CITY OF NEW YORK

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Water Meter Data Output

To
Building Management Systems

Technical Note 2010-1

Bureau of Customer Services

October 2017 (Fourth Edition)

Bill de Blasio, Mayor

Vincent Sapienza, P.E., Commissioner

Introduction
In response to a number of inquiries concerning methods for reading water meters through
various types of building energy or facility automation systems the Technical Services Division
of DEP’s Bureau of Customer Services produced this Technical Note.

Abbreviations Used in This Document

AMI: Advanced Metering Infrastructure (aka Automated Meter Reading)

BCS: NYC DEP’s Bureau of Customer Services
BMS: Building Management System, alternatively EMS or FMS
DEP: New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Background

The “register” is the part of a water meter that counts, totalizes and communicates consumption
information. Most water meters used for utility service have absolute encoder registers meaning
that they store and communicate a totalized reading. Traditional electric and gas meters have
pulse-type registers where a pulse represents a certain volume of gas or number of watt-hours
and the receiver of the pulses must know both how to translate the pulse into consumption and
what the starting or previous reading is for the meter, since the pulse provides interval data but
not a reading.

There are serious limitations to remotely read pulse-based water meters from a utility
perspective. A remote display or totalizer for a pulse-based meter is easily defeated or disrupted
and must be reset if there is any interruption in communication such as a broken or loose wire.
Further, large buildings often have two or more cross-connected water services and if back flow
prevention devices are not working properly it is quite possible that reverse flow will occur that
will not be properly measured by pulse-based devices. If a pulse device is to be used, one that
registers in both directions is preferred.

The instrumentation industry has been slow to produce low-cost devices that can convert an
absolute encoder reading into a format acceptable to a BMS such as a pulse or 4-20 ma signal.
Until recently, water meter manufacturers had been slow providing registers with dual output
capability.

The remainder of this Technical Note describes both existing and expected solutions to this
problem.

Dual Output Meters and Meter Attachments

Several manufacturers offer meters that have either dual-output as a standard feature or available
as an option. DEP does not endorse any specific manufacturer. The meter attachments listed
here are the responsibility of the property owner. Data from meter attachments is not recognized
for billing purposes.

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Sensus’ OMNI T2, C2, R2 and F2 series of high-resolution meters have standard dual-output
registers providing both absolute encoder (“Sensus” ASCIII protocol) for the AMI system and
programmable frequency pulse output. While the standard commercial variant of this meter has
a dual-output register, most of the Sensus OMNI meters purchased by NYC DEP are single
output to the AMI system. A building owner can contract with Sensus to replace the standard
register with a dual-output register at their expense. The building water supply must be
temporarily shut for this register replacement. A permit from the local DEP-BCS office is
required. Sensus’ regional representative at this writing is Don O’Neil ( [email protected] )

Metron-Farnier furnishes a high-resolution electronic Innov8 register with all of its meters. The
version used by DEP has an output to the AMI system and a five-minute increment data logging
memory downloadable with the manufacturer’s Windows-based software and radio receiver. The
Innov8 is also available from the manufacturer with pulse or 4-20 ma outputs along with the
AMI connection. A permit from the local DEP-BCS office is required. A building water
shutdown is not required for this register replacement task. www.metronfarnier.com

Neptune Technology Group provides two versions of their Tricon that install between the
meter body and the register of any of their positive displacement or turbine type meters.
Versions with 4-20 ma analog or high frequency forward-reverse pulse output are available. The
Tricon provides switch closure output in several variations. A building water shutdown is not
required for this register replacement task. https://www.neptunetg.com/products/water-meters/

F.S. Brainard & Company/Meter-Master manufacturers flow and pressure monitoring

equipment and software that is compatible with most manufacturers’ water meters. The new
Smart Meter Master (SMM) is an interface box that connects to a water meter and has output to
both the DEP AMI system along with pulse, 4-20 ma and other outputs. The connections from
the meter to the Smart Meter Master and from the SMM to DEP’s AMI MTU must be made by
Nicor Hydroconn connectors for easy connection/disconnection. http://www.meter-
master.com/products/products.html

SCADAmetrics manufactures the EtherMeter – a water meter network gateway that translates a
water meter’s encoded consumption and flow-rate signals into Modbus/TCP and Modbus/RTU
(Modbus is a communication protocol that is compatible with certain building management
systems). Permissible Models: EM-100/NYCDEP. Please visit scadametrics.com for more
information. The connections from the meter to the EtherMeter and from the EtherMeter to
DEP’s AMI MTU must be made by Nicor Hydroconn connectors for easy
connection/disconnection.
SCADAmetrics also manufactures the Radio-Read Filter (RRF) – a signal splitter that enables a
water meter’s encoded consumption signal to be split between a NYC DEP AMR box and a
parallel, customer-owned meter-reading device. While the use of the Radio-Read Filter is
permitted, the customer-owned meter-reading device must be pre-approved by NYC DEP as
meeting NYC DEP’s polling period limitations. Permissible Models: RRFW/Nicor and
RRFD/Nicor. Please visit www.scadametrics.com for more information. The connections from
the meter to the RRF and from the RRF to DEP’s AMI MTU must be made by Nicor Hydroconn
connectors for easy connection/disconnection.

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The Sensus, Metron and Neptune devices are straightforward register replacements and should
be processed as such. However, we suggest that owners interested in the EtherMeter or Smart
Meter Master contact the vendor and then contact DEP-BCS’ Technical Service Division
(Michael Roach [email protected] or Barron Manning [email protected] )

Permit Issues

Before any meter attachment device is installed, a permit is required from the Borough Office of
the DEP Bureau of Customer Services. This is a “no fee” permit with the specific purpose of
informing DEP that such an attachment is being installed and for DEP to ensure that the basic
operation of the meter for billing purposes is retained after the attachment is installed. The
completed permit must be returned to the DEP-BCS Borough Office within ten (10) business
days of completion of the work. If a register is being replaced the final read from the old register
must be provided on the completed permit.

AMI Bulk Data Extract

DEP has been reading meters with a citywide fixed-network type AMI system since 2009. We
read smaller water meters four times a day while larger meters are read hourly. Users can
register with “My DEP Account” (MDA) on the DEP website to view graphs of their
consumption as well as individual readings. Users with programming capability can also avail
themselves of a Bulk Data Extract API that will deliver daily consumption data in XML or JSON
format for all accounts/meters registered under a My DEP Account Username. To enroll,
provide your MDA Username to [email protected] . You need to have programming
abilities to customize and configure the API.