Smart metering trial to manage supply and demand for key irrigation customers

Western Water wanted to better manage the supply and demand of its key irrigation/water customers. WaterGroup was engaged to supply smart water metering to enable the Victorian water supplier to better understand usage through water meter data.

In late 2018, Western Water set out to find a cost-effective solution to better understand class B and C recycled water consumption for key irrigation/water customers — it turned to WaterGroup for help.

In close collaboration, exact project needs were defined and a solution was devised to best meet those needs.

“It was extremely important for Western Water to get close to live consumption data so they could better manage customers’ actual consumption to their contracted allocations,” said Guenter Hauber Davidson, Managing Director of WaterGroup.

To meet Western Water requirements, WaterGroup delivered LoRaWAN smart metering technology, which was connected to the NNNCo network.

In conjunction with NNNCo, WaterGroup conducted a radio survey to determine the best locations for two required base stations. These were installed along with 23 LoRaWAN loggers, which successfully connected and delivered half-hourly water use data.

This data helped Western Water to better understand in near real time how much recycled water its customers were using.

It resulted in better conversations with customers, for example, proactively asking them if they could reduce demand when required. Likewise, it allowed Western Water to ask some users to increase water use when excess recycled water was available.

The trial, which was completed in 2019, overall demonstrated how smart metering can better manage demand and supply improving commercial and environmental outcomes for both Western Water and its customers.