Tap Into Smarter Utility Management with DMAs

Aging infrastructure, rising non-revenue water, and increasing service demands are pushing many municipalities to rethink how they manage their water systems. One smart, scalable solution? District Metered Areas (DMAs).

A District Metered Area (DMA) is a defined and isolated zone within a water distribution system where water flow in and out can be accurately measured and monitored. While District Metered Areas (DMAs) are often celebrated for their ability to reduce water loss, their advantages extend far beyond leak detection.

• Enhanced Network Management — DMAs make it easier to isolate and monitor specific sections of a water system, leading to smarter decision-making and more efficient operations.
• Improved Pressure Control — By segmenting the network, utilities can maintain more consistent and optimized pressure levels.
• Data-Driven Asset Planning — Granular data supports predictive maintenance and capital investment planning.
• Faster Incident Response — DMAs enable rapid location and containment when issues arise.
• Customer Engagement and Trust — Clearer insight into specific areas fosters greater public trust and encourages water-saving behaviors.

Prior to implementing DMAs, our team has helped local municipalities to conduct feasibility studies not only to determine if the current water distribution system can be physically separated into discrete zones but also to perform a Cost-Benefit analysis of their implementation.

In 2015, our team worked on the City of Markham DMA Feasibility Study to do just that. And in 2019, we worked with Miya and the City of Toronto to investigate feasibility of separating Pressure Zone 3 into discrete DMAs. In addition to the cost of implementing DMAs with such things as meters, chambers, SCADA and the benefit of reducing water loss, we have looked at the cost of energy saved by optimizing pumping, reducing cost of emergency repairs or attending to breaks, and optimizing distribution network operation.

At HydraLink Infrastructure Solutions we have experience in developing DMA feasibility studies that use a hydraulic water model to simulate what your water distribution system would look like with one DMA or even seeing how you can divide your system into more manageable pressure zones. DMAs are not just a tool for reducing non-revenue water — they're a catalyst for smarter, more sustainable utility management.