Washougal’s water-meter system aims to up efficiency

The city of Washougal has implemented an automated meter infrastructure system, marking the culmination of a yearslong effort to modernize the city’s water meter-reading process.

The new system allows for remote meter readings to take place at any time, which the city said will lead to more accurate billing, faster leak detection and greater access to water-usage data for customers. According to a city news release, the system also includes an online portal that will allow residents to view their daily water usage, set up alerts for unusual activity and monitor their consumption in real time.

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re supporting and showing our residents that we want them to have the data,” said Ryan Baker, the city’s public works operations superintendent. “We want to push the information. We’re not holding anything back.”

Previously, the city conducted meter readings manually through a monthly “drive-by” system, which required city staff to travel through neighborhoods collecting data, a time-intensive process that occasionally resulted in missed readings, according to the city.

“You would not know of a leak if it started one minute after we read that meter,” Baker said.

When the old meters started to approach the end of their operational lives, city employees decided to switch to AMI, an integrated system that enables two-way communication between utility companies and consumers, allowing for real-time monitoring and control of energy and water usage.

“The efficiency led us to go down this path,” Baker said.

During the past several years, city employees replaced all of the city’s residential and commercial water meters and installed the supporting infrastructure, including a central base station and data repeaters.

Washougal residents have complained in the past about high water bills. Baker said the new system, which automatically transmits water-meter readings twice a day via a secure radio network, could help customers save money on their utility bills.

“Every 12 hours, every meter in town checks in,” Baker said. “If there is continuous use of 0.1 gallons per minute in a 24-hour period, we get an alert … and we can reach out to the customer and say, ‘Your water hasn’t turned off in 24 hours. Do you know about this? Is it intentional? Is it unintentional?’ We can save the customer a lot of money, and we can save pump energy and wasted water, a giant benefit environmentally as well.”

The city estimates that the new system will save public works employees approximately 40 to 60 labor hours per month.

Residents can access their water-usage data by visiting mywateradvisor2.com and the My Water Advisor 2.0 app, available on PC and Android devices. Instructions for account setup and additional information are available on the city’s website at cityofwashougal.us/823/4512/My-Water-Advisor-Portal.

Doug Flanagan: 360-735-4669; [email protected]