ABM (NYSE:ABM), a leading provider of facility solutions, has initiated a district-wide water meter installation project for the Rainbow Municipal Water District in San Diego County, California. ABM's customized solution will help Rainbow Municipal Water District replace aging and inaccurate water meters with new residential and commercial water meters, including a new Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system. This new equipment will allow the district to recoup an estimated $10 million in lost revenue over the next 10 years. The project launched in October 2018 and is scheduled for completion in June 2020.
The estimated savings of $1 million per year will be achieved by reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW). NRW is water currently provided to the District’s customers without proper billing due to the current water meters’ inaccurate measurements. The District’s current system is not registering 100 percent of the water delivered to customers, resulting in significant non-revenue water losses. The new AMR system will also allow the district to remotely collect consumption, diagnostic and status data from the new meters, in addition to remote reading and troubleshooting capabilities.
"ABM’s meter replacement solution will provide the Rainbow Municipal Water District with new water meters and an AMR system to reduce its NRW loss," said Mark Newsome, President of ABM Technical Solutions. "Water districts across California are focused on reducing their NRW losses, and ABM is proud to help support this initiative by helping the Rainbow Municipal Water District through this project.”
California has more than 400 water districts. The Rainbow Municipal Water District provides water services to more than 8,000 agricultural, commercial and residential customers across several communities in northern San Diego County. It aims to provide its customers with reliable, high-quality water and water reclamation services, while remaining fiscally sustainable.
In addition to the AMR system, the project will also include several service upgrades with each meter location, including isolation valves to provide customers with the ability to easily turn off water service during emergencies, pressure regulating valves at some locations to safeguard against high water pressure areas, and new meter boxes and lids at most service locations.
“ABM’s customized solution will provide the Rainbow Municipal Water District with an opportunity to recoup a significant amount of lost revenue, without having to tap into capital funds to move this project forward,” said Tom Kennedy, General Manager of the Rainbow Municipal Water District. “California has been under drought conditions for many years now, which has put restrictions on water use throughout our state, causing revenue losses across the board. For our district to have the ability to realize enhanced revenues of an estimated $1 million per year, while upgrading and standardizing the infrastructure of our metering system is a great victory.”
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