“The greatest threat to a water utility is not the sudden failure of its infrastructure, but the gradual acceptance of declining performance. When yesterday’s inefficiencies become today’s standards, creeping normality quietly transforms preventable losses into the cost of doing business.” – MJ Martin
The Silent Transformation of the Water Meter Industry
Understanding Creeping Normality
Creeping normality describes a phenomenon where gradual changes become accepted as ordinary, even when their cumulative consequences are significant. Changes that would provoke immediate concern if they occurred overnight often pass unnoticed when spread across years.
For Canada’s municipal water utilities, creeping normality represents both a serious operational vulnerability and an extraordinary opportunity for technological transformation.
Like a clock gradually losing time, a water distribution system can deteriorate without anyone recognizing how far performance has drifted from its original standard.
The Gradual Decline of Meter Accuracy
Traditional mechanical water meters have served Canadian municipalities for generations. However, internal components experience wear, particularly as cumulative water throughput increases.
Over time, some meters progressively under-register consumption, especially at low flow rates. The resulting apparent water losses become embedded in municipal financial expectations.
Research published in the Journal of the American Water Works Association confirms that meter accuracy can deteriorate with age, operating conditions, and accumulated throughput.
A municipality may unknowingly accept declining revenue simply because the deterioration occurs too slowly to attract attention.
When Yesterday’s Technology Becomes Today’s Standard
Water meter reading evolved from manual collection to automated meter reading (AMR), dramatically improving productivity.
However, technologies once considered revolutionary eventually become operational limitations.
Toronto provides a compelling example. The City reported that more than 70% of its 470,000 meter transmission units were failing by autumn 2025, creating widespread reliance on estimated billing. The meters themselves remained functional, but their communications infrastructure was deteriorating.
What began as individual equipment failures became a system-wide challenge requiring a comprehensive replacement program.
This illustrates how technological complacency can eventually produce expensive consequences.
The Normalization of Water Loss
Statistics Canada’s 2021 drinking water survey reported distribution-system losses representing approximately 17% of national potable water production. These losses included leakage and other distribution activities, not simply inaccurate meters.
Nevertheless, the distinction between real losses and apparent losses is essential.
When municipalities routinely accept elevated non-revenue water, financial inefficiency risks becoming institutionalized.
Water losses should be investigated, measured, and managed rather than unquestioningly accepted as normal operating conditions.
A New Normal Through Advanced Metering
Ultrasonic meters, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), cellular communications, and sophisticated analytics are transforming water management.
Continuous consumption monitoring can reveal abnormal usage patterns, identify potential customer leaks, improve billing accuracy, and support conservation.
However, creeping normality can affect these technologies too. Uninvestigated alarms, fragmented databases, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and deferred equipment replacement can gradually undermine their advantages.
Technology alone does not guarantee operational excellence.
Breaking the Cycle
Canadian municipalities should periodically challenge accepted operating practices through independent meter accuracy testing, comprehensive water audits, asset lifecycle planning, and measurable performance objectives.
The AWWA’s M36 methodology provides an established framework for evaluating water losses and improving accountability.
Most importantly, utility executives must ask difficult questions.
Would we tolerate today’s water losses if they suddenly appeared tomorrow? Are our replacement strategies driven by evidence or historical habit? Have we confused familiar practices with best practices?
Conclusion
Creeping normality rarely announces itself. It advances quietly through incremental compromises, aging assets, and deferred decisions.
The greatest danger facing the water meter industry may not be technological failure, but becoming comfortable with performance that should no longer be acceptable.
Progress begins when yesterday’s normal is no longer considered good enough.
References
Supporting sources:
– Statistics Canada, 2021 Drinking Water Survey;
– City of Toronto, MTU Replacement Program;
– Journal AWWA, Meter Accuracy Research;
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin is a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.