Articles by: Contributing Author

Asset Management Inside the Fence in Mesa, Arizona

Asset Management Inside the Fence in Mesa, Arizona

Technology Perspectives, Water Management August 12, 2019 at 12:40 pm

By Bryan Dickerson & Jesse Heywood The City of Mesa, Ariz., provides water and wastewater service to more than a half-million people every day through its Water Resources Department. In 2014, the city began a process that culminated in one of its largest projects to dateRead More

COMMENTARY: Trust Your Engineers to Choose the Right Project Materials

COMMENTARY: Trust Your Engineers to Choose the Right Project Materials

Commentary, Water Management August 12, 2019 at 12:30 pm

By Abe Munfakh As a professional engineer, I have spent my career focused on infrastructure projects. While this has given me a unique perspective on the importance of these efforts, over the years I have also worked very closely with community leaders and elected officials onRead More

COMMENTARY: Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

COMMENTARY: Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Commentary July 15, 2019 at 9:58 am

By Dan Buckley As contractors, engineers and business owners, we deal with numbers every day. As I give you a recent summary of how our elected officials have been behaving, I ask you to remember a scene from a movie that is over 20 yearsRead More

Calculating Business Risk Exposure Using Machine Learning

Calculating Business Risk Exposure Using Machine Learning

By Doug Hatler & Matti Kakkori Aging drinking water mains are facing an increasing number of failures leading to service interruptions, higher operating costs and non-revenue water loss. Some failures cause much bigger financial or socioeconomic impacts than others. A 2018 study led by Dr.Read More

Capturing Condition Assessment Cost Savings

Capturing Condition Assessment Cost Savings

Can Machine Learning Really Provide A Cost-Effective Desktop Analysis? By Greg Baird Artificial Intelligence, specifically machine learning, is poised to make a significant impact in underground water infrastructure asset management. Not only does machine learning drive performance optimization, it also increases efficiencies in business processesRead More

Smart Metering and Unique Funding Advance Customer Service, Conservation in Oregon

Smart Metering and Unique Funding Advance Customer Service, Conservation in Oregon

AMR/AMI, Water Management July 3, 2019 at 8:53 am

By Misty Cobb The small seaside town of Seal Rock stretches up and down Highway 101 along the Pacific coastline in Oregon. The town and surrounding areas of Seal Rock receive water services from the Seal Rock Water District, which stretches more than 10 milesRead More

Examining New Payment Methods to Address Agricultural Nutrient Runoff

Examining New Payment Methods to Address Agricultural Nutrient Runoff

By Michael Curley Water quality is a major problem throughout the United States. But it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was so polluted that it actually caught fire! That made headlines all across theRead More

Extending Its AMI: Park City, Utah, Acquires New, Actionable Data & Reduces Risk

Extending Its AMI: Park City, Utah, Acquires New, Actionable Data & Reduces Risk

AMR/AMI, Water Loss, Water Management June 17, 2019 at 9:34 am

By Dan Pinney Historically, utilities and municipalities have used advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to collect water consumption data for billing purposes. However, as measurement and communications technologies have evolved, there’s an increasing opportunity to gain new data within the water cycle and transform that dataRead More

The Science of Leak Noise: Some “Sound” Advice for Acoustic Leak Detection

The Science of Leak Noise: Some “Sound” Advice for Acoustic Leak Detection

Technology Perspectives, Water Loss April 15, 2019 at 12:18 pm

By Rob Meston Effective water loss control (WLC) is one of the most critical activities every water system must face, particularly as droughts increase and conservation mandates become more stringent. Leak detection has quickly become a cornerstone of every WLC program. No matter what typeRead More

NACWA: Now Is the Time to Advance Clean Water Infrastructure

NACWA: Now Is the Time to Advance Clean Water Infrastructure

By Jason Isakovic Public clean water sewer and stormwater services are an aspect of everyday life that often goes unnoticed by the hundreds of millions of Americans that depend on them. These essential services provide communities throughout the country, both small and large, the ability toRead More