Severn Trent Water is continuing with its ambitions to transform Coventry and Warwickshire into a smart water region with the phase two launch of its smart meter network roll-out.
With support from IoT specialist Connexin, the collaboration is part of Severn Trent Water’s £20m Green Recovery Programme, which will enable the new smart water meter network to remotely collect and analyse data on water usage to track flow, identify loss of water, and fix leaks faster than ever before.
With the first roll-out of 30,000 Itron smart water meters complete in the install trial in May 2022, the second phase is now near completion with Connexin launching its LoRaWAN® communication network throughout the city. With support from Coventry City Council, data points have been installed onto lamp posts across the city to create gateways for the network that the smart water meters can report into. This provides Severn Trent with valuable water usage data in near real-time to gain a better understanding of water consumption in its network, enabling swifter action to fix issues.
By 2025, a further 70,000 smart water meters will be installed in Coventry. A total of 57,000 will also be deployed in the wider Warwickshire region, which will run on Connexin’s LoRaWAN® network to collect nearly 9,000 data entry points per meter per year. In addition, customers will have access to a portal to monitor water consumption to gain insight into usage to encourage efficiency and cost savings.
Customers can cut water bills
Anthony Hickinbottom, Severn Trent’s Green Recovery Project Lead, commented: “We’re really impressed with the pace this project is moving at, and we’re well on the way to creating a smart water region for Coventry and Warwickshire.
The new communications network by Connexin allows us to gather more data than ever before across our water network, helping to find and fix leaks and allowing us to share information on water usage with our customers. Which could in turn help them save water – at a time when saving money on bills is crucial.
Earlier this year we commenced our first installation phase of ‘smart ready’ meters which saw us installing over 30,000 meters in under three months – quicker than expected.
Now the network is established, our meters have connected online, meaning we’re able to get a greater understanding and insight into the water network. With the help of these clever smart meters, we can ensure we’re saving water where possible by doing what we can to look after it.”
Water meters enable quicker leak fixes
Councillor Patricia Hetherton, Cabinet Member for City Services at Coventry City Council, said: “We were very pleased that we were able to work with Severn Trent on this project which aims to enable them to be more responsive to water usage in our city.
Having access to real-time data should help them to fix leaks more quickly and respond to customer needs. It’s good to see a local company leading the way on a project like this.”
Dan Preece, Vice President of IoT at Connexin, commented: “We are incredibly pleased with the progression of the smart water network roll-out in Coventry.
IoT and smart technologies are providing us with a real opportunity to create a more efficient, greener, and sustainable water network of the future. One that will be realised by the citizens of Warwickshire in the coming months and years to come.
The fact that customers will be able to access a portal to monitor their water consumption empowers their control to decrease usage, protecting one of our most valuable resources and ultimately reducing bills, which is needed now more than ever in the current economic climate.”
Digitalising and optimising operations
Justin Patrick, Senior Vice President of Device Solutions at Itron, said: “Severn Trent Water is creating an intelligent infrastructure for the Warwickshire region.
Through the use of smart water solutions, Severn Trent Water will digitalise and optimise their operations for managing resources more efficiently and to better understand their water usage, passing on the benefits to the customer.”