Digital water meters installed by MidCoast Council have demonstrated impressive water and money saving capacity in local caravan parks.
The smart meters have so far detected leaks at ten MidCoast caravan parks in 2021, leading to an estimated saving of 26 million litres of water.
MidCoast Council’s Director of Infrastructure and Engineering Services, Rob Scott, said the saving was significant and showed the technology was proving a valuable way for major customers to reduce water use and ensure their systems were as efficient as possible.
“Unfortunately, many of our caravan parks have old pipes and are located on sandy soil, which makes it really difficult to pick up on leaks because the water doesn’t show up on the surface,” Mr Scott said.
“Thanks to the smart meters, we’re now able to notify the parks as soon as we notice any abnormal usage, which helps them to find the leaks and fix them before they become too costly and wasteful.”
Sandbar and Bushland Holiday Park at Smiths Lake is one park that has already benefited from the technology, less than a month after having a smart meter installed.
Park manager Evan Hunter said he was able to fix a 20 litre per minute leak that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Having access to up-to-date information on the park’s water usage increases potential savings.
“To have that information at the click of a button is very handy,” Mr Hunter said.
“Potentially we’re looking at about $50,000 a year in savings. That’s a lot of money for the bottom line.”
Smart meters were identified as an effective tool for reducing water use in the Council’s most recent Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy, Our Water, Our Future. They have been installed at the sites of selected large users at no cost to the customer to reduce water loss and give customers greater control over their water use.
A trial of the technology will also get underway at Stroud Road soon, with smart meters to be installed at every residential and commercial property in the village. This will allow MidCoast Council to assess the effectiveness of the technology inside the home before potentially rolling it out to more communities across the region.
To find out more, visit www.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/smart-meter-trial
