This utility operations manual will guide the utility in choosing the best sizes for customer water meters and service lines.

Historically, water utilities sized customer service connections and meters based upon the peak flow rates that the meter was expected to encounter. Since peak flows occur only rarely, meters sized in this way record the lower, average daily flow in the low end of their design range.

Unfortunately, many meter types are less accurate in the low end of their flow range with very low flows not captured at all. This results in lost legitimate revenue for the utility.

Many water utilities have recovered considerable water and revenue by right-sizing oversized customer meters. Right-sized water meters, because they more accurately record water consumption, can increase utility revenue, as well as reduce the amount of apparent water loss in the distribution system.

Properly sized service lines and meters provides many benefits for both the customer and the utility:

- Accurate measurements of water use, flow, and demand

- Less under-billing of customers, which increases utility revenue

- Optimum cost of service

- Reduced equipment maintenance

- Fewer customer complaints

- Reliable water-use data for better demand forecasting, improved hydraulic modeling, and enhanced water conservation planning

Topics include estimating consumer water flows, peak water demands, demand profiling, metering equipment, and procedures for calculating service lines and meters for optimum water revenue and lowest service cost. Includes numerous tables and sample calculations.