AWWA CA – NV SECTION WINTER MEETING Minutes

METER COMMITTEE January 15, 2019

OPERATORS DIVISION Antelope, CA ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chair:

Vice Chair:

Secretary:

Michele Harvey

Todd Artrip

Ron Gallon

Northern CA-NV Delegate:

Southern CA-NV Delegate:

Knowledge Base Delegate:

Technical Development Delegate:

Anh Tran

Dan Baker

Ethan Leano

Rick Small

I. Greeting, Introduction & Housekeeping

Meeting called to order by Michele Harvey at 12:03 PM.

Biggest Turn Out in Our History – 229% increase, 61% utility attendance

This is the largest committee event in history: 80 in attendance – 49 utility (61%) and 31 (39%)

vendor/government. 229% increase over the 2018 winter meeting and 148% increase over the

2018 summer meeting. We increased our CEU hours from one last year to a full 3-hour

workshop on the C715-18 Electronic Metering Standard & Technology. Thanks to Todd Artrip

(Vice Chair) for choosing the topic based on CEU topic feedback from the meeting attendees in

the last year.

Additional Participation – 47 New Participants in Our Roster

Meter Committee Roster – Attendees were asked to check their contact information. No one said

that they were having issues receiving emails from Michele (chair). If you are not, please

notifying Ron Gallon to confirm that your email address is correct. Those on the roster, receive

our quarterly newsletter with notifications of meetings, workshops, presentations, relevant

articles, etc. While we think its a great idea, you do not have to be an AWWA member to

participate.

RSVPs to Our are Important

WhosIn Evite Process - Thanks to everyone who RSVP’d. No issues with the process were

reported. With the size of our meetings, it is very important for us to have an electronic RSVPs.

We base how to setup the room and how much food to buy based on the RSVPs. We ran a little

short on lunch, but 95% turnout v. RSVP. This is an amazing statistic. Our current formula was

to purchase expecting a 85% turn out. We are adjusting our formula to ensure we have enough

food and drinks for everyone.

Workshop CEU Certificates

CEU sign in sheet – Those who signed the CEU sign in sheet will receive their CEU certificate

via email by February 14th. If you don’t receive a certificate by this date, please contact Ron

Gallon (Secretary)

Expanded Committee Leadership

Introductions – We added a position of Northern and Southern CA-NV Delegates to help run the

meetings and expand our services. Thanks to our new Northern CA-NV Delegate, Anh Tran

(City of San Jose Water), who organized the meeting. Thanks to Kevin Barnes (Ferguson) for

assisting. We’re looking forward to our new Southern CA-NV Delegate’s, Dan Baker (Helix

Water District), summer meeting. Ethan Leano (Golden State Water), not in attendance, is our

Knowledge Base Delegate, more on that topic later. Rick Small (City of Riverside), not in

attendance, is our Technical Development Delegate. He is currently working on a formal

AWWA CA-NV Program for Large Meters, Large Meter Testing and Installation. The outline

has been submitted to the sub-committee members. We hope to have the class on the section’s

training schedule in 2020.

II. Upcoming Meetings & Events (Dates and Times are Subject to Change).

Spring Committee Meeting @ Spring Conference in Sacramento

March 25, 2019 @ 2:30pm - 4:00pm

Conference registration is not required for the meeting.

AWWA CA-NV Spring Conference in Sacramento

March 26, 2019 – March 28, 2019

Committee Technical Program Spring Conference in Sacramento

March 27, 2019 @ 7:30am – 5:30pm

Conference registration is required for the meeting.

AWWA ACE19 in Denver, CO

June 9, 2019 – June 12, 2019

Water Education Seminar (WES) - Santiago Community College, Orange CA August 2019 (Date TBA) 8:00am – 3:30pm

Summer Committee Meeting & Workshop – SoCal Location TBD

August TBD

Fall Committee Meeting @ Fall Conference in San Diego

October 21, 2019 Time: TBD

Conference registration is not required for the meeting.

AWWA CA-NV Fall Conference in San Diego

October 22, 2019 – October 24, 2019

Committee Technical Program Fall Conference October 22, 2019 @ 1:30opm – 5:30pm

Conference registration is required for the meeting.

Winter Committee Meeting & Workshop – Sacramento County Water

Tentative Schedule: January 27, 2020 Time: TBD

III. Technical Programs and Planning.

Spring Technical Program Class Schedule

Spring Technical Program in Sacramento on March 27th requires conference registration. This is

the first curated conference program from the CEU suggestion list we’ve been gathering from the

committee meeting attendees for the last year.

07:30-08:30 The Evolution of Meter Management Practices: Testing, Replacement and

Revenue Protection

10:00-10:30 An Innovative Optimization Model for Repair/Replacing of Water Meters

10:30-11:00 C715 Test Bench Compatibility to Support Ultrasonic & Electromagnetic Meter

Testing

11:00-11:30 How to Use Portable Meter Testers

11:30-12:00 Factors Affecting Meter Accuracy

01:30-02:00 AMI Customer Service Panel

02:00-02:30 Got Meter & AMR Transmitter Scrap? Trash or Treasure? What is it telling you?

02:30-03:00 AMI Compatible Meter Pit Lids

04:00-04:30 Lessons Learned in Sacramento on DMA Implementation

04:30-05:30 AMI Panel – Everything that you ever wanted to ask a utility about Advanced

Meter Infrastructure

Fall Technical Program Expected on Tuesday Afternoon

In 2018, the committee leadership has done a better job with coordinating with other committees

where there is a mutual interest. For example, in the past, the meter committee and the Water

Management and Efficiency committee (Kevin Barnes, Chair) competed for audiences with AMI

presentations on the same day. To resolve this issue, the meter committee will be alternating

between a full Wednesday AMI + Meter program (Spring 2019) a half-day Tuesday afternoon

Meter only program (Fall 2019).

Utility & Vendor Speaking Partnerships

We expect the Fall Conference call for abstracts will be sent in March. We are encouraging

utilities and vendors to partner on presentations to deliver technical education from a utility’s

perspective.

IV. New Events/Tools/Goals

Meter Committee Website is Shaping Up

The Meter Committee website is under construction. We are adding event information and links

to past conference presentations and workshop presentations. Check it out …

http://ca-nv-awwa.org/CANV/CNS/AboutTheSection/committee/Meter%20Committee.aspx

Ask Your Questions, Search the Archive

Electronic Knowledge Base – Currently, utilities with meter and meter reading technology

questions can email Michele (chair) who will reach out to the utility participants to get their

feedback and publish the information to all the utility participants via email. To improve on this

process, we’re looking into an on-line forum where utilities can input their questions directly to

other utilities through an on-line tool that will automatically archive the question/answers. Our

new Knowledge Base Delegate, Ethan Leano (Golden State Water) will moderate the site.

Topics with in depth responses will be summarized and posted on the meter committee website.

Quarterly Newsletters, Scan Links & Click on What’s Interesting

Electronic eNewsletters – Did you see the Winter eNewsletter emailed on December 12th? Just

take second to open it, look at the links at the top and click on the topics that interest you. This

format is designed to save you time (see screen shot below). The most time sensitive &

important topic be in the subject line. As most everyone is overloaded with email, we’re trying

new things to make the eNewsletter more efficient. If you have any suggestions on improving the

eNewsletter or any other tools, please contact Michele (chair).

Contribute an Article to Source Magazine

Source Magazine – CA-NV AWWA members receive the Source Magazine every quarter. It’s

great way to beef up your resume and show commitment to a leadership track to contribute an

article. Dan Baker had an article published prior to coming on board as our Southern CA-NV

Delegate. The leadership plans to reach out to the group to find some contributors, so start

thinking about participating.

Support for Young Professionals

YP Members – CA-NV AWWA is encouraging the committee’s to reach out to our YP

community. We’d appreciate your ideas on how the committee should do this. If anyone have

any ideas, please contact Michele (chair).

V. Announcements

AB 3206 Update, Meter Accuracy & Testing Status

AB 3206 was on the CA 2018 legislative calendar, but was “held on suspense” which meant is

was dead for 2018. There has not be a reintroduction as of January 12th, but there is still time to

for it to be added to the 2019 legislative calendar. Rosie anticipates that it will be added. We’ll

provide updates to the group via the eNewsletters.

New Standards, Updated Manuals and On-Line Presentations

NSI/AWWA C715 – Cold Water Meters Electromagnetic and Ultrasonic type for Revenue

Applications, Published in October

M33 Manual – Flowmeters in Water Supply, new release

2018 Water Education Seminar (WES) Presentations, available on-line

http://ca-nv-

awwa.org/CANV/CNS/EventsandClasses/WESALL/2018/WES_Speaker_Presentations.aspx

2018 Fall Conference Presentations & Water Education Seminar, available on-line.

http://ca-nv-awwa.org/CANV/CNS/EventsandClasses/conf/AFc18/SpeakerPresenations.aspx

VI. Thanks to Our Sponsors, Raffle & Other Words

Thanks to …

Sacramento Suburban for hosting.

Matt Owens from West Monroe Partners for sponsoring breakfast and the Outback gift card.

Andy Bohn from Neptune for sponsoring lunch

Mark Carey and Rick Relyea for sponsoring MC Engineering, an AMC and a BevMo gift card.

Overview of Smaller Utility Committee Goals, Can You Help?

Kevin Barnes (Small Utilities Committee) would like everyone to know their committee is

designed to give outreach to utilities with 5000 services or less. Many of these smaller utilities

don’t have funding for events like the CA-NV AWWA conferences that provide exposure to

exhibit halls and technical programs. Their committee is working with CA-NV AWWA member

utilities to provide conference sponsorship for an employee of a smaller utility. To lend expertise

to these smaller utilities, their committee will be reaching out to CA-NV AWWA members with

expertise in some defined areas to be a point of contact for these smaller utilities. The committee

is also working with Awards Committee for the Best Smaller Utility Annual Award. If you are

interested in helping out, please contact Kevin Barnes and/or attend the Smaller Utility

Committee meeting on Monday, March 25th from 2-2:30p (immediately followed by the meter

committee meeting).

VII. Open Discussion

Cost of meter test equipment & ability to use in the field (Graham Smith, Modesto)

Consensus of Group: Small meter tester under $1,000, large meter tester under $2,500, Pitot

tester around $8,000.

Michele Harvey, Chair: Recommends you test the large meters in the filed because their

accuracy is subject to how you installed them. As the installation a large meter can affect its

performance, It’s recommended to test new installs to set an accuracy base line.

Jeff Becket, Burbank Water and Power: On small meters (3/4” to 1”), they test 10% of new

meters, out of the box on their test bench. They do random small meter testing using a Mars

portable tester. For the large meters (3” to 16”) they us a Badger 3” portable meter tester. They

test all 167 large meters (3” to 16”) annually, in the field, with a Badger 3” portable large meter

tester.

Todd Artrip, Sacramento Suburban Water: For large meters, their 400+ 3” and 4” meters are on a

5-year test cycle, their 35 6” and larger meters are tested annually. They use a Badger Meter

portable meter tester along with a small vac pulled behind the truck to clean out the vaults.

Mike Simpson, M.E. Simpson Co. Inc.: Michele is correct to test your larger meters in the field.

Many meter vendors offer portable testers or you can build your own like M.E. Simpson using

both Sensus and Badger Meters (4” turbo meter with a valve and a 5/8” meter bi-pass on a cart

for portability). Agrees with having a vac available to clean out meter vault/pit. Recommends

setting up an annual test program, but design your program based on water audit program and

revenue. In other words, set your test program based on the amount of money is being generated

by that meter. You want large meters to always operate properly. Testing is key.

What’s the cost of testing ¾” meters?

Tim Collings, City of Lincoln: They send their meters to Minnesota to get tested. $35.00 for the

meter test and about $80.00 both directions for shipping.

Mike Bortolleto, Ferguson: Mike Wolf in Gustine, CA is $25.00 per test. Around $8.00 in

shipping.

Sean Twilla, Golden State Water Company: They use a company in southern California.

Including shipping, it costs them around $40.00.

Any utilities testing low flow accuracy testing from ¼ to 1/32 GPM? (Dave Wallenstein,

EBMUD). Michele will email this question out to the full email list to get more data.

Dave Wallenstein, EBMUD: Dave is putting together a paper for the North American Water

(NAWL) conference and is seeking additional data to support his presentation.

Nick Leles, San Jose Water Company: SJWC doesn’t test below ¼ GPM as the return on

investment is not there.

Mike Simposon, M.E. Simpson: Concurs with Nick.

Martin Casillas, Kamstrup: Recommends contacting the Water Research Foundation/Utah State

who does this type of testing for research.

AMI Technology & Staffing. How do you plan your growth with the emerging technology?

(Kellie Eng, Sacramento County Water Agency) Michele will email this question out to the

full email list to get more data.

Jon Conover, City of Sacramento: Sacramento currently has 120,000 AMI endpoints installed,

15,000-20,000 to complete. During this process, they are moving staff from old work (meter

reading) and using them spot check the new installations and confirm the reads. The meter shop

has ~15 staff with 2 dedicated to trouble shooting. There is plenty of work for staff. Positions

were not eliminated, but added. Recommend checking your job descriptions to make sure they

cover the new/shift in duties.

Todd Artrip, Sacramento Suburban Water District: Sac Suburban has a mixed system of AMR

(aka drive by) installed in the 1990s, legacy AMI installed in 2010, and are currently teplacing

both systems with cellular-based AMI. The staff that used to drive and read meters are now

going behind and replacing the legacy system that is no longer active. Also, be aware that the

CA Water Resources Board D3 Certification is affected by how the staff’s time is spent. We

can’t award distribution credit for any time performing meter repairs in the shop, but WE CAN

give credit for meter repair done in the field. It has to do with the direct hands-on interaction

with the distribution system. Contact Todd (Vice Chair) if you’d like to get a copy of the email

he received from the water resources board.

Michele Harvey, Chair: As a vendor, we recommend that you visit each meter at last every three

years to make sure you can find it and that everything is in good condition.

Gary Lee, Aclara: Deployment of AMI usually results in the reorganization of staff, not the

reduction of staff. After AMI, tasks are more customer service oriented; for example, addressing

continuous consumption (aka leaks).

How are utilities protecting their AMI broadcast frequencies? (Scott Twilla, Gold State

Water)

Michele Harvey, Chair: Some solutions use a frequency that is licensed via the FCC, while some

have a frequency-hopping algorithm using a frequency band regulated by the FCC.

AMI – Who has installed? Any dual water/electric systems? (Javier Romero, LADWP)

Michele will email this question out to the full email list to get more data.

Jeff Beckett, Burbank Power and Water: Burbank is using Itron for water and power.

Kevin Lewis, San Francisco Water: SFW has an Aclara water AMI system with 180,000

endpoints. The power side of the business plans to join in the system.

Door Tagging. Is anyone doing this? Potential Issues? (Christopher Tapia, City of

Oceanside)

When asked if they are using door tagging, a large number of utilities in attendance raised their

hand. Some of the potential issues has to do with animals and the elements.

Chris Freels, Soquel Creek Water District: SCWD leaves a lot of door hangers for continuous

consumption (aka leak) notification, but watch out for political issues. Chris found that it’s really

important to have good communication between the billing and field departments. There’s lots of

things that field staff see that billing doesn’t and it really helps to let them know what the reasons

that a customer might have had high usage so they can relay that info to the customer if they call

and inquire why they had a high bill.

Michele Harvey, Chair: At the NAWC conference, a representative from San Jose Water

Company talked about making the decision to use door tags to notify customers of impending

service shut off. The program was successful. 90% of the customers receiving the door tags paid

their bill before the deadline, eliminating 90% of the truck rolls.

Terry Fong, City of Napa: – One instance of hanging a door tag resulted in someone reporting a

house break in to the police. The employee was in a city vehicle. Their door hangers give 48

notice to service shut off. They record the time of the notice, so that can be tracked back to the

trucks which are tracked via GPS on their fleet software.

Mark Dubose, Orange Vale Water Company: OVWC has been using door hangers for over 100

years. After a number of customers said that they didn’t get their 48 hour notice of shut off door

tags, they started putting relevant notes on the copies of their tags (color of door, anything

specific about the drop off). If the customer calls later, they can read back the detail to prove they

were on site. Pictures would also be useful.

Brady Chambers, Citrus Heights Water District: CHWD takes pictures with what they wrote on

the door tag.

Sean O’Reilly, Alameda County Water District: ACWD uses the free “Timestamp Camera”

smartphone app. It takes a picture and automatically records, the date/time and has a custom field

for adding ntoes.

Todd Artrip, Sacramento Suburban Water: Sac Suburban uses FedEx to send the 48-hour

notices to the customer. The cost is added to the customer’s water bill. FedEx provides the

delivery date/time.

SB-998 Discontinuation of Residential Water Service. (Christopher Tapia, City of

Oceanside)

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB998

Michele (Chair) will coordinate with Sue Mossburg about SB-998.

Tracking Hydrant Meters via GPS (Rick Small, City of Riverside)

Jon Conover, City of Sacramento:. They have two installations. One is on a water truck. The

other is via permit and is based on the design used by Sacramento Suburban. The hydrant meter

has a cellular AMI endpoint with a protective cover, but no GPS. The protective cover is made

by Placer Water Works. A check valve is added to prevent registration by air passing through the

meter while in transit between sites (carried in truck bed). Site-specific meters will include a

back-flow device and a cellular end point. They are installed and removed by internal staff. The

cross connection group certifies that there is an air gap and no possibilities of cross

contamination while hooking up into the hydrant.

Jon Conover, City of Sacramento: A vendor showed Sacramento a demo that they liked of a

hydrant meter. The meter included a register with integrated AMI radio and an external GPS

device.

Martin Casillas, Kamstrup: Question to Jon Conover, “With all that on the meter are you

afraid of vandalism and theft?”

Jon Conover, City of Sacramento: Contractors pay for stolen or vandalized meters. When

it is site-specific it is locked down, the contractors pay a 1.5x cost on anything that is

associated with it. If it is something out of the contractor’s hands, Sacramento just repair

it.

Oni Brown, City of Vallejo: – Vallejo just started using mobile hydrant meters and found when

they are thrown in the back of the truck, airflow through the meter can cause negative

consumption. So, they are using 2.5” caps to cover the meter ends to eliminate this issue. They

would like some kind GPS units that can be locked down to avoid tampering.

Todd Artrip, Sacramento Suburban Water: Sac Suburban do not lock our hydrant meters on to

anything. The contractors submit and electronic permit the get from their website and pay a

$2300 equipment deposit and $50 permit fee. The permit mut be resubmitted every 3 months

which forces Sac Suburban to check usage reported by the cellular unit. If there hasn’t been any

usage, they contact the contractor to see if they want renew or return the meter. They test their

hydrant meter/backflow device annually.

Oni Brown, City of Vallejo: Question to Todd Artirp, “Even if the customer doesn’t use

any water, do still require them to bring meter in?”

Todd Artrip, Sacramento Suburban Water: Sac Suburban absolutely wants the meter

brought in, because they need to test the back flow annually.

Michele Harvey, Badger Meter: A utility in the Seattle area is using cellular AMI and an

external GPS device to track usage and location of their hydrant meters. The utility uses GPS to

track many of their assets, so they are using the same system for the hydrant meters. Contact

Michele if you’d like more details on the GPS product.

Michele Harvey, Chair: The cellular endpoints technology currently does not include/provide

GPS location data, but could in future designs.

VIII. Topics for Next Meeting

Ultrasonic & Mag Meter Applications and Performance (Sergio Barragan, LADWP)

SB-998 Discontinuation of Residential Water Service (Christopher Tapia, City of Oceanside)

Meeting Adjourned 1:58 pm by Michele Harvey / Chair

Potential CEU Topics

The importance of large meter testing and tracking (presented Winter 2018)

Meter mechanical / no moving parts

Meter installation

Backflow record keeping / testing / make and models

Reading old & new meter register components

Load rating for meter boxes and other information

Ultrasonic vs. Mechanical

Customer engagement for AMI, AMR & Cellular

Water audit ideas, methods and how in depth

Developing benchmarks for time and or use to develop calibration programs for utility meters

Ultrasonic vs. Mag Meters

Developing a calibration program for single unit meters

Water Loss Calculation

Stainless vs Bronze

Undersize Meters ¾”

Vintage of Meters Being Tested

Cost of testing small ¾” meters

Proper Testing Procedures for Large Production / Master Meters.

Decision Making Process & Analysis of Test Results for Meter Replacement Programs (Business Case)

How to Effectively manage a new meter & AMI Installation Program

Cross Connections / Backflow Tech.

New Tech in Re-Purpose / Reclaimed Water

AMI systems. How they work? What is required (District Assets, Height Restrictions) Different Types

Effects of Chloramines on plastic body meters and static meter sensors

Installation methods for plastic flow-tube state meters in CA

Life Expectancy lanning fort the Distribution System

Review & Compare all AWWA Meter Standards for revenue meters. i.e C700, C708, C710, C715, etc.

How do you use these Standards & supporting documents such as M6.

Using portable meter testers

Rural Water Systems Challenges. Mixed meter configurations

New Ideas from previous Meeting

Meter Testing Data (what to do with it) – Dan / Helix

Attendees Note: Attendees that signed in are on list

Alcantar, Oscar City of Vallejo

Arnold, Jacob Soquel Creek Water District

Artrip, Todd Sacramento Suburban Water

Avenarius, Todd GSFM, Inc

Baptista, Tamara City of Pleasanton

Barela, Tony San Juan Water District

Barnes, Kevin Ferguson Waterworks, Meters & Automation

Beams, Jerald Sacramento Suburban Water

Beckett, Jeff Burbank Water & Power

Bennett, Christian Sacramento County Water Agency

Blake, Scott Sacramento Suburban Water

Bortoletto, Mike Ferguson Utility Solutions

Brown, Oni City of Vallejo

Bryant, Collin R & B Company

Campbell, Kolby The Ford Meter Box Co, Inc

Casillas, Martin Kamstrup

Cater, Matthew Orange Vale Water Company

Chambers, Brady Citrus Heights Water District

Chester, Derek Core and Main

Clark, Tom San Juan Water District

Collins, Tim City of Lincoln

Conover, Jon City of Sacramento

Cornejo, Kevin Mueller Systems

Cox, Jeremy City of Woodland

Drake, Kelly Citrus Heights Water District

Dubose, Mark Orange Vale Water Company

Eckard, Michelle Carollo Engineers, Inc.

Egger, Ben Alameda County Water District

Eisenberg, Daniel Suez AS

Eng, Kellie Sacramento County Water Agency

Ferrell, Shelley Kamstrup

Foley, Eric Badger Meter

Fong, T City of Napa

Freels, Chris Soquel Creek Water District

Gagnon, Joshua Sacramento Suburban Water

Gallon, Ron Zenner USA

Garcia, Oscar Cal-AM Water

Garner, Steven CA-NV Section AWWA

Harvey, Michele Badger Meter

Hassell, David City of Napa

Helphand, Brian Badger Meter

Hopes, Guy Sierra West Consultants

Huizenga, Bob Burbank Water & Power

Hurst, Ken City of Napa

Jensen, Brian Coreandmain

Jividen, Kyle Sacramento Suburban Water

Kamiyama, Steve Aqua Metric

LaJeunesse, Dave Aclara

Lambros, Chris Coreandmain

Land, Greg Master Meter

Lansen, Adam San Juan Water District

Lee, Gary Aclara

Leles, Nick San Jose Water

Lewis, Kevin San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Martello, John Ferguson Water Works

Meurer, Rex Citrus Heights Water District

Middlestead, Rachel Sacramento Suburban Water

O'Reilly, Sean Alameda County Water District

Owens, Matt West Monroe Partners

Palomar, Raul Sacramento Suburban Water

Pickens, Steve Bakman Water Co.

Ramirez, Abel Sacramento Suburban Water

Randolph, Jeff Aqua-Metric Sales

Ray, Sean Bakman Water Co.

Relyea, Richard MC Engineering

Reyes, Tyler Sacramento County Water Agency

Rozumowvgz, Richard Area West

Sampler, John San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Simpson, Mike M.E. Simpson Co. Inc.

Smith, Carlos Sacramento County Water Agency

Smith, Graham City of Modesto

Stevens, Craig City of Sacramento

Taylor, Josh Sacramento Suburban Water

Terry, Jimmy Badger Meter

Thomson, Ross Diehl Metering US

Tran, Anh San Jose Water Company

Twilla, Sean Golden State Water Co.

Van Dusen, Darren San Juan Water District

Wallenstein, David East Bay MUD

Williams, Forest Sacramento County Water Agency