Page 60 - Green Builder January 2017 Issue

Tips, Technology and Common Sense
Solutions for a Thirsty World

Tracking Every Drop

Utilities and municipalities are harnessing smart technology
to meet their water conservation goals.

BY JULIET GRABLE

APILOT PROGRAM LAUNCHED
in Long Beach, Calif., has proven
smart meters are an effective
tool for catching leaks—and
for catching customers who are

violating mandatory conservation restrictions.

Although the program involved 200

customers—only a tiny fraction of the city’s

service area—it demonstrated that smart water

meters are a critical part of advanced metering

infrastructure (AMI), which allows two-way

communication between a utility and its

customers. Just as smart energy meters provide

detailed feedback on a customer’s energy use,

smart water meters provide detailed information

on the volume and timing of water use.

Building professionals should have a basic

understanding of the technology so they can

field questions from their clients and encourage

them to enroll in voluntary programs.

As has been shown with energy use

feedback, a customer who receives feedback

on water use is more likely to change behavior

to reduce that use.

Customers can also know instantly whether CREDIT: NEPTUNE TECHNOLOGY GROUP

certain conservation measures, such as a low-

flow toilet or a smart sprinkler, are having

an effect. Smart meters benefit the customer

and the utility by helping detect leaks. If a

customer’s usage never falls to zero within a

24-hour period, that can indicate a problem.

“The meters also save money, because they Options. Neptune Technology’s IQ water usage tool is one of two systems the city of
Dubuque, Iowa, has used to help customers track water usage.
save someone from having to physically read
the meter,” says Dean Wang, conservation

specialist for the Long Beach Water Department. the units did not require new network infrastructure or electrical

Transparent Technologies’ (www.transparenttech.com) Innov8 hook-ups. The company supplied a web-based analytics service, so

(http://bit.ly/2g3NknH) digital registers selected for the Long Beach the utilities and customers could track use. The meters sent data on

pilot work with existing meters. Because they operate on batteries flow rate and volume every five minutes, which was translated into

and communicate wirelessly via the Verizon cellular data network, easy-to-read line graphs.

58 GREEN BUILDER January/February 2017 www.greenbuildermedia.com