A new explainer from the Texas Water Newsroom, posted Oct. 21, describes how smart water meters are helping Amarillo and other Texas communities conserve water by turning consumption data into information utilities can act on.
According to the Texas Water Newsroom, Amarillo’s previous metering system produced only one read per customer per month, collected through manual and drive-by reading. With almost $30 million in financial assistance from the Texas Water Development Board, the city replaced more than 70,000 meters with advanced metering infrastructure, the article said.
The new meters use solid-state electromagnetic technology to measure flow without a mechanical element inside the flow tube, according to the explainer. They can log up to 120 days of hourly consumption data and support remote monitoring, management and diagnosis. The article said the meters are designed to begin registering flow at 0.03 gallons per minute and to measure applicable low flows within a ±3 percent accuracy range.
The Texas Water Newsroom said utilities can use the data to spot conditions that need attention, such as a sudden increase in flow that may point to a broken pipe, continuous consumption that can indicate a downstream leak, or reverse flow that can signal a problem within a service connection.
The article said the Amarillo City Council approved the contract for the project in 2021 and that city officials described it as one of the more significant infrastructure upgrades in the city’s history. The rollout began in 2022 with roughly 1,000 installations in Phase I, Phase II started in November 2023, and the program reached citywide completion this year, according to the explainer.
The Texas Water Newsroom noted that the projects carry costs. Installation expenses are considerable, and interoperability between systems and communications technologies can complicate implementation, the article said. It described a municipal project like Amarillo’s as an infrastructure investment rather than a simple equipment upgrade.
The explainer also pointed to the Texas Water Development Board’s financing options for water providers of every size, including the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, the Texas Water Development Fund, the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas, the Rural Water Assistance Fund, and the Water Loss Assistance Fund. It said Amarillo and Abilene have used Clean Water State Revolving Fund assistance for smart meter projects.
As Texas communities manage growing demands on water supplies, the Texas Water Newsroom said, tools that improve measurement and reveal water loss can help utilities make “every drop count.”