Case Study: South Tahoe Public Utility District achieves major cost and time savings with VertexOne WaterSmart automated leak detection, alerting and resolution

Real Cost and Time Savings from Closed-Loop Automated Leak Detection, Alerting and Resolution

South Tahoe Public Utility District, which serves about 14,000 water accounts in the Lake Tahoe area, faced difficulty detecting customer-side leaks and alerting customers quickly despite an AMI rollout; seasonal frozen pipes and many part-time residents increased the risk of undetected continuous use. Vertexone, using the WaterSmart customer engagement and data analytics platform, was chosen to turn real-time AMI data into automated, actionable leak alerts and customer-facing diagnostics.

Vertexone’s WaterSmart solution provides automatic email, SMS and voice alerts, a closed‑loop leak resolution workflow for customers, and staff dashboards for tracking and documentation. In one year it detected 5,600 leaks, reduced most adjustment amounts to under $80, lowered annual leak-adjustment costs by about $8,500, and saved staff roughly 10–15 hours per week.

South Tahoe Public Utility District

Jessica Henderson

Customer Service Specialist