Last week I attended the 2018 Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Water Works Association, otherwise known as ACE18. This is America’s largest gathering of water industry professionals, held at the Mandalay Conference Center in Las Vegas, with over 12,000 participants and over 500 exhibitors.
Water is our most precious natural resource, so it was not surprising to find that a significant number of the exhibitors had products or services that were in some way designed to reduce water losses for water utilities.
I was amazed to learn that water utilities can typically record total losses of between 10% and 25% of their water. That is, water that somehow goes missing in the network and doesn’t end up getting billed to an end-customer. So water losses are very bad news for water utilities, not only for the lost water and lost revenue, but also for the regulatory and political problems associated with excess water wastage.
According to the helpful staff I spoke with at the Kamstrup booth, reported water losses are typically made up from a combination of real losses from leaks and false losses due to inaccurate water meters under-reporting the volume of water consumed. The old mechanical water meters tend to get less accurate as they get older and under-report the amount of water consumed, much to the cost and frustration of the water utility.
This is where smart meters come in. Smart water meters, such as those manufactured by Kamstrup, are much more accurate than mechanical meters and unlike mechanical meters, they contain no moving parts and do not lose accuracy over time. These ultrasonic meters are sealed pressurized units that come with a battery lifetime of 16 years, transmitting their readings back to the utility via a number of different data collection methods, including AMR, AMI and IoT protocols.
I was quick to note (given my involvement with Datagate water billing) that more accurate water meters would lead to more water being billed and therefore more revenue getting back to the water utility. Another obvious advantage of smart meters is the significant reduction in costs associated with the reading of water meters. What surprised me however, is that these smart water meters can also aid in the detection of water leaks, meaning the water utility gains additional value in the reduction of real water losses.
With such compelling returns on investment, it’s no wonder these smart water meters are in such high demand.
Mark Loveys 