Environmental Leader

About a third of water utility managers say they are in the early stages of adopting smart meters, despite the fact that 71 percent of water users say that having more detailed information on their water consumption would promote better water conservation, according to a report from Oracle.

Still, water utility managers do see the long-range benefits in adoption smart meters.

About 68 percent said it would be critical for water utilities to adopt them, according to the report “Testing the Water: Smart Metering for Water Utilities.”

Water utility manager listed the following benefits to adopting smart meters:

- enabling early leak detection – 62 percent

- supplying customers with tools to monitor/reduce water use – 35 percent

- providing more accurate water rates – 24 percent

- curbing overall water demand – 19 percent

- improving the ability to conduct preventative maintenance – 18 percent

Those considering or already implementing smart meter technologies said their top concerns were capital costs (75 percent), operating costs (62 percent), reliability of the technology (56 percent), incremental costs to customers (54 percent) and service quality (50 percent).

The Network for Business Sustainability’s Leadership Council listed identifying business risks associated with water as one of the top seven trends in sustainability in 2010.

In an EL guest column, Sharon Nunes, Vice President of IBM Big Green Innovations, said that too many companies are overlooking water, what she wrote “could become the most critical green initiative of them all.”

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