INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
How tech can conserve and
improve access to water
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Russell Dick, Chief
Executive Officer at
Utility Systems tells us
why municipalities and
utilities around South
Africa are increasingly
turning to technology
to help them with
both conservation and
expanding accessibility to
more communities.
Health Organisation report, more than two
billion people lack access to clean and safe
drinking water, with the figure in South
Africa estimated at 8.2 million.
Even though South Africa is listed as
the 30th driest country in the world, a lack
of proper awareness means that water
usage stands at over 235 litres per capita
daily, compared to the global average of
173 litres.
Managing water with smart tech
One way to achieve sustainable water
management is to understand and manage
consumption by utilities and end-users. But
as it stands, there is no accurate data, as
consumers often pay based on estimates,
and we lose 37% of our water in the
current infrastructure.
To overcome this, municipalities are
increasingly turning to Advanced Meter
Reading (AMR) and Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI), which gives them
accurate data in near real time, helping them
cut down on non-revenue water losses and
enabling them to bill more accurately.
Russell Dick, Chief Executive Officer at
Utility Systems
T
he precarious nature of South
Africa’s water supply came to
the fore with worldwide media
attention being given to the now averted
Day Zero, the day when Cape Town would
become the first major city to have run
out of potable water. According to a World
www.intelligentcio.com
AMI essentially offers an integrated system
of smart meters, communications networks,
and data management systems that enable
two-way communication between utilities
and customers. This allows for the remote
control, configuration and management of
smart meters on a fixed network, located
anywhere, via the cloud or over a local
private network.
Prepaid water – access, control
and transparency
Prepaid metering further gives
consumers financial control and enabling
municipalities to measure, manage and bill
accurately and in real time. With prepaid
meters, users don’t have to wait until the
end of the month to see that it wasn’t the
best idea to water the garden every day, or
to find out that they have a leak.
Much like prepaid electricity or airtime, pay-
as-you-go water systems give lower-income
earners more financial control by enabling
payment in smaller, frequent increments,
thereby preventing debt, which can
compound on a post-paid arrangement.
Collecting data from prepaid meters is also
more efficient than the manual collection
required for post-paid meters, with a radio
link receiver being vehicle-mounted, or
carried by municipality personnel. Data is
transmitted to the receiver as soon as it is
within signal of the meter, so meter readers
don’t need to enter the property.
Information is key
Mobile applications can give users the ability
to monitor consumption, view their device
status, load prepaid water credit, and monitor
their credit in certain instances – and research
has shown that consumers tend to reduce
their usage once there is awareness.
While smart metering systems are more
expensive than conventional metering,
this is outweighed by the convenience of
financial control, having real time visibility
on consumption. If there is continuous flow
of water over an extended period, a possible
leak is logged, helping cut down on wastage.
The only sustainable, long-term solution
is for municipalities and utilities to turn
to technology-based solutions to better
conserve, manage and distribute the limited
water resources that they have. n
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