Smart technology detects leaks, predicts consumption, and helps quench SA’s water thirst.
Rain is a paradox in South Africa. On average, the country gets a reasonable amount of annual downpours, but that water distributes unevenly. A combination of grand mountain escarpments, vast open areas of land, and two major ocean currents meeting at the south coast swings weather conditions between large storms and prolonged droughts. As such, SA is a water-stressed country.
Urbanisation and a fast-growing population add more pressure. Over 60% of South Africans live in urban areas, with 2% more moving there every year. South Africans are thirsty, consuming an average of 218 litres per person each day, well above the global average of 173 litres.
How Much Water Never Reaches Consumers?
Yet, much of the water never reaches them. Most municipalities lose 30% of water to theft and leaks, aka. non-revenue water. Johannesburg, which imports its water from the Lesotho Highlands hundreds of kilometres to the south, loses almost half its water to leaks and theft before it reaches consumers.
Why Are Water Systems So Difficult to Manage?
These issues are difficult to track and fix. Water systems are large, intricate, and take incredible effort to manage. Fortunately, digital technology is helping increase visibility and control. An innovative combination of digital sensors, data collection, and smart analytics can provide everything from spot-checks and usage trends to real-time alerts, leak detection, and predicting issues and maintenance.
What Is the Digital Water Tower?
These capabilities exist and are already changing local water management, thanks to Vodacom Business and Mezzanine’s Digital Water Tower. The intelligent platform uses IoT to provide real-time visibility across reservoirs, plants, distribution networks, and consumption, helping cities reduce waste and improve service delivery.
Digital Water Tower integrates water data, geospatial consumption data, network topology maps, and demand management reports into a single digital ecosystem for real-time visibility, enhanced operational efficiency, and improved service delivery.
What Can the Digital Water Tower Do?
Its features include:
- Smart monitoring: Sensors and meters continuously track flow, pressure, quality, and consumption.
- Advanced analytics: Quantify losses, forecast demand, and identify inefficiencies.
- Real-time dashboards: Customised dashboards track real-time patterns, historical trends, and predict future events.
- Custom alerts: Set thresholds to trigger alerts and direct those to specific people across various channels.
- Citizen engagement tools: Public-facing dashboards encourage participation and conservation.
Who Is the Digital Water Tower For?
This service is for every size of water operation. Using Mezzanine’s digital backbone, powered by Vodacom, Digital Water Tower adapts and scales to fit small towns, large metros, and everything in-between. It’s also very secure, keeping utility data safe.
There’s no need to lament water’s importance. Anyone who has experienced dry taps knows that quality of life and prosperity rely on access to clean water. It’s even a UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6): access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Digital Water Tower helps municipalities keep water flowing.
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