For water providers of all shapes and sizes, collecting data from assets in the field is a critical component of your operations—but it can be a chore. Without the right technology in place, data collection can be a very manual, time-intensive activity and a drain on your resources.

Thankfully, today’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems lift that burden from your workforce and collects near real-time information from your distribution system automatically, over the air and without hassle.

But AMI can be so much more than just an efficient data collection system.

With more frequent data from your service points, you can leverage it to provide new, interactive tools—like portals, smartphone apps and more—to your customers, giving them better insight into how and when they’re using water, what it’s costing them and how they can become better stewards of this precious resource. Our partners at WaterSmart Software have been doing exactly that for years—their software analyzes data from your AMI system and presents it in a clear, concise way to your customers to encourage engagement and conservation.

By adding sensors throughout the distribution system, you can leverage an AMI network to collect data about leaks, pressure, temperature and more. And with software like Itron Analytics, you can analyze that data and turn it into actionable insights to help you operate as efficiently and effectively as possible—making sure your workforce is spending time on the right activities at the right time, rather than guessing where a leak may be or manually collecting reads from a meter.

The City of Cotati, a joint Itron-WaterSmart customer, has begun leveraging their AMI to do more than just collect reads—they’re removing the guesswork with AMI. Watch the City’s story below to learn more.

https://youtu.be/JtnpRohStKE