US city selects Itron’s advanced metering infrastructure for water management

The US city of Olympia in the state of Washington has selected Itron’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution to effectively manage water resources and improve operational efficiency.

Itron’s AMI solution is also expected to help Olympia improve its customer service and promote water conservation.

The city, which serves potable water to almost 59,000 customers, required a system that could cover its 26 square-mile service area, including the urban growth area.

Under the contract, Itron will install over 19,500 water communication modules with a fixed network to cover most of the utility’s service area and a mobile collection system for the remaining service area.

Olympia will use Itron’s AMI solutions to better access water usage data and identify problems, improve water conservation programmes and make customers aware of their water usage.

The staff can also quickly access meter information and provide fast responses to water leaks and improve customer service. In addition, the city will deploy the company’s data collection software and network software solutions.

Olympia City Water Resources director Clark Halvorson said considering the size of the community, the city opted for an efficient approach to meter collection.

"Itron’s solution gave us that. Also given the geography of our service area, the City of Olympia required a hybrid approach to meter data collection," Halvorson added.

"Itron’s solution gave us the flexibility we required to deploy both fixed network and mobile data collection systems.

"This – in addition to Itron’s proven customer service – is what set the company apart."

Itron Water North America sales, marketing and delivery vice president Paula Billingham said the company’s goal is to help utilities.
"With our flexible architecture, utilities like the City of Olympia can deploy whichever data collection system – or combination thereof – they require," Billingham added.

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Image: The City of Olympia in Washington, US will use Itron’s AMI solution to improve water management and customer service. Photo: Courtesy of Andrevruas.