根据人口普查局的数据，德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥市在1990年至1998年间是美国增长第二快的城市。随着城市的发展，对基础设施的需求增加了。为了“少花钱多办事”，圣安东尼奥供水系统（SAWS）正在不断寻找利用新技术的方法，使我们能够满足圣安东尼奥地区日益增长的用水需求。在这样做的过程中，我们必须继续关注客户的期望，将成本保持在全国最低水平之一，同时提供优质的水质。 圣安东尼奥地区接收来自爱德华兹含水层的水。在干旱期间，瓜达卢佩河沿岸的区域性抽水已经超过了蓄水层的维持能力，以及天然泉水、下游环境需求和用户需求。因此，最近通过的一项州法律限制了安东尼奥从含水层中提取的水量。圣安东尼奥供水系统预计，在干旱条件下，爱德华兹含水层管理局的最终许可将允许每年约13.5万英亩英尺的水量。这与188000英亩的土地形成了鲜明对比- 在1999年，锯子实际上是被抽出来的。此外，SAWS的许可证可能会在2008年减少到12000英亩英尺左右，这是整个地区允许的抽水许可证减少的一部分。即使大力保护以减少人均消费，圣安东尼奥的斯瓦特供应需求到2050年仍将翻一番。此外，圣安东尼奥应该有至少10年的储备供应，超过实际预计需求，以抵御干旱。1998年，SAWS委员会建议，市议会通过了一项50年供水计划，以应对这些挑战。这项计划是一系列长期规划工作的最终产物，涉及一系列广泛的项目- 以公民委员会为基础，几乎覆盖了阿德卡德。该计划确定了与减少客户用水相关的外部水源和项目的收购。这些额外的水源包括设计含水层储存和回收系统，从附近地区购买额外的水权，以及在该地区不同地区购买地表水。我们还处于实施再利用项目的最后阶段。由于这些额外的供水需求，未来几年需要进行一系列的加价。 我们采用的供水计划和计划中的资本改善计划预计在未来五年将耗资约9亿美元。这使得其他资本或并购项目更难获得资金。为了解决这个问题，我们开发了一种财务分析方法，通过实施自动化抄表等项目来显示系统的价值。这种价值分析方法也有助于确定较小的采购，例如，该系统并没有增加成本。本文讨论了SAWS自动抄表程序的实现。

The City of San Antonio, Texas, according to the Census Bureau, was the second fastest-growing city in the United States from 1990 to 1998. The demand for infrastructure hasincreased with the growth of the city. In order to do "more with less" the San AntonioWater System (SAWS) is continuously looking for ways to leverage new technologies to enable usto meet our growing demand for water in the San Antonio area. In doing this we mustcontinue to be sensitive to our customers' expectations for keeping costs to one of thelowest in the country, while providing superior water quality.The San Antonio area receives water from the Edwards Aquifer. Regional pumping of theaquifer already exceeds the aquifer's ability to sustain them along with natural springflows, downstream environmental needs, and user demands along the Guadalupe Riverduring a drought. Therefore, a recently passed state law is limiting the amount of waterSan Antonio can withdraw from the aquifer. The San Antonio Water System expects itsfinal permit from the Edwards Aquifer Authority to allow approximately 135,000 acre-feet per year under drought conditions. This contrasts with the 188,000 acre-feet thatSAWS actually pumped in 1999. Further, SAWS' permit may be reduced to about120,000 acre-feet in 2008 as part of an overall region-wide reduction in allowablepumping permits.Even with aggressive conservation to reduce per capita consumption, San Antonio'swater supply needs will double by 2050. In addition, San Antonio should have at least a10-year reserve supply over actual projected demand as protection against a drought. In1998, the SAWS Board recommended, and City Council adopted, a 50-year water supplyplan to meet these challenges. This plan was the final product of a long series ofplanning efforts, involving a succession of broad-based citizen committees over nearly adecade. This plan identifies the acquisition of outside water sources and projects relatedto the reduction of water use by our customers. These additional water sources haveincluded the design of an aquifer storage and recovery system, the purchasing ofadditional water rights from nearby areas, and the purchasing of surface water in differentparts of the region. We are also in the final stage of implementing our reuse waterprogram.These additional water supply requirements have necessitated a series of future rateincreases in coming years. Our adopted water plan and scheduled capital improvementplan is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $900,000,000 over the next five years.This has made other capital or M&O projects significantly more difficult to get funded.To combat this we have developed a financial analysis approach to show value beingadded to the system by implementing projects such as the automation of meter reading.This analysis approach has also helped in identifying expenditures that did not add valueto the system, such as smaller system acquisitions. This paper discusses the implementation of SAWS' automated meter reading program.