Providing clean and safe drinking water day in, day out isn’t as easy as it sounds. To get the tap water you really want – clean, safe, and drinkable – there’s an entire chain of drinking water and wastewater treatment processes behind. And that has its price. Complex plants and pipe networks need to be built, operated, and maintained to provide a reliable municipal water supply. And the high investment, operational, and lifecycle costs are the reason why every drop is valuable. Treated water that is lost within the system and can’t be billed – non-revenue water (NRW) – is therefore an economical issue for water utilities and has to be minimized as fast as possible. The clock is ticking. And not just because of the financial loss but also because of potential ecological and humanitarian reasons.
Every year, millions of households wait for the manual readings of their water meters, having to stay home or organize friends or neighbors to be present so that the reading can take place. Additionally, for water utilities the annual reading is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and causes high expenses. In the 21st century, with everything going digital or even virtual - from planning and simulation to diagnostics, from offerings-as-a-service to digital twins, and from small IIoT components to AGVs, robotics, and e-mobility, the measurement of water is still largely done in an analogue manner. Why not use the benefits of digitalization to make readings easier, more comfortable, more reliable, and more efficient for all parties involved?
