World Water January/February 2010
Water Management 27
Water utilities and consumers are
being forced to address better ways
of managing their water use due to
rising water prices and water
scarcity; however utilities face a
number of challenges before
addressing conservation concerns.
Among these is the need to install
and replace infrastructures,
minimize loss and waste, and
prepare for floods and drought. In
addition, utilities must continue to
meet customer expectations for
efficient service, cost minimization,
usage data and support as
communities change the habits of a
century and adopt sustainable
practices.
Some developed economies have
begun to take positive steps
towards tackling issues surrounding
their water conservation by
implementing innovative new
metering and billing technologies.
In some countries, they have begun
to create educational programs to
encourage water conservation, but
developing markets are lagging
behind and need to take immediate
steps to prepare for an impending
water crisis. One of the primary
reasons is that less developed
markets do not have the
appropriate infrastructure in place
to set up such programs, or adopt
forward thinking technologies such
as interval meters or smart meters.
In order to overcome challenges
associated with water consumption,
water utilities must take the lead by
establishing a sustainable and
efficient water meter program.
Water utilities cannot solve the
problem alone. They need the
cooperation and support of local
and regional governments,
communities, and above all,
customers. Water utility executives
need to take responsibility by
educating stakeholders, organizing
projects, and administering
programs that will ensure success.
Leading the way
Of all developed economies,
Australia has made the most
significant steps towards water
conservation. The Australian
Department of Sustainability and
Environment reviewed recent
advancements made in the energy
sector and explored how some
utilities were using modern
metering and billing technologies to
enhance customer service and
reduce energy consumption. It took
some of these findings and applied
them to the water industry. One of
the major advancements made by
the department was the
introduction of interval meters in
homes to encourage sensible water
usage. Interval meters are similar to
smart meters, as they allow utilities
to monitor water consumption on
an hourly basis, and the data
collected from the meters are
processed through a consumption
analyzer to detect possible leaks.
The United States has also seen
some success in using modern
metering technology. Utility
company Cucamonga Valley Water
District in Southern California
introduced interval meters to its
customers and discovered that 10
percent of its water customers had
detectable leaks and two percent of
customers had significant leaks. By
being able to detect these leaks, the
utility was able to send customer
representatives door-to-door to
notify customers of these leaks,
helping save their customers money
before their bills were received. The
water company was able to detect
leaks by collecting interval
consumption data, and using a
special software program to look
for unusual patterns of usage that
are commonly associated with
leaks. This helped the utility save its
customers' money and limit water
misuse and helped to develop
stronger relationships with its
customers.
Water metering in the
developing world
Public water utilities in developing
countries often find themselves
locked in a cycle of poor corporate
performance with low coverage of
services and insufficient funding for
maintenance and expansion. In
these regions, water is often
distributed via primitive means
such as communal water pumps.
People within these countries are
often extremely poor and cannot
afford to pay for water. Although
developed countries are not faced
with the same issues, they are
hindered by inadequate
infrastructure, which is necessary to
monitor water use, or in some
cases, these infrastructures are too
basic to sustain any form of
metering.
Countries fortunate enough to
have advanced, reliable
infrastructures could learn from
developed countries and implement
modern metering and billing
systems, such as smart meters or
interval meters. Interval meters
deliver a number of benefits to
water utilities. Smart metering
however, takes this one step further
by allowing utilities and customers
to see water use in real-time. Smart
meters installed inside homes can
enable customers to monitor for
water leaks. Consequently, this
delivers a number of opportunities
such as the ability to offer
customers leak insurance.
Regulators concerned about
reducing water waste are able to
establish performance-based
incentives for utilities to reduce
water loss. The faster utilities can
detect the size and prioritize repairs
for leaks, the greater their ability
will be to take advantage of these
incentives.
Overall, smart metering delivers
better services at minimal costs.
Although some argue that the costs
for these systems are significant,
once implemented, the benefits
delivered are far greater. One of the
many benefits is the ability for
utilities to obtain off-cycle, "final"
meter reads for customers moving
or leaving the area. In such a
situation the utility is able to couple
these real-time final meter reads
with on-line or credit-card bill
payment that enable utilities to
collect bills immediately that would
otherwise have taken weeks or
months to reach the relocated
customer.
Furthermore, utilities are given
access to remote-disconnect meters
Leap ahead to smart meters
Water utilities must take the lead to reduce water consumption
by investing in smart, efficient metering programs. And utilities
in developing countries, says Bastian Fischer, VP of Oracle
Utilities, should skip electromechanical meters to adopt Smart
Meters, which enable customers and utilities to monitor water
use more closely.

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