The aim of this paper is to review both the performance and the advances made over the last four years in the operation of buried battery electromagnetic water flowmeters installed within a distribution network. The authors will review the original design criteria and installation decisions in the light of subsequent experience, highlighting the obvious and not so obvious lessons learned. They will, then, outline some of the methods used to assess the condition of the buried meters in-situ and illustrate the very real changes in performance which have been achieved through optimisation of meter software parameters. Further to this optimisation, the developing role of GSM equipped meters is illustrated and the case made for the economic pursuit of wholelife costing through interactive monitoring of performance. The increasing demands for Traceability and Data Quality, driven by Water Industry Regulators, are discussed and the role of meter verification, including static electronic methods such as the ABB CalMaster, is assessed. Finally, the need for Users to clearly define their Application Needs and to be able to both Specify and understand the range of performance being offered by Manufacturers is discussed with illustrations linked to the new International CEN, ISO and OIML water meter Standards.
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