Water technologies company Xylem recently honoured utilities and distributors that went above and beyond in the areas of customer service and community impact, with a 2022 Reach award during their annual Xylem Reach conference held in Washington, DC. The conference brought together industry experts to discuss smart sustainable solutions for water, gas and electric utilities.
“Our Reach award recipients deserve recognition for transforming their water utility operations, enhancing customer service and reaching supporting community members in need,” said Matthew Pine, senior vice president and president, Xylem Americas, applied water systems and measurement and control solutions. “These local heroes leverage the power of digital solutions to address pressing water challenges, such as accessibility and affordability, and do so with efficiency, scalability and speed.”
Reach Transformation Award
The Reach Transformation Award honoured those who reached further through applying Xylem technology to make operational advancements, improve customer service and optimise data.
The award was given to the city of Fort Worth, Texas, the 13th largest US city and one of fastest growing ones in the nation. Fort Worth Water began their transformative journey to digitise systems in 2012. With the help of distributor Aqua-Metric, the utility exchanged more than 270,000 residential water meters, implemented the Sensus FlexNet communication network. This allowed them to annually add “thousands” of new meters to meet its growing population. The utility saw substantial annual cost savings, while improving their customer experience and reducing water loss.
“The MyH20 project is truly a game changer,” said Kara Shuror, Fort Worth’s deputy water director. “With our customer portal, residents now have access to detailed usage data, and they have the ability to monitor and manage their own water use.” Shuror and Aqua-Metric project manager Paul Morrison accepted the award on behalf of their teams.
Reach Resiliency Award
The Reach Resiliency Award recognised those who went the extra mile to make their communities a better place to live, work and play, through modernisation and rapid response in the midst of emergencies.
The award was given to the village of Mattawan, Michigan, which is home to 2,500 residents. The small works team consisted of four people and a superintendent, who were on the look-out to improve their efficiency. Along with distributor ETNA Supply Company, they deployed Xylem’s iPERL residential water meters and the two-way FlexNet system for remote meter management, allowing crews to get a week’s worth of work done in a matter of hours.
The change in technology also led to a reduction of water loss and overall costs, saving the utility approximately US$75,000 each year. “That’s money we are not flushing down the drain,” said Tom Anthony, public works superintendent. “The savings allowed us to purchase a bulk water station to fill residential swimming pools.”
Anthony and ETNA account manager Kevin Dieleman accepted the awards on behalf of their team.
