THE CHALLENGE

July 4th, 2019: It’s a holiday morning just after 10:30 AM and a 6.4 magnitude earthquake rattles Southern California. The quake, along with the thousands of following aftershocks, shake through the Mojave Desert and into Indian Wells Valley. IWVWD staff are on high alert helping people throughout the community while still ensuring water systems continue to function properly. Then, just 36 hours later, a much bigger 7.1 magnitude quake hits the community.

As IWVWD continue to work … see more

THE CHALLENGE

Due to LMWD’s geographically dispersed service area, it is not particularly effective to rely on local news and media coverage to communicate with customers when neighborhood-specific events occur. Customers across all four communities see headlines that may not be relevant to them, creating widespread confusion and concern across the entire service area.

To better serve their customers, LMWD created an emergency notification email service, which customers are able to opt-in to from the LMWD website. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the opt-in … see more

THE CHALLENGE

After completing their AMI installation, Glenview began communicating with their customers about leaks detected through the AMI data. Leaks can be detected through automated meters by analyzing hourly interval data to identify irregular usage patterns. Glenview developed an internal process for alerting customers of data irregularities using the reports of likely leaks provided by their meter vendor. Utility staff identified likely leaks and then printed and mailed leak notification letters to their customers on a weekly basis. If the staff at Glenview noticed that the leak appeared to continue after one … see more

THE CHALLENGE

Situated between Los Angeles and San Diego, SMWD has no local media market. No single news channel, radio station, or print newspaper adequately covers the service area, and overlapping service areas can result in customer confusion in cities like Mission Viejo that are served by numerous water utilities. As a result, SMWD’s challenge is to develop effective strategies to engage with their customers.

Bill inserts often seem to be a tried-and-true approach, but they are far from perfect. “We … see more

One of Utah’s fastest growing cities, West Jordan blossomed from a population of 4,221 in 1970 to over 111,000—and is still growing. West Jordan’s water system is operated by the Public Works Department. Public Works maintains over 23,000 water meters, of which 3,000 are commercial accounts. West Jordan purchases wholesale water as a primary source, with some of their own wells for backup.

THE CHALLENGE

Like most cities in the western United States, West Jordan has been especially concerned about the critical issue of water conservation. “We’re really aware of how we use our water, and conservation is at the forefront of everybody’s mind in Utah,” stated Craig Frisbee, West Jordan’s Utility Director. “We’re basically a high desert. The last few years we’ve had a reduction in our snowpack, so that makes us more anxious about our conservation efforts.”

West Jordan’s wholesale provider set a goal of 25% reduction for … see more

The City of Greeley, Colorado is located in a semi-arid climate, receiving 12-14 inches of precipitation per year. During the drought of 2002, Ruth Quade, Greeley’s Water Conservation Coordinator, needed to come up with the right solution to stimulate greater drought awareness and conservation actions on the part of ratepayers. After exploring several options, Ruth and her Greeley colleagues decided to implement a water budget system.

THE CHALLENGE: COMMUNICATE EFFICIENCY

Water budgets are a calculated amount of water a household will require each month, based on the size of the family, number and types of fixtures, and landscape needs. When facing supply constraints, water budgets are an increasingly popular tool for utilities interested in sending conservation messages to their customers. As Ruth explained, “Metering tells us, and the customer, how much they are using. Budgets tell how much they should be using.”

Setting budgets and deciding how to implement them … see more

THE CHALLENGE: EFFECTIVELY LEVERAGING AMI

The newly purchased AMI data platform offered basic leak alert abilities, but the Park City water team had some challenges getting it to work effectively. Deployment of AMI was a considerable expenditure for the City, and the promise of leak detection was a significant reason for the investment. Understandably, customers became frustrated when these benefits were not quickly realized. When Jason Christensen joined the Park City team as Water … see more