System and method for tracking water usage by category

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising:

• receiving, from at least one sensor associated with the distributed water infrastructure, signals indicative of water usage in the distributed water infrastructure;
• constructing, based on the received signals, a plurality of baseline water usage profiles for a plurality of water-using appliances in the distributed water infrastructure;
• assigning each baseline profile of the plurality of baseline profiles to one water usage category of a plurality of water usage categories, wherein each water usage category of the plurality of water usage categories is indicative of a different type of water usage in the distributed water infrastructure;
• collecting, from the at least one sensor, signals indicative of current water usage in the distributed water infrastructure;
• constructing, based on the signals indicative of current water usage, a plurality of current water usage profiles;
• assigning each current water usage profile to an associated one of the plurality of water usage categories, wherein each water usage category has an associated water rate schedule;
• determining, from the signals indicative of current water usage, a volume of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories;
• outputting indications of volumes of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories;
• and
• transmit to a central server the indications of volumes of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories to thereby enable customer charges based on the volumes of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories at the associated water rate schedule.

A method of tracking water usage by category in a distributed water infrastructure, comprising:

• receiving, from at least one sensor associated with the distributed water infrastructure, signals indicative of water usage in the distributed water infrastructure;
• constructing, based on the received signals, a plurality of baseline water usage profiles for a plurality of water-using appliances in the distributed water infrastructure;
• assigning each baseline profile of the plurality of baseline profiles to one water usage category of a plurality of water usage categories, wherein each water usage category of the plurality of water usage categories is indicative of a different type of water usage in the distributed water infrastructure;
• collecting, from the at least one sensor, signals indicative of current water usage in the distributed water infrastructure;
• constructing, based on the signals indicative of current water usage, a plurality of current water usage profiles;
• assigning each current water usage profile to an associated one of the plurality of water usage categories, wherein each water usage category has an associated water rate schedule;
• determining, from the signals indicative of current water usage, a volume of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories;
• outputting indications of volumes of water used in different water usage categories;
• and
• transmitting to a central server the indications of volumes of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories to thereby enable customer charges based on the volumes of water used in each of the associated one of the plurality of water usage categories at the associated water rate schedule.