Ohio’s City of Gahanna Taps FlexNet for Water Management System

A new water management system installed in July by the city of Gahanna’s utility operations is reporting real-time, accurate reads and saving customers thousands of dollars in lost water, according to Sensus. In the time since deployment, the system has detected more than 40 leaks in 4,000 homes currently covered by the system. When fully implemented, Sensus said the water management system will benefit 12,000 homes.

“We are extremely pleased with the system so far, as well as the ease of installation,” said Terry Emery, service director of the city of Gahanna.

Gahanna utility officials have been upgrading from the Sensus TouchRead system to the Sensus FlexNet product, an RF (radio frequency) wireless fixed base system that transmits information via primary use, FCC-licensed frequency, broadcasting up to 2 Watts of power.

Two Tower Gateway Basestations (TGBs) were needed to collect water usage data from the utility’s 12.5 sq mile service territory. In a move that aims to maximize the existing technology infrastructure, Gahanna installed the FlexNet TGBs on the same site as the city’s existing WiFi network. This approach enabled the utility to use the WiFi backbone to transmit data from the TGB back to the utility office. To date, both TGBs are up and running and more than 4,000 endpoints are already deployed.

“Our goal is to provide better customer service, be more conservation driven and get as close to zero unaccounted for water levels as soon as possible,” Emery said. “So far, that is all happening.”

Source: Sensus