City's New AMR System Goes Online
The city of Barberton Municipal Water Authority in Ohio is breaking new ground in service and efficiency standards with a fixed-base radio-frequency (RF) automated meter reading system. Barberton expects to improve customer service in a project that combines a comprehensive meter upgrade program with wireless communication technology.
Water losses from non-metered services and under-registering, antiquated meters in the city were extremely high. The manual reading system was inefficient, especially where meters were remote or hard to access. As a result, only one-third of the meters was read each month. The rest of the readings had to be estimated, causing problems of inefficiency in revenue collection and cash flow.
Barberton's water authority decided to completely change its metering system, replacing it with an integrated metering and communication system to improve customer service and position itself for expected growth in the next few years.
The city contracted with Schlumberger, an international meter supply and services company. The company developed a detailed analysis of city needs and proposals for the best technology package. The company then began a staged implementation of the new system in the field and will provide data collection services for the next 20 years. The project involved the replacement of more than 11,000 residential, commercial and industrial meters, and the installation of a wireless network to deliver regular and on-demand automated meter reading.
More than 95 percent of the city's approximately 11,000 meters are residential, but it is the much smaller number of commercial and industrial meters that accounts for about 60 percent of water revenue. Schlumberger began the meter change-out program with the large- and medium-sized commercial and industrial meters (2 inches and larger) in order to achieve immediate improvements in operational efficiency.
Replacement of residential meters began with a 1,000-point pilot study in some of the areas where the topography and layout of buildings made RF communication difficult. The goal was to prove the reliability and integrity of the system in even the most difficult conditions. The meter change-out program and radio frequency network were completed in September 1999.
Schlumberger worked closely with CellNet Data Systems to adapt its meters to interface with CellNet radio meter modules. The meters are read automatically every 15 minutes. MicroCell Controllers (MCCs), strategically placed on utility poles around the town, communicate data from the water meters to the CellNet system controller via a wide area network "Cellmaster." The data is then stored in the CellNet system controller until it is required for billing.
According to Schlumberger, once the system is fully operational, residents never will have to pay an estimated water bill, or have to make arrangements to be at home to meet meter readers. In the long term, quarterly billing will be replaced with monthly bills, and meter reading will be supplied on demand. For larger commercial and industrial customers, more accurate consumption and profiling information and more frequent billing will help them to control their water costs.