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PUC outlines automated water meter rollout; staff say RF tests show low emissions, will pause billing until validated
Summary
SFPUC described a citywide automated water meter installation program to replace ~180,000 meters by April 2012, with hourly data captured and transmitted four times daily. Staff said RF emissions tests show very low exposures compared with common devices, and emphasized QA, local hiring and that there will be no billing until accuracy is confirmed.
Assistant General Manager Steve Ritchie outlined the SFPUC automated water meter program and fielded commissioner concerns about electromagnetic fields (EMF), privacy and safety. Ritchie said the program replaces aging meters (about two‑thirds are >20 years old), installs meter transmission units (MTUs) attached to the underside of meter boxes, deploys 77 distributed data collection units (DCUs) across the city, and captures hourly readings transmitted in four short bursts per day. He said the meter technology itself is traditional — the new element is the wireless MTU.
Ritchie described the pilot and planned deployment schedule: a pilot installing roughly 300–400 meters per week expanding to multi‑thousand‑meter installation phases, with the goal of completing replacement of about 180,000 meters by April 2012. He emphasized QA testing (AWWA standards, 10% bench testing, field manual reads to validate meters) and that there will be no billing from these meters until staff are satisfied they read accurately. The city will use local installers where possible; Ritchie said the installation contractor includes an experienced core crew and the PUC expects to add local hires.
On health and privacy, staff presented RF emissions testing comparing MTUs and DCUs with everyday devices. Ritchie said measured emissions were small, with MTU readings taken directly over a meter and DCU readings also low relative to smartphones and other common devices. He said transmitted meter identifiers are numeric tokens, not names or addresses, and that data are routed to the customer service bureau for billing and customer service use. Commissioners requested further breakdowns of complaint types from CPUC/CPUC filings and asked staff to return with more detailed environmental/health documentation during the test phases.
