A Smart Metering Program for Water Consumption Patterns Assessment: Case Study; Brasilia, Brazil

Abstract

The patterns of water consumption are important data and, if well compiled, can be important to sizing and operation rules in a water distribution system (WDS). The aim of this study is to compare the water consumption levels before and after the implementation of a smart metering program in the city of Brasília, Brazil. The system was conceived in a residential block set that is part of region of Brasília called Jardins Mangueirais. The district meter area (DMA) presents 420 residential units and the intention of the smart metering was to provide a real time monitoring and processing system for water consumption at individual user level. Thereby, to register unit's consumption, the Environmental Sanitation Company of Brasília (CAESB) installed 424 telemetry-equipped water meters: one for each unit, other three to register the consumption of the common areas and another one to identify the total water inflow to the DMA tank. In addition, an infrastructure for radio transmission was installed and a tool for data availability via web was developed. In order to determine the impacts of the smart metering system in consumption patterns, this study presents the evolution of consumption for the main water meter as well as for the individual units and for the common area water meters. The results suggest that there is stability in the water consumption when the main meter and the common area meters are analyzed for a short period, but there is a reduction when comparing with a control group. It is also possible to conclude that the impact of the smart metering system in the reduction of water consumption was higher for those units that presented lower volume of water consumed.