DocuSign Envelope ID: 24DBBF20-71D0-46EA-81D6-BDA8A4905876
TO: Commissioners
THRU: Carla A. Reid General Manager/CEO
THRU: Monica J. Johnson Deputy General Manager Strategy and Partnerships
FROM: Charles Brown Communications and Community Relations Director
DATE: October 13, 2020
SUBJECT: Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Public Hearings Customer Feedback
Background
As you know, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) will provide numerous benefits to WSSC Water customers, including providing near real-time water usage information so customers can better manage their water use – thereby conserving water and saving money. Throughout the early planning phase of this innovative project, WSSC Water has engaged in extensive customer outreach to educate, inform and encourage public input. Because we value public feedback and complete transparency, we held two virtual AMI Public Hearings: Tuesday, September 29 and Wednesday, September 30 – both at 6:30 p.m.
Public Hearing Outreach
Our outreach efforts for the two public hearings were detailed at the start of each meeting and included the following:
• An advertisement was published in The Washington Post on September 10, 2020. • We heavily promoted both hearings on Facebook and Twitter for the past several weeks – including paid posts on Facebook. • We issued news releases on September 21 and September 29 announcing both public hearings. These releases were posted to the home page of WSSC Water’s website: wsscwater.com. Additionally, both releases were sent to our 1,380 Constant Contact subscribers on the 21st and 29th. • We also purchased radio time to promote these hearings on WTOP, WMMJ (Majic FM), WHUR, WLZL and Pandora. The ads ran between September 21 and September 30.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 24DBBF20-71D0-46EA-81D6-BDA8A4905876
Commissioners AMI Public Hearings Customer Feedback October 13, 2020 Page 2
• Information about both hearings was posted on the Events section of our homepage, as well as on the AMI webpage on our website. • Finally, we emailed information about both hearings directly to those customers who contacted us via our email address: [email protected], and to our online Customer Feedback Community.
Summary of Public Feedback
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
• 8 Callers • All Montgomery County residents • All opposed • Primary concern expressed: RF health/safety
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
• 15 callers (two were repeat Montgomery County callers from 9/29 meeting) • Of the 13 unique callers, nine were from Montgomery County and four were from Prince George’s County • 8 were opposed • Primary concern expressed: RF health/safety • 5 callers testified in support of AMI • Those testifying in support mentioned: affordability, conservation, early leak detection, monthly billing and real-time water consumption as primary benefits
County-by-County Breakdown
• 17 callers from Montgomery County: 2 in support; 15 opposed • Four callers from Prince George’s County: 3 in support; 1 opposed
The complete transcripts from both public hearings are included in this memo.
At the October 21 Commission meeting, we will also detail results of the quantitative survey we conducted of 512 randomly selected Montgomery and Prince George’s County customers (408 residential and 104 commercial – evenly split among both counties). Here are a few key takeaways from this comprehensive survey:
• 86 percent of customers surveyed had no health concerns related to AMI technology. • 84 percent of customers surveyed support implementation of AMI technology. • Vast majority of customers surveyed would use AMI to compare water usage to previous bill, conserve water and check for leaks. CC: Joseph Beach, Deputy General Manager, Administration Damion Lampley, Utility Services Director James A. Price, Jr., Deputy General Manager, Operations Advanced Metering Infrastructure Customer Survey Results
October 21, 2020 1 Agenda • About Maryland Marketing Source (MMS), Inc. • About the Quantitative Survey • Quantitative Survey Demographics • Quantitative Survey Results • About Customer Feedback Community & August Activity • Customer Feedback Community Summary Results • Questions
2 About Maryland Marketing Source, Inc.
• Established in 1986 Experience
• Full-service market research firm Quantitative Services Qualitative Services • Telephone • Strategic planning • Family-owned and operated interviewing • In-person • On-site interviewing interviews/focus groups • Certifications: • Online surveys • Online focus groups o Women’s Business Enterprise • Mobile surveys • Mobile qualitative • Mail surveys research o Minority Business Enterprise • Sample planning • In-depth interviewing o Small Business Enterprise • Statistical analysis • Product testing o Woman Small Business Enterprise • Project management
3 About the Quantitative Study • Conducted July-August 2020 • Utilized a mixed-modal methodology: o Surveys conducted both via telephone (26%) and online (74%). o Customer data provided by WSSC Water and participants selected randomly by MMS. • Prince George’s and Montgomery County Residential and Commercial Customers participated.
Prince George’s County Montgomery County Residential Customers 204 204 Commercial Customers 51 53 N = 512
4 Residential Demographics • The majority of Residential customers own their home (72%). D1. Do you own or rent your home?
72% Own Residential 28% Rent
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% • Just under two thirds of Residential customers (65%) live in a single family detached house. D2. Which of the following best describes your type of home? (READ LIST)
65% Single family detached house
Residential 23% Townhouse/Rowhouse 2% Duplex/Twin/Semi-detached
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
5 Residential Demographics (cont.) • Most of the Residential participants were 35-49 years old or 50-64 years old (36% and 27%, respectively).
D3. What is your age? (DO NOT READ LIST)
7% 18-25
19% 26-34
Residential 36% 35-49
27% 50-64
9% 65+
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
6 Residential Demographics (cont.) • The majority Residential customers report earning 4-year college degrees and graduate degrees.
D5. What is the highest level of education you have completed? (READ LIST) Less than high school 1%
9% High school graduate
21% Some college/technical school Residential 27% 4-year college degree
3% Some post graduate
36% Graduate degree
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
7 Residential Demographics (cont.) • WSSC Water Residential customers mostly identify themselves as African American and/or Caucasian.
D6. To ensure we are speaking to a cross section of people, may I please ask how you identify your race or ethnicity? [ACCEPT ALL]
39% African American
39% Caucasian
Residential 8% Asian
8% Hispanic
2% Other
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
8 Residential Demographics (cont.) • The majority of study participants report earning higher household incomes. D7. Into which of the following categories does the annual income of your entire household fall? (READ LIST)
5% Under $20K 4% $20K-$29K 4% $30K-$39K 7% $40K-$49K Residential 12% $50K-$74K 13% $75K-$99K 11% $100K-$124K 28% $125K or more
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
9 Residential Demographics (cont.) • The gender of participants skewed naturally.
D8. (KEY IN GENDER. ASK IF NECESSARY.)
45% Male Residential Female 54%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
10 Commercial Demographics • The most commonly represented business types are below. • Commercial customers represent businesses of all sizes.
D1. What type of business is this? (READ LIST IF NECESSARY)
20% Retail
15% Industrial process
10% Storage facility Commercial 8% Restaurant
7% Office
7% Residential apartments
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
11 Commercial Demographics (cont.) • The gender of the Commercial participants is representative of the population.
D3. (KEY IN GENDER. ASK IF NECESSARY.)
64% Male Commercial Female 36%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
12 Familiarity with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Technology • Fewer than half of the WSSC Water customers surveyed (43%) are familiar with AMI technology.
Q1. Are you familiar with AMI technology?
Residential 33% 67% (n = 408) Yes Commercial 80% 20% No (n = 104)
OVERALL 43% 57% (N = 512)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
13 Experience with AMI Technology • 39% of Residential customers report having AMI tech through another utility. • 63% of Commercial customers report having AMI tech through another utility. Q2. Do you currently have AMI technology from another utility?
Residential 39% 50% 12% (n = 135) Yes
Commercial 63% 36% No (n = 83) 1% Don't Know OVERALL 48% 45% 8% (N = 218)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
14 Real-Time Reporting Capabilities • Among those *few customers who currently report having AMI technology through another utility, the majority do take advantage of the near real-time reporting capabilities available to them.
Q3. If you have AMI, do you take advantage of the near real-time reporting capabilities?
Residential 77% 23% (n = 52) Yes Commercial 87% 14% (n = 52) No
OVERALL 82% 18% (N = 104)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
* Please note the small base sizes when considering the responses to this question. 15 Concerns about Privacy • Overall, almost three quarters (74%) of WSSC Water customers expressed no concerns about the encrypted data that would be transmitted wirelessly. • More Residential than Commercial customers expressed concerns. Q4. AMI technology wirelessly transmits encrypted data, including your account number and the number of gallons used per day in your household. Do you have concerns about these transmissions?* Residential 29% 71% (n = 408) Yes Commercial 15% 85% (n = 104) No
OVERALL 26% 74% (N = 512)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% *Question was incorrectly worded as only meter identification information and usage data is encrypted and sent to WSSC Water. 16 Concerns about Wireless Transmissions (cont.)
• The few concerns expressed included…
“It is a “I do not want violation of electronic “You might get hacked.” privacy.” monitoring to “The bill will be interfere with inaccurate.” my other devices.” “That it will steal my information.” “What is it going to cost me?” “The purpose is to lay people off, I’m not down with that.” “Not secured.” “Monthly bills “That makes your increased.” data more vulnerable.”
17 Health Concerns • Few of the customers surveyed stated that they had any health concerns related to AMI technology (16% of Residential customers and 9% of Commercial customers).
Q5. Similar to other household devices, such as Wi-Fi, computers, baby monitors, and cell phones, AMI emits radio frequencies at very low levels when transmitting data – far below U.S. and international exposure limits. The transmitter is located on the outside of your home/business. It sends water usage data in less than one second per day to the utility. Do you have any health concerns about AMI technology?
Residential 16% 84% (n = 408)
Commercial Yes 9% 91% (n = 104) No OVERALL 15% 86% (N = 512)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
18 Health Concerns • Those customers who expressed concerns regarding their health and AMI technology stated ….
“Yes, I have health concerns about smart “The 5g radiation.” “I have meters due to the radiation.” concerns about dizziness, ear “It may harm the environment and “Do all these radio pain, memory hence leads to decrease in our waves affect the problems, heart reputation.” body/health.” palpitations, anxiety, and sleep “Well I’ve heard that radio frequencies can “You are adding another radio transmission in problems.” cause cancer over time. So, this AMI addition to all others that exist. Cumulatively, Technology could become a problem this could be a problem.” for me.”
19 Wi-Fi Usage
• Almost all of the respondents in this study have Wi-Fi in their home or place of business (97% of Residential customers and 98% of Commercial customers). • Nine in ten Residential customers (92%) use Wi-Fi daily, as do three quarters of Commercial customers (76%). (Depicted in chart)
Q6. Do you have Wi-Fi in your home? Q6a. How often do you use it (Wi-Fi)? 1% 1% Residential 92% 6% (n = 397) Daily
Commercial Weekly 76% 15% 10% (n = 102) Monthly 1% OVERALL Not at all 88% 8% 3% (N = 499)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
20 Opting Out of AMI • Overall, 75% of customers would not opt-out of having AMI technology. o More than one quarter of Residential customers, 28%, stated that they would choose to opt-out of having AMI technology in their homes. o Thirteen percent (13%) of Commercial customers reported the same for their businesses. Q7. If given the option, would you choose to opt out of AMI technology, meaning would you choose not to have AMI installed in your home/business? Residential 28% 72% (n = 408) Yes Commercial 13% 88% (n = 104) No OVERALL 25% 75% (N = 512)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
21 Opting Out of AMI (cont.) • Customers who consider opting-out stated the following reasons:
“It would be not that beneficial.” “Would need to do research “Security concern.” before attaching “To reduce to my home.” the amount of “Worried about technology being used technology.” to listen personal info.”
“I would be concerned “The technology is too new. I just don't about low levels of radio I frequency and if it would feel comfortable with it yet.” cause any long-term health effects.”
22 Opt-Out Fee • The majority of customers who would *choose to opt-out of the AMI technology report that they would opt-out even if they had to pay a fee to do so (59%).
Q8. If you had to pay a fee in order to not have the AMI technology installed in your home/business, would you still choose to opt out?
Residential 60% 41% (n = 116)
Yes Commercial 54% 46% (n = 13) No
OVERALL 59% 41% (N = 129)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
* Please note the small base sizes when considering the responses to this question.
23 Real-Time Water Usage Information • WSSC Water customers see several benefits in being able to access near real-time water usage information. • The ability to compare usage to previous bills seems to be of highest interest. Residential Customers Commercial Customers Compare my usage to previous bills 70% 63% Check to see if I need to conserve 62% 51% Figure out if I have a leak 58% 41% Other 2% 2% None of the above 11% 4% N = 408 104
24 Support for Implementing AMI Technology
• The majority of WSSC Water customers surveyed, both Residential (85%) and Commercial (82%), support the implementation of AMI technology. Q10. AMI technology would provide increased operational control to WSSC Water, allowing us to proactively identify leaks, improve meter reading accuracy, and lessen our carbon footprint by eliminating the need to drive to locations to read meters. Do you support WSSC Water implementing AMI?
Residential 85% 15% (n = 408) Yes Commercial 82% 18% (n = 104) No
OVERALL 84% 16% (N = 512)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
25 Additional Information Requested • Information that would aid customers in making their decision includes the following: “What data is used “What security from it?” “Where on the outside of measures will be his house will it be located taken? Options and “Their environmental benefits.” and what does it look costs for service, like?” opting out, etc.” “To know if there are any security issues with it. Any “What are the down sides draw backs and how of AMI?” “Would I be able to opt accurate it is.” out after the fact?” “Would there have to be a “More research needed. Would cost for this AMI technology?” technology take human jobs?”
26 Few Would Still Opt-Out • Twenty percent (20%) of WSSC Water customers report that, despite learning of the many benefits of AMI technology, they would still choose to opt-out. • Eight out of ten (80%) would accept the technology in their home or place of business. Q12. After hearing the benefits of AMI technology, would you still choose to opt out? Residential 20% 80% (n = 408) Yes Commercial 20% 80% (n = 104) No
OVERALL 20% 80% (N = 512)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
27 About Customer Feedback Community & August AMI Activity • Customer Feedback Community (CFC): Online customer feedback tool representative of WSSC Water’s customer base • Provide feedback on rate structure, bill design, Spending Affordability Guidelines and other WSSC Water programs and initiatives County Age Education Race Income Gender
PG Mont 18-64 65+ HS SC/TS Coll Grad AA Cauc Hisp Asian < $49k $50k+ M F
29 40 52 10 4 12 25 26 23 29 5 3 16 42 22 47 • August Activity – Qualitative research o CFC members answered similar questions about AMI technology o Most Residential CFC members participated (45/61, 73%), as did most of the Commercial community members (5/7, 71%)
28 CFC AMI Activity Results • About 1/3 of CFC members are familiar with AMI technology.
• Many Residential, CFC members have a smart meter in their home through another utility. o They like having it. o They take advantage of real-time usage information. • Few customers expressed any health concerns.
• Most CFC members believe that WSSC Water installing smart meter technology is a good idea.
• Three quarters of WSSC Water CFC members would track their usage if provided with a smart meter for their home.
29 CFC AMI Activity Results (cont.) • CFC members were divided on whether they’d like to have the option to opt-out of receiving smart meters.
• They were also split over whether or not they’d be willing to pay a fee for the option to opt-out.
• When asked why they may consider opting out, CFC members explained that it’s the option that they want, and not necessarily to actually opt-out.
• Majority are willing to switch to a monthly billing cycle.
30 Questions?
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9 10 A virtual public hearing was held on September 29, 11
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12321 Middlebrook Road, Suite 210 Germantown, MD 20874 Tel: (301) 881-3344 Fax: (301) 881-3338 [email protected] www.DepositionServices.com
A P P E A R A N C E S Page
Carla Reid 3 Chuck Brown 4 Damion Lampley 5 Cindy Bachman 13 Zina Carmel Jessup 16 Catherine Catson 17 Laura Simon 20 Theodora Scorato 24 Elizabeth Jeremillo 26 Mia Simon 28 Natalie Roscher 29
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 MS. REID: Good evening, on behalf of the men and
3 women of WSSC Water, welcome to this evening's public
4 hearing on our Planned Advance Metering Infrastructure or
5 AMI Project. AMI is technology that measures your water
6 usage and communicates this information wirelessly from a
7 Smart Meter to us. The advantage to you is that AMI will
8 allow you to better manage your water use to help you
9 conserve water and save money. This technology is the
10 latest example of our ongoing efforts to modernize our
11 infrastructure to better serve you. In fact, investing in
12 innovative technologies to enhance customer service has been
13 a priority since 1918, the year we were founded.
14 Take water mains, for example, the buried pipes
15 that carry our safe, clean water straight to your tap. In
16 1918 this is what they looked like. Wire pipes wrapped in
17 steel wire, a pretty old and antiquated way of delivering
18 water. So fast forward 102 years, and now we use this.
19 This is zinc coated ductile iron pipe. This is state of the
20 art technology and it's expected to last for more than 100
21 years.
22 Now, we didn't get here overnight, it took
23 commitment to invest in technology to better serve our
24 customers and that's exactly what we plan to do with AMI.
25 (Indiscernible) antiquated way of reading meters by
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1 investing in modern technology that provides tremendous
2 benefits to you.
3 Before Utility Services Director, Damion Lampley,
4 provides a brief overview on how AMI works, I will ask Chuck
5 Brown, our Director of Communications to detail the outreach
6 efforts for tonight's hearing and provide an overview of how
7 this virtual public hearing will be conducted.
8 Thank you for joining us this evening and thank
9 you for being a WSSC Water customer. Chuck?
10 MR. BROWN: Thank you very much, Carla. Good,
11 well good evening I should say, everyone. Thanks for
12 joining us. I'm pleased to highlight our extensive customer
13 outreach effort to encourage public participation and
14 promote transparency for tonight's meeting.
15 From traditional media, web, social media we used
16 a variety of methods and tools to reach you to hope you guys
17 can join us for tonight's meeting to encourage public
18 participation. An advertisement was published in The
19 Washington Post on September 10th of this year. We've been
20 promoting this meeting heavily on Facebook and Twitter for
21 the past several weeks, including promoting posts on
22 Facebook. We issued two news releases, one on September
23 21st and the other on September 29th for both hearings. The
24 release was posted to our website, Wsscwater.com, and then
25 both releases were also sent out via Constant Contact, the
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1 same dates, the 21st and the 29th, to our 1,380 Constant
2 Contact followers.
3 Additionally we purchased radio time on several
4 local radio stations to again amplify the message. They
5 were posted on WTOP, on WMMJ which is Magic FM, WHUR, WLZL
6 and Pandora. Those ads ran from September 21st and they're
7 going to continue through tomorrow. Additionally,
8 information on tonight's hearing was posted on the events
9 section of our website and on the AMI page and finally we e-
10 mailed information to our customer contact list, those folks
11 that have actually contacted us via the AMI project at
12 Wsscwater.com e-mail inbox. We sent everybody that's e-
13 mailed us information on tonight's meeting as well as our
14 online customer feedback community.
15 So with that, I am going to get off the camera and
16 I'm going to share my screen and introduce our Utility
17 Services Director, Damion Lampley, to provide a brief
18 presentation on how AMI works. So Damion, bear with me, as
19 I bring up the presentation.
20 MR. LAMPLEY: Thank you, Chuck. Good evening and
21 welcome. I am Damion Lampley, Director of Utility Services.
22 Tonight I will be providing a brief overview of AMI Advanced
23 Metering Infrastructure, also commonly known as Smart
24 Meters. Next slide.
25 As I get started, I will walk you through how we
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1 obtain meter readings today at WSSC Water, additionally, I
2 will share our challenges with meter reading and how
3 modernizing with AMI resolves those challenges and provides
4 tremendous benefits to our customers. I will also detail
5 public feedback, Smart Meters and health, AMI and privacy,
6 opt-out options and next steps for the project. Next slide.
7 Since 1918, WSSC Water has been delivering safe,
8 clean water to homes and businesses in Prince George’s and
9 Montgomery counties. But before our clean water pours into
10 your tap, it passed through a meter to determine consumption
11 and use. And for 102 years, the vast majority of our meter
12 reads, 96 percent, have been collected by walking door to
13 door and with approximately 492,000 meters in our service
14 area, that's a lot of walking. On average, our meter
15 readers walk approximately 10 miles each day collecting
16 readings via touchpad mounted on the outside of a house or
17 by simply getting on their hands and knees to look into a
18 meter pit. A small percentage of our meters, about 4
19 percent, are read using drive-by technology called AMR or
20 Automatic Meter Reading. Next slide.
21 Let's face it, meter reading is a tough job.
22 Walking all those miles in the heat, rain, snow and cold
23 takes its toll and because it's such a physically demanding
24 job, we experience a high turnover rate for meter readers.
25 In fact, in the last five years we've experienced a 50
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1 percent turnover rate. That's required us to hire more than
2 93 meter readers. This high turnover rate means staff
3 spends countless hours training new meter readers again and
4 again and again. Staff fatigue plus an ever revolving door
5 of new meter readers leads to errors and delays.
6 Additionally, because we maintain several
7 different types of meters, we have to maintain different
8 equipment such as handheld devices, antennas, laptops and
9 receivers to support meter reading. This leads to costly
10 maintenance and repairs of these different systems, and
11 aging infrastructure in our meter services group is another
12 operational challenge for us, 63 percent of WSSC Water
13 meters are 15 years or older.
14 Currently, the average age of a residential meter
15 in our service area is just over 17 years and with an
16 expected life of 15 to 20 years per meter, we see some
17 degradation in these older units which requires one of our
18 meter mechanics to drive out and address the issue in the
19 field. Speaking about driving, that's another challenge we
20 face. Each year WSSC Water crews are dispatched more than
21 200,000 times to address meter related issues. There's a
22 huge environmental and cost impact associated with driving
23 all these miles. Next slide.
24 As our General Manager mentioned, AMI is a part of
25 our ongoing efforts to modernize and better serve our
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1 customers. The project is currently in the planning phase.
2 AMI allows meters to communicate usage wirelessly using
3 radio or cellular technology and consist of several
4 components. The water meter, an in-code or register with a
5 built in low frequency small radio or cellular transmitter.
6 Data such as meter characteristics, system pressure, water
7 temperature, chlorine residuals and consumption is encrypted
8 and transmitted to WSSC Water. Customers then have the
9 benefit of having their real time water usage at their
10 fingertips through a customer portal allowing them to better
11 manage their water use, to protect against high bills.
12 To get a better idea of AMI and how it works and
13 the benefits of this technology, we put together this short
14 video.
15 (Whereupon, a video was played.)
16 MR. LAMPLEY: As mentioned in the video, AMI
17 offers you, the customer, key benefits all centered around
18 giving you more information to better manage your water use
19 and save money. Implementing AMI will allow WSSC Water to
20 move to monthly billing, providing you with smaller and more
21 frequent bills for easier budgeting. Implementing AMI also
22 helps us reduce as many bills caused by meter reading
23 errors. And just like you may have home plumping leaks, we
24 also have leaks in our massive distribution system that AMI
25 can help us locate to prevent water loss. One key benefit
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1 of AMI is the water quality capabilities it provide us.
2 Because AMI can track system pressure, we will get alerts if
3 the system pressure drops due to a large break, allowing us
4 to quickly address the issue so we can maintain adequate
5 pressure and prevent contaminants from entering the water
6 supply. I already mentioned the environmental benefits of
7 AMI helping to decrease our carbon foot print, but I want to
8 go back to highlight the second bullet on the right hand
9 column because there seems to be a lot of confusion when we
10 talk about reducing meter staff field visits.
11 AMI will not result in any job loss. All existing
12 meter readers will be retrained to help fill gaps in other
13 parts of the organization and I'm sure there will be some
14 meter readers who will work to support the new AMI system.
15 Next slide.
16 Because we value transparency and public feedback,
17 WSSC Water has done extensive public research to ensure
18 customers know about the project and have opportunities to
19 provide input. We've had several commission meetings where
20 AMI has been on the agenda, each meeting provides an
21 opportunity for public comment. We have also sent
22 information on AMI to every customer via our newsletter and
23 have discussed the project at various community events. We
24 post project information on social media and have developed
25 a webpage on the project which details public feedback
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1 received and provides a link where you can e-mail us
2 questions at [email protected].
3 Most of the feedback we've received has focused on
4 health concerns related to radiofrequency used to
5 communicate water usage information. AMI water meters
6 operate off of the same radiofrequency as other commonly
7 used devices including cell phones, Wi-Fi, TV remotes,
8 Bluetooth and microwave ovens. Next slide.
9 WSSC Water is an expert in the field of water
10 purification and distribution as well as the safe treatment
11 of wastewater. We are not experts on the topic of
12 radiofrequency emissions which is why we rely on government
13 agencies entrusted to protect the public health and
14 scientific experts who have studied the topic for decades.
15 To date, there is no consistent scientific evidence of
16 health problems caused by exposure to radiofrequency energy
17 emitted by cell phones, Smart Meters or similar devices. In
18 fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is
19 responsible for the collection and analysis of scientific
20 information related to the safety of cell phones and other
21 electronic products states that the current limit of
22 radiofrequency set by the Federal Communications Commission
23 remains acceptable for protecting public health. Groups
24 that have thoroughly researched this issue and have come to
25 similar conclusions include the World Health Organization,
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1 American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and
2 the California Council on Science and Technology.
3 To ensure we had access to the latest information,
4 we commissioned a report by Dr. Leeka Kheifets, Professor of
5 Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
6 Her report, which is available on our website, confirmed
7 that other experts have found that exposure to
8 radiofrequency from Smart Meters are neither long enough or
9 strong enough to approach the safety standards set by the
10 Federal Communication Commission. Now we respect that there
11 are different points of view, and we remain open to
12 listening and fully support additional research on this
13 topic. Next slide.
14 Other concerns we have heard focus on privacy.
15 Meter information and usage data is encrypted using industry
16 standard processes before being transmitted to WSSC Water.
17 Personally identifiable information such as name, address,
18 bill account number or credit collection information is not
19 transmitted to or from the meter. Next slide.
20 We've also heard from several customers regarding
21 whether or not we will offer an opt-out option as part of
22 this project for those who may not know an opt-out program
23 would allow customers to decline the installation of AMI
24 equipment at their location, require a manual meter reading
25 of their meter. The various opt-out alternatives listed on
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1 the slide. No opt-out customers are required to accept the
2 AMI equipment. Opt-out No Fee, where customers can decide
3 not to receive the AMI equipment without being charged a
4 fee. However, all customers bear the additional cost
5 associated with manual meter reads. Each, and then there's
6 Opt-out for a Fee, where customers can decide not to receive
7 the AMI equipment but are required to pay a fee to cover
8 utility expenses associated with reading their meter, the
9 fee assessed for each reading is perpetuity when opting out.
10 And then lastly, there's Meter Relocation to the Outside.
11 Customers with an inside meter and AMI equipment relocated
12 outside of the home for a fee paid by the customer. About
13 64 percent of our meters are located inside a home or
14 business.
15 We have not yet made a decision on opt-out
16 alternatives, as we continue to carefully evaluate all
17 options. Your feedback tonight on this topic is
18 appreciated. Next slide.
19 So after the public hearings we will summarize
20 public feedback and present management's opt-out
21 recommendations to our Commissioners at their October 21st
22 meeting. Commissioners will then have the opportunity to
23 vote on an opt-out alternative at their November meeting.
24 Around the same November timeframe, the AMI solicitation
25 will be advertised with a contract expected to come before
DW 13
1 our Commissioners for a vote in October of next year, 2021.
2 In between now and October, we will continue to engage the
3 public and listen to feedback on AMI.
4 That concludes my presentation, now I would turn
5 it over to Chuck to facilitate public feedback. Chuck?
6 MR. BROWN: Thank you, Damion, I appreciate it.
7 Let me advance to the next slide where we have the call in
8 number and the conference ID number. So hopefully everybody
9 can see that on the screen. So we'd now like to open it up
10 to the public comment period, again as shown the call in
11 number is 240-800-7929, conference ID number is 109697170#.
12 For the record, please state your name and the county you
13 reside in prior to making your comments. Please limit your
14 comments to three minutes. If your testimony is longer than
15 time allows, you may provide a written copy of your
16 testimony to us prior to the close of the public hearing
17 comment period comment period via e-mail or traditional
18 mail, and that public record will remain open until noon on
19 October 12, 2020. Again, there is a call number, there is a
20 conference ID and I'm going to start letting people in, and
21 again you have three minutes to speak, and we'll start with
22 our first caller. Go ahead, can you hear me?
23 MS. BACHMAN: Yes, I can.
24 MR. BROWN: Okay. You have three minutes. Please
25 begin with your name and the county you reside in. Go right
DW 14
1 ahead.
2 MS. BACHMAN: And speak over them?
3 MR. BROWN: You're listening to the computer feed,
4 so just turn down your computer.
5 MS. BACHMAN: Okay. Thank you.
6 MR. BROWN: Yes.
7 MS. BACHMAN: Hi, my name is Cindy Bachman
8 (phonetic sp.), I'm a WSSC customer in Potomac, Maryland.
9 Thank you for the opportunity to express my opposition to
10 the proposed Smart Meter Rollout.
11 On the health study, I, I appreciate very much
12 that WSSC has ordered a health study on the Smart Meters.
13 However, I think it should explain how their study is
14 complete and independent when first it seems to be limited
15 only to science published by public agencies. Second, it
16 relies on, heavily on the FCC standards for its conclusions
17 about health, when the FCC is not a public agency and its
18 standards are decades old. It was also conducted by an
19 industry consultant. The study does note that 60 percent of
20 meters are in basements and 40 are at the property line.
21 And it also says that when considering RF, safety distance
22 is a key factor. Then it comes to a conclusion in the
23 report that the meter distance for WSSC customers appears to
24 be sufficient because most of them are away from where
25 people live.
DW 15
1 I'd like to hear why WSSC is assuming that 60
2 percent of its customers have unfinished and unlivable space
3 in their basements and that they can make the determination
4 that those distances are safe for their customers.
5 The study also concludes that RF exposures from
6 Smart Meters won't reach FCC safety standards. However, the
7 FCC is not a health agency and its standards are three
8 decades old. Montgomery County filed last year, a lawsuit
9 asking the FCC to reconsider these very outdated standards,
10 and it noted that if the standards were not reconsidered
11 prior to things like 5G rollouts, cell towers, anything
12 that's emitting RF radiation, it could injure citizens of
13 Montgomery County, including sensitive populations like
14 kids, and Montgomery County says, quote, that would be an
15 unconscionable outcome.
16 The county's lawsuit lists numerous health studies
17 on RF emissions and those aren't even considered in WSSC's
18 materials. So I'd like to understand why WSSC believes it's
19 appropriate to expose the general public to health risks
20 that Montgomery County appeared to be uncomfortable with.
21 I have a question also on meter placement. I
22 wondered if WSSC has an ethical responsibility to ensure
23 that all the customers are treated equally whether they rent
24 or own their homes, live in a single-family home or
25 apartment (indiscernible) vary quite a bit. Some people
DW 16
1 could have them directly in their home on an opposite wall,
2 others could be 100 feet away. I don’t know if WSSC would
3 consider moving them, even if they're outside on a wall and
4 I, I understand you guys just said you would move them from
5 inside, but for people who have it directly behind a bedroom
6 wall, they may not want it to be there any longer.
7 MR. BROWN: Ma’am, we're at three minutes, if
8 you'd like to summarize, please, we'd appreciate it.
9 MS. BACHMAN: Okay. I was going to talk about
10 costs and benefits and, and, and say that a few other
11 utilities have decided not to go this route and I, I
12 question whether this, this really is a benefit given our
13 meters currently last about 30 years and the Smart Meters
14 only last about five to seven. But I, I appreciate the
15 chance to give you comments.
16 MR. BROWN: Thank you so much. Have a great
17 evening.
18 MS. BACHMAN: Thank you.
19 MR. BROWN: Hi, good evening, welcome to --
20 MS. JESSUP: Hi.
21 MR. BROWN: our AMI Public Hearing.
22 MS. JESSUP: Thank you.
23 MR. BROWN: You have, if you want to state your
24 name and the county you reside in, you have three minutes to
25 speak.
DW 17
1 MS. JESSUP: Okay. Well this is my first time
2 joining a hearing, but I felt strongly so I thought I would
3 get on here and speak up. My name is Zina Carmel Jessup
4 (phonetic sp.), I live in Montgomery County and I oppose the
5 water Smart Meters. We've had a lot of problems with our
6 other Smart Meter trying to get that off our house.
7 My primary concern is for adding further RH
8 emitting devices on and near people's homes without solid
9 evidence of safety. I'm concerned about this project due to
10 the expense for the rate payers, it's a very expensive
11 project and it seems unnecessary. And I'm also concerned
12 about the research used to push this forward that it's
13 outdated and it doesn't really reflect the true costs of
14 what these Smart Meters will do in terms of rate increases,
15 et cetera.
16 So short and sweet, that's what I have to share.
17 I am opposing this action and glad that you took the time to
18 hear from me. Thank you.
19 MR. BROWN: Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Have
20 a great evening. Hi, welcome to the AMI Public Hearing.
21 You have your computer so if you could turn that down and if
22 you want to just --
23 MS. CATSON: Thank you.
24 MR. BROWN: -- sure, if you want to provide us
25 your name and the county you reside in and you have three
DW 18
1 minutes to speak. Thank you.
2 MS. CATSON: Thank you. My name is Catherine
3 Catson (phonetic sp.) and I live in Montgomery County.
4 Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. I oppose
5 the AMI Smart Meters. Please do not move forward with the
6 proposal to procure the AMI Smart Meter project. I attest
7 and affirm that the following statements are true, accurate
8 and within my personal knowledge.
9 We depend on WSSC staff to provide unbiased
10 information so Commissioners can make fair decisions. Staff
11 has instead provided misleading information about AMI Smart
12 Meters. The health consultant WSSC is relying on, Dr. Leeka
13 Kheifets is not only paid by wireless companies to testify
14 in their defense, but has also been a long time consultant
15 for Electric Power Research Institute. This is a violation
16 of your mission to be ethical and transparent. There are,
17 as the previous speaker mentioned, there's a wide variety of
18 arrangements of these meters. There are families in low
19 income housing in Montgomery County and Prince George’s
20 County that have children living and, and sleeping just on
21 the other side of a wall with banks of meters on it. This
22 is, this is unfair to subject them to this level of untested
23 harm, potential harm from these meters.
24 Additionally there's no consensus among local
25 utilities that AMI Smart Meters even make economic sense.
DW 19
1 Fairfax Water has rejected them as recently as December 2018
2 and their rates are half of WSSC rates.
3 The deployment of these meters is risky. WSSC has
4 a poor record of containing costs on IT projects, such as
5 the Cornerstone Billing System. And there's no evidence
6 that the implementation of AMI Smart Meters will reduce
7 water rates. In fact, the opposite is true, they will
8 increase water rates. Additionally, the Maryland Public
9 Service Commission has established a statewide policy for
10 investor owned electric utilities that customers may opt-out
11 of AMI Smart Meters. So I don’t understand why the opt-out
12 is even being questioned and I don’t think it's fair or
13 right that low income and poor families who might have eight
14 of these meters on the other side of their child's wall,
15 want, who can't afford to pay for food, might not be able to
16 get them taken off the wall.
17 Commissioners and the public depend on WSSC staff
18 to provide unbiased information and to make fair decisions.
19 And the economics of the Smart Meter proposal is based on
20 almost a 10-year-old study that has not been updated. We,
21 we need to update that and look at it again. The cost may
22 be even greater than the estimated 100 million dollars. And
23 as proposed, it's bad for the environment. It will result
24 in tens of thousands of iron meter vault lids and working
25 meters entering the waste stream and being replaced by
DW 20
1 meters that have a much shorter lifespan. Additionally --
2 MR. BROWN: Ma’am, we're at three minutes right
3 now, if you want to wrap up and summarize.
4 MS. CATSON: Okay.
5 MR. BROWN: Thank you.
6 MS. CATSON: Additionally, even though I've heard
7 claims to the opposite, there's no way that getting rid of
8 meter readers will not put more people out of work. We're,
9 we're living in a time of, of unprecedented unemployment.
10 This, this is untenable and it's, it's false to, to say that
11 these, these meters are more cost effective or that they're
12 safe because neither is true. Thank you for your time.
13 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Have a great evening.
14 MS. CATSON: You too.
15 MR. BROWN: Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's AMI Public
16 Hearing. I can tell that you're --
17 MS. LAURA SIMON: Oh yeah, hi, I was calling to
18 testify.
19 MR. BROWN: Sure, your computer sound is up, if
20 you want to turn that down.
21 MS. LAURA SIMON: Yeah. Let's see. Is that
22 better?
23 MR. BROWN: That is perfect. If you want to state
24 your name and the county you reside in and you will have
25 three minutes to speak.
DW 21
1 MS. LAURA SIMON: Oh, am I starting? Okay.
2 MR. BROWN: Yeah.
3 MS. LAURA SIMON: Okay. My name is Laura Simon, I
4 live in Montgomery County and I’m against the Smart Meters
5 because if oh, and first of all I do really appreciate that
6 you're giving us a lot of opportunity here to give our
7 public comments. So I really thank you all for that.
8 I'm against Smart Meters because if you look
9 closely at the science, we know there is a cancer link. The
10 rate for a childhood cancer is going up. My 2-year-old
11 niece has leukemia, she will survive God willing, but she
12 will be affected for her entire life and will be a higher
13 risk for another type of cancer down the road. Possible
14 side effects from Smart Meters that have been documented are
15 insomnia, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive
16 disturbances, abnormal sensations, dizziness and how are we
17 to know for children, especially young children, how can
18 they communicate to us what they are feeling? How can they
19 tell parents and how are parents supposed to know that it
20 might be connected to a Smart Meter? So one, kids can't
21 even articulate, very young children but also how, how would
22 a parent connect it to a Smart Meter?
23 How are parents supposed to figure this stuff out
24 when the very people we look to, the experts don't seem to
25 be on the up and up? If I check the link and I'm not saying
DW 22
1 you all, it's a perfectly good link that WSSC that you
2 provided, National Cancer Institute at NIH, but I'm just
3 trying to point out how bizarre it is that if you hear me
4 out on two different NIH sites, the information is so
5 different. So on the National Cancer Institute link at NIH
6 they say studies of animals have not provided any indication
7 that exposure to EMF is associated with cancer. And the few
8 high quality studies in animals have provided no evidence
9 that Wi-Fi is harmful to health.
10 But yet if you look at the NIH study on EMF the 25
11 million dollar toxicology study which parents would have no
12 idea to look o on the NIH study which is probably one of the
13 most high quality studies that you can look at that we have.
14 It says clear evidence that male rats, which are animals,
15 exposed to radiofrequency radiation developed cancerous
16 heart tumors and that there is also some evidence of tumors
17 in the brain and adrenal gland of the exposed male rats.
18 You know, I really feel for you when you're making
19 these decisions because it's so hard to get to the truth.
20 We need to look at the science and not as to the world as
21 we'd like it to be. Children look to us to protect them and
22 we should not allow them to be lab rats, especially for
23 children that cannot articulate what they are feeling. We
24 are at crazy time where a person can be a triathlete one day
25 and then a COVID patient fighting for his or her life the
DW 23
1 next. We know health is the greatest gift that we have and
2 we can do something about being proactive and protecting
3 children with Smart Meters and we don't know that they are
4 100 percent safe and the science is telling us that it's not
5 safe and we, and we don't know at what amount is not safe.
6 So there's certainly more research that needs to be done on
7 this and --
8 MR. BROWN: Ma’am, we're at three minutes if you
9 want to summarize.
10 MS. LAURA SIMON: Oh, okay. Thank you. So I'm
11 sure that there might be some reasons for moving towards
12 Smart Meters, other, other, other water companies have
13 decided that it doesn't make sense, it's too expensive and
14 I, I hope that you give, I think, I think it's
15 unconscionable not to provide an opt-out and or, and to let
16 customers know that you're installing an RF emitting device
17 that was shown to be, by NIH, carcinogenic. Thanks so much.
18 MR. BROWN: Appreciate your time and I'm glad to
19 hear your niece is doing better. Have a good night.
20 MS. LAURA SIMON: Thanks so much.
21 MR. BROWN: Okay.
22 MS. LAURA SIMON: Bye.
23 MR. BROWN: Bye-bye. Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's
24 AMI Public Hearing. If you want to make sure that your
25 computer is turned down and just state your name and the
DW 24
1 county you reside in and you have three minutes to speak.
2 MS. SCORATO: Great, can you hear me?
3 MR. BROWN: Oh, I sure can.
4 MS. SCORATO: Okay. Good. This is Theodora
5 Scorato (phonetic sp.) and I live in Montgomery County. We
6 still have a home in Prince George’s County and we also have
7 a business in Montgomery County, so we have three WSSC Water
8 bills. And we are, our family is opposed to having an AMI
9 Smart Meter and we hope that this will not move forward
10 because it's just premature based on a lot of everything
11 you've heard, but I'd like to add another piece.
12 As many people, Commissioners know we are engaged
13 in a legal appeal against the federal government right now,
14 the Federal Communications Commission because of their
15 limits they just stated that they didn't need to update
16 them, they were, they were made in 1996, based on 1980
17 research from decades prior actually and we are addressing
18 that with an appeal about the process that that happened.
19 However, what I want to point out and this is in our
20 evidentiary brief which is on line, one of the issues is
21 that there are no limits that were even ever created to
22 protect trees, birds, insects, bees, our pollinators, and
23 I'd like to read to you some information from some
24 scientists who we collaborate with. Biologist Alfonso
25 Balmori (phonetic sp.) has published extensively on impact
DW 25
1 to wildlife and I'd like to read something that he sent to
2 the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration. I have co-
3 published research entitled Radiofrequency Radiation Injures
4 Trees Around Mobile Phone Base Stations, finding harm to
5 trees near base stations, cell antennas, in a long term
6 field monitoring study in two cities. We measured the
7 radiofrequency radiation levels and found a significant
8 difference between the damaged side facing the cell phone
9 mast and the opposite side.
10 Our statistical analysis demonstrated that
11 electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones masts was
12 harmful to the trees. The damage usually starts on one side
13 of the tree then extends to the other, the whole tree over
14 time. I also published an experimental study where we
15 exposed eggs and tadpoles of the common frog to the
16 electromagnetic radiation from mobile cell phone antennas
17 located at a distance of 140 meters. The experiment lasted
18 two months from the egg phase to, until an advanced phase of
19 tadpole prior to metamorphosis.
20 In this study, we found the exposed group had
21 altered development and a higher mortality rate in
22 comparison to the unexposed frogs. In addition, my research
23 has documented anthropogenic radiofrequency electromagnetic
24 fields as an emerging threat to wildlife orientation. For
25 example, exposures that are found in the environment in
DW 26
1 urban areas and your bay stations, may particularly alter
2 the receptor organs to orient in the magnetic field of the
3 earth. So the way that, and this is Theodora adding in, the
4 way that animals orient themselves, I don’t know if you know
5 that they, they actually orient themselves according to
6 electromagnetic fields naturally when they don't have other
7 fields running around disorienting them (indiscernible).
8 MR. BROWN: Theodora --
9 MS. SCORATO: Yes?
10 MR. BROWN: -- you're at your three minutes, so if
11 you want to summarize?
12 MS. SCORATO: Okay. So in summary, in light of
13 the fact that there has been no limits ever set to protect
14 our wildlife, how can we put this additional layer of all of
15 these meters into our area without first assuring that these
16 are safe for wildlife and of course for humans as well?
17 Thank you so much.
18 MR. BROWN: Thanks, Theodora. Have a great night.
19 MS. SCORATO: Thanks.
20 MS. JEREMILLO: Hello?
21 MR. BROWN: Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's AMI Public
22 Hearing.
23 MS. JEREMILLO: Yes.
24 MR. BROWN: If you want to turn down your computer
25 sound?
DW 27
1 MS. JEREMILLO: I did.
2 MR. BROWN: Perfect. So if you want to state your
3 name and the county you reside in and you'll have three
4 minutes to speak.
5 MS. JEREMILLO: Okay. Wonderful. My name is
6 Elizabeth Jeremillo (phonetic sp.) and I'm in Montgomery
7 County in Gaithersburg and I opposed the Smart Meters. I am
8 in total agreement with what all the ladies have shared, no
9 point in me going over the same thing again. I just want to
10 add in addition to that, I think there's enough cancer going
11 on around the world that we don't need to have additional
12 technical or technological whatever you all are using to
13 create more, like the 5G and everything else. I think and
14 it's very sad to see the Washington Sanitary Commission is
15 part of the new world order, because that's exactly what the
16 new world order is doing, trying to force us to do things
17 that we don't want to. Here, you're telling us we can opt-
18 out or we're going to have to pay monthly if we don't want
19 to opt-out. I mean I feel that that's breaking the law with
20 the government, the Constitution freedoms of our decisions
21 to do that.
22 So I am, yes, very upset and sad to see that all
23 the employees for Washington Sanitary Commission are even
24 going to be in favor of it, unless they're all afraid to
25 lose their job if they oppose it. Because I think this is
DW 28
1 crazy. If you love your loved ones, you would protect them
2 like this lady was saying, who has her little niece that has
3 cancer. You know, I mean these are babies that have cancer
4 and all because of a selfish person who wants to have
5 technology and updated everything. So that's my part that I
6 wanted to share. I opt completely to it. Thank you.
7 MR. BROWN: Appreciate your time. Thank you so
8 much, have a great evening.
9 MS. JEREMILLO: You --
10 MR. BROWN: Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's Public
11 Hearing on our advanced metering infrastructure project.
12 Thanks for turning down your computer sound. If you want to
13 state your name and the county you reside in and you have
14 three minutes to speak.
15 MS. MIA SIMON: Hi, my name is Mia Simon and I
16 reside in Montgomery County and I would like to start by
17 saying that I am a longtime citizen of Montgomery County
18 asking for AMI Smart Meters to be removed from the budget.
19 These meters are a proven health and environmental hazard
20 and I'd rather be safe than sorry, especially when it comes
21 to the health of myself and others.
22 The distinguished Santa Cruz California Board of
23 Supervisors previously declared Smart Water Meters to be
24 unquote health hazards, safety and consumer fraud risks.
25 And their Health Department imposed a moratorium on Smart
DW 29
1 Meters.
2 Knowing the peer reviewed scientific research
3 previously covered in this meeting showing the adverse
4 health effects of radiofrequency radiation, it would be wise
5 for us to follow the Santa Cruz Health Department's lead.
6 Plus, I'd like to add from an economic perspective there is
7 no consensus that AMI Meters make economic sense.
8 Not only do they need to be changed every eight
9 years, Fairfax Water actually rejected AMI Meters as too
10 costly because as of December 2018. The Fairfax Water rates
11 are half of WSSC's. AMI Meters will kill jobs as meter
12 reader positions will be eliminated. When our health,
13 economy and environment is already under attack we must work
14 to mitigate any other risks we can. Thank you.
15 MR. BROWN: Thank you and have a great evening.
16 MS. MIA SIMON: Thank you, you too, goodbye.
17 MR. BROWN: Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's Public
18 Hearing on advance metering infrastructure. If you want to
19 state your name and the county you reside in and you have
20 three minutes to speak.
21 MS. ROSCHER: Hi, this is Natalie Roscher
22 (phonetic sp.) from Montgomery County, Maryland. I wanted
23 to talk about the undisclosed disadvantages of Smart Meters
24 but I, I, I feel the need to address certain things related
25 to the health aspect, although that seems to be a
DW 30
1 reoccurring theme this night, that was stated by staff. And
2 so I guess I will, I'll reserve my other part maybe for
3 tomorrow or in my written submission. I don’t know, yeah,
4 I'm kind of going off script here. So basically it was
5 stated that, you know, they relied on studies from I-Arch
6 (phonetic sp.) and American Cancer Society and I had the
7 privilege of reading the health expert's report, and I also
8 had the privilege of listening to her testimony in February
9 of 2020. And a lot of what she had, what was said has been
10 taken out of context. So in regards to the American Cancer
11 Society, it did acknowledge that radiofrequency has a Class
12 2B carcinogenic rating, possible carcinogenic rating by I-
13 Arch. But she failed to state that in her report, and when
14 you go to the ACS's website where she did quote part of the
15 American Cancer Society, I guess criteria, she, she did not
16 omit the part of the website where they said it is very
17 possible that because Smart Meters transmit radiofrequency
18 and radiofrequency is a known carcinogenic radiofrequency
19 and Smart Meters can be associated with cancer risks.
20 And I also want to point out that you know part of
21 the I-Arch stipulation for it, for it being a Class 2B as
22 opposed to a higher classification is not because there's no
23 consistent science, what the health expert said was that
24 the, the quantity of studies that were examined by I-Arch
25 were not enough to qualify radiofrequency for having a
DW 31
1 higher rating. And I think that's very important and she
2 also said that radiofrequency was going to be up for
3 reevaluation in a couple of years for I-Arch, and she also
4 stated that she thought the impact was minimal because of
5 distance and the low transmission, the low transmission time
6 and the power emitted. But she also criticized the science
7 that we don't have accessible to us at this point and she
8 even said it was pathetic, that she herself was a scientist
9 and calling for more science. And she pointed out that we
10 were over inundating ourselves with radiofrequency every day
11 and it's coming from our homes and our cars and our
12 appliances and our laptops and our computers and that she, I
13 mean I'm just appalled that her stuff is being taken out of
14 context.
15 MR. BROWN: Natalie, your three minutes is up. Do
16 you want to summarize real quick, please?
17 MS. ROSCHER: Okay. Yeah, I, I would just, I, I
18 really feel since WSSC is about environment, you guys
19 consider yourselves advocates for public health, please do
20 not take the stuff that your quote unquote health expert
21 said out of context and I know you guys are not health
22 experts, but we, we need to stop this misinformation
23 campaign --
24 MR. BROWN: All right. Thank you.
25 MS. ROSCHER: -- regarding (indiscernible) cancer.
DW 32
1 Thank you so much.
2 MR. BROWN: Thank you, Natalie. Have a good
3 night. All right. Well, thanks everyone for participating.
4 Additional comments for consideration may be submitted in
5 writing to WSSC Water's Communication and Community
6 Relations Office at 14501 Sweitzer Lane, that's Laurel,
7 Maryland 20707, or feel free to e-mail us at
8 [email protected] by noon on October 12, 2020.
9 Again, I want to thank everyone for participating
10 in tonight's hearing. For those that did participate, we
11 have your comments on record. Please, you don't need to
12 comment tomorrow, allow that time for additional voices to
13 be heard on this matter. But thanks again for taking the
14 time to participate, and the public hearing is now
15 adjourned.
16 (Whereupon, the hearing was concluded.)
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DW 33
Digitally signed by Diane Wilson
ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATE
DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC., hereby certifies that
the attached pages represent an accurate transcript of the
electronic sound recording of the proceedings before the
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission in the matter of:
AMI PUBLIC HEARING
By:
______
Diane Wilson, Transcriber
1 WASHINGTON SUBURBAN SANITARY COMMISSION
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9 10 A virtual public hearing was held on September 30, 11
12 2020. 13
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25 Deposition Services, Inc.
12321 Middlebrook Road, Suite 210 Germantown, MD 20874 Tel: (301) 881-3344 Fax: (301) 881-3338 [email protected] www.DepositionServices.com
A P P E A R A N C E S Page
Carla Reid 3 Chuck Brown 4 Damion Lampley 5 Lisa Kline 14 Anna Pritchard 16 Robert Janco 19 Marcus Wilson 20 George Hawkins 24 Mary Rooker 26 Adam Krantz 28 Sheila Watts 31 Penelope Thornton Tally 32 Natalie Roscher 33 Lena Steckler 35 Nancy Wallace 37 Theodora Scorato 39 Alexis Porter 42 Melanie Houck 43
DW 3
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 MS. REID: Good evening, on behalf of the women
3 and men of WSSC Water, welcome to this evening's public
4 hearing on our Planned Advance Metering Infrastructure or
5 AMI Project. AMI is technology that measures your water
6 usage and communicates this information wirelessly from a
7 Smart Meter to us. The advantage to you is that AMI will
8 allow you to better manage your water use to help you
9 conserve water and save money. This technology is the
10 latest example of our ongoing efforts to modernize our
11 infrastructure to better serve you. In fact, investing in
12 innovative technologies to enhance customer service has been
13 a priority since 1918, the year we were founded.
14 Take water mains, for example, the buried pipes
15 that carry our safe, clean water straight to your tap. In
16 1918, this is what it looked like, wooden pipes wrapped in
17 steel wire, a pretty old and antiquated way of delivering
18 water. Fast forward 102 years and now we use this pipe. It
19 is zinc coated ductile iron pipe. This state of the art
20 material is expected to last for 100 years or more.
21 Now you know we didn't get here overnight. It
22 took commitment to invest in the latest technology to better
23 serve our customers and that's exactly what we plan to do
24 with AMI. Replace the old antiquated way of reading meters
25 by investing in modern technology that provides tremendous
DW 4
1 benefits to you.
2 Before Utility Services Director, Damion Lampley,
3 provides a brief overview on how AMI works, I will ask Chuck
4 Brown, our Director of Communications to detail the outreach
5 efforts for tonight's hearing and provide an overview of how
6 this virtual public hearing will be conducted. So thank you
7 again for joining us this evening and thank you for being a
8 WSSC Water customer. Chuck?
9 MR. BROWN: Thank you very much, Carla, thank you
10 guys for joining in. Chuck Brown, Director of WSSC Water's
11 Communication Office. I'm pleased to highlight the
12 extensive customer outreach that we've gone through to
13 promote tonight's public hearing and last night's public
14 hearing as well.
15 From traditional media to social media, we used a
16 variety of methods and tools to make sure that you guys knew
17 about tonight's hearing. So let me go through the list of
18 items that we did. We advertised in The Washington Post on
19 September 10th. We promoted heavily on our social media
20 platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, including
21 promoted posts on Facebook. We issued news releases on
22 September 21st and September 29th. These releases were also
23 posted on our WSSCWater.com webpage. Both releases were
24 issued through our Constant Contact list also on the 21st
25 and 29th to our 1,380 Constant Contact subscribers. We also
DW 5
1 paid radio advertising. We paid radio on WTOP, on WMMJ,
2 which is Magic FM, WHUR and WLZL, also on Pandora. The ads
3 ran between September 21st and today, September 30th.
4 Additionally, this information was posted, tonight's meeting
5 information was posted on our events section of our webpage
6 as well as on our AMI webpage as well. And finally, those
7 customers who have e-mailed us through our AMI e-mail, which
8 is [email protected], we e-mailed everybody details
9 about tonight's hearing that had e-mailed us, and we also e-
10 mailed our customer feedback community that's an online
11 customer feedback community.
12 So with that, Damion, I am going to share my
13 screen and turn it over to our Utility Services Director,
14 Damion Lampley, to provide a brief presentation on how AMI
15 works. So Damion, bear with me one second as I share my
16 screen.
17 MR. LAMPLEY: Thank you, Chuck.
18 MR. BROWN: Go right ahead, Damion.
19 MR. LAMPLEY: Good evening and welcome. I am
20 Damion Lampley, Director of Utility Services. Tonight I
21 will be providing a brief overview of AMI Advanced Metering
22 Infrastructure, also commonly known as Smart Meters. Next
23 slide.
24 As I get started, I will walk you through how we
25 obtain meter readings today at WSSC Water, additionally, I
DW 6
1 will share our challenges with meter reading and how
2 modernizing with AMI resolves those challenges and provides
3 tremendous benefits to our customers. I will also detail
4 public feedback, Smart Meters and health, AMI and privacy,
5 opt-out options and next steps for the project. Next slide.
6 Since 1918, WSSC Water has been delivering safe,
7 clean water to homes and businesses in Prince George’s and
8 Montgomery counties. But before our clean water pours out
9 your tap, it passes through a meter to determine consumption
10 and use. And for 102 years, the vast majority of our meter
11 readings, 96 percent, have been collected by walking door to
12 door and with approximately 492,000 meters in our service
13 area, that's a lot of walking. On average, our meter
14 readers walk approximately 10 miles each day collecting
15 reads via touchpad mounted on the outside of a house or by
16 getting on their hands and knees to look into a meter pit.
17 A small percentage of our meters, about 4 percent, are read
18 using drive-by technology called AMR or Automatic Meter
19 Reading. Next slide.
20 Let's face it, meter reading is a tough job.
21 Walking all those miles in the heat, rain, snow and cold
22 takes its toll, and because it's such a physically demanding
23 job, we experience a high turnover rate for meter readers.
24 In fact, in the last five years we've experienced a 50
25 percent turnover rate requiring us to hire more than 93
DW 7
1 meter readers. This high turnover rate means staff spends
2 countless hours training new meter readers again and again
3 and again. Staff fatigue plus an ever revolving door of new
4 meter readers leads to errors and delays.
5 As we maintain several different types of meters,
6 we have to maintain different equipment such as handheld
7 devices, antennae's, laptops and receivers just to support
8 meter reads. This leads to costly maintenance and repairs
9 on these different systems. Aging meter infrastructure is
10 another operational challenge for us, 63 percent of WSSC
11 Water meters are 15 years or older.
12 Currently, the average age of a residential meter
13 in our service area is just over 17 years and with an
14 expected life of 15 to 20 years per meter, we see some
15 degradation in these older units which requires one of our
16 meter mechanics to drive out and address the issue in the
17 field. Speaking about driving, that's another challenge we
18 face. Each year, WSSC Water crews are dispatched more than
19 200,000 times to address meter related issues. There is a
20 huge environmental and cost impact associated with driving
21 all these miles. Next slide.
22 So as our General Manager mentioned, AMI is part
23 of our ongoing modernize efforts to better serve our
24 customers. The project is currently in the planning phase.
25 AMI allows meters to communicate usage wirelessly using
DW 8
1 radio or cellular technology and consist of several
2 components. The water meter, an in-code or register with a
3 built in low frequency small radio or cellular transmitter.
4 Data such as meter characteristics, system pressure, water
5 temperature, chlorine residuals and consumption is encrypted
6 and transmitted to WSSC Water. Customers then have the
7 benefit of having near real time water usage at their
8 fingertips through a customer portal allowing them to better
9 manage their water use, to protect against high bills.
10 To get a better idea of AMI and how it works and
11 the benefits of this technology, we put together this short
12 video.
13 (Whereupon, a video was played.)
14 MR. LAMPLEY: As mentioned in the video, AMI
15 offers you, the customer, key benefits all centered around
16 giving you more information to better manage your water use
17 and save money. Implementing AMI will allow WSSC Water to
18 move to monthly billing, providing you with smaller and more
19 frequent bills for easier budgeting. Implementing AMI also
20 helps us reduce estimated bills caused by meter reading
21 errors. And just like you may have home plumping leaks, we
22 also have leaks in our massive distribution system that AMI
23 can help us locate and prevent water loss. One key benefit
24 of AMI is the water quality capabilities it provides us.
25 Because AMI can track system pressure, we will get alerts if
DW 9
1 the system pressure drops due to a large break, allowing us
2 to quickly address the issue so we can maintain adequate
3 pressure and prevent contaminants from entering the water
4 supply. I already mentioned the environmental benefits of
5 AMI helping to decrease our carbon foot print, but I want to
6 go back to highlight the second bullet on the right hand
7 column because there seems to be a lot of confusion when we
8 talk about reducing meter staff field visits.
9 AMI will not result in any job loss. All existing
10 meter readers will be retrained to help fill gaps in other
11 parts of the organization, and I'm sure there will be some
12 meter readers who will work to support the new AMI system.
13 Next slide.
14 Because we value transparency and public feedback,
15 WSSC Water has done extensive public outreach to ensure
16 customers know about the project and have opportunities to
17 provide input. We've had several commission meetings where
18 AMI has been on the agenda, each meeting provides an
19 opportunity for public comment. We have also sent
20 information on AMI to every customer via our newsletter and
21 have discussed the project at various community events. We
22 post project information on social media. We've also
23 developed a webpage on the project which details public
24 feedback received and provides a link where you can e-mail
25 us questions at [email protected].
DW 10
1 Most of the feedback we've received has focused on
2 health concerns related to the radiofrequency used to
3 communicate water usage information. AMI water meters
4 operate off of the same radiofrequency as other commonly
5 used devices including cell phones, Wi-Fi, TV remotes,
6 Bluetooth and microwave ovens. Next slide.
7 WSSC Water is an expert in the field of water
8 purification and distribution, as well as the safe treatment
9 of wastewater. We are not experts on the topic of
10 radiofrequency emissions, which is why we rely on government
11 agencies entrusted to protect the public health and
12 scientific experts who have studied the topic for decades.
13 To date, there is no consistent scientific evidence of
14 health problems caused by exposure to radiofrequency energy
15 emitted by cell phones, Smart Meters or similar devices. In
16 fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is
17 responsible for the collection and analysis of scientific
18 information related to the safety of cell phones and other
19 electronic products, states that the current limit of
20 radiofrequency set by the Federal Communications Commission
21 remains acceptable for protecting public health. Groups
22 that have thoroughly researched this issue and have come to
23 similar conclusions include the World Health Organization,
24 American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and
25 the California Council on Science and Technology.
DW 11
1 To ensure we had access to the latest information,
2 we commissioned a report by Dr. Leeka Kheifets, Professor of
3 Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
4 Her report is available on our website, it confirmed what
5 other experts have found that what, that the exposure to
6 radiofrequency from Smart Meters are neither long enough or
7 strong enough to approach the safety standards set by the
8 Federal Communication Commission. Now we respect that there
9 are different points of view, and we remain open to
10 listening and fully support additional research on this
11 topic. Next slide.
12 Other concerns we have heard focus on privacy.
13 Meter information and usage data is encrypted using industry
14 standard processes before being transmitted to WSSC Water.
15 Personally identifiable information such as name, address,
16 bill account number or credit collection information is not
17 transmitted to and from the meter. Next slide.
18 We've also heard from several customers regarding
19 whether or not we will offer an opt-out option as part of
20 this project. For those who may not know, an opt-out
21 program would allow customers to decline the installation of
22 AMI equipment at their location, requiring manual meter
23 reading of their meter. The various opt-out alternatives
24 listed on the slide. No opt-out where all customers are
25 required to accept the AMI equipment. Opt-out No Fee,
DW 12
1 customers can decide not to receive the AMI equipment,
2 without being charged a fee. However, all customers bear
3 the additional cost associated with manual meter reads. And
4 then there's Opt-out for a Fee, where customers can decide
5 not to receive the AMI equipment but are required to pay a
6 fee to cover utility expenses associated with reading their
7 meter. This fee assessed for each reading is perpetuity
8 when opting out. And Meter Relocation to Outside, customers
9 with an inside meter can have their meter and AMI equipment
10 relocated outside of the home for a fee paid by the
11 customer. About 64 percent of our meters are located inside
12 a home or business.
13 We have not yet made a decision on opt-out
14 alternative, as we continue to carefully evaluate all
15 options. Your feedback tonight on this topic is
16 appreciated. Next slide.
17 So after the public hearings, we will summarize
18 public feedback and present management's opt-out
19 recommendations to our Commissioners at their October 21st
20 meeting. Commissioners will then have the opportunity to
21 vote on an opt-out alternative at their November meeting.
22 Around the same November timeframe, the AMI solicitation
23 will be advertised with a contract expected to come before
24 our Commissioners for a vote in October of next year, 2021.
25 In between now and October, we will continue to engage the
DW 13
1 public and listen to feedback on AMI.
2 That concludes my presentation, now I will turn it
3 over to Chuck to facilitate public feedback. Chuck?
4 MR. BROWN: All right. Thank you, Damion. I have
5 feedback, so someone needs needs to turn down their sound,
6 maybe that's you, Damion, if you could turn down your sound
7 I'd appreciate it.
8 All right. We'd now like to open the meeting up
9 to public comment. As you see on the screen the call in
10 number is 1-240-800-7929 and the conference ID number is
11 783785467, 467 excuse me. For the record please state your
12 name and county you reside in prior to making comments.
13 Please limit your comments to three minutes. Now if you did
14 testify yesterday, at yesterday's public meeting, we thank
15 you for testifying, there's no need to testify again tonight
16 as we've already captured your testimony yesterday. So if
17 you did testify last night and you're on the line, please
18 enjoy your evening, thanks for testifying yesterday and
19 allow others the opportunity to respond tonight. If your
20 testimony is longer than time allows, you may provide a
21 written copy of your testimony to us prior to the close of
22 the public hearing record which is noon on October 12, 2020.
23 Again, you see the numbers on your screen and the conference
24 ID 783785467 and we will begin listening to the public
25 comment. Hi, welcome to the public hearing on Advanced
DW 14
1 Metering Infrastructure, if you want to state your name and
2 the county you reside in. You have three minutes.
3 MS. KLINE: Sure, thank you. My name is Lisa
4 Kline, I live in Montgomery County. Thank you once again
5 for your time tonight. I've been here before and I am
6 opposed to forced Smart Meters on my home, as they threaten
7 my safety and my sense of security in my home for myself, my
8 family and my neighbors, who know nothing about this
9 project. I will continue to show up here until I can
10 decline a Smart Meter or you suspend the project.
11 While there's a lack of conclusive evidence that
12 RF radiation, particularly in aggregate is safe, it's WSSC's
13 staff's responsibility to look at all sides of the proposed
14 project which leads me to a new concern tonight. That is
15 the advice that you're receiving from your consultants.
16 Arcadis (phonetic sp.) is in the business of smart
17 water or technology based solutions for water management.
18 Its Global Director of Digital Innovation said today's
19 challenges need to tap into new technology and Arcadis is
20 determined to make it an integrated part of the consultancy
21 offer. Given this mandate, I don’t trust that your
22 consultant is bringing you unbiased information.
23 Industry experts say AMI will drive a market up
24 17.1 billion dollars over the next decade, here in the U.S.
25 Surely, Arcadis and its shareholders want in on that gold
DW 15
1 rush and WSSC is part of that business plan. Arcadis also
2 acquired a software company called Seems (phonetic sp.) to
3 bolster its data analytics ability. This makes me very
4 nervous about my personal identifiable information being
5 mined and exposed if WSSC moves ahead with AMI.
6 I also read through the contract recently. A
7 health and safety management plan is promised, I'd like to
8 see that. The contract does not clarify who's liable for
9 excessive RF emissions or fire. Who is liable if rate
10 payers like me are harmed?
11 There is a promise of a Technical Review Board.
12 This should absolutely include members of the public and
13 health experts.
14 In my written testimony, I'll outline some legal
15 issues with the consultants and I won't air them here, but
16 they are very concerning and they make me pretty unsettled
17 to contribute my dollars to the 8 million dollar tab that
18 we're paying for this company to reluctantly include opt-
19 outs in the proposal, or anxiety tax, I should say as
20 Commissioner Denis pointed out last week and I think it's a
21 good term. People like me who have had direct experience
22 with pediatric cancer are very anxious about this project.
23 I'm that parent you don't want to be, who has lost a child
24 to cancer and has been following environmental carcinogens
25 ever since that loss. There are plenty and this one ranks
DW 16
1 right in the top five. On a final note --
2 MR. BROWN: Lisa, your three minutes are up.
3 Okay, yes, your final note if you could summarize, I'd
4 appreciate that. Thank you.
5 MS. KLINE: Will do, thank you.
6 MR. BROWN: Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's Public
7 Hearing on Advance Metering Infrastructure. If you want to
8 state your name and the county you reside in, and you have
9 three minutes to speak.
10 MS. PRITCHARD: Thank you. My name is Anna
11 Pritchard, I reside in Silver Spring, Maryland. Good
12 evening WSSC Commissioners and thank you for this
13 opportunity to speak. I have testified before you twice
14 before and now it appears that you are planning to go
15 forward with the installing of the Smart Meters in our
16 homes, and will charge a fee to have it moved to the outside
17 of our homes as well as charge an opt-out fee, and raise our
18 water bills without taking many sincere and educated
19 testimonies regarding our health and cost concerns into
20 consideration. I am a professional healthcare provider,
21 I've been a registered nurse for 35 years and now am a
22 certified nutritional consultant and hold a doctorate degree
23 in naturopathy. It is my job to be concerned with anything
24 that may harm people.
25 I've been studying about Smart Meters since Pepco
DW 17
1 began installing them on our homes several years ago, and I
2 and a dear friend of mine had harmful experiences with them,
3 in addition to reading about many harmful health effects
4 that have held, have others have experienced. The science
5 is there. Dr. Martin Pall, PhD, has done extensive research
6 on the harmful effects of electromagnetic frequencies on the
7 human and animal body. For details, please see my
8 references.
9 Electromagnetic frequencies are not natural to our
10 bodies, they are foreign and enter our bodies and have a
11 serious, a myriad of serious affects such as making the
12 blood brain barrier more permeable, breaking DNA single and
13 double strand bonds, decreasing the strength of our immune
14 systems, insomnia, fatigue, memory problems and et cetera.
15 Dr. Amy Myers, M.D., a very highly credentialed and highly
16 regarded medical doctor has investigated Smart Meters and
17 studied the harmful effects of them in her article, How
18 Dangerous Is Your Smart Meter, which you can see in my
19 reference. She has written many details about why and how
20 Smart Meters are dangerous to our health.
21 Please keep in mind that industries standing to
22 make a lot of money on this installation want to make the
23 money and are not educated on the harm of Smart Meters. I
24 have read that they were named Smart Meters so that the
25 public would not be alarmed of any harm they may do. A
DW 18
1 study done on adults from a sample of their blood was
2 studied under a microscope before and after exposure to a
3 Smart Meter at close proximity and it showed that the red
4 blood cells which were normally round and separate from each
5 other were, became deformed and stuck together in rows
6 called rouleaux formation. This shows extreme inflammation
7 and the cells could not deliver their oxygen to the body and
8 could cause blood clots. If left this way, in close
9 proximity to the Smart Meter, this could cause very serious
10 affects, even stroke.
11 If the Smart Meters are installed in or on our
12 houses, you don't know how close the residents of the home
13 may be to that meter. I know that if it is placed in the
14 place in my home right now where my water meter is, it would
15 be only three yards from where I stand in the kitchen a lot
16 of the time. Many people will begin to have symptoms and
17 not know what is causing it. To me --
18 MR. BROWN: You're at three minutes right now, so
19 if you want to summarize, please, to let others speak,
20 appreciate it.
21 MS. PRITCHARD: Thank you so much. So
22 respectfully, I just want to say to me this is really
23 unconscionable and really should you, you should educate, be
24 more educated and have a, an inspection by an industry,
25 industry separate from an industry expert on electromagnetic
DW 19
1 frequencies before you force us against our will to have
2 these installed in our houses. I have presented no matter
3 of mere concern or any other non-substantive matter, matter,
4 but solely matters of substance and fact and law. Thank you
5 very much.
6 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, welcome to WSSC
7 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
8 If you want to state your name and the county you reside,
9 and you have three minutes to provide testimony.
10 MR. JANCO: I am Robert Janco (phonetic sp.) I
11 live in Montgomery County. I am frustrated. It appears
12 that staff decide to move to AMI Meters 10 years ago and has
13 been spending their time generating justification for AMI
14 Meters. I disagree with staff's characterization of citizen
15 testimony as all health concerns. People have testified
16 about the wasteful spending for AMI, the lack of analysis
17 showing a financial benefit for AMI Meters, the continued
18 increase of WSSC's budget over the rate of inflation, twelve
19 characterizations that health is all about cancer. There is
20 no need to get bogged down in the telecom industry's war of
21 competing studies. The Cleveland Clinic advises men that
22 they should not keep cell phones in their pants pockets if
23 they want to have children. We recommend that men who are
24 actively trying to cause a pregnancy keep their cell phones
25 as far as possible from their pelvic region, changing
DW 20
1 economics, or the present pandemic.
2 With regard to opt-out, staff has left out two
3 options we mentioned, self-meter reading. I understand that
4 WSSC already has this program in place and wired meters.
5 Let the customers attach their meter to their wired internet
6 (indiscernible) sells the ready wired reading meters. Why
7 were they left out? Why isn't staff investigating these
8 options? Should it be proven minute by minute water
9 readings is cost effective and a wired connection provides
10 it, why are we in this adversary battle? Why are you
11 ignoring a technical solution that meets all of our needs?
12 It seems to be a feature of our times. Let's step back and
13 work together for a solution that meets all of our needs.
14 WSSC should not be waterboarding us by forcing AMI on us.
15 Let's work for a win/win for all.
16 On the announcement page for this meeting, WSSC
17 states we work to deliver our best because it's what our
18 customers expect and deserve, being the best means including
19 the needs of all customers. Thank you.
20 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, good evening and
21 welcome to WSSC Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering
22 Infrastructure. If you'd like to state your name and the
23 county you reside in, and you have three minutes to speak.
24 MR. WILSON: Marcus Wilson, Prince George’s
25 County. Thank you for allowing me to submit my comments on
DW 21
1 WSSC's proposed Advanced Meter Infrastructure. As present
2 on behalf of Acme Local 2890 here at WSSC Water, a Prince
3 George’s County resident, taxpayer and WSSC Water rate
4 payer, I ask Commissioners to consider and evaluate the
5 feedback given on proposed 100 million Advance Metering
6 Infrastructure proposal.
7 There are many questions and concerns and
8 information left out regarding these Smart Meters, one what
9 are the risks, will customer data be breached? WSSC wants
10 to spend 100 million dollars in the middle of a pandemic at
11 the same time telling WSSC Water employees that they have no
12 money. They continue to demonstrate this reckless behavior
13 by consistently spending unnecessary money. When WSSC Water
14 has no competitors in either county why spend up to one
15 million on a name change? Please recall that that amount of
16 money became, became public knowledge, customers had an
17 uproar about the outrageous cost and that it didn't fit,
18 benefit the communities. Now WSSC had to put on record that
19 they won't spend all one million within a year, but will now
20 spread it out over the next few years.
21 Thus far Project Cornerstone has continuously
22 shown itself to be unreliable, undeveloped and continuously
23 failing despite all the evidence of Project Cornerstone not,
24 not proving to be what (indiscernible) we continue to throw
25 senseless amounts of money of revenue into this project,
DW 22
1 which is already 50 million dollars over budget. WSSC
2 continues to start projects and not complete them.
3 WSSC continues to hire consultants at large
4 amounts of money but does not adhere to the consultant's
5 full advice. Over $300,000 paid to a consultant for the
6 name change, over 9 million approved for the AMI Smart Meter
7 Project Management. There needs to be a full accounting of
8 how this money is spent. WSSC claims to bear the high turn,
9 current turnover in meter readings, meter readers in the
10 department but fails to inform the public that the meter
11 readers at WSSC are one of the underpaid workers within the
12 region. WSSC is the eighth largest water and waste water
13 utility in the nation, but the meter readers make way less
14 money than the meter readers in the in surrounding utilities
15 like Fairfax Water, D.C. Water and others.
16 WSSC Water serves over 1.8 million customers,
17 which is almost triple the amount of customers served at
18 D.C. Water, in an area which the cost of living is
19 challenging. The meter readers are unrepresented with no
20 union and which management consistently takes advantage of
21 this.
22 Estimated bills wouldn't be a problem if WSSC
23 hired more employees with adequate pay and better working
24 conditions. WSSC has put out into the community that H2O
25 heroes work here, which is true, but they constantly claim
DW 23
1 to tell employees that they have insufficient funds to
2 support the heroes work, who work here day in and day out,
3 with no realistic way (indiscernible) for union employees
4 and non-union employees. But WSSC is very management top
5 heavy with high salaries and is driven by unrealistic
6 boundaries directed toward union and nonunion employees
7 concerning their wages. The working conditions at times are
8 unbearable, before spending 100 million, try spending a
9 small portion of that money and reinvesting it into your own
10 workers. WSSC has facilities that have mold and that are
11 not accommodated with the American with Disabilities Act,
12 ADA complaint. No handicapped bathroom stalls, no handicap
13 automated doors. WSSC as a whole is not in compliance with
14 ADA and continues to look past those among us with physical
15 challenges every day. We have made no attempt to contribute
16 to the inspiration of many others who try each and every day
17 to become more independent and assist them with their
18 requests to maintain their dignity.
19 MR. BROWN: Sir, sir you've reached --
20 MR. WILSON: Many of us have loved ones that
21 continue to strive to be looked upon as equal.
22 MR. BROWN: (Indiscernible).
23 MR. WILSON: We ask what are you going to do to
24 correct this? Thank you.
25 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, welcome to WSSC
DW 24
1 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
2 If you want to state your name and the county you reside in,
3 and you have three minutes to speak.
4 MR. HAWKINS: Thank you, George Hawkins, I live in
5 Montgomery County. I'm pleased to testify today about the
6 AMI Smart Meter Project for WSSC. I am the prior CEO of
7 D.C. Water and D.C. Water several years ago implemented a
8 full-scale AMI implementation project and my most important
9 message is one of the best projects that D.C. Water ever
10 undertake, undertaken and during my entire tenure. I've put
11 the benefits of, of AMI in three very important categories,
12 the first is affordability, the second is conservation and
13 the third is public safety.
14 On affordability, there is no program that we did
15 that delivered more benefits to our customers than AMI
16 Metering. We received benefits and a return from our
17 customers that are positive almost by the day. Customers
18 are able to monitor their water use, understand use of the
19 home, draw down water use that they do know is happening,
20 and we automatically alert customers for leaks in the home,
21 even though it is not part of our system. That has saved
22 D.C. Water customers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Very
23 important for all of our customers, but particularly those
24 who are low income.
25 Second is conservation. AMI allows you to
DW 25
1 understand your system use. Leaks, as I mentioned at the
2 side of the meter at the home or at the side of the system
3 known by WSSC. Either of those leaks can be pinpointed
4 within incredible accuracy and timing, enabling the agency
5 to respond to those leaks and conserve the water that
6 otherwise would be leaking into the ground or even worse
7 into the home. Water conservation will become a more
8 important issue over time as water is one of the most
9 important issues for the future of our society. AMI allows
10 us to operate a system far more efficiently.
11 Third is public safety. It's remarkable it
12 happened at D.C. Water. We did not lose any employees.
13 Every employee who had been a meter reader was redeployed to
14 other work. There is plenty of important work to be done in
15 the enterprise. It allows our meter readers to be safer, it
16 allows us to have information about the system. We often
17 will solve problems before they even occur, avoiding water
18 main breaks, avoiding flooding, avoiding all sorts of
19 problems that customers not even aware because of the
20 information we're able to uncover and respond to in advance.
21 Putting those three together, affordability to the
22 customer, conservation of water and public safety for the
23 customer and for the utility and its employees, I think
24 there are very few projects that a utility can undertake
25 that are as positive as AMI Smart Metering. I personally as
DW 26
1 a customer of WSSC will be pleased and anxious to receive an
2 AMI Meter and to be able to monitor my own use in the home.
3 Thank you very much.
4 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, welcome to WSSC
5 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
6 If you want to state your name and the county you reside in,
7 turn down your computer sound, and you have three minutes to
8 speak. Can you hear me?
9 MS. ROOKER: Yes. I'm sorry, I'm trying to turn
10 down the sound.
11 MR. BROWN: Sure. Sure. If you want to state
12 your name and the county you reside in, and again you have
13 three minutes to speak.
14 MS. ROOKER: Okay. Yes, hi, my name is Mary
15 Rooker (phonetic sp.), Montgomery County. I'm sharing an
16 overview of the Green Party's nine identified ECO impacts
17 for details, see our written testimony. First, the
18 environmental cost of these new, oh, I'm sorry, I thought I
19 turned down the computer sound.
20 First, the environmental cost of these new half a
21 million meters includes mining and may involve rare earth
22 such as neodymium which is produced with child exploitation
23 in the DR Congo.
24 Second to ship, distribute and install the new
25 meters and remove the old ones requires major amounts,
DW 27
1 excuse me, of energy. Also, how many data collection units
2 will be installed?
3 Third, disposing of the current half a million
4 meters will result in working meters and iron meter vault
5 lids, entering the waste stream. What firms have submitted
6 estimates for the energy needed to transport and recycle or
7 landfill all this material? And what is the volume and
8 disposal technology?
9 Fourth, the staff admits that this massive process
10 must be repeated every 8.2 years because these fragile
11 meters wear out at that point. The old meters last 17 to 20
12 or more years. This is an unconscionable increase in
13 mineral and energy consumption.
14 Fifth, the composition of metals in the meters
15 will shift. Toxic materials increase the cost of waste
16 disposal or recycling. Circuit boards should still, still
17 use lead, a known neurotoxin, especially for children.
18 Staff should itemize metals and other materials and certify
19 the sources are sustainable. Manufacturers should provide
20 an independently verified written fiscal and environmental
21 analysis of disposal plans for toxics and for AMI and
22 current meters.
23 Sixth, the new meters and the neighborhood
24 collection boxes require electricity to run and to broadcast
25 water usage four times a day to WSSC. Half a million meters
DW 28
1 using more energy is not an environmental plus.
2 Seventh, the radiofrequency of AMI Meters produces
3 harmful cellular and neurological and other effects on
4 human, animal, insect and plant life, reducing their ability
5 to function and survive. The harm to human biology is
6 documented in thousands of scientific articles which we
7 found without much trouble. Staff failed to mention this
8 research.
9 Eighth, the claim, staff claims major energy
10 savings from no longer driving cars for meter reading, but
11 offers no quantitative calculations and fails to lists
12 options that do not involve driving.
13 Finally, any responsible decision requires
14 considering all options. So does every environmental impact
15 statement. We see no evidence that alternatives were
16 considered and we conclude that the staff opinion is deeply
17 flawed. The Green Party says AMI Meters are not an
18 environmental benefit. Thank you.
19 MR. BROWN: Thank you. If you can hear me,
20 welcome to WSSC (indiscernible) we'll go to the next. Hi,
21 welcome to --
22 MR. KRANTZ: Hello?
23 MR. BROWN: -- WSSC Water's Public Hearing on
24 Advanced Metering Infrastructure. If you want to state your
25 name and the county you reside in, and you have three
DW 29
1 minutes to speak.
2 MR. KRANTZ: Hi there, my name --
3 MR. BROWN: Can you hear me?
4 MR. KRANTZ: Yeah, I can hear you, thank you. My
5 name is Adam Krantz (phonetic sp.) I reside in Montgomery
6 County in Olney, Maryland. I'm also the CEO of the National
7 Association of Clean Water Agencies. I have two children
8 and a wife who reside with me, ages 12 and 10 and I just
9 want to state for the record that I think AMI is really the
10 direction that many utilities are heading in. We call it
11 the utility of the future. We're trying to do three things
12 as another gentleman just mentioned in terms of ensuring
13 affordable rates, public safety and conservation. I
14 personally wearing my two hats, as an organization know that
15 WSSC has won, that was peak performance awards just this
16 past year for many of their plants. For 10 to 20 years of
17 pure and perfect compliance with all the requirements put on
18 them by the Clean Water Act and that is an incredible record
19 of achievement. I won't go into detail about each plant in
20 that record but it is virtually unmatched across the
21 country. And it's in line with that record of compliance
22 and public safety here we are in the midst of a pandemic.
23 We all feel safe drinking our water, using sanitation. This
24 record is, is an incredible one in terms of the public
25 safety record at WSSC and its incredible staff.
DW 30
1 It's my own personal view through my experience
2 with the utility as a customer, that I believe they are
3 dotting every I, crossing every T in terms of ensuring the
4 safety of their community and of their rate payers. I also
5 know their incredible dedication to low income rate payers,
6 a particularly poignant issue during the economic impacts
7 that the pandemic is having and every opportunity to do
8 things more efficiently to save money for the home owner,
9 and also especially in the context of low income rate payers
10 to be able to do things more efficiently and effectively
11 while also having the environmental benefits of decreasing
12 carbon footprint and enhancing conservation.
13 Finally, the last thing I wanted to say is also
14 knowing the, the staff at WSSC well, their commitment to
15 work force development is also part of their utility of the
16 future mentality, to work within the community that they do
17 being an anchor institution within the community, knowing
18 full well that they will fully take care of any staff
19 consequences that result from AMI in terms of making sure
20 that there is work force development opportunities provided
21 to those staff. So as a, as a customer and also as someone
22 who watches the national scene in terms of where utilities
23 are headed, I think AMI is an amazing example of the
24 direction that many utilities should be going in and have
25 been going in since the mid sort of 2000's. WSSC is there
DW 31
1 now and they should be fully credited with going in this
2 direction and I appreciate all the work they've done and
3 look forward to having AMI installed in my own home as well.
4 Thank you.
5 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, welcome to WSSC
6 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
7 If you want to state your name and the county you reside in,
8 and you have three minutes to speak.
9 MS. WATTS: Hi, I, my name is Sheila Watts I am a
10 resident of Laurel, P.G. County, and I'm calling in support
11 of the WSSC Water's AMI Project that has been in the Capital
12 Improvements Program for the last five years. I, AMI will
13 allow for the monthly billing in near real time information
14 on my water usage, which I would look forward to. These two
15 things are very important to me.
16 Water conservation and the early detection of
17 leaks are two important benefits that AMI would bring and I
18 urge you to move forward with the project as soon as
19 possible. Thank you.
20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Because I'm going to take
21 pictures of them.
22 MR. BROWN: Hi (indiscernible) can you hear me?
23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Sound.)
24 MR. BROWN: Hi, and welcome to WSSC Water's Public
25 Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure. If you want to
DW 32
1 state your name and the county you reside in, and you have
2 three minutes to speak.
3 (No audible response.)
4 MR. BROWN: Hi, can you hear me?
5 MS. TALLY: I can. Can you hear me?
6 MR. BROWN: We sure can.
7 MS. TALLY: Hi, if you could just give me a
8 second, I have my little testimony but it switched to
9 another screen. Okay. So my name is Penelope Thornton
10 Tally (phonetic sp.), I'm a resident of Prince George’s
11 County and I have been a WSSC customer for probably over,
12 gosh, 25 years now for as long as I've been a resident of
13 the county. I wanted to call in and let you know that I
14 support the Advance Metering Infrastructure Project and the
15 benefits that come along with that investigation in that
16 project.
17 I encourage you to move forward with the project
18 because it would allow for monthly billing and it would
19 provide customers like myself with useful information about
20 water consumption in near real time. That will, will allow
21 us to detect leaks earlier, saving money and water and as
22 you know currently with our status in COVID that's even more
23 important than probably under normal circumstances. Thank
24 you so much, and that's all I had to say.
25 MR. BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, have a
DW 33
1 good evening.
2 MS. TALLY: You too. Take care. Bye-bye.
3 MR. BROWN: Bye. Hi, welcome to WSSC Water's
4 Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure. If you
5 want to turn down your computer sound and state your name
6 and the county you reside in, and you have three minutes to
7 speak.
8 MS. ROSCHER: Good evening, this is Natalie
9 Roscher (phonetic sp.), Montgomery County. I attest and
10 affirm that the following statements are true, accurate and
11 within my personal knowledge. AMI's tremendous benefits to
12 customers quote unquote, come at tremendous costs,
13 financially, economically, physiologically and invasively.
14 It's been stated that AMI implementation will save customers
15 money on their water bill, however, the opposite is true.
16 The amount of rate increases required to pay back the
17 multimillion dollar loans for the AMI Project will guarantee
18 more expensive water bills for everyone. I say multimillion
19 dollar because the current AMI estimates originate from a
20 2011 study that never accounted for the increases in both
21 the amount of customers served and cost of equipment over
22 the years rendering the current estimate a gross
23 underestimate.
24 AMI's cost to customers are guarantee higher water
25 bills. AMI Meters are powered by batteries containing
DW 34
1 lithium. Lithium is a valuable mineral yet extremely toxic.
2 It takes approximately 500,000 gallons of water to mine one
3 ton of lithium. According to a report lithium extraction
4 inevitably harms the soil and causes air contamination and
5 when the batteries are not disposed of properly the toxins
6 then leak into the soil, our water and catch on fire. AMI's
7 costs to our environment is destructive. WSSC hired an
8 expert whose report and presentation strategically danced
9 around the significant scientific findings for the images
10 caused by radiofrequency transmissions for Smart Meters.
11 The expert cited that the I-Arch (phonetic sp.) classified
12 radiofrequency radiations possibly carcinogenic to humans
13 yet she purposefully left out that American Cancer Society's
14 conclusion that quote, because RF radiation is a possible
15 carcinogen and Smart Meters give off RF radiation, it is
16 possible that Smart Meters could increase cancer risk, end
17 quote. For those of us fortunate enough not to develop
18 cancer other health effects such as insomnia and cognitive
19 difficulties to name a few are possibilities we may face.
20 AMI's cost to our health is grave sickness.
21 Earlier privacy issues were addressed. If you
22 listen closely to the video it states that our personal data
23 is encrypted before it is transmitted from the water tank.
24 Not before it leaves the AMI Meter leaves the customer
25 personal usage vulnerable during the first part of the
DW 35
1 transmission phase. That aside WSSC will know every toilet
2 flush, every shower, and every load of laundry washed for
3 each resident. Eventually, they will be able to figure out
4 customers daily routines, when we go out of town, and when
5 we have extra people staying at our house. AMI's cost to
6 our privacy is irreversible.
7 Once we lose access to affordable water, a clean
8 environment, optimal health and privacy rights, there is no
9 going back. I have presented no matter of mere concern or
10 any other non-substantive matter, but solely matters of
11 substance of fact and law. Thank you. Good night.
12 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, welcome to WSSC
13 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
14 If you want to turn down your computer sound and state your
15 name and the county you reside in, and you have three
16 minutes to speak.
17 MS. STECKLER: Okay, going. Can you hear me?
18 MR. BROWN: Yes, I can hear you.
19 MS. STECKLER: Okay. My name is Lena Steckler
20 (phonetic sp.) and I am 15 years old. I live in Montgomery
21 County. I understand that water meters emit radiation
22 several times a minute in pulses. That is a fact.
23 Apparently, many authorities say more research is needed.
24 There are hundreds of scientists proving these aren't
25 healthy. The science proves harm.
DW 36
1 I do not want my DNA to be damaged. I do not want
2 cancer. I do not want memory problems. I do not want my
3 friends to have these problems. I don’t think you want your
4 kids to grow up and suffer from these problems.
5 If more research is needed, then more research
6 should be done. And even if you think you might not have
7 enough research, isn't it better to play it safe since you
8 have the power to? We are not your guinea pigs. When you
9 are old and all of our generation is getting cancer you will
10 regret not doing what you can to stop this. Right now my
11 parents pay so we don't have a Smart Meter for electricity.
12 They can afford to do this. Most people cannot pay extra.
13 That makes this an environmental justice issue. This is
14 environmental racism. Some people can afford healthy things
15 others cannot.
16 If you are going to force Smart Meters on people
17 it should be free to opt-out. Of course there should be no
18 fee. Tell the companies who want meters to be wired without
19 radiation, that would solve this problem. I can't believe
20 that you're going to make people pay for moving the meter
21 from inside their house to outside of their houses. There
22 should be no fee to be healthy. You must do this for my
23 generation, not for yours. Thank you.
24 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi and welcome to WSSC
25 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
DW 37
1 If you want to state your name and the county you reside in,
2 and you have three minutes to speak.
3 MS. WALLACE: Thank you. Good evening. I'm Nancy
4 Wallace, Co-Chair of the Montgomery County Green Party. We
5 testified today that AMI Meters do not provide a net
6 environmental benefit and in fact, clearly, in the long run,
7 are almost certainly the most environmentally harmful option
8 for water meters. Contrary to the staff's unsubstantiated
9 claim, and overview of the real elements in a full life
10 cycle analysis of the AMI proposal, shows major
11 environmental harm, including increased climate change.
12 The details were presented this evening by Mary
13 Rooker, estate coordinating committee member in separate
14 testimony and Natalie Roscher. From your process and
15 management perspective, Commissioners assessing the
16 environmental impact of a major program of any sort is a
17 serious undertaking. The Federal Environmental Policy Act,
18 50 years old which requires environmental impact statements
19 known as EIS's has an extensive regulatory and case law
20 framework. And an EIS must include all environmental costs,
21 not just of one part, the trucks driving around on the
22 streets and all environmental impacts of reasonable
23 alternative. Maryland also has an Environmental Policy Act
24 which requires an EIS for all major state actions involving
25 funds from the state legislature. WSSC should use the
DW 38
1 federal and that Maryland state law as your standard for
2 calculating this AMI environmental impact. This has not
3 been done for the AMI proposal.
4 The great irony is that these AMI Meters will not
5 save a single drop of water, nor avert a single leak
6 themselves. They are just a monitoring system of failure.
7 The underlying failure is not addressing the deep systemic
8 problems that cause high fees and breaking pipes. Staff
9 grabbed at a new technology with high paid consultants with
10 the fantasy that it will solve everything instead of doing
11 the hard work of resolving tough longstanding problems. We
12 call upon you Commissioners to take three steps. Tell the
13 staff to stop pursuing AMI now and halt the contract with
14 Arcadis for AMI project management that is trying to
15 railroad this environmentally harmful and dangerous meter
16 technology through your commission.
17 Two, ask the Inspector General to launch an
18 investigation into the staff's mismanagement of the entire
19 portfolio of responsibilities of WSSC including excessive
20 billing, twice that of Fairfax County, misleading the
21 Commissioners on the AMI issue, fraudulent hiring of a
22 supposedly independent consultant who had in fact accepted
23 tens of thousands of dollars from the wireless industry in a
24 clear conflict of interest, and failure to address the
25 extreme waste of dollars and chemical treatment at Blue
DW 39
1 Plains Sewage Treatment Plant caused by system groundwater
2 intrusion which would not be monitored by these meters at
3 all.
4 Three, set a hard deadline for the staff to
5 propose concrete steps to reduce our water bills and fix the
6 systemic problems. Require an external audit for the
7 staff's efficiency, transparency and capabilities to fulfill
8 the basic responsibilities of WSSC.
9 WSSC is basically a failed agency at this point
10 and needs an overhaul and possibly new leadership. The
11 fundamental question tonight is who is, who is in control of
12 the WSSC, you or the staff? You are appointed by the
13 government to oversee the agency and exercise accountability
14 on behalf of us and our children. We ask that you do your
15 job vigorously, confidently and quickly to stop this very
16 dangerous proposal from going a day further. The time to
17 stop the AMI Meters is now. Thank you.
18 MR. BROWN: Thank you.
19 MS. SCORATO: Hello, can you hear me?
20 MR. BROWN: Hi, I can. Welcome to WSSC's Public
21 Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure. If you want to
22 state your name --
23 MS. SCORATO: Great, thank, thank you so much. My
24 name is Theodora Scorato and I am live in Montgomery County
25 and I pay three WSSC Water bills. I wanted to address
DW 40
1 something that I just heard in the presentation. It said
2 that the FDA says that the limit set by the FCC remains
3 acceptable and that you know groups that have thoroughly
4 researched this issue conclude that there's no problem. So
5 I want to break it down with the FDA because this is
6 actually an inaccurate assumption.
7 While the FDA states that however they have done
8 no review of the effects including impacts to the brain,
9 impacts to sperm and reproduction, impacts to oxidative
10 stress. The only thing they looked at is the issue of
11 cancer and at that, they state that they disagree with the
12 National Toxicology Program findings. So these are sort of
13 two issues. One, they disagree with the National Institutes
14 of Health, National Toxicology Program findings which is
15 quite outrageous, but that's a separate point. But more
16 importantly even if you believe them to true, they have
17 never looked at the issue of brain damage, of which there is
18 a wealth of research, the issue of impact to reproduction
19 and of course the impact to trees, bees, birds and so forth,
20 so it can't really be used.
21 And also the FDA only did a literature review.
22 They actually didn't look at what is a safe level. They
23 have not done an evaluation of the different levels, and
24 identified a safe level. Of course there's no safe level of
25 lead and it's, this is looking more to be like lead and as
DW 41
1 you know it took years, years and years to get action on
2 that.
3 So I wanted to make sure that was put out. I also
4 want to get on the record that I have sent a letter with
5 many questions to the WSSC and I received some of them and
6 I'm so thankful for that. But I haven't received all the
7 other answers to those questions and I would like to ask
8 that those questions be answered. Because if you don't know
9 the answer to those questions, then you can't go through
10 with this program without having the answer to those
11 questions related to safety and other issues. There is no
12 question that there are hundreds of scientists saying
13 there's a problem and that the people who are in power in
14 various authorities are not doing the right thing right now,
15 and in fact, those people are as was discussed earlier
16 former industry executives. So one has to just take a
17 moment and as you know I mean we know, we know the story
18 here. But I, I thank you so much for taking a look into
19 this. I was actually shocked to see that there is going to
20 be a cost as was mentioned earlier from moving the meter
21 from outside the house because that doesn't seem fair at
22 all. I mean of course it should be a free opt-out not that
23 an opt-out is the right thing, because an opt-out will still
24 force this radiation to be elevated in neighborhoods and
25 people who are not in the know will not be able to address
DW 42
1 this issue because they simply will be unaware and of
2 course, many people can't afford it and don't have time to
3 do the research or even to understand it. And you know it
4 really won't --
5 MR. BROWN: Theodora, you've reached the end of
6 your time.
7 MS. SCORATO: Oh. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
8 MR. BROWN: Thank you. Hi, welcome to WSSC
9 Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
10 If you want to state the name and a county you reside in,
11 and you have three minutes to speak.
12 MS. PORTER: All right. Hi, my name is Alexis
13 Porter, I'm a resident of Laurel in P.G. County and I'm
14 seeking the support of WSSC Water's AMI Project that's been
15 in the Capital Improvements Program for at least five years.
16 AMI, AMI will allow for monthly billing and the real time
17 information on my water usage. Those two things are very
18 important to me.
19 Water conservation and the early detection of
20 leaks are two important benefits that AMI will bring and I
21 urge you to move forward with the project as soon as
22 possible. Thank you.
23 MR. BROWN: Thank you very much. Hi, welcome to
24 WSSC Water's Public Hearing on Advanced Metering
25 Infrastructure. If you want to state your name and the
DW 43
1 county you reside in, and you'll have three minutes to
2 speak.
3 MS. HOUCK: Hi, my name is Melanie Houck, H-O-U-C-
4 K, I live in Montgomery County. I attest and affirm that
5 the following statements are true, accurate and within my
6 personal knowledge. Commissioners, do not allow WSSC to
7 move forward with Smart Meters. I was shocked by the way
8 the staff presented the issues of Smart Meters at last
9 night's public hearing. They denied all the problems that
10 many members of the public have been raising for years.
11 They said that there are no health or privacy problems from
12 Smart Meters, that Smart Meters, that meter readers will not
13 lose their jobs and that customers will have to pay opt-out
14 fees for Smart Meters and to have their meters moved outside
15 their house.
16 By ignoring the public's input, I feel that they
17 have not done their job in an ethical or professional
18 manner. I plan to file a complaint with the Inspector
19 General and the Ethics Board.
20 Many consumers, consumer organizations and
21 regulators have opposed utility Smart Meters for years. I
22 and several other people testified about the cost and health
23 problems caused by them last year and this year. There is
24 six reasons why I'm opposed to Smart Meters. First, public
25 utilities should work for the public and should present the
DW 44
1 pros and cons of any new technique before taking a position
2 on it. WSSC has not done that. It is clear that the staff
3 wants to buy AMI Smart Meters and they're trying to persuade
4 the Commissioners to approve them. It looks as though the
5 staff only listens to the industry and ignores consumers.
6 Second, both last year and this year several
7 people testified about the health effects of Smart Meters.
8 WSSC's response was to hire ashil (phonetic sp.) to present
9 a biased health study in February of this year who said
10 there are no health effects from Smart Meters. Ashil is a
11 person with expert credentials who purports to present
12 scientific reasons but is actually paid by the industry. I
13 lost all respect for the WSSC staff when they did that.
14 WSSC should now have a health study done by a reputable
15 scientist showing the many serious health effects of Smart
16 Meters.
17 Third, the staff is pushing AMI Smart Meters even
18 though they're a poor investment. They put the 86 million
19 cost to Smart Meters into the CIP nine years ago, 2011, but
20 the Commissioners have never voted on it. They'll take
21 their first vote in November of this year. The estimate is
22 nine years old so the actual cost will surely be much
23 higher.
24 Fourth, the staff hasn't demonstrated the Smart
25 Meters are cost effective. Smart Meters are an excessive
DW 45
1 and unnecessary cost and AMI Smart Meters are much more
2 expensive than AMR Smart Meters. At least five state
3 regulatory commissions, Baltimore County and Fairfax Water
4 have rejected utility smart, utility meters because they're
5 not cost effective. Fairfax Water rates are half those of
6 WSSC. The AARP has been warning its members for years about
7 the high cost of utility Smart Meters. As a consumer, I'd
8 like you to ostracize the most cost effective approach which
9 would be in keeping analog meters, so --
10 MR. BROWN: Ms. Houck, you've reached the end of
11 your time. You want to summarize real quick?
12 MS. HOUCK: Okay. Arcadis was hired, their
13 specialty is Smart Meters, that's another indication that
14 WSSC is stacking the deck. And finally, it's it's a bad
15 idea to authorize unnecessary and controversial expenses
16 through a pandemic while businesses are failing left and
17 right.
18 Commissioners, vote against Smart Meters. I have
19 presented no matter of mere concern or any other non-
20 substantive matter but solely matters of substance, of fact
21 and law.
22 MR. BROWN: Thank you. I'd like to thank
23 everybody for calling in at tonight's public hearing.
24 Additional comments for consideration may be submitted in
25 writing to the WSSC Water Communications and Community
DW 46
1 Relations Office at 14501 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, Maryland
2 20707, or e-mailed to AMI Project at wsscwater.com by noon
3 on October 12th. Thank you again for taking the time
4 tonight to participate in this public hearing on AMI. This
5 meeting is now adjourned.
6 (Whereupon, the hearing was concluded.)
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DW 47
Digitally signed by Diane Wilson
ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATE
DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC., hereby certifies that
the attached pages represent an accurate transcript of the
electronic sound recording of the proceedings before the
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission in the matter of:
AMI PUBLIC HEARING
By:
______
Diane Wilson, Transcriber