Recently my water bill had an ad for a water monitor. Apparently the
> meters are read remotely by unit in a vehicle going down the
> street.
Automatic reporting by telephone (the meter connects to a box that connects to your landline) is more common in Minneapolis, but they also have battery-powered RF devices for situations where a telephone line is not available or the owner refuses to permit a connection to it. To add to the profusion of systems, there are also old meters that must be read manually, and meters with remote readouts (a little counter box that is mounted on the outside of the building for easier access). I think we've got the entire history of meter-reading technology on display. No WiFi units, but that's probably only a matter of time if a plan goes through to provide citywide wifi access.