Village of Oak Lawn implements Aclara RF AMI communications network and leak detection technology to future-proof Its water distribution system
Solution provides leading-edge capabilities to help optimize operations and reduce non-revenue water
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aclara, a division of Hubbell Utility Solutions and a leading supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) to electric, gas and water utilities around the world, announces that the Village of Oak Lawn, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, is completing the implementation of its Aclara RF™ advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) communications network and a landmark acoustic leak detection system.
The new point-to-multipoint AMI network, which will support 17,000 meters, replaces Oak Lawn's legacy AMR walk-by meter reading system. Among its many benefits, the RF network will enable the city to optimize the performance of its water distribution network and achieve its goal of improving the frequency and accuracy of meter reading and billing.
"This is a milestone project for Oak Lawn. The implementation of Aclara's AMI network will help us streamline our operations and equip us with the tools to improve and grow our infrastructure and deliver water more efficiently," said Jeff Sebek, Director of Public Works, Oak Lawn.
In addition to improving billing, Oak Lawn is taking steps to reduce non-revenue water loss by leveraging the fixed AMI network with Aclara's leak-detection solution to locate underground leaks in its distribution system. When completed, this solution will be the largest such deployment in the Western Hemisphere, employing 825 acoustic correlating loggers to discover leaks that are not obvious but that contribute to non-revenue water loss.
"Non-revenue water, which is water loss through distribution network leakage, is of paramount importance for Oak Lawn to reduce. We expect that the Aclara solution will be a game-changer for the Village of Oak Lawn to bring both our apparent and real water losses number down," Sebek noted.
Data collected by the Aclara RF AMI network will be managed and analyzed via the AclaraONE® software platform, allowing the city to identify usage patterns and alert customers to anomalies. These capabilities help facilitate consumption reporting for customers. Through the AclaraONE platform, Oak Lawn will receive daily reports covering not only the amount of water used but also the amount sold to the towns that rely on the city for their water supply. Home to approximately 57,000 residents, the city purchases water from the city of Chicago and resells it to 12 towns in the surrounding area.
Oak Lawn joins a growing number of municipalities that have embraced the Aclara RF point-to-multipoint network technology to future-proof their networks. Aclara also deploys its Aclara RF AMI communications networks in by such water utilities as Austin Water, which services over 1 million people across more than 548 square miles in the Austin, Texas metropolitan area; the City of Dothan, Alabama; and the City of Elmhurst, Illinois.
For more information, visit www.aclara.com.
About Aclara
Aclara, a division of Hubbell Utility Solutions, is a world-class supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) and services to more than 1,000 water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Aclara SIS offerings include smart meters and other field devices, advanced metering infrastructure and software and services that enable utilities to predict and respond to conditions, leverage their distribution networks effectively, and engage with their customers. Aclara was recently recognized for its vision and end-to-end solution strategy by Navigant Research, won a Global Smart Energy Networks Enabling Technology Leadership Award as well as a North American New Product Innovation Award from Frost & Sullivan, and was named a finalist in three categories of the Platts Global Energy Awards. Visit us at Aclara.com, follow us on Twitter @AclaraSolutions, or subscribe to our blog.
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Nancy Talley
Aclara
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SOURCE Aclara
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