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7 Ways Smart Meters Save Water In an era of drought and conservation, smart meters can be utilities' best allies in the fight to preserve water supplies. By Lon W. House S mart meters have been prominent in the energy utility world and are beginning to make substantial inroads in the water utility world. Smart meters are probably more useful for the water sector than for the energy sector, and the old days of billing total water consumption during the last month or two is being phased out with the introduction of time-of-use water consumption information. Smart meter installations have reported numerous benefits, both operational and on the customer side (see Table 1). Aside from the obvious savings from reduced need for onsite meter reading, the ability to identify not just the volume of water consumption but also the timing of that consumption has significant benefits, particularly to customers, and may be a linchpin for enhanced water conservation efforts. This is particularly an issue for California, where urban water customers are under mandatory 25 percent reductions in water usage due to the lack of available snowpack contributing to the current drought. Smart Conservation Efforts Reduced customer leak losses: All smart meter programs provide automatic customer leak detection. According to the algorithm they follow, at some point in a 24-hour period for a duration specified by the water utility, customer's water consumption should drop to zero. If customer usage never drops to zero, that account is flagged for utility operators' notice. There are corrective algorithms that account for customer usage of evaporative/swamp coolers if that is a concern in the utility area. Outdoor watering day limitations: Another typical water conservation effort is to limit outdoor watering to pre- specified days, such as even-numbered days, only on Tuesday or Thursday, etc. Enforcement of this measure without smart meters requires considerable personnel expense, as someone has to physically inspect the site. With smart meter data, customers watering on the wrong days become immediately obvious. Time-of-use watering restrictions: One water conservation program that is popular is to limit outdoor watering in the daylight or afternoon hours. The enforcement of this type of program has the same issues as the outdoor watering day programs, but interval water consumption data quickly identifies customers who are not participating. 36 wateronline.com n Water Innovations Smart Meter Benefits Comments Reduced meter reading costs No need for onsite reads. Saves both regular cycle reads and special reads. Reduction in security and safety issues No need for onsite reads at dangerous or inaccessible locations. Increased customer service Resolve billing disputes. Use for identifying and explaining customer use patterns and volumes. Reduced unaccounted-for water Detect theft of service. Improved billing and cash flow Automated billing and meter reads. Improved outage information and response Identifies system outages and location. More efficient asset management Tracks and predicts changes in trends and demands. Leak detection Quickly identifies customer leaks. Allows creative rate design Can support alternative rate designs, such as water budgets instead of volumetric rates. Conservation programs Identify timing of water use (e.g., outdoor watering only on certain days). Can be used to identify indoor water uses and efficiency (e.g., toilet, shower, clothes washer, dishwasher use). Determine volumes of water consumption by time period (e.g., daily water use limits). Table 1 Source: Smart Meters and California Water Agencies: Overview and Status, California Energy Commission, CEC-500-2010-008, March 2010. Smart meters collect water consumption data with a timestamp and transfer that information to the utility. This can either be a one-way communication to the utility (AMR — automated meter reading) or a two-way communication between the utility and the individual smart meter (AMI — advanced metering infrastructure). [ ]