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Norfolk to install advanced water meters citywide; pilot, retrofits and outreach planned
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Summary
City staff outlined a multi‑year rollout of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) program that will replace or retrofit roughly 70,000 water meters, start with a 1,000‑meter pilot and provide hourly reads to better detect leaks and irregular bills. Council members pressed staff on security, billing cycles and community outreach.
The City of Norfolk plans to deploy an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system — replacing or retrofitting about 70,000 water meters — after city officials finalized a contract and scheduled a notice to proceed this fall.
City staff say the rollout is intended to improve meter reading accuracy, allow remote move‑in/move‑out reads and provide much higher‑frequency usage data to identify leaks and billing anomalies.
Arcadis project manager Michael Rotunno, the presenter, described AMI as a combination of meters, a fixed network, software and processes. He said the contract with Core & Main and the AMI hardware provider Neptune Technology Group was signed recently and that staff expects a notice to proceed tentatively in September. "Every meter will be installed with an AMI endpoint or a small antenna," Rotunno said. "It does provide the technology to proactively identify leaks at the customer's premise."
Rotunno said the city currently has approximately 70,000 water meters, most mechanical and in outdoor meter boxes, and that AMI will include ultrasonic meters for larger services. The program will begin with an initial deployment of about 1,000 meters to validate network and software performance; staff then plans a retrofit of about 38,000 meters (adding AMI components to meters not at end of life) and subsequent replacement of roughly 30,000 smaller meters and 2,000 large meters over future years. He added that installed meters will send hourly usage reads, delivered roughly four times per day.
Councilmembers asked technical and policy questions. Councilmember Smigiel pressed whether AMI would stabilize billing cycles; Rotunno said the system “gives a lot more data to control your cycles,” but he could not confirm whether billing cycles will be formally changed and said staff would seek clarification. On security, Rotunno said the system is encrypted and transmits no personal information: "It's encrypted, and the data that is sent is — there's no personal information in it either. It's just strings of numbers," he said. On installation time, Rotunno said a typical residential meter installation takes about 20 minutes.
Staff outlined a customer outreach plan that includes a project website, mailed notices to all customers, door hangers placed before and after installations and door knocks when crews perform work. Utilities Director Bob Carter (referenced in discussion) was cited as the staff contact for neighborhood and civic league outreach; Rotunno said staff and consultants would meet civic groups or task forces as needed.
City staff said the project should eliminate the city's existing contract to manually read meters, reduce missed reads and allow quicker identification of errant bills. Rotunno said a business case evaluation was performed during planning and that staff will provide estimated cost savings and lifecycle economics on request.
The presentation was informational; no council action was taken during the work session. Staff indicated more detailed scheduling, cost‑benefit numbers and outreach timelines will be provided as the project moves toward field work.
Less critical details: Neptune Technology Group will provide AMI hardware; Core & Main is prime installer and distributor. Some hard‑to‑reach meters may use cellular connections when LoRaWAN coverage is not available. Notice to proceed is tentatively this quarter (staff cited September).
