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How Can Smart Meters Help Businesses Reduce Water Waste?
Smart meters are changing the way businesses can understand and manage their water consumption. Rather than relying on manual meter readings and monthly or quarterly bills, smart technology can provide much more detailed data about how water is being used.
That is particularly relevant at a time when pressure on water resources is increasing. Thames Water has announced that it has upgraded more than 90,000 business water meters to smart technology.
This means that more than half of its 170,000 metered business customers now have smart meters. The company says the technology is helping businesses identify leaks and reduce unnecessary water use.
For businesses, the development highlights an important point: you cannot manage water efficiently if you do not understand how much you are using in the first place.
What is a smart water meter?
A smart water meter measures the volume of water passing through a business’s supply, but unlike a traditional meter, it can provide much more frequent usage information.
Thames Water says its smart meters can provide near real-time data on consumption, helping businesses understand how water is being used and identify potential leaks earlier.
This additional information can make a significant difference. A conventional water bill might tell a business that it has used a certain amount of water over a billing period, but it does not necessarily explain what happened between those readings.
Smart data can provide a much clearer picture. For example, a business may discover that water consumption continues overnight when the premises should be largely unoccupied.
It may identify unusually high usage at particular times or notice a gradual change that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Can smart meters detect leaks?
One of the most useful applications of smart metering is identifying continuous water flow. A constant flow can indicate that water is being used somewhere on the premises when it should not be, potentially because of a leaking toilet, pipe, tap, tank or piece of equipment.
Thames Water reported that it sent more than 2,100 letters to businesses in August after smart meter data identified continuous flow that could warrant investigation.
It also reported that the proportion of smart-metered businesses showing continuous flow had fallen from 34 per cent to 28 per cent.
For a business, detecting a leak quickly can have two benefits. It can reduce unnecessary water consumption and prevent the associated costs from continuing to build.
A leak that is barely noticeable at a particular moment can become expensive if it continues around the clock. In larger premises, a hidden leak can also be difficult to identify without consumption data showing that something is wrong.
Why does water monitoring matter during dry periods?
The timing of Thames Water’s announcement is significant. The company says it is introducing new demand-reduction measures against the backdrop of one of the driest periods in decades.
Its initiatives are expected to save around 16 million litres of water every day, with tackling continuous flow at business premises expected to account for the largest proportion of those savings.
This illustrates why businesses have an important role to play in responsible water management.
Reducing consumption does not necessarily mean making major changes to day-to-day operations. Sometimes the biggest opportunities come from identifying water that is being wasted without providing any benefit to the business.
That might be a leaking appliance, an inefficient process, excessive cleaning water or a supply that continues running outside operating hours.
Can smart meters help businesses control water costs?
They can provide useful information, but the data needs to be acted upon. Knowing that a business used more water than expected is only the starting point. The next step is to investigate why consumption has increased and whether the additional usage is justified.
Detailed water monitoring can work alongside a commercial water audit. Consumption data can be assessed alongside the business’s activities, opening hours, equipment and premises to establish where water is being used and where savings may be possible.
It is also important to look beyond consumption alone. Commercial water bills can contain multiple charges, and businesses should ensure that their billing accurately reflects their circumstances.
Reviewing bills, meter data and actual water use together can provide a much more complete picture of a business’s water costs.
What should businesses do with their water data?
Smart metering is most valuable when businesses use the information it provides to make practical changes.
Businesses can:
- Establish a normal usage pattern so unusual consumption is easier to identify.
- Investigate continuous flow that could indicate a leak or unnecessary use.
- Monitor changes in consumption following changes to premises, staffing or processes.
- Identify water-intensive activities and consider whether they can be made more efficient.
- Check bills against actual consumption to ensure charges are consistent with usage.
- Use monitoring alongside water audits to identify longer-term opportunities for reducing water consumption.
For businesses operating across multiple sites, this can be particularly useful. Comparing consumption between premises may highlight differences that warrant further investigation.
Smarter data can support smarter water management
Thames Water’s smart-metering programme demonstrates how technology is providing businesses with a much clearer view of their water consumption.
Its wider initiatives also show how detailed data can be used to target water waste rather than relying solely on broad reductions in demand.
However, a smart meter is a tool rather than a complete water-management strategy. Businesses still need to understand what their data means, investigate unusual usage and identify practical ways to reduce unnecessary consumption.
For organisations concerned about rising water costs or wanting to improve their environmental performance, better monitoring can be a useful first step.
An audit by professional water management consultants can go further by examining consumption, billing and water use across the business, helping identify leaks, inefficiencies and opportunities to reduce both waste and costs.
As pressure on water resources continues, having better information about every drop a business uses could become increasingly important.