By The Tech Guy
Abraham Maslow, the famous psychologist, once said, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
Now, while Maslow was talking about psychology, this really applies to solving all sorts of real-world problems too. When it comes to challenges like Non-Revenue Water (NRW), we can’t just keep using the same old tools.
We need to think creatively and mix things up with some fresh, tech-driven solutions. Imagine advanced metering infrastructure, sensors, valve control, and automation—all working together to monitor and control water flow more efficiently. So today, let’s use these wise words to take stab at building the ultimate “smart” system together.
First up: the pump houses. These are crucial pieces of infrastructure, owned by the municipality, and they represent the biggest single investment in the system. Thankfully, they’re secure and typically have a reliable power source, so we have a bit of freedom to get fancy with the tech. For these assets, we’re recommending SCADA systems—that’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition for anyone wondering. In simple terms, SCADA gives us real-time monitoring and control, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. These systems integrate computers, sensors, and hydraulic valves to manage water flow, pressure, volume, and more.
After the pump houses, the next step is to upgrade the distribution network. This is essentially a massive system of pipes and pressure tanks, spread across regions, neighbourhoods, blocks, and streets—depending on how the municipality organises it. To keep things clear and manageable, we’ll use a more technical term: District Metered Areas (DMAs). DMAs are crucial for organising our approach to water distribution and for strategically placing sensors. By dividing the system into smaller, independent sections, we can monitor and manage water flow with much more precision.
Let’s take a typical residential neighbourhood as an example. The municipality supplies water to the entire neighbourhood through a single large pipe. At the entry point to this neighbourhood, we install a bulk water meter to measure the total amount of water entering the area. This is one DMA. Now, by adding a smart bulk meter, we can track the water consumption for the whole neighbourhood in real-time. But let’s take it even further. If we install smart meters in the individual homes within that neighbourhood, our DMA now gives us visibility not just into the bulk usage, but also into the consumption at the household level.
Of course, the total consumption measured by all the individual smart meters should add up to the total consumption recorded by the bulk meter. This balance allows us to ensure everything is working correctly and gives us a detailed understanding of water use at both the macro and micro levels. This is the essence of Automated Water Balancing.
With this setup, municipalities can detect and localise system leakages with a high degree of accuracy and speed. The best part? From a technology standpoint, the solution is simple and cost-effective. One of the big advantages of technology is how machines communicate with each other—far more efficiently than humans. That’s why machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is our solution of choice for this part of the system.
For M2M communication, we recommend Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). These networks are great for long-range communication, can handle millions of messages from hundreds of thousands of water meters, and do so at a fraction of the cost. Technologies like Sigfox, LoRa, and NB-IoT are perfect for smart metering, offering reliable, low-cost connectivity with impressively low power needs. And here’s the best part: because of these low power requirements, smart meters can transmit data over these networks for up to 10 years without needing a battery change!
Once the hardware is in place, the next piece of the puzzle is the software. A smart, AI-powered platform is essential to make sense of all the data. This platform should be able to analyse the data, make predictions, and provide valuable insights to help municipalities optimise water management.
By combining different tech solutions—like smart meters, automated water balancing, and AI-powered insights—we can transform the way water systems are managed. This approach not only helps reduce NRW but also builds a more efficient, responsive, and sustainable water system for the future.In the end, it’s not just about having the latest gadgets, but about using the right mix of tools to tackle complex problems.
So let’s embrace the tech buffet, put these tools to work, and build a smarter water management system that can keep up with the demands of today—and tomorrow.
