A pilot study in North Carolina hopes to level peak demands and encourage conservation by providing near-instant water use data.
Roanoke Island is a backdrop of
firsts. Wedged between North Carolina’s mainland and the Outer Banks, the island
was home to Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World and
namesake of Dare County. While the first colonies were ill-fated, approximately
6,000 people now call Roanoke Island home. And they all depend on water provided
by Dare County Utilities. In an innovative step, the utility was looking for
ways to better manage its water resources.
Elster AMCO Water Inc., located in
Ocala, FL, is performing a pilot study on Roanoke Island using its evolution
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) equipment, a two-way water management
system. The compilation of equipment will monitor water use and has the ability
to remotely decrease water pressure at specific locations. If successful, the
study will prove the ability to level out water use demands, by lowering peak
volumes and adjusting use to off-peak times. The primary benefit is that
reducing the maximum demand will postpone, or even eliminate, the construction
of future water treatment plants. In areas where water is scarce, reducing peak
demands can allow a utility to operate within its means without having to
acquire additional water sources.
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| Photo: Dare County Utility Department |
| AMI Equipment will be installed in 290 homes near Manteo, NC, and on street utility poles. |
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| Photo: Elster AMCO |
| Elster AMCO and Dare County will work together to install, maintain, and monitor the meters. |
Why Roanoke Island? While Roanoke
Island has been recently spared from drought, water shortages hit other parts of
North Carolina and made conservation a statewide topic.
“We had a drought that lasted
years and really had an impact on Raleigh, raising awareness,” says Ken Flatt,
Dare County’s utilities director.
And, rather than wait for drought
to befall the island, Flatt is working to avoid it. Drought comes not solely the
result of lower-than-expected rainfall, but from higher demand as well. By
controlling the demand, Flatt will be ahead of the curve-even ahead of some
technologies.
“We had been looking at AMI for
some time, waiting for the technology,” he says.
And eventually the time came. The
technology to allow remote reading of water use trails the electrical industry
and legislation that requires time-based rate alternatives. As water demands
increase and availability tightens, utilities have looked at similar
technologies to document usage and encourage conservation. Tying availability to
price and usage has come full circle. “The need to conserve and efficiently
manage our water supply is greater than ever,” explains Roman Thomassin,
president of Elster AMCO Water.
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| Photo: Dare County Utility Department |
| The first step of Dare County's pilot study will be to replace the town's existing household meters. |
Pilot Study Plans and Full-Scale
Applicability
The Dare County pilot study will
include 290 homes near the Town of Manteo, NC. Equipment will be installed at
each of the individual homes, usually within the meter box, as well as on street
locations mounted on utility poles. In other locales outside of North Carolina,
equipment may have to be installed inside a home or using a more significant
protective cover to withstand weather. It is anticipated that the price for
equipment will range from $130 to $180 apiece for each home included in the
pilot study.
As part of the pilot study,
installing, maintaining, and monitoring the network of meters will be a combined
effort between Elster AMCO and Dare County personnel. The first step is
replacement of existing household meters. Each meter will be exchanged for an
Elster AMCO standard residential water meter, model C700. Dare County has
scheduled this work to coincide with routinely scheduled meter readings. While
this will avoid duplication of efforts and help familiarize Dare County staff
with the new equipment, it will likely lengthen the process from one that could
take approximately one week, to two to four weeks.
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| Photo: Dare County Utility Department |
| The Skyco Water Plant is an ion exchange treatment plant drawing water from the Upper Yorktown aquifer from 10 wells, ranging 170-220 feet. |
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| Photo: Elster AMCO |
| The evolution AMI system allows more immediate data collection and review, and the ability to perform adjustments remotely. |
Data collection will be
accomplished using the Elster’s evoNet Manager software. Initially, storage of
all data collected will be the responsibility of Elster AMCO. Dare County
personnel will have continuous access to the data via a secure Internet
connection. It is expected that data will be reviewed throughout the study, not
only upon completion. Dare County expects that following the pilot study,
equipment will be installed on a more full-scale basis. At that time, data
management will be hosted on Dare County servers and Elster AMCO will only have
access to the data and critical information to evaluate system performance as
allowed by the County.
The system’s capability goes
beyond wireless data collection and two-way communication. The evoNet management
software will allow Dare County to generate data that can be integrated into
their billing system software and can be used to prepare various reports or
statistics identifying leaks, tampering, consumption, and high-low
consumption.
The evolution AMI equipment
network can allow the utility the ability to control the flow to any of the
individual homes on the distribution system network, a particularly useful tool
in the event of a water leak or during a severe water shortage. The ability to
remotely access shut off valves is significantly advantageous in vacation homes
such as those on Roanoke Island. “If the house is vacant there should be zero
water use,” says Flatt. “The system will provide an exception report, indicating
readings that are out of the norm.”
An example of an “out-of-the-norm”
reading would be water use coming from a home known to be vacant. For occupied
homes, flow at night might indicate a probable leak, as well.
In the event that a severe drought
is issued for Roanoke Island and mandatory conservation measures implemented,
flow to a home could be throttled back. The evolution AMI system has the
capability to tweak closures, reducing a range of reduction in quarter-flow
increments. The system can also be used to shut off flow completely. While
shutting off a home’s water isn’t always an option utilities choose or are
willing to pursue (in some states this may even be illegal), the ability to
restrict or interrupt water use can realize dramatic savings for utilities.
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| Photo: Elster AMCO |
| Water conservation efforts are taking place all over North Carolina |
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| Photo: Dare County Utility Dept. |
| Home monitoring systems for water and electricity will likely become more common in years to come. |
Like much of the country, water
meters in Dare County are currently read on a quarterly basis by a field
technician physically reading each meter. The lag between water loss and data
collection means that abnormal readings cannot be dealt with on a timely basis.
The current method of meter reading impacts the utility financially as fuel
prices increase and staff must be on-hand to perform the measurements. The
evolution AMI system allows more immediate data collection and review, and the
ability to perform adjustments remotely. Quick changes without added labor and
transportation expenses.
Customers will also be able to
access water use on an hourly basis, either by going online or purchasing a
wireless unit that can be mounted on a wall in their home. This will give
homeowners the ability to directly correlate their behavior to specific water
usage data. It is anticipated that this information will spur conservation,
particularly during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and
water demands are at their highest.
The pilot study will run for 12
months and allow tracking through both peaks and valleys of water use. “This is
a resort area,” says Flatt. “During the winter months we throttle back, and
equipment sits idle.”
Idle or working, the equipment
costs money year-round.
The equipment Flatt refers to is
located at the Skyco Water Plant in Manteo, adjacent to Roanoke Island. It’s an
ion exchange treatment plant that draws water from the Upper Yorktown aquifer
from 10 wells ranging in depth from 170 feet to 220 feet. Treatment is performed
using four Bruner-Calgon sodium zeolite ion-exchange softening tanks and five
vessels, where chemical addition removes organics and reduces the production of
trihalomethanes. Before being pumped to residents and businesses, water is
stored in a 200,000-gallon elevated tank or in ground storage tanks on the
beach.
While production costs can
decrease as demand falls during off-season months, money is still needed to
operate year-round. Employees, chemicals, and equipment costs don’t vanish when
the tourists and vacationers go home. And aging distribution systems require
ongoing repairs regardless of production rates.
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| Photo: Dare County Utility Dept. |
| Reducing demands can mean eliminating or postponing the construction of new power plants. |
Demands fluctuate not only
seasonally, but over the course of a 24-hour period, too. Flatt hopes that by
collecting precise date on water use and involving the public, high points can
be shaved off peak times. Reducing peak flows can postpone the need to construct
new or expand existing water treatment plants that will also have to be
ratcheted back during the off-season.
Data collected during the pilot
study will also be used to evaluate the county’s current billing system. A rate
consultant will evaluate data to determine if restructure billing rates are
warranted. Also on the table is the potential to utilize a tiered-rate structure
that rewards conservation. Customers may be inclined to reduce water use,
through real-time access to the meter readings and being educated on the
importance of conservation. But money is a driver than cannot be ignored. If
customers have to pay higher rates for using water during peak hours, a change
in habits is sure to follow. It’s a bold step for any utility, but one that many
may be required to take.
Water Conservation and Drought Management
Beyond Dare County
While the pilot study is being
performed in Roanoke Island, progressive water conservation efforts are taking
place all over North Carolina, from the eastern coast and Outer Banks to the
Smoky Mountains in the west, and the agricultural land in between.
Linwood Peele works with the North
Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, Division of Water
Resources. He is also a member of the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory
Council ([Web]www.ncdrought.org[Web]), an organization with a goal to ensure
that the state’s water supplies are managed responsibly. Membership in the
council tops 20 people and represents various state departments, including
agriculture, emergency management, climatology, forestry, surface water,
groundwater, and reservoirs. Other members come from the US Corp of Engineers,
the National Weather Service, and Duke Energy. Bordering states of the South
Carolina and Virginia area are also represented in the council. The council
meets not only in times of drought, but year-round.
During the council conference
call, which Peele says is held every Tuesday, the team discusses stream flows,
groundwater levels, the amount of water stored in reservoirs, weather forecasts,
the time of year, and other relevant factors for assessing the location and
severity of drought conditions.
The council was created in 1992,
but wasn’t initially required by state statute. After a commendable response to
a drought that spanned from 1998 until 2002, the council was written into law in
2003. The intent is to provide local governments with “official, objective
drought status advisories, to give them a reliable basis for their management
responses.” This avoids the need to plan for a crisis during a crisis.
Drought conditions across the
state are scaled from DO to D4, each with specific requirements that range from
monitoring ongoing conditions, to implementing mandatory restrictions. Drought
classifications are listed for each county on the council’s Web site, and a map
of the state illustrates conditions. Counties and water utilities know to check
the drought status and the necessary actions required of them. It’s a statewide
undertaking, tailored to local conditions.
“Everyone knows their roles,” says
Peele, and he acknowledges that North Carolina isn’t a place that people
normally think of when it comes to drought. “We’ve had people from California,
Washington, and Arizona contact us, commending us on our program.”
Home Monitoring Across the
Board
With technological advances and
consumer education, home monitoring systems for water and electricity will
likely be common place in years to come. As will time-of-use unit rates.
The pilot study in Roanoke Island
comes on the heels of a study performed by the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory for the US Department of Energy, to evaluate home monitoring of
electricity. The test was to determine if stress on the distribution could
be decreased during peak demand by engaging end-use loads, namely homeowners,
and would these users modify their energy use at times of higher demand and
higher rates? In other words, would customers modify their behavior and habits,
washing clothes or operating other appliances at times of low demand to save
money on their overall bills. The results indicated they would indeed.
And not only would individual
users modify their behavior, but this adjustment impacted the entire system with
reduced peak demands. As with water treatment plants, reducing peak demands can
mean eliminating or postponing the construction of new power plants. The study
also determined that Internet-based communication works successfully and that
real-time data was pivotal for consistent participation. Not surprising, we want
our data and we want it now.
Time will tell as the results of
the pilot study in Roanoke Island are evaluated. North Carolina may provide the
example when it comes to objective and inclusive regulatory water management and
personal water responsibility and conservation.
Bruce Bharat, Director of
Marketing with Elster AMCO, has seen the growth in home monitoring and believes
the equipment may one day be standard in most homes. “Currently, the demand for
an in-home monitoring in the water utility industry is very much regionally,” he
says. “Different parts of the country are keener on conservation and overall
water usage.”
“However, we anticipate the demand
to increase, given recent drought conditions and the concern over finite sources
of potable water causing increase in the cost of clean water,” he adds. “With
the need to conserve energy and water, it is not unlikely that when more and
more utilities move to AMI systems, they will include in-home monitors as a
service to their customers.”