Monitoring Water Flow
Related Healthy Living Practices
C1 Water
Relates to six of the nine health living practices, including: washing people, washing clothes and bedding, removing waste water safely, improving nutrition: the ability to store, prepare and cook food, reducing the health impacts of dust, controlling the temperature of the living environment.
An adequate supply of water is a key resource for ensuring good health and at least six Healthy Living Practices depend directly on a reliable supply of water. However, in many rural and regional communities, it is difficult to guarantee a reliable supply of water and strategies to reduce water use need to be incorporated in every aspect of community, house and yard design. In some communities, strategies will also be required to supply potable water to the kitchen.
Introduction
Experience in housing Fixing Houses for Better Health (FHBH) survey fix programs conducted by Healthabitat (HH) over the last 12 years have shown that housing and infrastructure are closely linked and the quality and performance of one affects parameters of the other. A strong measure of success of housing and infrastructure projects can be measured in the reduction in the consumption of resources and consequently a reduction in use of the resources. Experience has also shown that the success of the FHBH survey/fix program can be measured directly by measurement of total water consumption into the community during the survey/fix program.
Project Aim
Install a simple data logging system that will capture and record flow rated to the community before during and after the FHBH Survey Fix. Collect the data remotely by telemetry and assess the effectiveness of the FHBH survey fix program with the measurement of reduced water flow from leaks due to replacement of house hardware
The project will provide real time responses to interventions in the field by survey fix teams and trades teams working on water fixtures in the houses. The logging system can also identify infrastructure leaks which can be repaired through the FHBH or future supplementary programs.
Project Implementation
Purpose built data logging equipment was installed adjacent to an existing water meter on the community water distribution system on Mer Island, Torres Strait, a scheduled FHBH site. The system included a compatible pulse reader, a battery powered data storage interface and a 3G wireless modem. Data was sent daily to a remote server located in Sydney and then on to a second remote server in Adelaide for analysis.
Outcomes and Recommendations
The data system was recording from 03/03/2010 to the present time 30/6/11. Recording intervals were set at 15 minutes to provide sufficient definition for flow analysis without overburdening the system with superfluous data.
The data system has been able to identify water delivery procedures showing daily periods when water is turned off, to conserve reserves of water and then the subsequent peak flows, recorded as appliances and fittings such as toilet cisterns refill after the water has been turned on again. The system identified baseline flows recorded overnight when normal use is usually low, which indicated leaks in the distribution system, house reticulation and house hardware. The system identified a clear trend of reduced water consumption over the duration of the FHBH Survey Fix program at Mer.
Over the period of this project, water management - by monitoring water flow - was used for infrastructure management, maintenance, and to identify when and where repairs were necessary.
