Otay_AMR_Case_Study_CUWCC
Using AMR and Other New Technologies to Communicate Water Loss- Otay Water
District Case Study
General Summary:
The Otay Water District (District) currently serves 49,000 accounts and over 23,000 of these
are AMR (auto meter read) meters. Approximately 1/2 of the District will have radio read
meters by the end of 2009. By the end of June, 2014, the entire District’s remaining meters;
approximately 31,000 meters will be AMR. We expect to change out an additional 4,500
meters by the end of the fiscal year and continue that trend for the next five years. The entire
change out process was planned to take 10 years.
In the near future, the District will no longer be able to rely on the eyes of its field staff to
find water waste, meter by meter. Instead, through AMR and services such as auto-dialer
system, the District is contacting customers who use more water than they did the same
month a year before. The district began using auto-dialer system in May 2007. Through the
District’s new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) phone system, a message can be recorded,
parameters established, and then the auto-dialer system leaves a message with the customer
stating that the customer’s water use is higher than for the same time last year and that they
may wish to check their irrigation system, controller system, toilets for leaks, etc. in order to
lower their water bill.
The District’s new AMR meters also have built-in dataloggers, which can primarily be used
to troubleshoot high bill complaints. AMR could also be used during water shortages to
communicate to the customer that they are irrigating outside of the accepted times.
The Districts uses the Mobile data collection: 1 way -laptops in trucks.
The District’s AMR meters are read once a month, by driving a district vehicle down the
street. Field Representatives are able to read approximately 2500 meters in 4 hours versus
700 meters in 8 hours, depending upon the route. Multiple routes now can be merged and
completed in the same time it took to read one route.
As agencies transition to AMR, staff at those agencies must realize that they will have fewer
staff out in the field to observe water loss. Using tools such as AMR with built-in dataloggers
and the auto-dialer system service will allow agencies to maintain their proactive water
conservation programs.
Departments Involved:
The Meter Maintenance Section in conjunction with Customer Service and IT lead the
implementation of the AMR program which consisted of automating 84 meter-read routes
within the District; 38 routes in the north and 46 routes in the south. As of March, 2009
there are 18 routes in the north and 16 routes in the south, totaling 34 routes completed with
all meters with radio-read capability, including all large meters within those routes.
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Quality Control:
Each year the District contracts with a company to perform 3/4" and 1" meter change outs.
Internal District staff change out meters larger than 1". The District’s meter shop along with
Customer Service plan for the timing of the changes and the routes that will be
converted. The Program started with meters that were most difficult to read, posed a hazard
or safety concern or was furthest from the District. Once these difficult and costly routes
were converted, the focus shifted to the proximity to established AMR routes.
As part of the District’s ongoing commitment to quality control, the meter reading team
does a comparison of the radio read to a manual read at least once a year. On the designated
day, laptops are loaded for regular radio reading and an additional meter reader is sent to the
same route to manually read the meter. This data is uploaded to the Districts’ system and a
comparison report is generated. Any variance greater than 3-units is reviewed; 1 unit= 100
cubic feet (HCF) or 748.5 gallons.
At the beginning of the program the comparison was done every six months. After about 45 years and as confidence was gained with the process and the new meter types, the decision
was made to go to once a year comparisons.
Points to Consider:
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Data entry of the meter exchange information. The District uses bar code scanning
technology to minimize data entry errors by field personnel. This data is uploaded to
the billing system and exception reports are generated.
Timing of meter changes is critical so as not to impede billing or cause high bills.
Meter shop works closely with customer service and the contractor to minimize any
timing errors.
Inventory control of both new meters and discarded meters.
The District uses the auto-dialer system to inform customer affected by the meter
changes that we will be working in the area.
An ID badge is issued to the contracting firm to confirm they are working for the
District.
Additional Concerns:
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Tracking of product failure rate to ensure vendor meets terms of contracts.
Loss of the "eyes" of the District in that meter readers no longer "see" all areas of
the District.
Condition of meter box and surrounding area may deteriorate over time as staff has
visual only once a year.
Safety hazards, illegal connections, fences built over meter may not be exposed in a
timely manner.
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