Noosa Council has saved water with FLOWD as a result of participating in a trial and has commenced a two-year water monitoring engagement.
This partnership with FLOWD is an Economic Development initiative to provide a platform in Noosa for trialling innovative technologies that address a community or environmental challenge.
During the trial, Noosa Council became aware of leaks as they happened and were able to save considerable water and money through early leak detection. FLOWD was used to monitor the following Noosa Council sites during the trial:
- Noosa Aquatic Centre (NAC)
- Noosa Leisure Centre (NLC)
- Tewantin Administration Building
- Noosaville Depot
- Claude Batten Drive (Noosa Woods Parkland)
Leaks detected and water saved
Council Parkland – 35.8k litres per hour saved. Noosa Council’s largest detected leak was found at Claude Batten Drive / Noosa Woods Parkland where an in ground 50mm brass valve had cracked. At its peak, this resulted in a leak of 35.8k litres per hour. Being in sand, there were no visible signs of a leak, however the data available through FLOWD showed increasing water loss which prompted investigations. Noosa Council acted on this issue immediately and engaged specialist help in locating the leak.
Noosa Aquatic Centre. Further sizeable leaks were found at the Noosa Aquatic Centre (NAC), allowing Noosa Council to engage repairs and avoid wasting water and money. In March 2023 a loss of 2,350 litres per hour was detected and rectified.
In July 2024, FLOWD’s email alerts led to a swift leak detection and resolution. Analysis of app data identified a pattern of water usage, narrowing down the search. A submerged valve in the pool’s balance tank was the culprit, and the issue was fixed within weeks.
“Analysis of the trial period demonstrated that being able to respond to the information provided through FLOWD software resulted in savings which was particularly evident at Claude Batten Drive and the Noosa Aquatic Centre.
Our estimates show a potential saving of approximately 4.8 times the direct
costs of the FLOWD trial. We believe a further two-year period will generate longitudinal data to further assess potential benefits and savings.
We look forward to the continued insights available through FLOWD software and to receiving information about any upgrades as they occur.”
Director, Community Services, Noosa Shire Council
Water management Issues Faced by Councils
For water providers, institutional and commercial water users, digital water metering is a logical step towards more sustainable management of water. However, traditionally available solutions are often considered cost-prohibitive and challenging to deploy, particularly for smaller to medium councils and water service providers.
Such customers are therefore typically stuck with outdated analogue technology and are not empowered to conserve water through smart metering benefits such as easy access to data and excess water use / leak alerts. Bill-shock is also an issue with analogue because water leaks are typically not identified until the next billing cycle, as is property damage from hidden water leaks. With FLOWD customers can start affordable with a small pilot and expand from there based on initial cost-saving benefits. Or, customers can deploy immediately, on scale.
Global Water Security Imperative
The pressing local water management issues are an imperative to resolve, the threat of global water security is also a primary driver. 80% of the world’s population is predicted to be exposed by severe water shortage by 2079 (UNESCO) and a staggering 126billion cubic meters or $USD 39billion in water wasted even before it reaches customers (International Water Association).
Benefits for councils using FLOWD
FLOWD is a smart water and cost-saving solution for public sector managers and their customers. FLOWD empowers communities to conserve water and to save money, with access to more affordable, and easier to use, smart water monitoring.
FLOWD is built with Amazon Web Services (AWS) utilizing AWS Lambda to deliver serverless, event-driven analytics and alerts. This enables customers to manage water conservation through an intuitive dashboard with 27 customizable alert functions across myriad sensor types.
FLOWD benefits council water providers and major water users as an innovative, user-friendly, scalable, water management platform. Water is being managed more sustainably with automatic excess water use alerts and easy access to water use data.
FLOWD is uniquely qualified to take on the challenge of providing a more sustainable and affordable water management solution for water providers and customers. FLOWD is developed by our team of development experts, in collaboration with water industry professionals.
However, FLOWD is not a tool for water engineers only. It is designed as an innovative, agile, and user-friendly water management portal for both water engineers and their customers with the goal of empowering water conservation.
Benefit 1
Easy, adaptable, cost efficient – FLOWD is easy to interpret and manage with intuitive and customizable data control. FLOWD is agnostic, working with a range of smart metering device brands and networks offering customers choice. FLOWD has a unique one-touch QR code deployment once a digital meter is installed, saving up to 40% of the cost of large-scale, network deployment.
Benefit 2
Flexible and secure – FLOWD can integrate with existing data management and legacy IT systems that water providers may be using. It provides
secure NB-IoT data with client records that are maintained even if meters change.
Benefit 3
Scalable and cost efficient – FLOWD is designed to be massively scalable, built on Singlestore big data service and Amazon Web Services’ serverless Lambda service. Multiple innovations over massive cost savings, including one touch install saving an estimated 30% of installation cost when compared to other systems.
Photo courtesy of Noosa Council.
