Intelligent Water Networks: How Advanced Metering Infrastructure Can Reduce Operational and Maintenance Costs
At a glance
Every year, water utilities around the world lose up to 30 percent of treated water due to leaks, theft and outdated or inaccurate meters. These losses translate to US$39 billion in non-revenue water annually. With much of the world’s water infrastructure nearing the end of its design life, utilities are forced to manage aging systems with tighter budgets. Advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) offers a path to recover revenue, extend asset life and drive efficiency.
Some utilities delay investing in AMI due to the upfront capital cost. But the cost of delaying can be greater. waiting can mean missing out on years of savings AMI helps reduce labour-intensive fieldwork, extend asset life and recover lost revenue. The potential for long-term gains, such as improved billing accuracy and lower maintenance spend, can make AMI a smart long-term investment.
Every year, water utilities around the world lose up to 30 percent of treated water due to leaks, theft and outdated or inaccurate meters.
Rethinking staff time, reducing costs and managing water loss
In many cities, water utility staff are moving past routine meter reading and manual reporting to focus on leveraging digital systems in optimising the overall performance of the distribution system. With the deployment of AMI, smart meters and intelligent sensors, utilities can gain real-time visibility into key operational indicators, enabling more strategic, data-driven workflows.
“AMI allows city staff to spend less time on manual tasks and more time improving system reliability,” says Freddie Guerra, Digital Water Solutions Leader at GHD. “Teams can now focus on reducing water loss, maintaining pressure stability and ensuring water quality across the network.”
In Patterson, California, AMI has already helped shift staff time away from manual work and improved the quality of meter data. We worked closely with the City to integrate that data into the billing platform, troubleshoot issues in the field and support contract decisions as the project evolved. Since then, we’ve helped build a digital twin of the water network to support long-term planning and continue to validate the City’s water audits each year. With the right data in the right places, Patterson is reducing water loss, improving service and strengthening its utility operations.
Reducing non-revenue water is one of AMI’s most direct financial benefits. Water loss often comes from undetected leaks, unauthorised connections and inaccurate meters. AMI helps quickly detect abnormal usage, pressure drops and continuous flow. By catching these issues early, utilities preserve and even grow revenue.
With centralised platforms and mobile access, crews can coordinate more efficiently, respond faster and prioritise tasks based on live network conditions. This results in better service delivery and more efficient use of staff time.
Promoting water equity and affordability through accurate billing
Revenue loss from meter inaccuracies or estimated billing undermines financial stability. AMI improves billing accuracy and reduces hidden losses by flagging zero-usage accounts, tampering and continuous flow anomalies.
More precise data supports fairer pricing and earlier leak detection, avoiding costly damage that can disproportionately affect underserved communities. With time-stamped usage, utilities can introduce tiered or time-of-use pricing to promote conservation and manage demand, but pricing remains politically sensitive in many regions. These strategies can face resistance, particularly where water access is viewed as a basic right. Still, when applied carefully, pricing models can shift consumption profiles over time and reduce long-term pressure on distribution infrastructure, especially in areas with rapid population growth that promote conservation while supporting affordability.
Advancing intelligent asset management
Many utilities still operate reactively, fixing issues after failure. This increases repair costs, disrupts service and can accelerate asset deterioration. Intelligent water networks, enabled by AMI and real-time monitoring, start the journey to proactive, condition-based maintenance.
By integrating AMI with pressure, flow and quality sensors, utilities can detect early warning signs like pressure anomalies, backflows and transient events. AI and analytics flag potential issues before they escalate, helping crews intervene earlier and avoid emergency repairs.
Usage trends also reveal hotspots of high demand or persistent low pressure that stress infrastructure. Rather than inspecting the entire network, utilities can focus resources, using acoustic leak detection, step testing or targeted pipe renewal, on the zones that need it most.
Linking AMI data with GIS and asset management systems gives spatial and performance insights that strengthen capital planning. Utilities can:
- Prioritise replacements by risk
- Coordinate outage responses
- Streamline field crew deployment
- Build stronger business cases for upgrades based on failure patterns
Meeting sustainability and compliance expectations
With tighter rules on conservation, efficiency and water loss reporting, AMI helps utilities meet performance expectations while improving how they plan, operate and report.
It does this by:
- Automating data collection and improving reporting accuracy
- Providing continuous usage data to track conservation performance and support drought response
- Enabling seasonal and tiered pricing strategies based on real consumption and environmental conditions
- Linking usage patterns to climate forecasts to better manage supply and pumping schedules
- Highlighting high-demand zones where infrastructure upgrades or controls may be needed Streamlining compliance with automated reports and real-time alerts
- Supporting ESG reporting by quantifying the energy and carbon footprint of water operations
“Utilities are using AMI data to demonstrate responsible stewardship and to support more transparent, accountable reporting,” says Freddie. “It’s become a practical tool for meeting both regulatory obligations and community expectations.”
A smart investment, not a financial risk
The investment in AMI is often seen as just a metering project, however, its value comes from the data it generates. When that data is used across operations, it helps reduce costs in every part of the utility, field work, billing, maintenance, capital planning and regulatory reporting.
While upfront costs may be a barrier to implementation, delaying implementation means missing out on years of savings and performance improvements. AMI can reduce non-revenue water, lower manual labour needs and help extend asset life. It delivers measurable benefits across operations, making it a strategic investment that supports long-term sustainability, affordability and system resilience.
For more on how digital investments can create tangible value across the water sector, see Digital transformation in the water industry: Unlocking value through strategic implementation by Thomas Debruyne.
While upfront costs may be a barrier to implementation, delaying implementation means missing out on years of savings and performance improvements. AMI can reduce non-revenue water, lower manual labour needs and help extend asset life. It delivers measurable benefits across operations, making it a strategic investment that supports long-term sustainability, affordability and system resilience.
For more on how digital investments can create tangible value across the water sector, see Digital transformation in the water industry: Unlocking value through strategic implementation by Thomas Debruyne.