The city of Lakewood in California, US, is upgrading its water metering and customer service with the input of the smart system of Fathom Water Management, Inc. The new system will allow customers to track their water use and pay bills online, at the same time allowing the utility to improve its operations.

According to a statement from Fathom, the improvements include upgrading more than 20,000 water meters with smart replacements, and the city is using Fathom’s financing option, Fathom Capital, to undertake the overhaul.

The project is due to be completed during the first half of 2018. It includes use of Fathom’s Meter Data Management solutions. This allows the utility to bill accurately and reduce non-revenue water loss, as well as improve distribution system maintenance and reduce physical water loss.

Meanwhile, Haltom City in Texas has become the latest water utility in the state to adopt Fathom’s smart customer and billing system.

Haltom City became the fifth city in Texas to use the Fathom system. According to a statement from Fathom, implementation of the company’s water management platform will allow the utility to recover lost revenue and improve the experience of customers. Fathom says the city will save more than $300,000 a year through reduced water loss, bad debt, and operational expenses. It says the utility is replacing nearly 10,000 water meters and will retrofit another 3000 with new smart meters.

Fathom is also to open a customer service centre in Haltom to give residents a physical location where they can pay their bills and manage their accounts.

Both the Lakewood and Haltom projects involve implementing Fathom’s Customer Information System and accompanying U2You customer portal. Customers can log in on a computer, smartphone or tablet. They can set personalised alerts for usage and for estimated monthly billing. The system will also alert customers in case of unexpectedly high use such as might be due to a leaking pipe or faulty sprinkler system.