CHALLENGE
Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) services more than 8,000 agricultural, commercial and residential customers in several communities across San Diego County, California. Recently, RMWD officials needed to replace aging and inaccurate water meters with new residential and commercial water meters to recoup Non-Revenue Water (NRW). NRW is water provided to customers without proper billing due to inaccurate metering.
SOLUTION
ABM worked closely with Rainbow Municipal Water District to develop a customized solution to replace inaccurate meters with an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system. The solution included several service upgrades at each meter location, including isolation valves to provide customers with the ability to easily turn off water service during emergencies, pressure regulating valves at some locations to safeguard against high water pressure areas, and new meter boxes and lids at most service locations. The customized solution is projected to help Rainbow Municipal Water District recoup an estimated $10 million by reducing NRW-related losses over the next 10 years.
BENEFITS
ABM helped Rainbow Municipal Water District improve and upgrade its metering system and recoup lost revenue, without incurring upfront costs. Other benefits included:
• Installed an Automated Meter Reading system, which provides the ability to remotely collect consumption, diagnostic and status data, remote reading and troubleshooting
• Installed isolation valves to provide customers with the ability to turn off water service during emergencies
• Installed pressure-regulating valves at some locations to safeguard against high water pressure areas
• Installed new meter boxes and lids at most locations
