Smart Water Meters Roll Out in San Antonio

Water Meters in San Antonio are about to get smarter. SAWS’ board of trustees overwhelmingly approved the rollout of smart metres across the water utility’s full-service region on Tuesday, following the successful completion of a pilot programme in November.

According to staff, the citywide rollout would begin in 2022 and will cost around $215 million. According to Mary Bailey, vice president of customer experience, installing around 600,000 electronic metres and communication devices across SAWS’ service area will take about four years and will be the nation’s largest deployment of smart or ultrasonic “static” Water Meters to date.

The new metres are less sensitive to wear and tear because they don’t have any moving parts, which makes them more accurate for longer, she said. Customers and SAWS could save money and water with the new metres. Customers will be able to save water by monitoring and changing their usage over the course of a billing period, as well as being alerted to any possible problems, such as a sudden surge in continuous water use, which could suggest a leak. It’s possible that conserving water will result in financial savings.

SAWS can save money by sending out fewer trucks and staff to manually read metres, and the metres themselves can help the utility discover leaks. “This technological investment is a huge step forward for SAWS and will help us become even more cost-effective,” said Board Chairwoman Jelynne LeBlanc Jamison. “Not only will customers have more control over their bills, but we’ll be able to save water, which will help us fulfil our ambitious water conservation targets and assure ample water supplies for our developing city.”