Housing in Southern Africa January 2015

January 2015

News

ruebl says, “Theneed forwater

infrastructure upgrades and

conversions has been debated

for a long time. The current situation

can be addressed easily if water and

network utilities upgrade to more

modern and accurate measurement

technologies.”

He says that newmetering systems

can identify and fix problems and

reduce water loss by 15% to 20%.

Sensus SA has advanced water

meter technologies with a proven

track record of reducing operational

expenditure through effective water

network management through its

bulk water meters and its advanced

iPerl offerings.

The company’s Automated Me-

ter Reading applications (AMRs)

Water loss

A recent report on the country’s water loss has estimated that water

wastage through leaking pipes and inefficient systems is between 50%

and 60%. Much of this wastage has been attributed to infrastructure

that has not been upgraded and modernised,” says Klaus Gruebl,

Managing Director of Sensus SA.

and Advanced Metering

Infrastructure (AMI) en-

able data to be split into

two parts, billing and

management. Sensus

SA believes an interim

solution is to opt for

the cost-efficient newer

generation volumet-

ric meter which has

been “smart meter

enabled”. “Typically

this entails a volu-

metric meter em-

ploying the latest

construction mate-

rials, which are light-

er, more sensitive

and offer better wear

resistance, but more importantly,

can be fitted with an 'intelligent' RF

module. Themodule replaces the old

and unreliable reed switch, with an

accurate, high resolution inductive

interface and ensures accurate bill-

ing. It allows water supply authorities

to warn consumers of possible leaks

and excessive consumption in near

real time.” said Gruebl.

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