Water utilities and municipalities have access to an array of technologies to help consumers save both water and money. The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) recently published two free guides to assist utilities managers as they navigate the possible technologies and look to improve water conservation strategies and implementation.
The Utility Customer Profile Guide for Water Conservation Planning (TWRI EM-120) was developed to help water providers achieve both greater water savings and efficient costs, using customer water use profiles. Understanding consumers’ water usage trends can help utilities choose the most appropriate conservation best management practices to present to their communities and help consumers implement.
The guide was written by Dr. Allen Berthold, TWRI research scientist; Aubry Wolff, former TWRI research assistant; and Dr. Diane Boellstorff, assistant professor and Extension water resource specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
Berthold and former TWRI Graduate Assistant Chelsea Hawkins developed Considerations for adopting AMI and AMR: A comprehensive guide for water utilities (TWRI EM-119), a resource for water providers considering using advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automated meter reading (AMR) systems. It covers important technological aspects, the benefits of the systems and real examples of utilities’ and water professionals’ experiences with AMI/AMR conversion projects.
“These guides were developed to hopefully provide some assistance to utilities as new technologies and techniques are developed,” Berthold said. “Targeting conservation programs can sometimes be a difficult task, so identifying your high indoor and outdoor water users can lessen resources needed to save a gallon of water.
“Adopting AMI or AMR is an expensive project so we wanted to provide some considerations and experiences from others to utilities looking to adopt. This way, mistakes can be avoided, and the technology that most fits the needs of the utility will be adopted.”
Both guides are available in TWRI’s Educational Materials. Contact Berthold at taberthold@ag.tamu.edu for more information.