TECHNICAL TALK themselves nicely into the most popular retailers , petrol stations , as well as making use of websites and mobile apps selling prepaid water . Register your meter with any major bank and purchase prepaid tokens directly from your mobile banking solution . The token comes as a 20-digit numeric number , which is entered on the Customer Interface Unit ( CIU ) situated inside the house .
Between the periods 2004 to 2015 , prepaid meters were tasked to deliver Free Basic Water ( FBW ) at no cost to consumers . FBW was delivering 6 000 litres of water at no charge to those who could not afford it , but with the option to purchase more . A great initiative , but more and more municipalities realised it is just not affordable . The more technically-minded gurus quickly realised this very same feature can be used to configure the prepaid meter as a Demand Controller . The consumer is still using his conventional meter , billed monthly , now being fitted with a prepaid controller , configured to only deliver a daily limit of , for example , 350 litres before the meter closes , with no means to purchase additional credit . The meter will only re-open the next day . And voila ! you cannot exceed your daily allowance – no matter how much money you throw at it .
Leak Detection is another great and mostly overlooked feature when it comes to water conservation . The prepaid controller records the lowest hourly flow measured , typically during the early hours of the morning between 01:00 and 03:00 . If , over a period of 24-hours , a continuous flow was recorded for every hour , it can safely be assumed that there is a leak on the property . The lowest hourly flow recorded equates to the size of the leak in l / hour .
The ‘ Life-line ’ feature helps to prevent you from running out of water at the end of the month when you do not have any money to purchase water . Activating your Life-line , allows a pre-configured amount of water per day , while at the same
“ Utility management companies have become the latest buzzword around estates , townhouse complexes , and flats .”
Smartwater device .
Customer interface unit ( CIU ).
Wallmount meter . time running your credit register into a negative value . When you have the opportunity to purchase more water credit , your negative credit is replenished first , before returning your meter to positive credit .
With the invention of low power , long-distance wireless networks , Remote Monitoring has become a reality for water meters . South Africa is the proud owner of a dedicated low power network , implementing Sigfox technology , covering 93 % of the population . This technology allows a batteryoperated meter to transmit data over very long distances . Specifically targeting metering applications , this network allows water meters to send totaliser readings and other diagnostic information on a daily or even hourly basis while still maintaining a 10-year battery life .
It is now possible for utility companies to receive conventional meter readings for billing purposes over the Sigfox network directly from their meters . Connect the SmartWater
AMR ( Automated Meter Reading ) device to any conventional meter with a pulse output , and receive the totaliser reading daily . Never again do you need to go out and read the meter or calculate estimates .
Telbit is a key component designer and manufacturer to Sensus ( Part of Xylem ) and Elster Kent ( Part of Honeywell ).
www . saaffordablehousing . co . za MARCH - APRIL 2021 23