# Research Note — 2026-06-02 (AMI workflow + local context refresh)

> **Status: Material protocol improvement**

## Confirmed facts
- EPA’s Northwest Indiana Program Contacts page still lists Victoria Wittig, Ph.D. as the Northwest Indiana Urban Waters Ambassador at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, and the page was last updated on 2026-01-30. [^1]
- EPA’s Grand Calumet River AOC page was last updated on 2026-02-19 and still splits Junction Reaches into the IHC south of Columbus Drive, the West Branch between Indianapolis Boulevard and the IHC, and the East Branch between the IHC and Kennedy Avenue; Lake George Middle and Lake George East remain separate footprints, and Lake George Canal monitoring continues through 2027 with possible 2028 follow-on remediation. [^2]
- NIPSCO’s AMI overview says the rollout has been underway since March 2024 and is being installed in phases for approximately 500,000 electric customers and 900,000 gas customers. [^3]
- NIPSCO’s electric AMI page still gives a more specific figure of approximately 490,000 electric customers, and the gas AMI page still gives approximately 870,000 gas customers. [^4][^5]
- NIPSCO’s electric AMI page says installs are typically noticed about 30 days ahead, usually take less than 15 minutes, and generally do not require entry unless the meter is inside or behind a locked gate. [^4]
- NIPSCO’s gas AMI page says module installs are typically noticed about 30 days ahead, usually take about 15 minutes, and generally do not require entry unless the meter is inside or behind a locked gate; if a meter exchange is needed, customers are notified at least 14 days in advance, gas service is temporarily interrupted, and a relight is required. [^5]
- NIPSCO’s system-upgrades page says crews may document the property’s current state with photos or video, perform preliminary work such as locating and marking underground utilities, and temporarily block streets, lanes, or driveways. [^6]
- The NIOSH occupational EMF manual remains the reference for measurement logic and keeps spot, personal, area, walkthrough, source-survey, and field-characterization methods distinct. [^7]

## Practical interpretation
- Treat the AMI overview page counts as rounded program-scale context, not as route-level exposure data.
- Use the electric and gas subpages for workflow details; record which page supplied the count so rounding does not get mistaken for a local condition change.
- Keep property documentation, preliminary work, and access interruptions in `preliminary_work` / access notes so they do not get mistaken for `source_state`, `construction_context`, or the measurement itself.
- Keep electric module installs, gas module installs, electric meter exchanges, and gas meter exchanges separate in the field log.
- This is a bookkeeping improvement, not a reason to change the exposure model.

## Hypotheses
- Source-page bookkeeping will reduce confusion between rounded overview counts and the more specific electric/gas subpage figures.
- Separating preliminary work from construction context should make later comparisons against ordinary utility-adjacent stops cleaner.

## Sources
- [^1]: https://www.epa.gov/urbanwaterspartners/program-contacts-northwest-indiana-indiana
- [^2]: https://www.epa.gov/great-lakes-aocs/remediation-and-restoration-projects-grand-calumet-river-aoc
- [^3]: https://www.nipsco.com/services/work-in-your-neighborhood/advanced-metering-ami
- [^4]: https://www.nipsco.com/services/work-in-your-neighborhood/advanced-metering-ami/electric-ami
- [^5]: https://www.nipsco.com/services/work-in-your-neighborhood/advanced-metering-ami/gas-ami
- [^6]: https://www.nipsco.com/services/work-in-your-neighborhood/system-upgrades
- [^7]: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/98-154/default.html