The city of Dallas, Georgia has undergone an initiative to reduce water loss which has already eliminated 12 million gallons of lost water within one year.
An initial pilot using smart water meters quickly aided in reducing non-revenue water (NRW). The city then went on to implement a five-year AMI meter deployment project that includes IPERL smart water meters, OMNI smart meters for commercial customers, and a two-way IoT communications network for real-time remote monitoring.
“We could resolve issues within hours that might have taken us 30 days to even identify with our old system,” said City of Dallas billing clerk, Amber Whisner. “The network helped us make a major dent in water loss and improved billing accuracy for customers.”
The city continued to advance their water loss reduction program launching a pilot program with Sensus ally® water meters combined with Sensus Analytics for enhanced pressure monitoring across select residential zones. This allowed staff to pinpoint issues beyond leaks – such as a broken main or open hydrant – and gave them the ability to analyze data to detect subtle sources of background leakage.
“Data analytics helps us identify areas with leaks that we can’t visibly see underground due to small cracks or pipe deterioration,” said Whisner. “Adjusting the water pressure in those areas can help address any issues and it also protects our infrastructure over the long run.”
The city remains committed to advancing their water loss control program.
“We’re aiming to reduce annual water loss from 47 million gallons lost per year to less than 10 million gallons within the decade,” said Whisner. “That’s an ambitious goal for a utility, but we have the infrastructure in place to make it happen.”