SmartMeterTM Severn Trent
Click here to enlarge imageSand, grit and air can cause degradation in accuracy of mechanical meters. Such degradation has been established in areas where the quality of water is high. However, the loss of accuracy occurs significantly faster when water from boreholes or where sugar sand, a fine silt found in states including Florida, New Jersey, Michigan and California, is commonplace. This loss of accuracy begins soon after installation and can result in progressively large losses in revenue for water utilities.
As an alternative to mechanical meters, more and more water authorities worldwide are using alternative metering technology to combat revenue loss and meter malfunction. One such advancement in metering design incorporates fluidic oscillation technology. This design overcomes the problems caused by particulates that often plague conventional mechanical meters. With no moving parts, this novel design ensures metered flows and income remain accurate over the entire product lifetime.
Tinley Park, which receives its water supply from Lake Michigan – high quality water that is low in particulates – conducted a cost benefit analysis of its system. Using theoretical data to reflect anticipated lost revenue over a three-year period from the Village’s nearly 14,000 mechanical meters, a minimum total loss of revenue was projected at over $1.4 million – more than the cost to replace all of its meters.
The Village elected to replace the entire installed base of mechanical meters with SmartMeter™ water meters from Severn Trent Services over the following three years. Tinley Park placed an initial order for 5,000 intelligent meters. Feedback from the Village indicated the meters were performing well.
A few years after the initial installation, the Village undertook a detailed cost benefit analysis to decide what should be done with the remaining installed base of meters, which required replacement. This consisted of two activities: a theoretical calculation of the loss of revenue from the mechanical meters, and an analysis of the actual earning performance of SmartMeter water meters compared to traditional mechanical meters.