Contact: Allen Berthold, 979-845-2028, taberthold@ag.tamu.edu
AMARILLO – An advanced metering infrastructure system training for water utilities personnel is set for July 23 in Amarillo.
The free workshop will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 6500 Amarillo Blvd. W.
Participants should preregister for the event at http://nrt.tamu.edu/ami by July 16. Lunch will be provided to those who preregister by that date. Seating is limited to 45 people.
The training is open to municipal employees interested in learning more about various aspects of advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI, system technology. The technology uses water meters to wirelessly transmit hourly household water usage information to water utilities and then potentially to water users through a customer website.
The Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and Johnson Controls Inc. are coordinating the workshops, with the water institute and Johnson Controls presenting.
“Efficient household water use is crucial to meeting Texas’ future water demands,” said Dr. Allen Berthold, Texas Water Resources Institute research scientist in College Station. “Using AMI system technology can help water utilities be more efficient by detecting and managing leaks and encouraging water conservation by residents.”
Training topics include system components, transmitting options, network schematics, mobile automatic meter reading versus fixed-base systems, line-of-sight communications, comparisons of systems for water-only utilities, health and privacy concerns and installations. There also will be a discussion of a business case and lessons learned.
“The training will provide public utility providers considering the adoption of an AMI system with different viewpoints and key factors they should consider,” said Craig Hannah, engineering manager for Johnson Controls’ municipal utility solutions team in Amarillo.
“Participating in this training is a great opportunity to not only learn about various topics related to AMI systems, but also to network with other utilities and gain some insight into their key considerations and lessons learned,” Berthold said.
Berthold will also present information on a current advanced metering infrastructure technology research project being conducted by AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension, Texas Water Resources Institute and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.
“This project aims to measure changes in water consumption as a result of making hourly water use available to residents,” he said.
The institute and Johnson Controls have presented a series of workshops around the state. Upcoming workshops are July 29 in Mt. Pleasant and Aug. 6 in Robstown.
The institute is part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
For more information, contact Berthold at 979-845-2028, taberthold@ag.tamu.edu.
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