time and labor costs for water utilities using remote water meter monitoring features.
5. Data Analytics: Smart water meters generate a wealth of actionable data that utility companies can analyze to identify trends, optimize water distribution, and plan infrastructure upgrades more effectively. This data-driven approach can lead to more efficient water operations.
6. Remote Access and Control: Utility companies can remotely manage water services, making disconnecting or reconnecting services easier. For example, remote shut-offs can be used during winter storms to prevent significant water loss and property damage due to freezing temperatures.
7. Scalability: Most advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technologies allow for real-time water data and provide a platform to enhance other services, such as digital distribution leak detection, pressure monitoring, water quality, and district metering.
8. Real-Time Monitoring for Customers: Water customers with residential smart water meters can monitor their water usage in real-time through online portals or mobile apps, empowering them to make informed decisions about their water consumption and smart water use.
9. Longevity and Reliability: Electronic water meters are often designed to be more durable and reliable than traditional meters, reducing maintenance and replacement costs for utility companies.
10.  Water Conservation: Smart meters encourage water conservation by providing consumers with real-time information on their water usage. Customers can identify and address excessive water usage, leaks, or wasteful habits, leading to reduced water consumption. Promoting water conservation helps ensure a stable water supply for growing populations.

Case Study: The City of Jacksonville, TX

In 2018, the City of Jacksonville had aged water meters and inefficient metering. They sought an energy savings performance contract to upgrade to digital water meters. Once implemented, the smart meters and AMI technology provided the City and residents with more visibility into their water usage with secure, online monitoring tools.

A critical part of the smart metering infrastructure was adding a radio-controlled auto-shut-off feature to shut off all residential meters during a natural disaster. This feature proved invaluable during the February 2021 Texas freeze. When temperatures dropped well below freezing, the City began auto-shut-offs. This saved the City millions of gallons of potential water loss and prevented devastating damage to the water pipe infrastructure.

Greg Smith, the Former City Manager, commented at the time, “If it were not for this project, our water loss from this storm would have been staggering, and our residents could have seen a much worse situation. But with this project, we were able to proactively save water and prevent countless homes from extended water damage.”

As a result of this project, the 2021 Smart 50 Awards program recognized the City of Jacksonville project as one of 50 projects globally for its innovation and community impact.

Advanced Metering Infrastructures (AMI)

What is AMI?

AMI refers to the sophisticated and integrated system smart water meters use to collect, manage, and analyze water meter data. Key components of an AMI system include smart water meters, a communication network, water data management software, online customer portals, remote meter monitoring and control, security measures, and billing integration.

What Types of Communication Technologies Does AMI Use?

Advanced metering infrastructures use various communication technologies to collect and transmit data from smart meters to central data systems. The choice of communication technology depends on factors such as geographic terrain, available infrastructure, budget, and the desired level of data reliability and speed. Below are some common communication technologies used in AMI:

• Radio Frequency (RF):
  • RF Mesh: In this setup, smart water meters form a mesh network to communicate with neighboring meters. Data hops from one meter to another until it reaches a collector or data concentrator, which forwards the data to the central system. RF mesh networks are known for their reliability and can cover large areas.
  • RF Fixed Network: In this configuration, smart water meters communicate directly with fixed access points or base stations. These access points relay data to the central system. RF fixed networks are suitable for urban and suburban metering of water.
• Cellular Networks (4G and 5G): Smart meters can use cellular networks, much like mobile phones, to transmit data. This is particularly useful in remote or rural areas where other communication options may be limited. The availability of high-speed cellular networks, such as 4G and 5G, has enhanced the reliability and speed of data transmission.
• LoRaWAN and LPWAN: Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) technologies like LoRaWAN are suitable for long-range, low-power data transmission. They can be used when the meters are spread over a wide area.
• Hybrid Networks: In some cases, a combination of communication technologies may be used within an AMI system. For example, RF mesh networks may be used for meter-to-meter communication, while cellular or Ethernet connections are used to backhaul the central system.

How to Get Started With a Smart Water Meter Project

Funding with a Performance Contract

To help finance water meter replacement projects without incurring capital spending, public owners can use energy savings performance contracting legislation (ESPC) through an accredited energy savings company or ESCO. This flexible funding mechanism enables municipalities to utilize the increase in billable revenues, energy savings, operational savings, and avoided capital costs to fund critical infrastructure improvements, including water meter efficiency enhancements. As a result, no up-front capital investment is required. Project costs are 100% financed and are repaid with guaranteed savings and revenue increases.

Selecting a Qualified Partner

If smart water meters sound like an excellent solution for your city or town, the best approach is to engage with a licensed, qualified ESCO (energy services company) with a track record of successful projects. Even better, consider selecting a NAESCO-accredited design-build company.

They offer sole responsibility for the design and installation of the project. And if done through a performance contract, they are responsible for any and all performance guarantees. They will serve as a one-stop shop for the project, providing comprehensive services from project design and cost estimation to construction management, from start to finish. This approach ensures single-source accountability, offering peace of mind from a single, unified contract.

How to Implement a Smart Water Meter Project?

After selecting an ESCO provider, a smart water metering project begins with an energy and utility audit. In this audit, the ESCO identifies opportunities and potential savings areas and then recommends any number of energy conservation measures and water revenue optimization options. Together, the utility and the ESCO agree upon the project scope for the smart water meter project. The ESCO guarantees minimum energy savings, increased water revenues and efficiencies, and operational savings to cover the project’s cost. Once the project is completed, the ESCO performs measurement and verification of the project’s performance to ensure guarantees are achieved or exceeded.

                Related Reading: Why consider a water meter replacement project?

Additional Smart Water Meter Success Stories

We’ve been helping clients upgrade to smart water meters since 2018. Our team of experts has worked with cities of all sizes to upgrade infrastructure and take a step toward smart metering management with AMI. A few projects include:

1. City of Beeville: The city replaced all 5,192 existing meters with smart water meters and a secure AMI network. The technology has provided more visibility into their water usage and resources with remote monitoring.
2. City of Waxahachie: The city installed 14,413 smart water meters to ensure it could more accurately track water usage and reduce manual work processes.
3. City of Clyde: In addition to water treatment plant upgrades, the city replaced 1,600 meters with smart water meters to keep up with steady growth and proactively improve its aging water service infrastructure.

What is the Future of Smart Water Meters?

Evolving Water Metering technologies

Wireless water meter technology continues to evolve, driven by advancements in sensors, communication systems, data analytics, and sustainability goals. Some evolving technologies and trends include IoT integration, advanced leak detection, battery efficiency, and blockchain for data security.

Integration with IoT and Smart City Initiatives

Smart water meters can be integrated with other smart city technologies to enhance water resource management, promote environmental responsibility, and contribute to the overall livability and sustainability of urban areas. This integration requires effective data management, secure communication protocols, and collaboration among city departments and stakeholders to achieve its full potential. A few examples of AMI integration with smart city initiatives include:

• Smart Grids: AMI can integrate with smart grids to optimize water distribution. Smart water meters provide real-time data on water usage, enabling utilities to manage their water resources more efficiently and remotely. Smart grids help to reduce water loss in the distribution network.
• Environmental Monitoring: Smart water meters within AMI systems can contribute to environmental monitoring by providing data on water usage patterns. This information helps cities assess the impact of water consumption on local ecosystems and identify potential areas for conservation.
• Waste Management: Integration with waste management systems is not only about waste collection but also includes monitoring water usage in recycling and wastewater treatment processes. AMI data can help optimize water consumption in these processes, reducing costs and environmental impact.
• Public Safety: During emergencies like floods or droughts, AMI data can be crucial for assessing water availability and quality. This information aids emergency response efforts and ensures residents can access safe drinking water during a crisis.
• Environmental Sustainability: By encouraging water conservation and efficient resource management, smart AMI solutions contribute to the environmental sustainability of a city. It aligns with broader sustainability goals by promoting responsible water usage.
• Data Analytics and Visualization: Integration with data analytics platforms allows cities to analyze water consumption data from AMI alongside other urban data sources. This holistic view helps identify trends and correlations that inform better decision-making.
• Urban Planning: AMI data can support urban planning by providing insights into water demand, usage patterns, and infrastructure requirements. This information aids in designing water distribution networks that meet the needs of a growing population.
• Resilience and Disaster Recovery: AMI systems for smart water metering solutions are vital during emergencies like water main breaks or contamination incidents. Real-time data helps utilities respond promptly, maintain essential services, and ensure public health and safety.
• Citizen Engagement: Integrating AMI data into citizen engagement platforms allows residents to access information about their water usage and conservation efforts. This transparency fosters community involvement in sustainable water practices.

If you are interested in learning what it takes to become a smart city, find more information in our guide to developing smart cities.

Get Started Today

Smart water meters delivered through proven AMI technologies are a safe approach to modernizing commercial and residential water meters. They are an essential step in becoming a smart city or town while staying proactive in updating critical water infrastructure systems. The automated meter system ensures water usage is accurately and efficiently tracked, saving time and money for water utilities and their customers.

Interested in learning how much your city or town could be saving? Contact us today, and our talented team will help uncover your potential savings with smart water meter solutions.