City of Lawrence, KS

1. The Challenge

The City of Lawrence sought to modernize its aging water metering infrastructure to improve billing accuracy, enhance operational efficiency, and provide customers with greater visibility into their water usage. Legacy metering technology limited the City’s ability to quickly identify leaks and abnormal consumption while requiring labor-intensive manual meter reading.

The City needed a proven partner capable of deploying thousands of smart water meters while integrating the new system into its existing utility operations and minimizing disruption to residents.

2. Project Drivers

To achieve its modernization goals, the City of Lawrence partnered with Envocore to implement a comprehensive Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployment.

• Replace aging water meter infrastructure throughout the city
• Improve meter accuracy and billing reliability
• Enhance leak detection and customer water usage visibility
• Modernize legacy metering technology
• Increase operational efficiency through automation
• Reduce reliance on manual meter reading

3. Envocore’s Solution

Envocore provided a complete smart water meter deployment that included:

• Installation of approximately 32,500 Sensus iPerl smart water meters
• Water meter and register replacement throughout the service area
• Implementation of the Sensus FlexNet fixed-network AMI communications system
• GPS-enabled asset tracking and field data collection
• Installation of both indoor-set and outdoor pit-set water meters
• Dedicated program and construction management

Working closely with City personnel, Envocore successfully deployed advanced metering technology that improved operational performance while providing utility staff and customers with near real-time water consumption data. The City’s confidence in Envocore’s performance resulted in the company being selected to deliver Phase 2 of the modernization program.

4. Project Results

The completed AMI deployment provided Lawrence with significantly improved visibility into system performance, allowing utility staff to identify leaks and abnormal water usage more quickly while improving customer service.

The modernized system reduced dependence on manual meter reading, increased billing accuracy, supported water conservation initiatives, and positioned the City for more informed long-term utility planning. The project also achieved exceptionally low data exceptions, demonstrating the quality of the deployment and data collection process.

5. By the Numbers

32,500

Water meters installed

2 Phases

Selected to deliver Phase 2

<5%

Data exceptions