Nearly half of the city's 834,000 water customers now have automated meters. The new wireless automated meter reading system, consisting of small, low-power radio transmitters connected to individual water meters, will send readings throughout the day to a network of rooftop receivers citywide.
The receivers are part of the New York City Wireless Network, administered by the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT).
The $252 million DOITT installation will eliminate a $3.6 million-a-year meter-reading contract, while hopefully increasing collection rates as a result of more accurate billing.
Wireless water meters transmit water consumption data at least 4 times a day (in some big buildings, readings are hourly), ending estimated water bills and giving customers more timely and accurate readouts of their water usage.
Using the online tracking tool, customers with wireless water meters can monitor their water usage in real time and view their past billing and payment history. Usage statistics will be available by day, week, month, year and billing period, allowing customers to compare usage during those time frames.
Phase-in of the wireless water meter readers started in the Bronx, where customers are now using them. Customers in the other 4 boroughs with wireless water meters will be moved online on a rolling basis: Queens starting July 26; Brooklyn starting August 9; Manhattan starting August 23; and Staten Island starting September 7.
The city hopes to complete the wireless water meter rollout by January 2012, with between 7,000 and 9,000 customers being added to the network every week.
Once the rollout is completed, New York will be the biggest city in the world to adopt a wireless water metering system.
See citywide installation schedules and an explanation of the free installation process here.
The automated water meter system fosters the City's PlaNYC sustainability goals by providing the city with better data for conservation and system planning initiatives.
The Bloomberg Administration has committed a record $21 billion in capital spending to water projects, including:
- $2.5 billion for the city's third water tunnel;
- Acquisition of nearly 70,000 acres of land upstate to protect the city's watershed;
- $5 billion to upgrade the city's 14 wastewater treatment plants;
- Nearly $1 billion to reduce combined sewer overflows.
