Initiated in response to the town’s water supply running out in 2020 – triggering the largest water carting project by a local government in Australian history – the new smart water network aims to improve water security and reduce the economic impact of water leaks.
Stanthorpe’s smart water network brings together Council’s 2,700 smart water meters with Unitywater’s five flow meters, two at the water treatment plant and three across the network installed in partnership with Detection Services, and a central event management system.
Rhett Duncan, Executive Manager Customer Delivery at Unitywater, said the Stanthorpe trial was demonstrating the effectiveness of applying a fully integrated network of smart sensors and meters to traditional underground water infrastructure.
“The smart water network enables real-time monitoring of water usage across four suburb-sized district metered areas, and using the Takadu Central Even Management system we can combine communication and data analysis information together to quickly identify and address leaks,” Mr Duncan said.
“Volumetric flow meters use electromagnetic induction to measure liquid velocity at the entry point of each district metered area to capture the flow entering a suburb.
“This data is compared against actual customer consumption measured through smart meters at each property connection, with any difference indicating a potential leak that is then investigated.
“Being able to act quickly has helped us retain more than 13 Olympic swimming pools of precious water supplies within the local network and delivered big cost savings for the people of Stanthorpe.”
One notable outcome from the implementation of the smart network involved the rapid identification and repair of a significant leak at a household on Minna Street.
Buried under 1.6 meters of earth and exacerbated by blasted rock, the full radial pipe fracture was losing an approximate 20 litres per minute.
Repairing this leak is estimated to have saved the Stanthorpe resident up to $12,000 annually.
Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Melissa Hamilton said they are pleased to partner with Unitywater to operate the smart water network.
“Every hour, data from our water network is sent across the 5G network to a monitoring team based on the Sunshine Coast, who monitor it 24/7 and let us know when we’ve got a leak so we can fix it faster than ever before.” Mayor Hamilton said.
“The introduction of this technology has delivered real benefits to Council, primarily the ability to immediately identify and investigate an abnormally high-water reading alerts to determine if the source is a leak.
“This trial is a testament to our commitment to water security for residents, Granite Belt growers, and tourism operators in Stanthorpe and its surrounding villages.
“From a dire position in drought, Stanthorpe now has one of the smartest water networks in Australia with the ability to provide real-time water usage at both the customer and supplier levels providing transparency and awareness to the community.
“We might never be able to fully understand the weather, but we can now understand where our water is going and stretch out those supplies for longer."
Southern Downs Regional Council expects the smart water network to continue reducing water loss, enhance the accuracy of water rates billing, and encourage community participation in water-saving practices.
