Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities
In South Africa, it is a legislative requirement that all water supply points be metered (van Zyl, 2011). Conventional meters are mostly used as the main means of monitoring water consumption by South African municipalities. In the last two decades, the water metering industry has seen substantial d...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Water Research Group
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613160692776960 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Malunga, Masoabi |
| author2 | Van Zyl, Jakobus E |
| author_browse | Malunga, Masoabi Van Zyl, Jakobus E |
| author_facet | Van Zyl, Jakobus E Malunga, Masoabi |
| author_sort | Malunga, Masoabi |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In South Africa, it is a legislative requirement that all water supply points be metered (van Zyl, 2011). Conventional meters are mostly used as the main means of monitoring water consumption by South African municipalities. In the last two decades, the water metering industry has seen substantial developments with new capabilities added to the conventional water meter, known as advanced meters. These advanced water meters have capability of processing, storing and communicating data without the need of human intervention. As such they come with desirable capabilities for both consumers and municipalities. These include prepaid meters which are special type of advanced water metering technology that is mostly applicable in the low income areas of South Africa. However, advanced water meters have significant drawbacks, such as higher failure rates (due to electronics, batteries and more components), higher purchase and maintenance costs and susceptibility to tampering. It is therefore necessary to make a conscious and informed consideration when deciding on which metering technology to implement for different users. This could be achieved through having a technology evaluation framework. The goal of this research was to develop an evaluation framework to help municipalities in the selection of appropriate advanced water metering technologies for application in low income communities. This goal was achieved through: determining the range of functionality of technologies both available and under development for advanced water metering; documenting case studies of both successful and failed implementation of advanced water meters, including social perception and impacts; developing an evaluation framework that can evaluate advanced water metering; and evaluating on technical, social, economic and environmental grounds. The results from literature and case studies indicate that in low income communities, advanced water metering is mainly implemented for cost recovery purposes. However, some municipalities implement advanced metering schemes for water management and debt recovery. The most advanced water metering technology being installed in low income communities is prepaid meters. Prepaid meters have a potential to fulfill all the range of objectives that municipalities install advanced metering technology for. This technology is found to have high maintenance requirements due to high failure rate. For successful implementation, it is important that municipalities have adequate budget for repairs and maintenance or seek technical support from manufacturers. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/25328 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:43.046Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Water Research Group |
| publisherStr | Water Research Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/25328 Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities Malunga, Masoabi Van Zyl, Jakobus E Water Research In South Africa, it is a legislative requirement that all water supply points be metered (van Zyl, 2011). Conventional meters are mostly used as the main means of monitoring water consumption by South African municipalities. In the last two decades, the water metering industry has seen substantial developments with new capabilities added to the conventional water meter, known as advanced meters. These advanced water meters have capability of processing, storing and communicating data without the need of human intervention. As such they come with desirable capabilities for both consumers and municipalities. These include prepaid meters which are special type of advanced water metering technology that is mostly applicable in the low income areas of South Africa. However, advanced water meters have significant drawbacks, such as higher failure rates (due to electronics, batteries and more components), higher purchase and maintenance costs and susceptibility to tampering. It is therefore necessary to make a conscious and informed consideration when deciding on which metering technology to implement for different users. This could be achieved through having a technology evaluation framework. The goal of this research was to develop an evaluation framework to help municipalities in the selection of appropriate advanced water metering technologies for application in low income communities. This goal was achieved through: determining the range of functionality of technologies both available and under development for advanced water metering; documenting case studies of both successful and failed implementation of advanced water meters, including social perception and impacts; developing an evaluation framework that can evaluate advanced water metering; and evaluating on technical, social, economic and environmental grounds. The results from literature and case studies indicate that in low income communities, advanced water metering is mainly implemented for cost recovery purposes. However, some municipalities implement advanced metering schemes for water management and debt recovery. The most advanced water metering technology being installed in low income communities is prepaid meters. Prepaid meters have a potential to fulfill all the range of objectives that municipalities install advanced metering technology for. This technology is found to have high maintenance requirements due to high failure rate. For successful implementation, it is important that municipalities have adequate budget for repairs and maintenance or seek technical support from manufacturers. 2017-09-23T06:19:45Z 2017-09-23T06:19:45Z 2017 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Eng) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25328 eng application/pdf Water Research Group Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Water Research Malunga, Masoabi Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| title_full | Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| title_fullStr | Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| title_short | Advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| title_sort | advanced water metering and its application in low income communities |
| topic | Water Research |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25328 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT malungamasoabi advancedwatermeteringanditsapplicationinlowincomecommunities |