Housing in Southern Africa January 2015

News

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.

G 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)

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. ■

January 2015