The Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson is a picturesque community on the Hudson River, about 50 miles north of New York City. But behind the scenic views, the village had a huge issue: large quantities of water were unaccounted for, sometimes up to 50 percent of the daily water production.
The Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson Water Department had to figure out where the water was going, and how much was actually being consumed by its customers. It also needed to upgrade from its manual meter reading process, which was slow, labor-intensive, and prone to human error. The village relied on Neptune and local distribution partner, Ti-SALES, to develop a plan for achieving their short- and longer-term goals. The team worked to develop an efficient growth strategy for the village, which chose to upgrade its water system from an Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system. The village accomplished this using Neptune’s uniquely compatible solutions that are designed for easy and affordable system upgrades. This transition was not only about technology, but also a smart way to make the village's water management more cost-effective and sustainable.
The AMR to AMI Migration Strategy
In 2021 the village opted for Neptune's R900® System gateways and the Neptune® 360™ cloud-based platform for managing meter data, which provided a low-cost and adaptable way to transition from AMR to AMI while still incorporating existing resources. The village adopted a phased approach, upgrading Neptune meters and system components over time based on budget availability.
“Changing out equipment can be especially expensive for a small system like ours. Neptune has enabled us to replace assets on an as-needed basis, which we can do without any real financial impact on our daily operating budget – as opposed to having to borrow money, as in the past,” noted Michael P. Trainor, Sr., Water Superintendent with the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson.
This enabled the village to track its water system in real time, collecting detailed data on hourly usage and improving both the quality of operations and customer service.
“Without the real time information available through Neptune 360, we would not have been alerted to some sizable leaks out in the water system – nor would we have been able to respond as rapidly.”
The Benefits of Neptune 360
Getting real time data on water use is not the only challenge. The other challenge is how to analyze the data and use it to maximize the benefits for a utility. Neptune 360 provides several advantages to the village, the most crucial one being water loss reduction. By monitoring water production in real time and reading consumer usage daily, the village could find and fix leaks that were previously undetectable.
Neptune 360 also improved operational efficiency. The Village can now collect meter readings automatically without having to physically visit its meters, making the billing process more efficient. This allows the billing department to access the information quickly and easily through Neptune 360, shortening the billing cycle significantly. Lastly, the Neptune 360 data management system helped improve customer service. Neptune 360 provides detailed consumption data by account, which helps the village to pinpoint unusual events. This information empowers Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) to engage more effectively with customers regarding billing concerns and high bill complaints.
The Results
With Neptune 360, the village has made amazing progress in identifying water loss. Trainor says: "In 2013, we produced 1.3 million gallons of water per day, and now it's about 623,000 gallons - that's a huge drop of more than 50 percent!"
The village has also introduced the Neptune My360 consumer portal, which enables customers to monitor their own water use and set up alerts on any device with internet access. Customers can now detect potential issues without waiting for a bill, which means less water wasted and fewer complaints about high bills.
"Making the concerted effort to replace meters and obtaining accurate readings using Neptune’s R900 System gateways and Neptune 360 has already dramatically reduced the number of phone calls to our office regarding billing concerns. The new Neptune My360 consumer portal can only help to continue this trend,” Trainor said.
The village intends to keep working with Neptune to improve and expand their system, beginning with another propagation study to determine the optimal location for a third gateway to better serve its more remote locations. “We are incredibly pleased with Neptune – from the quality and innovation of their products to phenomenal customer service and support. It is certainly no accident that we have been with them for over 40 years,” Trainor said.
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For more information on Neptune’s software offerings visit neptunetg.com/neptune360
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