HomeMy WebLinkAbout101915_Automated_Water Meter_InstallComplete
website: rentonwa.gov
City of Renton - 1055 South Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057
October 19, 2015
For more information contact:
Preeti Shridhar, Deputy Public Affairs Administrator, 425-430-6569
Abdoul Gafour, Water Utility Engineering Manager, 425-430-7210
Renton Completes Installation of Automated Water Meters
Estimated savings of $1.8 million from leaks detected and stopped
Renton, WA: The City of Renton Public Works department has completed the conversion of 17,900
water meters to an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system. The conversion to the AMR system was
completed in just 3.5 years instead of five years as originally anticipated.
The AMR system reduces meter reading costs and improves efficiency since staff will no longer have to
drive-by and walk-through hundreds of miles of streets per month to read the meters, and meter
misreads are eliminated. Customers are billed for actual water used during each month, rather than
estimated usage. The system also sends alerts on high water consumption and allows staff to notify
customers about potential leaks on their private service lines or interior building plumbing.
As of August 2015, the system detected 793 major leaks, with each leak over 35 gallons per hour, and
2,700 minor leaks, with each leak over 7 gallons per hour. In one instance, staff noticed that a
customer had a large leak on an irrigation water service line that was wasti ng 18,00 cubic feet (about
135,000 gallons) of water every day. Thanks to the AMR the leak that would have cost the customer
$30,000 in their monthly bill was detected and fixed. It is estimated that the savings from potential
water loss that this new system has provided over the past 3.5 years is 87 million gallons.
The city has developed a customer service on-line tool that enables city water customers to view their
real time water use. The daily water use graph will show a potential water leak if the meter registers
unusually high water consumption or continuous consumption over a 24-hour period. For directions
on using the on-line tool, please visit http://rp.rentonwa.gov:8080/WaterUsage/.
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