Federation Council recently completed a water meter replacement and Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) project, which is already having a positive impact on the local community.
In its first few weeks of operation, the New South Wales council delivered almost 200 leak notices to households and businesses advising them of potential problems with their plumbing.
These leaks, which ranged from five to 350 litres per hour, could be identified quickly and remotely, saving the affected residents between $23 and $1613 (if the leak continued throughout the billing period).
The AMR system uses a new Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) radio network developed in Australia by Sydney-based company Taggle Systems.
A transmitter attached to a water meter takes a reading every hour and sends it to a receiver located on a Council water tower.
Council employees use this new information to detect leaks, identify problems in the water network and help the organisation make better decisions related to water production and distribution.
A key part of the system is the software, MiWater, which was developed by Mackay Regional Council in Queensland, the first council to use the new LPWA technology.
It analyses the hourly water meter data and presents it in a graphical format to assist council staff in their work.
Federation Council has plans to make MyH20, a customer portal companion to MiWater, available to ratepayers so that they can see their own water use information on their mobile phone, tablet or PC.
Customers will also be able to set leak alerts to be delivered by email or SMS in the event of unusually high water use on their property.
Council has received positive feedback from residents in relation to the new electronic water meters, with many confirming the new information had enabled them to quickly and easily remedy a water leak.
The new system is considered a best practice tool, which will help Council deliver water services to the community as cost-effectively as possible.
The customer portal is expected to create a greater sense of community awareness and responsibility towards the use of water.
Council has been extremely pleased with the rollout of the project and has praised the project team who worked together with a core focus of improving services for customers.
