Digital water meters, which have been installed in caravan parks and camping grounds throughout the region by MidCoast Council, have continued to demonstrate their value as water conservation tools with the technology helping numerous sites save water and money.
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The 'smart meters' have detected leaks at 10 Mid Coast caravan parks this year, leading to an estimated saving of 26 million litres of water.
MidCoast Council infrastructure and engineering services director, 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 benefitted from the technology, less than a month after having a smart meter installed.
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.
- Rob Scott
Park manager Evan Hunter said he was able to fix a 20 litre per minute leak that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.
He was excited by the savings the park could make as a result of having access to up-to-date information on its water usage.
"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 to the bottom line."
Smart meters were identified as an effective tool for reducing water use in council's most recent Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy, Our Water, Our Future.
These 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 council to assess the effectiveness of the technology inside the home before potentially rolling it out to more communities across the region.
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