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Industry Insight wateronline.com ■ Water Online The Magazine 4 I n many technical industries, the interoperability of devices is commonplace. For example, buying a printer for your home computer is usually done without much consideration about how the unit plugs into the computer or what language the printer employs to engage the computer system. Such is not the case for obtaining meter readings from today's AMR (via mobile radio collection) and AMI (via radio and cellular collection) systems. The water meter industry has made meters compatible with most AMR and AMI devices that collect meter readings. However, this is where most systems stop being compatible. It is not possible to easily take an AMR transmitter and match it to another manufacturer's data collection system. With the growing use of external devices such as acoustic monitors for leak detection, pressure and water-quality moni- tors, automated valves, and other monitors on the horizon, utilities have lim- ited options. The reluc- tance shown by vendors to offer interoperability is accompanied by a parallel issue of standards in general for AMR and AMI devices. How manufacturers differ in their devices with regard to batter- ies, wiring, housing, and transmitting power is not easy to discern without a heavy investment in consultants, pilots, and the time-consuming acquisition of self-knowledge from multiple sources. This is a somewhat alarming situation for a technology that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars with a promise of lasting 15 to 20 years and providing essential billing and customer service data. This issue was recognized by the Water Research Foundation. It generated a research project to investigate and look for a solution through its emerging issues program. The goals of this innovative Water Research Foundation project are to identify requirements and specification criteria for water utility AMR/AMI systems and to outline approaches to develop and implement standards that address water utility needs. Collaboration Is Key The project to assemble utilities, prioritize their needs, and look for a way toward standards and interoperability was granted to American Water and its Innovation group. From the beginning, investigative research relied heavily on utilities and their views on the most important issues in this area. Water utilities, including the City of Houston, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), Scottsdale, United Water, DC Water, LA Water & Power, and Las Vegas Valley Water District, are among more than 50 utilities that have been actively engaged in the project to date. The project's tasks were made easier through the support of many utilities — they recognized that there needs to be a better way than to simply go back to the same vendor because the effort to change is made so difficult. The inertia within AWWA Standards to start such an effort and the view of most vendors to not change continued to drive the project in its development stages to rely on the collective utility knowledge and the research team to progress the work. The effort by the water utilities is not unlike the experience in the electric industry, where utilities provided the initial drive. Water Utilities Push For AMI And AMR Standardization Through research organization collaboration and teamwork, a number of major U.S. utilities are fighting for freedom of choice in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automatic meter reading (AMR). By David Hughes As AMI becomes more common, utilities seek flexibility from equipment providers.