In the eyes of many consumers, water is like air: vital to survival and assumed to be always accessible. They grudgingly accept the idea of paying for water, or more precisely, paying for the service of cleaning and delivering it to their tap, but it is much more difficult for them to accept the idea that water won’t be available at any price. Because of this, utilities must include conservation planning and education in their resilience strategy, just as much as they do protected infrastructure and cybersecurity.

 

Communication of conservation topics within the context of water usage vs water loss, population expansion, demand forecasts, and conservation education campaigns is preferable to just implementing strict water rationing when a crisis emerges. However, it is dependent upon effective utility action supported by reliable data on source water availability, consumption patterns, and non-revenue Water (NRW) losses acquired through field monitoring on an AMI platform.

 

Thankfully, most of the infrastructure required to encourage and manage water conservation may be put in place gradually to provide worthwhile rates of return in lowering NRW losses even before scarcity difficulties develop. Utilities can utilize this information to drive more cost-effective steps to save water and budget expenses through improved metering, leak reduction, and distribution system monitoring. As a result, they are better equipped to handle any gaps between water available and water consumed.

 

Utilities stay ahead of the curve with effective water conservation planning and compliance monitoring supported by highly granular data from daily, hourly, and overnight readings. First, in light of the growing water scarcity, it helps in managing both conservation and compliance education or enforcement initiatives. Second, it demonstrates to customers how successful leak prevention programs save water, prevent rate hikes, and shield customers from unpleasant billing surprises caused by leaks that occur outside of their billing meters.

 

Working with vendors who comprehend operational decision-making and the ins and outs of federal, local, and third-party capital finance can help utilities get the AMI tools they urgently require. This will help make sustainability ambitions a reality. A thorough approach to water operations management, which includes operational visibility, event management, leak management, hydraulic modeling, seasonal demand forecasting, predictive maintenance, and more, can lay the groundwork for both current operational cost savings and future water scarcity readiness.

 

To learn more about the Avanti Company and the services and products we provide, including  flow meters and on-site flow meter testing, please visit us online or call us at 800.284.5231.