Leander council hears progress report on automated metering infrastructure; city to begin antenna-only installs

Leander's City Council received a detailed briefing on Nov. 6 from Atlas consultants and city staff about the Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project, which will replace and network approximately 32,000 water meter endpoints and provide both a utility analytics platform (Neptune 360) and a customer portal (Neptune My360).

Consultant Tommy McLuhan told the council the implementation is operating three parallel work streams: a field survey, network installation and data integration into billing systems. The meter survey, which captures GPS locations and performs a visual lead-service-line inventory, is about 95% complete, he said, and crews are preparing meter boxes so installations will be clean and efficient.

McLuhan said the initial network design will use a mix of fixed collectors and commercial cellular modules. "We have one monopole planned at Fire Station No. 4, eight SCADA towers, and four elevated storage tanks being used as…