What are smart meters? [Fact Sheet]

Abstract

The saying 'if you can't measure it, you can't manage it' may suffer from overuse, but rarely is it an inaccurate observation. Australia, being the driest continent in the world, suffers from periodic drought conditions that make water availability a key national issue. Water utilities and industries around Australia have been under growing pressure to address water shortages caused by population growth, severe droughts, and uneven distribution of water resources caused by climatic changes. Ever-increasing water demands coupled with dwindling water supplies have posed great challenges to water industries to seriously consider the efficient management of water resources. After decades of inadequate metering of water use, organisations have realised that accurate, adequate and reliable measurement and monitoring practices of water consumption are essential for management of sustainable water resources (Willies et al., 2010). This fact sheet provides information on current measurement methods adopted by utilities and technological improvement and innovation that occurs in this field.