The City of Cape Town in South Africa is about to host its first-ever international Smart Water Metering workshop. The city is organising an important workshop with SWAN Forum in Feb 2024.
For the special workshop, Cape Town is looking forward to the members of the Smart Water Network Forum (SWAN), which consists of other international utilities for advanced water metering infrastructure.
The SWAN-Cape Town workshop is organised with the purpose of gaining insights from both local and international experts on the value-added benefits and opportunities behind smart water metering after going through various phases, from scope to implementation.
But what is Smart Water Metering project and why it is being projected, read the following to clear all doubts.
What is Smart Water Metering?
The project comprises a smart meter that is programmed to take readings at a predetermined time interval. The readings taken are sent securely via a data communications system to a central server.
The readings received can then be used for many purposes, such as monthly bills, water consumption analysis, calculating supply area water balances and lost identification. It can be used for other benefits for both customers and the water utility.
The meter can instantly identify and notify users about tampering, battery loss or leakages.
How is it beneficial to residents?
The residents of the City of Cape Town will be greatly benefitted from such a system. The project provides more predictable and regular water and sanitation bills and virtually eliminates the need for reading estimations.
The residents will also have access to hourly data on water consumption through an application. They will also receive a timely warning about potential water leaks to prevent wastage of water and can save themselves from paying expensive water bills.
What is the expected period for implementing Smart Meters?
Smart Water Meters are currently in the design phase, the city has scheduled the roll out of smart water metering from 2025 and continue until 2037.
The schedule will allow water meters to be replaced over time affordably and sustainably throughout the city. The business and industrial customers will be prioritised at the initial stage.
The customers with higher usage of water will also be benefitted first. Notably, the rollout will eventually shift to include the majority of residential customers.
How much the customers will be charged?
Property owners will not need to pay any cost when the new smart water meters are installed in place of the existing ones. The owner will only be responsible for the cost of meter installation as part of the utility connection when new properties are developed or sold.
The Smart Water Metering workshop will be conducted for three days, from Feb 28, 2024, to Mar 01, 2024, at the Table Bay Hotel.
