Cities Turn to Tech to Find New Ways to Optimize Meters, Recover Revenue

By Quinn Jackson-Elliott

Every day brings a new headline that reinforces the severity of the drought in the Western United States:

• Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States and part of a system that supplies water to at least 40 million people across seven states and northern Mexico, is at its lowest level since the 1930s.

• Much of the Southwest is in a megadrought, the driest 20-year period since the last megadrought in the late 1500s, and the second-driest since the 800s.

• Government forecasters are suggesting severe conditions are likely to continue at least into late fall.

These once-in-a-century conditions have created an immediate need for cities to monitor their water use to ensure their resources are allocated effectively to identify non-revenue water and opportunities to recover uncaptured revenue.