WaterGroup works with major Australian property developers showing how easy water savings can be achieved for their retirement communities across Australia. Using our AWARE services we alert villages of leaks with days of them occurring.
Below are examples of leaks we find at the villages.
Faulty Toilet Valve At Retirement Village
Village was alerted to a 2.5 l/min leak in the network that was running for a couple of months. Given the base flow was relatively low it made it difficult to pinpoint however, a couple of resident toilet valves were found to be faulty resulting in continuous leaking toilets. Whilst 2.5l /min may seem small, it equated to 110kL/$574 per month. Had there been no monitoring, this leak could have easily gone on for 12 months or longer.
Pipe Corrosion at Retirement Village
Our leak alarms went off as water usage shot up dramatically at this village. Investigations found a leak due to corrosion in an underground pipe.
Overall the village managed to save 875kL/$2,730 per month by rectifying the leaks.
Read about our latest retirement village case study here.
Retirement Village, WA
Example
Device alerted the village management team to an increase in their minimum base flow.
Plumber engaged to help identify the cause of the leak. Found the leak in the following days which was due to a bust copper pipe.
An 8L/min leak meant that the village was consuming an extra 12kL/day which left unresolved could have led to an additional $1,000/month.
Retirement Village, WA
Example
Our device alerted the village management team to a gradual increase in their minimum base flow.
The plumber engaged to help identify the cause of the leak. He found one leak and a burst pipe while investigating before having to engage a leak detection expert.
Typical monthly consumption is around 430 kL/month. The leak was losing the village an extra 486 kL pushing them into a more expensive price bracket for water: If they had not caught the leak they would have paid an extra $2,000/month which is equivalent to having 3 taps running full bore.
Retirement Village Property Manager
WaterGroup’s smart metering system has been implemented on 55 water meters across 40 villages across Australia. The system has helped many villages understand their water consumption patterns and take steps to reduce their consumption.
- The program has helped rectify leaks worth around 42,000kL or $124,000 across 13 villages.
- As an example, the system highlighted a high base-flow of about 13 L/min at one of the villages. After two leak tests we were able to reduce the baseline usage to about 5 L/min, saving approximately 4,200 kL/yr or $14,700/yr.
- Through the continuous monitoring, we have succeeded in reducing risk of property damage and bill shock to residents.
- With the total water consumption around ~264,000kL/yr, leaks amounted to 15% of the total usage monitored.
Example – Sydney Village
- Device alerted the village management team of two significant leaks over the 15-month period
- Engaged WaterGroup for Leak detection and in 48hours, the location was pinpointed under seemingly dry slabs on one of the Village outdoor paths.
- The leaks would have cost the village an extra $1,500/month which is equivalent to having 4 taps running full bore over the 2.5months.
