The $7 million project to replace nearly all of the 22,000 water meters in the city is set to begin next month. These smart meters will send out data about once an hour to a cloud-based computer system, which will then translate the information for users at home, said Leonard Olive, assistant director of operation services for Pleasanton.
Residents could then sign onto their accounts and look at, for example, how much water they just used that morning for a shower, Olive said. They can even compare their use to months before or years before on a computer or smart phone.
Gone are the days when workers had to physically go to each home's water meter to read it and then collect the data for that residence's water bill every two months.
About 17,000 to 19,000 meters will be replaced by March, he said. The others will be retrofitted to add on the technology that will also transmit data to the cloud, so customers can still log onto the system, called SUS, and check their water use.
Customers also can easily see if there is an unusual amount of water being consumed, an indication that there's a leak in their system.
Although this technology would have been helpful when drought restrictions last year forced residents to limit water use or face fines, Olive said that because of the drought the project was delayed.
The City Council made meter replacement a priority in 2013. But the city became focused instead on last year's severe drought. Olive, for example, was staffing a full-blown drought call center as residents grappled with mandatory water restrictions.
Now that things have calmed down a bit drought-wise because of a wetter winter, Olive said the city was able to get the meter replacements up and running.
Pleasanton isn't the first city to begin using this new technology. The Dublin San Ramon Services District already implemented the technology in 2014, just in the nick of time for the drought, said Sue Stephenson, a district spokeswoman.
The agency spent about $3.5 million to add the technology to existing meters, instead of replacing them like Pleasanton will do. The district has about 18,000 customers in the Dublin and San Ramon area, and nearly 50 percent of them use the online tools to check what their water use was, she said.
The district's online system, AquaHawk, "was like a superhero," when it came to shortening water use during the drought, Stephenson said.
In 2014, residents were forced to cut back 25 percent, or down to about maximum 4,480 gallons per week, and saved about 24 percent. In 2015, they were required to cut back 12 percent and saved even more by cutting back 34 percent, said Stephenson.
©2016 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
