Why Are More And More Water Companies Choose To Use Smart Water Meters?

Why are more and more water companies choose to use smart water meters?

It is understood that the construction of intelligent water networks has quietly emerged and gradually evolved into an important support for the infrastructure of smart cities. At the same time, smart cities have brought huge investment opportunities to the construction of intelligent water networks. According to research data from the China Instrument Association, it is expected that the IT market size and investment in the water supply sector will increase to 16.3 billion US dollars by 2020. With the implementation of national tiered water pricing, the smart water meter market will show a rapid growth trend, and smart water meters and remote data collection systems will show great advantages.

Although pure mechanical water meters are still the main trend in many second and third tier cities, and the majority of new tap water users in cities use mechanical water meters, it is still difficult to update intelligent meters with existing mechanical water meters. However, if the relevant public policies for the construction and management of intelligent water networks are effectively implemented and promoted, the promotion of intelligent water network construction, including intelligent water meters, will further increase.

Compared to traditional mechanical water meters, intelligent water meters have the following advantages:

From the perspective of meter reading: intelligent meters solve the problems of difficult meter reading, disturbance to residents, and high labor costs;

From the perspective of pricing: Intelligent water meters can not only provide users with more convenient and personalized payment methods, but also provide water companies with more accurate water usage information, facilitate water companies to understand users' water usage habits, reduce water fee disputes, and provide better and higher quality services;

From a management perspective: firstly, it can help the water company ensure timely overcharging of water volume; Secondly, assist the water company in promptly identifying abnormal water use issues; Thirdly, it is convenient for the water company to control leakage and strengthen DMA construction; Fourthly, it can help the water company monitor the quality of marketing work in a timely manner;

For water companies, smart water meters have many advantages, but why hasn't they driven the development of smart water meters?

At present, there are no comprehensive regulations on the standards and types of smart water meters in China, which leads to various problems in the use of smart water meters. Meanwhile, intelligent water meters carry electronic devices, which are generally more expensive than mechanical water meters.

On the one hand, due to the immaturity of smart water meter technology, many water companies have invested heavily in replacing smart meters, but the failure rate after use is very high, forcing them to spend a large amount of money to dismantle the electronic part of the smart meter and reuse it as a mechanical meter. The trial and error cost is too high; On the other hand, in the later maintenance of smart water meters, manufacturers have not yet achieved perfection.

So why do many water companies still choose smart water meters?

Firstly, the development of intelligent water meters has solved the problems of difficult meter reading, disturbance to residents, and high labor costs, and there is still great potential for development in terms of usage prospects.

Secondly, smart water meters are currently only used to calculate quantities. However, with the continuous development of technology, smart water meters will also have online detection functions for chloride ion, bacterial colony content, iron ion content, and calcium ion content to ensure people's water quality and safety. However, it should be noted that the development of this function also depends on breakthroughs in sensor technology.

In addition, for the entire urban construction, the rapid development of smart water meters can also lay the foundation for the development of smart water services, making the entire city's water system more intelligent. By using high-frequency collection of water meters, it can also help users analyze leakage, especially for industrial and large users. This can also help users save water resources and costs. From the perspective of reducing pipeline leakage, intelligent water meters have incomparable advantages.

In summary, although there are still many problems with the development of intelligent water meters,

However, from the current situation, intelligent water meters can already meet the needs faced by water companies.

For the long-term development direction, intelligent water meters still need further improvement and progress in standards, technology, and after-sales service to better solve the pain points of water companies.