England-based water supply company Severn Trent Water has launched phase two of its smart water network rollout in Coventry and Warwickshire, the £20 million Green Recovery Programme.
With support from IoT specialist Connexin, the collaboration will enable the new smart water network to remotely collect and analyze data on water usage to track flow, identify loss of water, and fix leaks faster than before.
With the first roll-out of 30,000 Itron smart water meters complete in the install trial in 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 on its network, to act immediately.
By 2025, a further 70,000 smart water meters will be installed in Coventry. 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 on usage to encourage efficiency and cost savings.
“We’re really impressed with the pace this project is moving at, and we’re well on the way to create a smart water region for Coventry and Warwickshire,” says Anthony Hickinbottom, Severn Trent’s Green Recovery Project Lead. “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.”
