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Anglian Water, one of the largest water recycling and water providers in the UK, is working with communications infrastructure provider Arqiva to trial out a smart water metering service.
The move is in partnership with utility technology provider Sensus, whose smart water meters in residential and non-residential properties will record hourly usage readings and then report back to Anglian Water. The proposed move will enable Anglian to better identify potential leaks or any other unusual patterns of use, as well as create better visibility into water consumption levels.
The latter is important given the three key goals of the trial is to reduce water consumption to 80 litres per head per day, as well as achieve 100% customer satisfaction and prevent leaks.
Paul Glass, who heads up the smart metering initiative for Anglian Water, explained the importance of each of the goals. “Long term access to secure supplies of water is one of the most pressing environmental and economic challenges the world faces today, and that challenges is particularly acute in the east of England, which is the driest region in the UK,” he said.
“Getting to grips with it is not something that can wait until tomorrow,” Glass added. “We want to lead the way in raising awareness about how essential water is to life, people and the environment, but also draw attention to the role technologies like this can have in helping address the challenges of a growing population and changing climate.”
The concept of smart water meters is not especially new, with Thames Water starting a trial as far back as November 2013, being claimed at the time to be the UK’s first instance. Yet Glass added: “Smart metering has a key role to play in giving our customers access to information about their water use – helping them to understand how much water they are using, and therefore how to reduce their consumption and bills.
“In combination with our efforts on the wider network, this will help secure water supplies for the future,” said Glass.
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