HydroShare won the prestigious Victorian Engineering Excellence Award for Technology in 2007.

The system uses the GSM or CDMA network to send meter readings to a central data server that will chart the water usage of each site for viewing on the web. The web page is a secure site with access via a user name and password.

This data is critical in determining the difference between water usage and leakage as the meter readings are recorded every 5 minutes. It is also ideal for environmental management of the site, plant or building as the estimated water consumption usage can be quantified and any adjustments to save water is easier to be verified by use of the recorded data.

In the past, any water leaks that were identified during the acoustic leak detection process could only be estimated. With the data compressor, all repaired leaks can now be quantified.

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Several commercial and institutional customers within the South East Water and Yarra Valley Water area have been connected already. Low cost consumption monitoring will assist any company’s water management plan, help to identify the baseline, peak loads and sudden increases – as alarm points can be set with automated messages send to mobile via SMS or email.

In particular during times of water restriction, this monitoring tool will serve both customer and the authority to track performance and effort to meet conservation targets.

‘us’ is also currently trialling this system with 30 schools in Sydney and Melbourne. In several cases, the schools could be alerted as ongoing consumption (night flows) was noticed but nobody was aware of the problem. The potential loss of water per year was ranging from 600 kL to 48ML, equivalent to $800 and $64,000.

It also provides students with the ability to participate and come up with ideas to further conserve water, as they can login via the internet to view their own site in conjunction with curriculum based projects.

Another case involved an automated watering systems that had not been adjusted to meet time and date obligations under the water restrictions, releasing 200 kL every 2nd night.

Essentially, the system allows for improved water management, avoidance of money lost due to unnoticed leaks, community awareness and education of our future ‘water-wise’ generation.

Demonstration and viewing of the platform can be accessed at www.usus.com.au