Work

AMI water meters deliver end-use water and financial savings in leaky households: experimental evidence from California

Year: 2024

Type: article

Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial

Abstract: Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for residential water consumption is exploding globally giving water utilities the ability to improve their water tracking, billing, and distribution systems’ leak detection. With AMI, utilities have also gained the opportunity to provide real-time high-resolution water consumption information to their customers to induce conservation. Using a randomized controlled trial we find that on average homes that install AMI and receive conservation based messaging significantly reduce water consumption by 5.24 gallons per household per day beyond savings already obtained from home water reports. Of the estimated water savings we attribute 92.8% to leak reduction. While the payback period from the deployment of AMI meters and treatment in all homes is over 41 years, homes that experience leaks realize financial savings of $60/year and a treatment payback period of four years. This is because treatment did not induce water or financial savings in homes without leaks. These findings indicate that even on top of existing conservation programs, AMI messaging that targets end-user leaks could result in significant water savings, economic benefits to end-users, and advance conservation goals.

Source: Environmental Research Letters

DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad7bce

Authors: Amanda M Rupiper, Robert T Good, Jonathan Ackerman, Jack Gregory, Katrina K Jessoe, Frank J Loge

Institutions: University of California, Riverside, University of California, Davis

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Education and Sustainability

Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Clean water and sanitation, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,820