Saldanha Bay is located in a water scarce part of South Africa north of Cape Town.
During 2017, the region faced one of the worst droughts in its history. The municipality knew they needed to start saving and managing water resources differently in order to ensure sustainability of their supply to the community. Along with severe water restrictions, the municipality decided to invest in a smart water metering solution with real-time data to bring down water loss.
The project started in 2017 with a pilot in Vredenburg where a fixed network with one concentrator and 2,558 meters was installed. Today, the utility is notified by alarms from the meters whenever leaks or bursts occur in their distribution network. Within the first 30 days of operations, 317 alarms were identified and fixed within just hours of occurrence. The real-time monitoring of consumption and water balances has resulted in an immediate drop in the municipality’s water loss – more than 4 million litres have been saved so far. After the successful pilot, 30,000 smart meters will be installed over the next years.