WaterGroup, Australia's largest water savings company, is concerned 10 Aussie towns will run out of water by late 2020. The term 'Day Zero' was created in 2018 when Cape Town, South Africa announced they had just four months water supply left. Could it happen here in Australia, under our watch?
"The answer is yes," according to Guenter Hauber-Davidson, Managing Director of WaterGroup. "The current drought has caught everybody by surprise. It has ravaged water supplies and depleted dams faster than any other drought in living memory. We're at real risk of our own Day Zero in Australia."
"Sadly, when it comes to water efficiency measures many of our planners chose not to safeguard water supplies by collecting better data, reducing leaks, and helping residents and businesses to save water. When we did have rain, we should have been investing in efficient water management," Mr Hauber-Davidson said.
So what can we do in the face of an ongoing drought that seems to be accelerating towards 2020? In the most threatened places, contingency measures such as emergency bores and water transportation for essential demands have to be considered.
However, according to Mr Hauber-Davidson, such measures should be accompanied by a robust water management program. A good program includes water data collection, analysis, and a planned approach to allow understanding of where, when and how water is used. This enables Councils to establish cost-effective measures to better manage the water we have - until it rains again!
With the advent of modern IoT based smart water metering technology, the water industry is at a turning point. "For the first time ever, we can afford to measure and monitor what happens within a water network - all the way through to providing consumer with data on their water consumption," Mr Hauber-Davidson said.
Smart water meters like the integrated NUmeter and clever leak detection and monitoring programs typically save 8-12% of water. Progressive Councils including Bundaberg, Yarra Valley Water, Logan, Busselton and Sydney Water are all using the new technology with great success.
But the key value is in the data. "Imagine what we could do if we had just 10% of our water using population monitored (smart metered). At about $250/household it would be quite affordable. Yet, it would give critically endangered towns, like those facing Day Zero in the near future, the ability to see how much water their residents and businesses use or lose," Mr Hauber-Davidson said. "Councils can then identify and support large users of water with effective conservation measures."
"The time to act and save our precious water is right now and we have the affordable technology to do just that. We want to stop the transition to Day Zero today," Mr Hauber-Davidson said.
