Murray River Council’s smart water meter project – featuring Taggle System’s smart metering solutions – has been announced as a finalist in Local Government NSW’s excellence in the environment awards.
The water management category recognises excellence in practical solutions for sustainable water management, with winners announced in mid-October.
Murray River Council’s Director of Operations and Major Projects, Scott Barber, said it was a nod to the hard work of the water services team.
The smart meter system is proving to be a big help in assisting customers to detect leaks and prevent water wastage.
Since the installation of smart filtered water meters throughout this year, a number of local residents have benefited from the leak detection reports generated by the system.
Smart meters record water usage every hour, and in the instance where a property shows continuous usage staff head out on site and check if there is any reason behind the large activity.
In many cases, it has been a leak that a customer would have otherwise been unaware of.
Mr Barber said it’s pleasing to have seen such great results this early into the implementation program.
“Our staff are finding the smart meter reports such a useful tool to help our customers,” he said.
“Leaks had previously been slow and difficult for customers to find, resulting in a bill shock for customers and increased demand on staff to get to the bottom of it.”
Mr Barber said staff had found that some of the affected customers had leaks of 240 litres per day or more.
“The beauty of these smart meters is that we can actually really help our customers as a result of the detailed data from the smart water system,” he said.
The smart meter installation program now moves into stage two with the installation of raw water meters scheduled to commence in the coming month.
Murray River Council will also launch a customer portal next year to enable customers to monitor and review their water usage.
This will allow customers to check how efficiently water is being consumed within their home and property.
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