Australian businesses save 169m+ litres in smart water meter joint venture

A smart water meter joint venture initiative by Midcoast Council has seen up to 40 large water users install smart water meters across their properties to monitor water usage.

Since its inception over 12 months ago, the initiative has to date helped save 169 million litres of water, which equates to more than eight days of water supply for the entire region.

Midcoast Council, a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, launched the venture, which has seen dozens of large water users save up to AUS$50,000 ($33,869) on water bills.

Working with the Council’s water resilience officers, the 40 large users installed smart water meters at their properties to closely monitor their water use.

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The Council’s director of infrastructure and engineering services, Rob Scott said the initiative had involved people from across a range of industries, including schools, dairy farms, holiday parks and other commercial enterprises.

According to Midcoast Coucil, the smart water meters – which run off solar power – provided to each of the users have allowed them to monitor water usage in real time. Instances of leaks or other system failures, for example, would send alarms and enable quick reactions and recovery.

This news comes in as anxieties have been settling in for Australian businesses, who are prone to the effects of droughts and floods. These smart meters are hoped to mitigate the resulting effects of such disasters by preventing water waste where possible.

“The more we can conserve water, the longer we can delay moving into tighter water restrictions during a drought.