Water is our most precious resource but with some systems dating back a hundred years or more in the United States, our water infrastructure is in dire need of repair. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey (DWINS, 7th edition, 2023), it will take $625 billion over the next […]
Tackling Aging Infrastructure & Putting Funding Into Action
When you hear the word tackle, what image comes to mind? Perhaps you picture football (’tis the season, after all). But when we think about tackling our aging water and wastewater systems, slamming into them at the force of a linebacker might not be all that productive. Indeed, tackling aging infrastructure can be much more […]
Smart Water Meets Finance
There’s no denying that technology has pervaded our lives, both personal and professional. From our cell phones and smart watches to artificial intelligence and space exploration, we are employing innovative tools that would have been unimaginable just 50 years ago. Over the past few decades, the water industry has begun to embrace technology as well. […]
Data Doesn’t Lie: Solid-State Meters Are the Future
You wouldn’t buy a typewriter in 2021, would you? Of course not, because a PC, Mac, or even your cell phone far exceeds anything you can accomplish with a typewriter. So, why stick with your old meters — which, despite having a long lifespan, accumulate more and more issues as they age — while upgrading […]
Got Water?
Got water? Sure, most of us in the United States do. But do we ever stop to smell the roses of odorless fresh potable water? Do we reflect on what reliable water means for the economic life of our community? Texas’s harsh deep freeze earlier this year reminded us Texans of our vulnerability, and after […]
4 Ways the New Administration Can Impact Our Communities by Supporting the Water Industry
At Master Meter, we spend time with water utility employees to get to know our customers. We’re friends with customer service agents, utility managers, and field technicians, like Irma Mendoza of Round Rock, TX and Jeff Price of Mansfield, TX. We know what drives them to come to work every day. These amazing people like […]
Ravenna, Ohio Gets Wet With Smart Water
Investing in a smart meter solution is a step toward improving future quality of life Investing in America’s water and wastewater infrastructure is an investment in America’s quality of life. There are obvious sustainability benefits. It is known that replacing deteriorating and leaking pipes reduces water loss and sewer spills. But did you know that […]
Where to Find Growth During an Economic Downturn
Where to find growth during an economic downturn is a challenge. After the year we’ve all just had, where learning to be flexible and flying by the seat of our pants wasn’t optional, it may feel a little ridiculous to even attempt goal-setting in 2021. After all, the woes of 2020 have thus far appeared […]
Missing Something? Address Water Loss Head On
Water loss too often gets dismissed. Yet, if you are talking to your water utility’s board of directors and 30% of your presentation wasn’t heard or seen by them, you’d stop immediately to diagnose the problem. If it was beyond your capabilities, you’d grab an expert to help solve the issue. What about water loss […]
A Call for Collaboration During a Pandemic
Pandemic Collaboration In the midst of a pandemic, the President of the United States signed an Executive Order giving the water industry an opportunity to unite together. It asks us to address aging water infrastructure, water supply reliability, improve water quality, and sets up a framework and structure for the federal government to collaborate and […]
Webcast: Unlocking the Value of Smart Metering for Water Utilities
Master Meter is privileged to sponsor this important webcast featuring Jacobs Engineering Group and their insights into Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) for water utilities. Click Here to VIEW the webcast. Jacobs is not associated with Master Meter and was not compensated in any way for this presentation.
AI & the Water Sector
Much has been speculated already about how emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence can help out many sectors, including the water sector. It might seem like a far-fetched idea for some utilities; however, as we are well into 2020 now, some companies are already helping to forge this into reality.
THE 4-1-1 ON RURAL WATER
Since the National Rural Water Association will soon hold its WaterPro conference in Nashville this September, it seems like a great time to touch on some of the current issues in rural water. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, though. Next year’s conference will be held in Phoenix, and the Rural Water Rally will […]
(ULTRA)SOUND OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGING METERING INFRASTRUCTURE
Most people accept that major purchases in life — e.g., housing, automobiles, appliances — come with cyclical budgeting impacts that require amortizing costs over the long term, through savings or borrowing. Why should anyone expect the national water infrastructure to be any different? The reality is that relatively long life-expectancies for major water infrastructure components […]
Taking Control of Leaks: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Clint Eastwood, the film industry icon, once said, “Aging can be fun if you lay back and enjoy it” #SaidNoWaterUtilitiesDirectorEver. Sorry Mr. Eastwood, you’ve clearly never experienced life in water utilities. The water industry is constantly grappling with old versus new. The moment a piece of infrastructure is put in the ground, it’s aging. If […]
Analysts: Big Data A Water Infrastructure Solution
As the water infrastructure crisis frustrates policymakers across the country, an increasing number of water managers are looking to sensors and big data as ways to cut costs and save customers from rate hikes. Busted water mains and leaky pipes are challenging water systems across the country. The definitive report on infrastructure, issued last month for the first time in four years, put a spotlight on the deep challenges the nation faces in upgrading its water and wastewater systems.
The Smartest Cities: Sensors In Municipal Life
How can sensors make cities smarter? A group in the U.K. known as the Flood Network provides one example. The group installs sensors in streams, river, and even ditches to send flood warnings to local residents, according to Sourceable.