Automated Meter Reading Program Saving Water
Thanks to the recently implemented Automated Meter Reading (AMR) Program, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) staff is able to assist customers to find leaks, saving the District water and saving customers money. In the month of December, PAWSD District staff identified 30 accounts that had service line leaks (from the PAWSD meter up to and including the home). The total water lost from these leaks was 1,235,000 gallons, primarily due to ruptured pipes in unoccupied and second homes. According to Lisa Dermody, PAWSD Customer Service Manager, “Had these water leaks gone undetected, the amount of water lost could have been staggering.” Prior to implementation of AMR, PAWSD did not read residential meters in the winter months, nor could staff notice sudden large spikes in water use, an indicator that there is something unusual happening on the property.
“We are not Big Brother,” notes Water Conservation Coordinator Mat deGraaf. “We do not sit around all day spying on people’s water use. That is not our mission or purpose. One of the primary purposes of AMR, and the District, is to help customers conserve water as much as possible.” The AMR technology, which utilizes radio transponders to relay meter information to repeaters which gather the individual “packets” of information and transmit it to a central database, allows staff to “flag” for discrepant water use. Flagged accounts will be analyzed each morning and, if there appears to be a leak, the account holder will be contacted. In some cases where a catastrophic leak is evident and no one can be contacted, PAWSD technicians will turn off the water at the meter and a door hanger will be left. In this manner numerous customers have been assisted by PAWSD since last summer, which has saved millions of gallons of treated water. It is essential that customers keep their most current contact information on file with the District.
AMR technology and District staff have limitations. Not all leaks will be caught, and not all accounts will be turned off because a customer cannot be contacted. It is ultimately the property owner’s responsibility to watch their account for unusually high water use. PAWSD implores customers who will be away from their property for any length of time during the cold winter months to ensure their plumbing is winterized. PAWSD technicians will turn water service off and on again at no expense during regular business hours, Sunday through Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. There must be someone at the house when water is turned back on.
Details on winterizing may be found here.
