WISA • Y WP
What can’t be measured can’t be managed A nationwide instalment of smart water meters and submetering would help detect leakages, account for lost water, and improve billing accuracies. By Lina Lukusa
T
he National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NW&SMP) has set a non-revenue water target at a national rate of 26% of supplied water for 2030. Currently, municipalities lose an average of 39.3% of their supplied water, necessitating a 13% reduction in the next nine years. Smart water metering (SWM) technology will incorporate robust water conservation and management practices into the water distribution network. It offers the following benefits: • helps utilities and consumers engage in two-way communication • provides frequent water consumption data to consumers, enhancing water conservation and management
• (together with the roll-out of a proven management platform) reduces the risk of non-payment and overcomes the problems of inaccurate billing and loss of revenue • stops stolen water because there is live monitoring of tampering and bypassing of meters • can disconnect and reconnect water services remotely.
Maintenance
The meters need to be robust, and require little to no maintenance, because many of them will be placed in rural areas where there are scarce resources. Analogue water meters, which constitute most meters used in South Africa, experience
a degradation of accuracy over time. This is due to wear and tear of the moving parts, as well as water quality, abnormal water velocities, Lina Lukusa, YWP excessive member and throughput master’s student of information systems volumes or flow at the University rates, suboptimal of Cape Town installation, and poor meter handling. Static meters are proving to be a more accurate and robust alternative. They measure the flow with ultrasonic technology and significantly reduce the payback time. SWM has a short payback period of three to twelve months. There is a vital need for the South African water sector to ensure that its work force is equipped with the technical skills needed to implement SWM.
WISA webinar: Building water resilience through community engagement The WISA Gauteng Branch (WISA-GP) recently hosted a webinar – Building better water resilience through community engagement – addressing challenges, solutions and opportunities regarding community engagement in the sector.
A
common theme that ran through all the presentations delivered during the webinar, as well as the round table discussion, was the weak levels of community engagement in South Africa. The four panellists who spoke were: • Mariette Liefferink – CEO, Federation of Sustainable Development • Romy Antrobus-Wuth – stewardship ecologist, Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region • Rivash Panday – sustainable water specialist, Sasol • Dennis Behrmann – specialist advisor: Business Intelligence Projects for the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
10
MAY /JUNE 2021
Mariette Liefferink said that while community forums are put in place by the public sector, there is a lack of participation. She believes that poor attendance was due to these meetings taking place in centralised meeting locations that presented technical and financial restraints to the very communities that the forums were supposed to represent. The lack of community participation has been noticed by government. Dennis Behrmann cited the Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and DrinkingWater (GLAAS) reports that indicate low participation by service users. He added that people do not participate just because policies are in place. With the assistance of the Water Research Commission, the DWS is establishing new and broadening quantitative and qualitative measures to collect data on community participation indicators.
Sasol, as the private sector representative at the webinar, indicated that community participation is a key part of their corporate water stewardship approach. The company has taken a ‘beyond-the-fence-line’ stance regarding water sustainability, as they believe that water savings for the catchment can be improved in a more meaningful way, by saving water beyond their factory fence line. Romy Antrobus-Wuth highlighted various strategies and initiatives that the Kruger to Canyons NGO has implemented when engaging with stakeholders and communities. Some of these initiatives include the nomination of community ambassadors, WhatsApp groups dedicated to the monitoring of water resources and pollution, as well as relationship-building with traditional authorities. If you wish to see the recorded version of the webinar, please contact Melissa Cousins: admin@wisa.org.za.
