Metering.com 21 JUNE 2016
Itron has partnered with smart water technology provider WaterSmart to optimise water efficiency and consumer engagement applications and expand its water portfolio.
Under the collaboration, Itron will add WaterSmart’s consumer engagement platform to its expanding water portfolio. WaterSmart’s platform is designed to help utilities become more water efficient by engaging consumers with their water usage and delivering actionable data to utilities.[US allocates US$37.5bn for energy and smart water projects].
Under the deal, Itron will use and distribute WaterSmart’s smart water solution as part of its AMI technology for three years. WaterSmart’s solution uses smart water meters, climate and property data to help residential consumers to save water and reduce their bills.
The platform is claimed to help utilities improve customer satisfaction and their participation in conservation programmes by 35%.
Robin Gilthorpe, CEO of WaterSmart said with the firm’s technology “water utilities are able to better educate their consumers about how much water their household is using [and] how it compares to others.”
“These benefits translate into significant system-wide savings for utilities in the form of avoided costs for water, energy, treatment, and future capital investments which helps ensure sufficient supplies of our most precious resource for all our communities,” added Gilthorpe.
US smart water solutions landscape
In mid-February, WaterSmart also launched a new smart water solution to help small US water utilities to improve their operations. [US city seeks assistance for rollout of smart water projects].
Gilthorpe said in a press statement that the company “developed WaterSmart Essential to deliver the perfect communications and analytics solution for smaller utilities.”
WaterSmart claims that its smart water solution is ideal for water utilities serving less than 7,500 consumers and provides a collection of analytical tools for utilities’ understanding of customer consumption patterns, meter reading abnormalities and leak detections at customer sites.
WaterSmart Essential also provides water saving suggestions, and critical system notifications over web, mobile, text, and voice thereby improving utilities’ customer outreach and engagement.
Commenting on functionalities of the new solution, Robyn Mattison, public works director for the city of Ketchum, Idaho, said: “[the] customer portal has allowed us to better communicate with our customers about all the work we do to maintain a high quality, reliable source of water.”
Image credit: rmagazine.com.