Sharjah 24: The Research and Studies Department of the Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWA) has carried out a pilot project to implement a system of smart water metres that are read accurately remotely. The project is in the interest of both the consumers and SEWA in identifying any unjustified increases in consumption so that SEWA can search for its causes and repairs it, and preserves water, which is considered a precious wealth, from waste.

The implementation of the project began in the areas of Maysaloon, University City and Muweileh commercial areas, where more than 2,600 smart water metres had been installed.

Engineer Mayada Al Bardan, Director of SEWA’s Research and Studies Department, explained that a comprehensive study had been prepared in cooperation with universities and major companies before starting the implementation of the project and installing smart metres to ensure their effectiveness and accuracy. She added that the installation of this type of metres would be expanded to subscribers during the next phase to provide the best services to customers with the best possible quality, and save time and resources as well as reducing the percentage of human errors in metre reading.

She emphasised that the SEWA attaches great importance to achieving sustainable development by preserving and rationalising the use of water as a strategic goal. She added that the authority is cooperating with all concerned agencies to develop initiatives that ensure the achievement of these goals and show keenness on building smart networks and raising the operational efficiency of production plants, as this has a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions and environmental protection as a strategic choice for the future of our generations.

Al Bardan indicated that SEWA relies on specialised and careful studies when implementing any new system to ensure the benefit of both the authority and the subscribers. She added that the SEWA team supervised the implementation of the pilot project by changing the traditional and time-consuming metre reading method to a fast and high-quality reading one by incorporating (NB-IoT) technology for 100 metres in the university city and 2500 in Maysaloon area.