SMART WATER METER

ABSTRACT

 

In recent years, water demand has increased in households. Consumer awareness regarding daily water consumption is very low. Traditional water meter unable to get daily consumption efficient manner and water consumption has been calculating once in a month. It has been calculated manually. With the advancement of information technology, over the past years, there has not been any attempt to enhance manual meter reading to automate within Nigeria.

The main objective of this project is to propose and implement a system to identify customer behaviors and patterns of consuming water using the Smart Water Meter System (SWMS). In developing nations, the technology of employing smart water meters new to society. Cost savings and improved operational efficiency of meter reading personnel were achievable.

In some cases, existing water meters are fixed in the backyards, and difficult in granting access to enter the premises. In such a situation, meter reading personnel has to wait until the customer opens the gate. There are cases where the customer has been locked and out of the premises and unable to get the meter reading. In such a situation the meter reading personnel calculates the bill using an average monthly reading as the current month’s consumption. Customer’s point of view this calculation will not be feasible when the actual reading exceeds the monthly consumption as charges may vary according to the tariff category they belong. These customers have been instructed to read their meters themselves and inform a substation after receiving the monthly bill for alteration. This will be an extra cost to the billing as an officer has to be appointed to solve these matters.

The proposed system consists of Smart Water Meter (Developed using The Arduino Uno – microcontroller board, Flow Sensor, SD Card module, and Wi-Fi Shield), Web application. Instant meter reading has been saved to memory in the control board and periodical time interval data will be uploading to the cloud system. Customers can be logging into the cloud system and able to upload their meter reading, download the bill, and upload the evidence of payment during the given period. With this system, it is expected to facilitate consumers to make better service and save the water as a resource.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1 Prologue

A new technology platform is required to sustainably manage urban water resources in Nigeria. This can be achieved by real-time monitoring of water consumption at domestic, corporate, and city levels. It will enable the implementation of efficient resources and demand management strategies. This project aims to better understand the consumption pattern of the customer and extracting water meter reading data with less human interaction in an efficient manner. This chapter presents the background of the study, the motivation of the research, research problems, and the aims and objectives of the research.

1.2 Background of Study and Motivation

In many parts of the world, analog water meters have been installed by water companies to measure the consumer’s water consumption. These water meters are read monthly by an authorized employee and the consumer’s bill is computed based on the approval rates according to the amount of water consumed [1] . Sometimes the customer premises are not easily accessible and consumption estimates have to be used in the computation of the water bill. This approach is errorprone as accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The method of manual data collection is also expensive, labor-intensive, and hence inefficient [2] .

Digital water meter allows extracting meter reading electronically with less human interaction. Cost savings and improved operational efficiency are achievable. Mainly cost savings that could be created from improved efficiency of meter reading personnel. Once meter reading data is available, it can be captured and processed like any other signal. Internet, Mobile communication technology, and other data communication technology makes it possible to bring this signal to mobile phone or handheld device [3] . This data will be converting information to get a better understanding of the consumption patterns of water consumers. Smart Water Meters can serve as networks that can be installed in thousands of households to collect periodic measurements that are reported in real-time [4] .

 

Water Metering is the process of measuring water use. There are two bases of measuring flow, these are volumetric basis and weight basis. The basic relationship for determining the liquid’s flow in a pipe is given by the product of the cross-sectional area of the pipe and the average velocity of the flow. The other factors that affect the liquid flow rate include the liquid’s viscosity, density, and the friction of the liquid in contact with the pipe [5] .

In some cases, existing water meters are fixed in the backyards and therefore it is difficult to get access to the premises. In such situations, meter reading personnel has to wait until the customer opens the gate. There are cases where the customers lock their premises, in such a situation, meter reading personnel is unable to get the meter reading. Water Board is instructed to calculate the bills using an average monthly water consumption. Obviously, from the customer’s point of view, this calculation will not be feasible when the actual reading exceeds the monthly consumption. Because next month, customers have to pay higher bill value because charges may vary according to the tariff.

1.3 Research Problem

Currently, there is no system to monitor real-time water consumption at domestic, corporate, and city levels in Nigeria. Some solutions are implemented in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China to monitor their water consumption. It is necessary to implement an affordable solution that should be beneficial for the consumer who intends to know their current consumption of water. Therefore, utilizing commonly available equipment, technologies, and infrastructure for a Smart

Water Meter System has been employed here to solve this problem as implemented in this project.

Studies indicate that the implementation of a prepaid water meter entrenches social inequality and poverty in society: as the rich use more water as they can pay for it. The two biggest barriers to prepaid metering in the North American market have been the high cost of meter as customers have to pay between USD225 – USD400 per installation [1] . Besides, it is viewed as economic discrimination in terms of racial, social, or cultural profiling. The poor have to consider their consumption, hindering their water requirements, and productive water use for improving their livelihood strategies. Productive use of water includes uses such as brewing, animal watering, construction, and small-scale. An aspect of good neighborliness is lost in cases where prepaid water meters are introduced, this is because water is likely to be treated as an individualized market commodity thereby largely excluding the poor from accessing it [6] .

Since its development in the United Kingdom, the use of these meters has spread through countries like Brazil, Egypt, Uganda, Curacao, Nigeria, Tanzania, Swaziland, Sudan, Malawi, Namibia, and South Africa. Where the common evidence found, that the prepaid system for water supply being enforced on the poor is dangerous environmentally, socially, politically and questionable morally

[7] .

Sudden changes in pressure can damage meters to the extent that many meters in cities and developing countries are not functional. Also, some types of meters become less accurate as they age, and under-registering consumption leads to lower revenue if defective meters are not regularly replaced. Many types of meters also register air flows, which can lead to over-registration of consumption, especially in systems with intermittent supply, when water is re-established and the incoming water pushes air through the meters. Also, the real working life of prepaid meters is only about five (5) to seven (7) years, compared to the estimated fifteen (15) to twenty (20) years for conventional meters [6] .

1.4 Aim

This project aims to;

Design and develop a digital water meter.

1.5 Objectives

The objectives of this project can be summarized as follows;

Develop an online platform to upload meter reading, calculate customer’s bills, receive their bill information, send their evidence of payment using WordPress.

To estimate household water consumption and pattern by recording accurate readings.

To analyze water-saving potential for the residential sector.

1.6 Summary

This chapter gives an overall picture of the entire project. As such, we described the background of the study and motivation of the research, research problems, aims, and objectives. Chapter two presents a critical review of the literature on Smart Water Meter.

SMART WATER METER