Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This thesis examined a pre-paid water metering pilot project which was implemented in Klipheuwel , Cape Town, South Africa in 2001. It was anticipated that the implementation of pre-paid water meters would help improve the management of water service delivery in the Cape Metropolitan Area. However, just four years after its implementation the project has collapsed. / South Africa

No / There is widespread agreement among agencies governing UK water management that more extensive domestic water metering combined with additional measures will deliver a more efficient domestic water usage. This paper argues that qualitative research is needed to select and hone additional measures. According to theory, cooperation to reduce water use is more likely if people: a) believe in the necessity to reduce use; b) feel costs are fairly shared; and c) believe their actions can affect the situation. The case study of Lydd, Kent, is presented. Lydd is the first location in which compulsory water metering has been imposed in the UK. Qualitative information was collected to inform the communication strategies being implemented by the water supply company. The investigation found that none of the three factors predicted by theory were completely present. The paper concludes by providing some recommendations for improving the water company's communications strategy for encouraging a reduction in domestic water use. The key role of qualitative information in assisting in the targeting and design of water demand management programmes is highlighted.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Accurate water usage information is very important for municipalities in order to provide accurate billing information for high volume water users. Meter reading are currently obtained by sending a person out to every meter to obtain a manual reading. This is very costly with regards to time and money, and it is also very error prone. In order to improve on this system, an image based telemetry system was developed that can be retrofitted on currently installed bulk water meters. Images of the meter dials are captured and transmitted to a central server where they are further processed and enhanced. Character recognition is performed on the enhanced images in order to extract meter readings. Through tests it was found that characters can be recognised to 100% accuracy for cases which the character recognition software has been trained, and 70% accuracy for cases which is was not trained. Thus, an overall recognition accuracy of 85% was achieved. These results can be improved upon in future work by statistically analysing results and utilizing the inherent heuristic information from the meter dials. Overall the feasibility of the approach was demonstrated and a way forward was indicated. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is belangrik vir munisipaliteite om akkurate water verbruikingssyfers te hê sodat hulle akkurate rekeninge aan hoë volume water gebruikers kan stuur. Tans besoek ’n persoon fisies elke meter om meterlesings te verkry. Dit is egter baie oneffektief ten opsigte van tyd en geld. Die metode is ook baie geneig tot foute. Ten einde te verbeter op hierdie stelsel was ’n beeld gebaseerde telemetrie stelsel ontwerp wat geïnstalleer word op huidig geïnstalleerde hoë volume water meters. Beelde van die meters word na ’n sentrale bediener gestuur waar dit verwerk word en die beeld kwaliteit verbeter word. Karakter herkenning sagteware word gebruik om die meter lesings te verkry vanuit die verbeterde beelde. Deur middel van toetse is gevind dat karakters herken kan word tot op 100% graad van akkuraatheid in gevalle waar die karakter herkenning sagteware opgelei is, en 70% akkuraatheid vir gevalle waarvoor dit nie opgelei was nie. Dus was ’n algehele herkennings akkuraatheid van 85% behaal. Hierdie resultate kan verbeter word in die toekoms deur die resultate statisties te analiseer en die inherente heuristieke inligting van die meter syfers te benutting. Ten slotte, in die tesis was die haalbaarheid van die benadering gedemonstreer en ’n weg vorentoe vir toekomstige werk aangedui.

The subject of the diploma thesis is the analysis of water consumption in the area of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology. The main part of the thesis deals with the analysis of the measured data, which are recorded using a data logger located on the VF2 billing water meter. The processing of consumption curves is focused on individual working days, for days with or without instruction. From the results of the individual analyzes, maximum hourly limits are set for signaling of undesirable sampling states. In the end, the Smart Water Meters principle is introduced in the Czech Republic and abroad and a technical solution for the replacement of all billing water meters in the FAST area with new smart meters has been made.

Introduction: Instead of replacing existing analogue water meters with Internet of Things (IoT) connected substitutes, an alternative would be to attach an IoT connected module to the analogue water meter that optically reads the meter value using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Such a module would need to be battery-powered given that access to the electrical grid is typically limited near water meters. Research has shown that offloading the OCR process can reduce the power dissipation from the battery, and that this dissipation can be reduced even further by reducing the amount of data that is transmitted.  Purpose: For the sake of minimising energy consumption in the proposed solution, the purpose of the study is to find out to what extent it is possible to reduce an input image’s file size by means of resolution, colour depth, and compression before the Google Cloud Vision OCR engine no longer returns feasible results.   Method and implementation: 250 images of analogue water meter values were processed by the Google Vision Cloud OCR through 38 000 different combinations of resolution, colour depth, and upscaling.  Results: The highest rate of successful OCR readings with a minimal file size were found among images within a range of resolutions between 133 x 22 to 163 x 27 pixels and colour depths between 1- and 2-bits/pixel.  Conclusion: The study shows that there is a potential for minimising data sizes, and thereby energy consumption, by offloading the OCR process by means of transmitting images of minimal file size.

Water scarcity is an increasing problem all over the world. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030, safe and affordable access to drinking water is a key target that needs to be achieved according to SDG6. In order to secure more drinking water for the future, sustainable innovative water management strategies that aim better supply and demand management are needed. Digital water meter is a smart technology that is used as a demand management tool for saving water quantities, improving the water service provider efficiency and the social equity. The goal of this project is to see how digital prepaid water meters interpret and implement the three pillars of urban sustainable development (economic, environment and social equity) and if this implementation influences the local infrastructure management policies and politics. Next to the literature, a case study was taken about the digital prepaid water meters (PWMs) in Palestine. The study was based on desk-based studies, interviews and online events. The analysis of the results was done based on five different categories (Policies and Regulations, Economic, Consumption, Social Equity and finally Politics). The findings showed that implying such technology directly affects and changes the current policies and regulations. It helps the water service providers to achieve a financial stability. The water consumption decreases and it stops the wasteful water practices. The smartness of the system helped in taking poor and marginalized people into consideration while applying such technology. Internal and external politics have a major role to play in order to benefit from PWMs. / Brist på vatten är ett växande problem i hela världen. För att nå målen för hållbar utveckling senast år 2030, är säker och prisvärd tillgång till dricksvatten ett nyckelmål som måste uppnås enligt SDG6. I takt med att säkra upp mer dricksvatten för framtiden, krävs strategisk hållbar innovation för att bättre hantera utbud och efterfråga. Digital vattenmätare med smart teknik används som verktyg för hantering av vattenbehov i avsikt att spara vatten, förbättra effektiviteten hos vattenleverantören och skapa social jämlikhet. Syftet med detta projekt är att studera hur väl digitala vattenmätare anses implementera de tre pelarna inom hållbar stadsutveckling (ekonomi, miljö och social jämlikhet). Men även om detta utförande påverkar den lokala regleringen för infrastruktur och politiken. Utöver litteraturen, har en fallstudie utförts om de digitala förbetalda vattenmätarna (PWMs) i Palestina. Studien bygger på skrivbordsundersökning, intervjuer och online-evenemang. Analysen gjordes utifrån fem olika kategorier (reglering och lagstiftning, ekonomi, konsumtion, social jämlikhet och slutligen politik). Resultatet visade att implementering av denna teknik påverkar och förändrar gällande reglering och lagstiftning. Det hjälper vattenleverantörer att uppnå en finansiell stabilitet. Vattenkonsumtionen minskar och det stoppar slösaktig vattenanvändning. Systemets smarthet hjälpte till att ta hänsyn till fattiga och marginaliserade människor när de tillämpar sådan teknik. Intern och extern politik spelar en stor roll ifall man ska kunna dra nytta av PWM.

As the global population increases, so does the demand for water, and the increasing water scarcity is a challenge to the global water sector. It is imperative to take large-scale action in order to make water consumption more sustainable, and information and communication technologies such as smart meters have shown great potential.  Sweden is a country that generally does not face water shortage and where research on smart water metering is still rather new. Previous studies have focused on countries where water scarcity is very common, and more research is needed to examine the generalizability of previous findings. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the possibilities for a large-scale implementation of smart water meters in Swedish households, and the guiding research question is: “What are the main enablers and barriers for a large-scale implementation of smart water meters in Swedish households?”. This thesis is of qualitative and exploratory character, and the study consists of a pre-study, a literature review and interviews. Furthermore, the analysis in this thesis is made using a theoretical framework based on Technological Innovation Systems.  The findings indicate that the possibilities for a large-scale implementation of smart water meters in Swedish households are very good. The most significant enablers are that the Swedish water sector is an open and enabling environment, that smart water meters provide more technological opportunities compared to mechanical meters, and that smart water meters are generally accepted among the actors and considered to be the optimal solution in the future.  On the other hand, there are barriers which need to be addressed for a successful large-scale implementation. The most significant barriers are that smart water meters are more expensive and that there are still some uncertainties regarding the choice of technology such as compatibility issues, risk of lock-in effect, and that the technology quickly becomes outdated. However, these factors may not constitute barriers in the future since they either can disappear with time or some of them could be avoided already today. Therefore, the possibilities for a large-scale implementation are still assessed to be very good. / I samband med den globala befolkningsökningen ökar också efterfrågan på vatten, och den ökande vattenbristen är en utmaning för den globala vattensektorn. Det är nödvändigt att vidta storskaliga åtgärder för att göra vattenförbrukningen mer hållbar, och informations- och kommunikationsteknik såsom smarta mätare har visat stor potential.  Sverige är ett land som vanligtvis inte har vattenbrist och där forskningen om smart vattenmätning fortfarande är i sin linda. Tidigare studier har genomförts i länder där vattenbrist är mycket vanligare, och mer forskning behövs för att undersöka generaliserbarheten av tidigare resultat. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka möjligheterna för en storskalig implementering av smarta vattenmätare i svenska hushåll, och arbetets forskningsfråga är: ”Vilka är de viktigaste möjliggörarna och hindren för en storskalig implementering av smarta vattenmätare i svenska hushåll?”. Detta examensarbete är av kvalitativ och utforskande karaktär, och studien består av en förstudie, en litteraturstudie samt intervjuer. Vidare görs analysen i detta examensarbete med hjälp av ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på Teknologiska innovationssystem.  Resultaten i denna studie tyder på att möjligheterna för en storskalig implementering av smarta vattenmätare i svenska hushåll är mycket goda. De viktigaste möjliggörarna är att den svenska vattensektorn är en öppen och möjliggörande miljö, att smarta vattenmätare ger fler tekniska möjligheter jämfört med mekaniska mätare, och att smarta vattenmätare är allmänt accepterade bland aktörerna och anses vara den optimala lösningen i framtiden.  Det finns dock vissa hinder som måste åtgärdas för att uppnå en framgångsrik storskalig implementering. De viktigaste hindren är att smarta vattenmätare är dyrare och att det fortfarande finns vissa osäkerhetsfaktorer när det gäller val av teknik, t.ex. kompatibilitetsproblem, risk för inlåsning, och att tekniken snabbt föråldras. Det är dock möjligt att dessa faktorer inte utgör hinder i framtiden eftersom de antingen kan försvinna med tiden eller undvikas och hanteras redan idag. Därför bedöms möjligheterna för en storskalig implementering av smarta vattenmätare i svenska hushåll ändå vara mycket goda.