The meters that we are currently installing are Innov8-VN meters from a local company called Metron-Farnier. The casing of the meter register is made of a standard plastic that protects the equipment from all environments. Inside of the meter an internal sensor that tracks meter’s measuring elements and stores the consumption history, an antenna, and a Lithium battery.
The register tracks the amount of water that flows through the meter, along with speed and duration. It then sends out a signal once a day, during non-peak hours between 1:00 AM and 6:00 AM local time. The signal is sent through a secure channel with the Verizon or AT&T wireless towers and transmits the daily report of your water usage and the current meter read. It does not send out signals at any other time of the day. Once the meter read is transmitted the information is uploaded into a secure cloud server and can be accessed by customers and Evergreen Metro District.
Although these meters are labeled as "Smart Meters" they really are only data collectors; we can’t shut off your water remotely, or slow water flow during peak demand. The new website that customers can access once their new meter is installed is really the “smart” part of this installation. With Waterscope EMD customers will be better able to monitor their usage, check for leaks, and efficiently reduces unnecessary water usage through better information supplied by their meters. For instance, before Waterscope we would usually only catch customer leaks during our monthly audits, but now our customers can sign up for alerts to let them know when there is a leak within a 24hr time frame (which can stop 1000’s of gallons of water waste).