As part of its ongoing replacement program for ageing water meters across the region, East Gippsland Water is taking the opportunity to replace mechanical water meters in Bemm River with innovative digital meters for a six-month trial.
Mechanical meters display a running total of a customer’s water usage, with the figure recorded by a meter reader every three months. By contrast, a digital water meter is able to regularly transmit a customer’s running total for water usage direct to the responsible water corporation.
This means digital meters, with their more frequent readings, could potentially detect anomalies in the water supply system much earlier than would otherwise be the case – reducing the volume of water losses caused by pipe breaks and leaks, and increasing efficiency.
East Gippsland Water’s Executive Manager Customer, Community & Communications, David Radford, said, “This trial will help us to properly assess the capabilities and reliability of digital water meters in helping us to maintain, and even improve, the efficiency of our local water supply systems. On the face of it, the early detection of water leaks should enable us to carry out timely preventative work and repairs, avoiding bigger and more costly water supply issues and helping to conserve this precious resource.
“Another potential benefit is enabling us to alert a customer early on about unusual spikes in their recorded water consumption, perhaps caused by a leak on their own property. This would enable them to have this addressed promptly and minimise the impact on their water bill.”
Installation of the digital water meters is due to be carried out between 19 and 27 April. Every effort will be made to keep any inconvenience to Bemm River customers to a minimum while the new meters are being installed and East Gippsland Water would like to thank customers for their cooperation.
Anyone with queries about the project should contact the Customer, Community & Communications team on 1800 671 841.
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