Weber Basin Promotes Water Conservation with the Sensus AMI Solution

Utah water conservancy district reduces water usage by nearly 40
percent

RALEIGH, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Sensusnews—The
Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, located just north of Salt
Lake City, is charged with serving more than 625,000 residents living in
the second driest state in the nation. With 65 percent of the district’s
water being soaked up by manicured lawns and lush gardens, “secondary”
or non-potable water became an issue for the municipality. The
district’s high consumption and flat fee for unlimited use challenged
Weber Basin trustees to implement a change.

“We had a situation where customers were using as much water as they
wanted because they didn’t have to pay any more for it,” said Weber
Basin’s Assistant General Manager of Strategic Initiatives Darren Hess.
“We didn’t want to bill our customers more but instead wanted them to
understand how much they were using so they could proactively conserve.”

To revitalize the infrastructure and accurately measure water
consumption, Weber Basin turned to Sensus,
a Xylem brand. Weber Basin selected the Sensus Advanced
Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution, which allowed the district
to monitor secondary water systems and hold customers accountable for
excessive use. When integrated with the district’s new software program,
the utility can now deliver additional outdoor watering data and
conservation tips to their customers.

“As people realize how much water one cycle of their sprinkler system
uses, we can start to make a real difference,” explained Hess.

So far Weber Basin has deployed approximately 6,375 Sensus iPERL®
water meters to accurately measure water flow data, including
secondary water with abnormal amounts of silt or sediment. The meters
were connected to the district office through the Sensus FlexNet®
communication network, allowing staff to monitor usage and report
issues to customers in near real time.

The implementation proved to be the nudge Weber Basin residents needed.
By providing a comprehensive usage data report, depicting actual water
use compared to the customers’ estimated need, 30 percent of customers
promised to take immediate action and reduce outdoor watering. With
better customer awareness, Weber Basin’s water usage was reduced by
30-40 percent.

“Before we installed the new solution, many customers were excessively
using water out of sheer habit or were unaware that their sprinkler
systems were set to run for so long,” said Hess. “Since upgrading to AMI
we’ve found that our customers are welcoming the data we’re now able to
provide.”

Read the case
study to learn more about Weber Basin’s smart water network.

About Sensus

Sensus helps a wide range of public service providers—from utilities to
cities to industrial complexes and campuses—do more with their
infrastructure to improve quality of life in their communities. We
enable our customers to reach farther through the application of
technology and data-driven insights that deliver efficiency and
responsiveness. We partner with them to anticipate and respond to
evolving business needs with innovation in sensing and communications
technologies, data analytics and services. Learn more at sensus.com
and follow @SensusGlobal on Facebook,
LinkedIn
and Twitter.

About Xylem

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to
developing innovative technology solutions to the world’s water
challenges. The Company’s products and services move, treat, analyze,
monitor and return water to the environment in public utility,
industrial, residential and commercial building services settings. Xylem
also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network
technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water,
electric and gas utilities. The Company’s more than 16,500 employees
bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying
comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New
York with 2017 revenue of $4.7 billion, Xylem does business in more than
150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.

The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that
transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of
our water-centric business by linking it with the best water
transportation of all – that which occurs in nature. For more
information, please visit us at www.xylem.com.

Contacts

Sensus
Kim Genardo, +1-919-376-2566
Kim.genardo@xyleminc.com
or
Mark
Van Hook, +1-919-459-6481
mark@largemouthpr.com