Is Your Water Utility Experiencing Pressure Problems You Don't Know About? LSPS Solutions Introduces Continuous Pressure Monitoring

New pressure monitoring equipment helps Texas water utilities identify hidden system issues, improve reliability, and strengthen water loss audit documentation.

Water pressure is one of the most important indicators of a distribution system's health. It affects everything from customer service and infrastructure performance to water loss management and regulatory compliance.

But here's the challenge: A single pressure reading only tells you what's happening at one particular moment.

What happens to your system's pressure overnight? How does it change during peak demand? Are certain areas experiencing fluctuations that could indicate developing infrastructure problems?

For many municipal and rural water utilities, these questions are difficult to answer without continuous monitoring.

To help Texas utilities gain better visibility into their distribution systems, LSPS Solutions has expanded its field services capabilities with the addition of ten Dickson pressure data loggers, allowing our team to conduct comprehensive, multi-point pressure monitoring studies.

This investment is another step in our commitment to providing small and rural Texas utilities with access to specialized equipment, technical expertise, and practical solutions that improve operational efficiency and system reliability.

The Problem with Traditional Water Pressure Testing

Most water utilities regularly measure pressure at hydrants, meters, and other points throughout their distribution networks.

These measurements provide useful information, but they have an important limitation.

A manual pressure reading represents only a snapshot of system conditions.

Consider a utility that measures pressure at a hydrant at 10:00 a.m. and records 65 PSI. Based on that reading, everything may appear to be operating normally.

However, that same location might experience pressure drops during periods of peak demand or significant pressure increases overnight when consumption decreases.

Without continuous monitoring, these fluctuations may go undetected.

This matters because pressure problems can be early indicators of more significant infrastructure challenges, including:

• Undetected leaks within the distribution system

• Undersized or deteriorating infrastructure

• Malfunctioning pressure-reducing valves

• Uneven pressure distribution between system zones

• Operational issues affecting pumps or pressure management equipment

  
  

Identifying these conditions early gives utilities an opportunity to investigate and address potential problems before they develop into costly failures or service disruptions.

The challenge isn't necessarily that utilities aren't measuring pressure. It's that they may not be measuring it frequently enough to understand what's really happening.

Introducing Continuous Water Pressure Monitoring

LSPS Solutions has invested in a fleet of ten Dickson pressure data loggers, giving our field services team the ability to monitor pressure continuously at multiple locations throughout a water distribution system.

Unlike traditional pressure gauges that require someone to be physically present to take a reading, these devices automatically record pressure measurements over extended periods.

Each logger can be installed at a hydrant, blow-off, or other suitable system connection and configured to capture readings at intervals as frequently as once per second.

The equipment can remain deployed for days or weeks, collecting tens of thousands of measurements that provide a detailed picture of system performance.

The resulting data allows our team to evaluate:

• Pressure fluctuations: How pressure changes throughout the day and night.

• Minimum and maximum pressure: The lowest and highest pressures recorded during the monitoring period.

• Peak demand impacts: How increased water consumption affects pressure across the distribution system.

• Pressure zone performance: How operating conditions differ between various parts of the system.

• Long-term trends: Whether pressure remains stable or changes over the monitoring period.

  
  

The loggers feature built-in digital displays that allow field personnel to review current, minimum, and maximum pressure readings directly at the installation site.

After monitoring is complete, the recorded information can be downloaded and analyzed using DicksonWare software, providing documented pressure data that can be incorporated into utility reports, engineering evaluations, and planning studies.

Why Monitoring Multiple Locations Matters

One of the most significant advantages of LSPS's new equipment is our ability to deploy up to ten pressure data loggers simultaneously.

Rather than monitoring one or two locations and repeatedly moving equipment throughout the distribution system, we can collect pressure information from multiple points during the same monitoring period.

This is particularly valuable because water distribution systems rarely operate uniformly.

Pressure can vary considerably depending on elevation, distance from pumping facilities, infrastructure configuration, water demand, and pressure zone boundaries.

For example, a utility might experience stable pressure near its treatment plant while customers at the far end of the distribution network experience significant fluctuations.

Monitoring these locations simultaneously helps reveal how the system behaves as a whole.

A comprehensive pressure monitoring study can help utilities:

Identify pressure problem areas. Determine which locations experience unusually low, high, or fluctuating pressure.

Evaluate pressure zones. Understand how pressure varies between different parts of the distribution system.

Investigate potential infrastructure deficiencies. Identify pressure patterns that warrant further evaluation of pipes, valves, or other system components.

Support capital improvement planning. Use actual operating data to help prioritize infrastructure investments.

Improve hydraulic modeling. Compare real-world pressure measurements against modeled conditions to improve the accuracy of system evaluations.

By collecting information from multiple locations during the same period, utilities can make more informed decisions based on how their entire distribution system is performing.

Better Pressure Data for Texas Water Loss Audits

Pressure monitoring also plays an important role in water loss management and regulatory reporting.

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) requires qualifying utilities to complete water loss audits, which help identify and quantify water losses throughout their systems.

One of the important inputs in the TWDB water loss audit process is average operating pressure.

This measurement matters because water pressure directly influences the rate at which water escapes through leaks in a distribution system.

In general, higher pressures can increase leakage rates, while changes in operating pressure can affect the volume of water lost through existing infrastructure defects.

However, determining a representative average operating pressure can be challenging when utilities rely on occasional manual readings.

Pressure may vary throughout the day, across different locations, and between pressure zones.

Continuous monitoring provides a more comprehensive dataset for evaluating these conditions.

By recording pressure over extended periods at multiple locations, LSPS can help utilities develop better-supported operating pressure estimates for use in water loss audits.

This information can also support broader water loss reduction strategies by identifying areas where pressure management may deserve additional attention.

Accurate pressure data doesn't just strengthen reporting. It helps utilities better understand the conditions contributing to water loss.

Supporting TCEQ Sanitary Surveys and System Reliability

Beyond water loss audits, continuous pressure monitoring can provide valuable information for utilities preparing for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) sanitary surveys and other system evaluations.

Maintaining adequate and reliable distribution system pressure is an important part of operating a public water system.

Pressure monitoring data can help utilities document operating conditions, investigate recurring customer complaints, and identify areas requiring further attention.

For example, a utility receiving complaints about intermittent low pressure may struggle to reproduce the problem during a routine field visit.

A pressure data logger installed near the affected area can record conditions over several days, potentially capturing the fluctuations responsible for those complaints.

Similarly, continuous monitoring can help identify unusual pressure patterns that warrant further investigation before they result in a major operational issue.

Although pressure monitoring does not replace regulatory inspections or other required testing, it provides utilities with additional objective information to support system evaluations and reliability planning.

Making Smarter Infrastructure Investment Decisions

For smaller water utilities, deciding where to invest limited infrastructure funding is an ongoing challenge.

Replacing aging pipelines, upgrading pumping facilities, improving pressure management, and expanding system capacity can all require significant capital.

Without reliable operating data, determining which investments should receive priority can be difficult.

Continuous pressure monitoring helps address this challenge by providing a clearer understanding of actual system conditions.

For instance, a utility experiencing recurring low pressure in a particular service area may initially assume that additional pumping capacity is necessary.

However, detailed pressure monitoring could reveal that the problem occurs only during specific demand periods or is concentrated within a particular pressure zone.

These findings can help utility managers and engineers focus their investigations and evaluate potential solutions more effectively.

Pressure data can also be used to calibrate hydraulic models, helping ensure that engineering analyses reflect actual system performance rather than relying exclusively on design assumptions.

The result is better information for infrastructure planning, operational improvements, and long-term capital investment decisions.

Bringing Advanced Field Services to Small and Rural Texas Utilities

Many smaller utilities recognize the value of continuous pressure monitoring but cannot always justify purchasing and maintaining specialized equipment for occasional studies.

LSPS Solutions helps bridge that gap.

Our investment in ten Dickson pressure data loggers allows us to provide comprehensive monitoring services without requiring individual utilities to purchase the equipment themselves.

These rugged, field-ready devices are designed for extended outdoor deployment, making them well suited for collecting pressure information under real operating conditions.

The new pressure monitoring capability joins our growing portfolio of specialized field services, including:

• Water meter accuracy testing

• Sanitary sewer smoke testing

• CCTV inspections

• Valve maintenance

• Aerial drone inspections

  
  

By combining specialized equipment with practical utility expertise, LSPS helps municipalities, rural water systems, and utility districts access the capabilities they need to operate more efficiently and plan for the future.

And because pressure monitoring complements our existing water loss audit support, asset management, and system evaluation services, the information collected can contribute to a broader understanding of each utility's infrastructure needs.

Do You Know What Your System's Pressure Is Really Doing?

A pressure reading taken today may look perfectly normal.

But what happens tonight? Tomorrow morning? During the next period of peak demand?

Without continuous monitoring, your utility may be missing important information about how its distribution system actually performs.

With our new fleet of Dickson pressure data loggers, LSPS Solutions can help you move beyond occasional spot checks and gain a clearer, data-driven understanding of your system's operating conditions.

Whether you're preparing for your next TWDB water loss audit, getting ready for a TCEQ sanitary survey, investigating pressure complaints, or planning infrastructure improvements, our team is ready to help.

Don't wait for a pressure problem to become a system failure.

Contact LSPS Solutions today to discuss a system-wide pressure monitoring study, request a quote, or learn how our expanded field services can support your utility.

LSPS Solutions — Practical Expertise. Reliable Data. Stronger Utilities.