BENGALURU: With summer approaching, water shortage will again be one of the major concerns for Bengalureans. The home automation company, SmartHomes, has designed a smart water meter – WaterOn, which not only measures water consumption but also sends details to a mobile app so that residents can use water judiciously. Most housing complexes in the city do not meter the water consumption of residents individually, but charges are shared by everyone, leading to excessive use of water.
Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) seem keen on installing smart meters in their housing complexes. “Our main reason to opt for WaterOn is to cut the big expenditure on water tankers. The technology gives you alerts wherever there is a leakage and your water consumption details are given on the app,” said Mr Anand Kumar, Secretary of Mythri Maiden. After installing WaterOn, water consumption at the apartment complex with 28 flats has come down to 256 kilolitres from 394 kilolitres.
SmartHomes founder Vivek Shukla said, “RWAs are the key drivers of the apartment community. Our research revealed that the consumption drops by 35% if we start metering. The consumption level is never equal and whoever uses less, pays less, and no one has to pay for others.”
For people living in high rise apartments, water comes at a huge cost. It not only includes the cost of purchase of water from water tankers but also the cost of pumping it to overhead tanks.
Efficiency proved
Name of the apartment: Vandana Springs
Size of the apartment: 74
WaterOn installed on: December 2016
Water Usage per month before installation: 238 KL
Water Usage per month after installation: 155 KL
Water Saved per month: 83 KL (35% reduction in water usage every month)
