By JOHN PENSEC | Senior director of communications and public affairs, Mueller Water Products, Inc.
DERON AUSTIN, PE | Director of marketing and communications, Mueller Co. LLC

The physical and economic health of our cities depends on access to safe, clean drinking water. Over the past 150 years, Mueller Co. has become synonymous with reliable, high-quality products that help water utilities accurately measure and regulate the flow of water from its source to the customer.

Mueller provides tremendous support for its distribution network. In addition to providing hands-on training at its plants, the company’s mobile training team has traveled the country annually for over 100 years, conducting free classes for the waterworks industry.

Many innovative products developed by Mueller Co., such as the water main tapping machine and copper flare connections, have become industry standards. As the needs of today’s water utilities evolve, Mueller Co.’s range of products and services continues to expand to help ensure that people continue to have access to the safe, clean drinking water on which they depend.

Water utilities across the country face the significant challenge of addressing aging and deteriorating water infrastructure systems. It is estimated that up to 30 percent of treated water is lost to leaks in some distribution systems before it reaches its intended destination. It is no wonder that the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the drinking water infrastructure in the United States a grade of “D” in its latest Infrastructure Report Card. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than $247 billion needs to be invested in drinking water infrastructure over the next 20 years (EPA 2013 Drinking Water Needs Survey and Assessment).

Mueller Co. continues to develop products and services designed to maximize the investment water utilities are making in their infrastructure. The company recently introduced an all-ductile iron resilient wedge gate valve with an industry-leading working pressure of 350 psi. It also commercialized a remote pressure monitoring system that alerts water utilities of pressure data at customer-defined intervals from any point in their water distribution system.

Company origins

Mueller Co. manufactures fire hydrants at its Albertville, Ala. plant, which was named “Fire Hydrant Capital of the World” in 1989 after producing the 1 millionth fire hydrant.

Mueller Co.’s origins date back to 1857, when German immigrant Hieronymus Mueller set up business in Decatur, Ill. By 1872 he had received his first patent for a water tapping machine. From these beginnings, Mueller Co. has grown to be the most recognized brand in the water infrastructure market, as evidenced by the company’s valves or fire hydrants being specified in the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States.

The company relocated its headquarters to Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2010 and today employs approximately 2,400 people in 15 locations. Mueller Co. is part of Mueller Water Products, Inc., nyse: mwa, a leading manufacturer and marketer of products and services used in the transmission, distribution and measurement of water in North America.

The Mueller Co. family of companies includes other well-respected brands such as Echologics, Mueller Systems, Henry Pratt, U.S. Pipe Valve & Hydrant Division, Jones, Milliken Valve and Hydro Gate, each of which specializes in critical components for water infrastructure systems. Mueller Co.’s broad product and service portfolio includes flow control valves, fire hydrants, metering products and systems, leak detection and pipe condition assessment solutions.

Mueller Co. catalogs thousands of flow control products to suit the needs of virtually any potable water system and for use with any water main or service line pipe material. These products are available through hundreds of authorized stocking distributors in the United States, and around the world through qualified distributors and representatives. These distributors and representatives tend to also specialize in the potable water distribution market and form a very important and longstanding partnership with Mueller Co.

Intelligent water technology

In the fall of 2014 Mueller Co.’s distributor supplied over 1,300 of the new 350 psi gate valves, 400 fire hydrants and 2,500 pieces of service brass to the $116 million Restore Biloxi Infrastructure Repair Program.

Water utilities are increasingly focusing on ways to increase operational efficiencies, improve customer service and prioritize capital spending. To help them achieve these objectives, Mueller Co. continues to develop products and services that actively diagnose, monitor and control the delivery of drinking water. The Company describes these products and services collectively as Intelligent Water Technology (IWT).

IWT provides water utilities with the information they need to make fact-based, data-driven decisions concerning their water infrastructure systems, and helps utilities reduce non-revenue water and prioritize capital spending.

The Company expanded its IWT portfolio in 2014 with the introduction of fixed leak detection monitoring technology, capable of continuously monitoring transmission and distribution pipelines for leaks, determining leak location and alerting the utility before they become catastrophic.

Mueller Co. received the “2014 Best Smart Water Product Solution” award at the inaugural Smart Water Summit in recognition of its entire IWT portfolio, which in addition to the leak detection and pressure monitoring solutions described earlier, includes an advanced metering infrastructure system with remote disconnect meter and pipe condition assessment solutions.

The need for access to safe, clean drinking water is universal, and water utilities need a partner who understands water infrastructure and the business challenges utilities face. Throughout its long history of producing quality, innovative products and solutions, Mueller Co. has demonstrated that when utilities select a partner, the smart move is to partner with Mueller Co.

To learn more

To learn more about Mueller Co. or to speak with a customer representative, simply visit www.muellercompany.com or call (800) 423-1323. With a team of over 2,000 employees, dozens of manufacturing plants and hundreds of distribution points around the globe, you can be assured that professionals are standing by to help solve your next water distribution system challenge. In addition, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+, where updates and news are posted weekly.