When utilities observe Fix a Leak Week (on March 14-20 this year), they mostly communicate outwardly to residents, informing their customers to check their faucets, toilet flappers, or garden hoses for drips, which can add up to a lot of water waste. But what if we as an industry took this opportunity to get our own houses in order? Fix a Leak Week can then serve as a call-to-action to focus on water loss within the utility’s system and resolve those issues. This Fix a Leak Week, let’s solve leaks in all parts of the system — not only in the home but before the water even reaches those homes!
Water can be lost in a couple of different ways, whether through physical leaks in what’s called real loss by the American Water Works Association, or apparent loss, when water goes unbilled because of meter inaccuracies, system data errors, or unauthorized use. You could call those “leaks in the data.”
Water loss is an important issue across the country, but especially in water-scarce regions like the Southwest, from West Texas to Southern California. It affects any utility’s bottom line when the water it treats goes unbilled. All that energy, effort, and money spent on treating and pumping precious — possibly scarce — water goes down the metaphorical drain. Because managing waste begins with understanding where it occurs, precise ultrasonic meters and intuitive meter data management systems from Master Meter will improve utility water loss control measures.
Installing Master Meter Sonata and Octave Ultrasonic Meters throughout your utility system coupled with Allegro Advanced Meter Infrastructure allows you to collect accurate data in real-time. Once the data is collected, Harmony Meter Data Management (MDM) software provides the analysis tools to identify where in the system real or apparent water loss is occurring. In short, putting your meter data in the hands of a trusted MDM is the best way to resolve your leaky data issues.
So, what are you waiting for? During Fix a Leak Week this year, call your local Master Meter rep and say “goodbye” to your water loss problems.
