Smart water meters have become an essential component of modern electrical grids and are finding their way into water utilities. Right now, in a world where a lot of people are dying due to the lack of water, such meters are a breakthrough innovation that various water utilities can use to provide people with portable clean water.
Smart meters are a part of a large area network that allows consumers and utilities to engage in two-way communication. Smart meters help water suppliers to enhance their clean water distribution network and incorporate improved water conservation and management practices. In industrial, operational, and consumer verticals, these smart meters offer numerous advantages. We will go through these benefits.
Dynamic water billing
These smart meters with the internet of things support two-way interaction between clean water distributors and consumers. The supplier can monitor the usage of houses that are connected to the network in real-time. This means the need of sending people to take meter readings onsite every month for billing consumers is eliminated.
Based on the quantity of clean water that a house uses daily, the internet of things can automatically calculate the water bill and send it to the consumers every month. This billing system helps utilities reduce any complexities in the operation and reduce costs associated with manual billing processes.
Rationing water consumption
Internet of things water level sensor or meter can be embedded with a valve that can be controlled effectively remotely. The valve enables users to regulate the water flow and manage their clean water consumption to optimize their processes while saving costs. Water consumption is normally rationed on the basis of time of use and consumption threshold.
Customers identifying inefficiencies in consumption
Identifying patterns in consumption and inefficiencies is an application of smart meters. Along with an internet of things platform suit, smart meters allow consumers to track down the timing and volume of water they use every day. When this data is monitored, users can find inefficiencies in consumption and incorporate practices that lead to over-consumption of water.
IoT with smart meters can be used by consumers to identify water wastage and leaks. The internet of things platform can be calibrated in a way that it sends an alert to the user in case the smart meter doesn’t stop in this period, showing water wastage or leaks. This means that the user can fix leaks and include practices to reduce the consumption of water.
Visibility in conservation efforts
Clean water suppliers and utilities lack clear transparency in the attempts to conserve water. Internet of things smart meters with their interaction helps clean water distributors to gain visibility into the consumption patterns of their consumers and the results of their water conservation programs.
Non-revenue water reduction
Non-revenue clean water is the distributed water that is not paid for. It is the water that does not reach the consumer or is not recorded by their smart water meters due to lower efficiency. The main causes of non-revenue water are theft, leaks, water main beak, and meter inefficiencies.