Search

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The dielectric constant (ε′) and dielectric loss (ε″) of pure honey (PH) and honey-water mixtures have been measured over 20 Hz − 20 GHz frequency range, at 26 °C using a precision LCR meter and a Vector Network Analyzer. It has been observed that as water proportion in honey increases, ε′ and ε″ increases over the given frequency range. The dielectric relaxation peak of ε″ for honey-water mixture in the microwave frequency range shifts towards relaxation peak of water as amount of water in honey increases. The normalized ε′/ε′PH ratio is found to increase with increase in water content in Honey, reaching up to 1000 over 20 Hz to 2 kHz. In frequency range from 500 MHz to 5 GHz, ε′/ε′PH ratio approaches a value of 10 times at 750 mg/g. Over 20 Hz to 2 MHz frequency range, ε″/ε″PH ratio approaches 100 times that of PH, but over frequency range from 200 MHz to 600 MHz the ratio ε″/ε″PH is found to decrease anomalously with increase in water content in PH. Further, over the frequency range from 8.2 GHz to 20 GHz the ε″/ε″PH ratio continuously increases with increase in water content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of smart city projects relies on residents' familiarity with technology. Smart cities use ICT, IoT, AI, and ML to enhance urban services and governance, improving residents' lives. The paper aims to gain new knowledge regarding residents' experiences in using smart city technologies based on the inductive reasoning. In 2021, the authors conducted a pilot survey using the CATI and CAWI interview methods on a random sample of 427 citizens of Szczecin and Koszalin, the two largest cities in the West Pomeranian region of the Republic of Poland. To analyze the data, the authors employed the Chi-square test for independence. This study focused on residents' experiences towards smart city technologies in Szczecin and Koszalin. The authors evaluated ten types of technologies: intelligent payment systems, e-office applications, health applications, cultural activity applications, environmental protection applications, security applications, intelligent water and sewage meters, smart electricity meters, free Wi-Fi hotspots, and intelligent transport applications. Participants from both cities were asked whether they currently use these technologies, do not use them, or would like to use them in the future. This methodology enabled a thorough examination of current usage patterns and potential future adoption of smart city technologies among residents of Szczecin and Koszalin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reverse osmosis seawater desalination plants open-intake requires different strategies of pre-treatment to reduce the biofouling and scaling. The UltraFiltration (UF) technology is a recent application to this process. In this work, some alternatives to chemical products reducing in chemically enhanced backwash (CEB) and clean in place (CIP) of a UF rack have been studied. Mainly the sodium hypochlorite consumption, due to its biofouling precursor effect over reverse osmosis membranes. For this purpose, the optimal filtration time has been studied, to get the highest water production prior to the CIP, as well as some modifications in the conventional CIP's, modifying the duration of the stages of the same. The results were compared with the current mode of daily operation of the CEB. The results show that a reduction of up to 60% in the amount of sodium hypochlorite per cubic meter of water produced employed in UF CEB's, mini CIP's and CIP's can be achieved. However, the consumption of the rest of chemical dosing increased notably, and therefore the operating cost of UF also increased. In addition, there was an increase of desalted water consumption to the chemical products removed, up to almost 95,84 %, in comparison with the currently operational mode of CEB. On the other hand, operating the UF plant in the manner proposed requires a automatization of the process and expert staff to programme the control. Therefore, based on the results obtained, the alternatives proposed could reduce the chemical products in use, but it is not conclusive in terms of exploitation operational costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ensayos - Revista de Economía is the property of Ensayos Revista de Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

While it has been concluded that climate change poses a significant threat to worldwide supply of freshwater resources, it is unclear if and how demand for water would also be affected. To fill this knowledge gap, we leverage on 'big data' collected using smart water meters from over 40,000 Chinese urban households, spanning nine years and ten provinces to examine the relationship between daily household water usage and climate variability. At the baseline, we find that municipal water is not only a coping mechanism for heat, but its usage is accelerated during heatwave events. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that households from lower-valued properties are more likely to substitute water for electricity to counter heat. Importantly, we find evidence of adaptation behaviors where over time, households are using increasingly more water to cope with high-temperature days. In all, after feeding our results into climate projection models, it is estimated that household water usage will increase by around 7–44% in the long-term (2080–2099) under emissions scenarios of SSP245 and SSP370. Our findings are especially relevant for water-scarce countries such as China as well as developing countries where water is a cheaper and more accessible resource to cope with heat. • Households in China use water to cope with heat, with higher usage during heatwaves. • Those from lower-valued properties are more reliant on water as a coping mechanism. • Water is likely a substitute for electricity in coping with heat. • Future household water usage will increase by 7%−44% under climate change scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the development and use of the Slow Blow controllable backpressure device in plumbing. The device was created to address the problem of blockages in vintage galvanized iron water pipes. It allows compressed air or nitrogen to be introduced into the plumbing system while controlling pressure and flow. The Slow Blow has various benefits, including the ability to remove blockages without excavation, detect leaks more easily, and winterize water piping. The device was developed by Patrick Freeman, the water utilities manager with the City of Fort Smith. [Extracted from the article]

Corrosion of brass plumbing materials may lead to metal release and deteriorate the drinking water quality. In this study, the initial corrosion of brass coupon cut from commercially available water meter was investigated. High rates of Pb, Cu and Zn release from the brass coupon were found during the early stage of corrosion (0–5 d) due to general corrosion and galvanic corrosion. The corrosion current density (I corr) increased and resistance (R F) decreased during this period indicating that severe corrosion had occurred. In a later stage (5–30 d), a decreased I corr and an increased R F were observed due to the development of a denser layer of Pb and Cu corrosion products which regulated the release of soluble Pb and Cu. The release of Zn continued and no significant Zn precipitation was found. Overall, particulate Pb, particulate Cu and soluble Zn dominated in the metal release during the initial corrosion of brass. The release of Pb, Cu and Zn was enhanced by a lower pH. Free chlorine was found to slightly reduce the release of Pb but promote the release of Cu and Zn. The presence of Pb on the brass surfaces was found to alleviate the dezincification process. A conceptual model based on metal release profile and electrochemical characterization was proposed to describe the initial corrosion of brass in typical drinking water. [Display omitted] • Acidic pH promoted the release of Pb, Cu and Zn. • Free chlorine promoted the release of Cu and Zn but slightly reduced Pb release. • Lead in brass could alleviate the dezincification process. • Electrochemical characteristics were consistent with metal release profiles. • A conceptual model of brass dezincification was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latest technological innovation in the development of compact lower power radios has led to the explosion of Internet of Things. With Wi-Fi, Zigbee and other physical layer protocols offering short coverage area there was a need for a RF protocol that had a larger coverage area with low power consumption. LoRa offers Long Range with lower power consumption. LoRa offers point to point and point to multipoint connections. with Single hop communication in place the need for routing protocols are eliminated. LoRa Wide Area Network stack can accommodate thousands of nodes under a single LoRa gateway with a single hop communication between the end nodes and LoRaWAN gateway. This paper takes an experimental approach to analyze the basic physical layer parameters of LoRa and the practical coverage offered by a LoRaWAN under highly dense urban conditions with variable topography. The insights gained from the practical deployment of the LoRaWAN network, and the subsequent performance analysis is used to design a novel public utility monitoring platform. The second half of the papers is designing a robust platform to integrate both existing wired sensor water meters, current and future generation wireless water meters. The Common Automated Metering Platform is designed to integrate both wired sensors and wireless (LoRaWAN and Wi-Fi) supported water meters. This integrated platform reduces the number of nodes under each LoRaWAN gateway and thus improves the scalability of the network. This architecture is currently designed to accommodate one utility application but can be modified to integrate multi-utility applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the factors affecting the adoption of smart water meters in universities. The study used a systematic literature review to explore factors affecting the adoption of smart water meters using secondary data. The Technology, Organisation, Environment (TOE) Framework was used as a theoretical lens to identify themes that affect the adoption of smart water meters. The study adopts the quantitative content analysis to identify adoption factors from published literature on smart water meters. The collected was analyzed quantitatively to reveal factors affecting the adoption of smart water meter technologies. The study results suggest that technological factors are the most popular adoption factors affecting the adoption of smart meter technology. Environmental factors are the second important factor affecting the adoption of smart meter technology. The organizational factors were the least important factors affecting the adoption of smart meter technology in organizations. The research contributes to the body of knowledge on factors affecting smart water adoption in universities. In addition, the study stimulates further research in the area using empirical and other research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ambiente e Água is the property of Revista Ambiente e Agua and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Key Takeaways: Business cases often strain to identify enough benefits to cover costs of digital water metering (DWM), consisting of advanced metering infrastructure and data analytics. An Australian study in 2020 identified 77 benefits of DWM, potentially generating cost savings and customer satisfaction improvements. Modeling software makes projections of monetary savings over the DWM project life cycle and considers customer satisfaction improvements linked to DWM deployment. Leasing meters may provide lower entry costs, shifting risks to the supplier and avoiding lock‐in of today's technology for long periods to achieve acceptable returns on investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a way to proactively reduce nonrevenue water, Crystal Clear Special Utility District field‐tested new technology that directly integrates "listening" sensors in meters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost of electricity for the reverse osmosis desalination process is up to 50% of the cost per cubic meter of water produce. Currently, the reduction of energy consumption is the main objective of the research on reverse osmosis plants. This document presents a power system analysis of the seawater desalination plant in Algeria with different load scenarios with a power of 50 MW made available by the electricity company Sonelgaz and a distribution level of 220/11/0.69/0.4 kV and a 2 MW diesel generator at the 0.4 kV level. The objective of this study is to analyze and dimension a general distribution network of an industrial customer through the power flow with different load and contingency scenarios (full load, full load N-1, low load, emergency system) to know and control its optimal and flexible operation. In a second step, the dimensioning of different protective devices is planned through a short circuit analysis of this network in order to evaluate the performance of the system. The ETAP program is used to carry out our simulation of this industrial plant and the effectiveness of the results is proven by comparisons with real measurements for the power flow analysis on the one hand and on the other hand with the results obtained by the builder for the short circuit analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water meters determine the success of any water system. Today's smart, long‐lasting meters have raised the bar on technology that has evolved dramatically in the past decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TCarta Marine has been awarded a contract to provide satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) and seafloor classification data to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for 13 coastal regions around the world. TCarta will use high-resolution satellite imagery to deliver accurate seabed depth and feature maps, including coral reefs and navigation hazards. This project is the largest SDB mapping program ever conducted in terms of geographic area and timeline. SDB technology is particularly useful for remote or hard-to-access locations and areas where traditional survey methods are expensive or time-consuming. [Extracted from the article]

We propose a robust water meter reading recognition method for complex scenarios. In our method, the traditional water meter recognition method has been improved so that it can handle more variable real-world scenarios. A WDPDet network is applied in the digit and pointer area detection. The geometric methods is used for rotation correction for subsequent processing. In particular, a data augmentation method is proposed for half-word character recognition that is difficult to handle in the past, which greatly improve network performance. A coarse-grained projection method for pointer recognition is proposed to deal with more complex interference. We have performed a lot of experiments on different devices and scenarios, and have achieved good accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua is the property of Instituto Mexicano de Tecnologia del Agua (IMTA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Highlights • In the cases studied, pricing and non-pricing measures are used to encourage efficient use of water at the household level. • In all areas, non-pricing measures have had a greater impact on water consumption decisions compared to pricing measures. • Replacement of collective water meters with individual meters has been one of the measures with the greatest impact on reducing per capita water consumption. • Education and awareness campaigns for water conservation and promotion of water-saving technologies have had a major impact on water consumption. Abstract This paper provides an overview of pricing and non-pricing measures to reduce domestic water consumption at the household levels in five urban areas in Spain. Analyses are based on questionnaires sent to water utilities that provide water services in the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Seville, the cities of Malaga and Saragossa and the region of Madrid. Our main contribution is that, compared to studies that are based on estimates of the water demand function, we asked directly the managers of the utilities on the effectiveness of the measures implemented. We found that all areas studied have implemented pricing and non-pricing measures to encourage the efficient use of water and that reduction in per capita water consumption has been the result of periods of drought, accompanied in certain cases by water restrictions and pricing and non-pricing measures. In all five areas studied, the utilities believe that non-pricing measures have had a greater impact on water consumption decisions compared to pricing measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining activities consume millions of cubic meters of water per year. Flotation, a crucial step in mining operations, uses a significant amount of water, and its treatment can contribute to a closed-loop system. Treatment is required owing to flotation reactants partially degraded and these residual reagents may cause a decline in separation efficiency. An overview of wastewater treatments can help to broaden the amount of water reuse and contribute to the circular economy. This study discusses existing techniques for removing collector surfactants used in mining. It first presents an investigation on wastewater composition and on the main flotation reactants used. Secondly, state-of-the-art technologies for treating wastewater contaminated with flotation collectors are discussed. Lastly, a critical evaluation is provided, highlighting the advantages and drawbacks of different techniques. Surfactants, particularly xanthates and amine derivatives, are identified as the primary contaminants in wastewater. Adsorption, biodegradation, ozonation, Fenton reaction, and photocatalysis, combined with electrochemical treatments, are found to be the most promising technologies. However, further research is needed to analyze by-products and to study real conditions for effective application. Overall, treating mining wastewater contaminated with collectors can contribute to reduce water consumption in the mining industry, benefiting environmental engineering efforts. [Display omitted] • Reuse water can affect the recovery efficiency of ore flotation. • This is due to interferents in the water such as ions and partially degraded flotation reagents. • This article discusses how to remove flotation reagents from reused water. • Adsorption, flotation, biodegradation, and AOP were the methods explored that had the best results. • It was concluded that it is necessary to understand which by-products can affect flotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Water Conservation; Commercial Water Conservation; Leak Detection; Water Resources EN Water Conservation Commercial Water Conservation Leak Detection Water Resources 75 77 3 07/04/20 20200701 NES 200701 GLO:KNS/01jul20:awwa1539-gra-0001.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): . gl I Layout imagery by ben bryant, mirtmirt/Shutterstock.com i Consumers are no strangers to a dripping faucet, running toilet, or leaking kitchen sink. Equipped with cellular networks to report current data about the state of a utility's water system, smart metering systems accurately measure water usage, maximize cost efficiencies, and conserve vital water resources. GLO:KNS/01jul20:awwa1539-fig-0001.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): 1 EyeOnWater® Consumer Engagement Tool gl The consumer engagement tool also promotes positive behavior by educating water utility customers about which appliances use the most water and by suggesting proactive tips to limit water waste. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Standards; AWWA; History EN Standards AWWA History 84 86 3 06/04/20 20200601 NES 200601 This is an exciting year in AWWA's history, as it marks the 100th anniversary of the AWWA Standards Council. AWWA recognizes George Warren Fuller and his industrywide efforts in numerous ways, including an annual award in his honor that's presented at AWWA Section meetings. Staff Participation AWWA staff have been important partners for the Standards Council volunteers, helping facilitate consistent practices and procedures. [Extracted from the article]

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows for hour‐by‐hour monitoring of water usage and has created new opportunities to communicate with customers. This article summarizes the results from a large‐scale deployment of an AMI system with more than 85,000 residential customers. Households were provided with access to a secure customer online portal where they could view their consumption information, use a leak detection algorithm to monitor their consumption patterns, and set alerts when a potential leak was detected. Analyses showed that, subsequent to signup, households that accessed the customer portal were less likely to have a leak, and when a leak did occur, they repaired it more quickly, compared with similar households that did not sign up for online access. The results provide strong evidence for the value of leak detection analytics and alerts at minimizing water loss and damage due to leaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper investigates the way information is provided to customers through the use of digital water metering and customer engagement, and its impact on water consumption. A review of 25 published detailed customer water-use information feedback studies was undertaken, along with interviews with five water utilities located internationally with practical experience in digital metering rollouts. The results of the review revealed mean savings across all the studies of 5.5%, within the 10th–90th-percentile envelope of 3.0%–8.0% savings (excluding the extreme outliers). The range of savings was found to vary across each of the various parameters investigated, with no single intervention approach clearly standing out as best practice. With large scale rollouts, for which little literature is available, it is typically difficult to attribute the savings to feedback programs alone, since other factors may have influenced the outcomes, and are difficult to account for or were not included in the literature. To better understand and evaluate the impact of a feedback program, and optimise its operation, a well-designed evaluation and related implementation plan should be considered in conjunction with a digital metering rollout. Discrete interventions should be monitored against a control group (or groups) to assess uptake, response and persistence over time (of both uptake and savings), in order to refine a program over the business case period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water utilities considering advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) will find parallels with electric utilities using AMI, but it is important to understand the numerous differences as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ACE23 COMPETITIONS Competitors Showcase Water Community Talent Water professionals from across North America gathered to showcase their skills, experience, and knowledge to crowd-pleasing effect in AWWA competitions as part of AWWA's 23rd Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE23) held June 14-17, 2023, in Toronto. In the "Best of the Best" Water Taste Test, an expert panel chooses whose finished water, among regional AWWA section winners of water taste test contests, is "best" based on flavor characteristics. Communications Are Key to Consumer Confidence: Survey With key findings addressing the importance of memorable communication between utilities and their consumers, water safety and trust, water quality and satisfaction, utility bill and provider perceptions, and utility testing requirements, results from AWWA's fourth annual US consumer poll, Public Perceptions of Tap Water, were released July 25, 2023, based on a survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of AWWA in May. [Extracted from the article]

• Introducing an unsupervised machine learning method for identifying abnormal water consumption. • Examining the role of commercial water losses in achieving sustainable cities and societies. • Exploring water consumption patterns via billing records of water end-users with mechanical meters. • Using time series complexity in Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise. The expansion of cities puts a high demand on water utilities to provide fresh water amidst global water stress. One of the most challenging issues that continuously menaces water sector sustainability is dealing with anomalous consumption as commercial water losses. To this end, this paper proposes a novel and elaborate unsupervised machine learning method with an effortless computation to detect end-user anomalies in water distribution systems. The method relies on density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) as the core and Lempel-Ziv Complexity as the key features to overcome the curse of dimensionality and low data resolution, while only users' billing records are needed. Building upon the method's outputs, six latent abnormal patterns were perceived in a large unlabeled real-life dataset after validation by a smaller but labeled (fraudulent or normal consumption) real-life dataset. The results exposed that the method meets reliable and efficacious outputs for anomaly detection, as the derived clustering could capture high accuracy of 98% and a hit rate of 92%. Also, this study provides valuable information that can be used for action planning like on-site inspections and improving water loss management practices, exceptionally when water utilities/authorities' budgets are constrained, and revenue declines occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anyone who's ever tried to change out a water meter in a pit can tell you it's a tough job. Even servicing meters indoors often presents the challenges of gaining entry to the premises, finding the water meter, and trying not to get family heirlooms wet. These challenges alone may prompt municipalities to change out the meter register (the part that displays the local reading) rather than the entire meter as part of a technology upgrade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate short-term water demand forecasts are imperative for the decision making process in water management. It can be applied in the design, future studies, and for possible quality distribution problems. A double seasonal ARIMA model is used to generate water demands forecast (one-day) for a district metering area (DMA). Harmony Search is applied to the parameter estimation of the ARIMA model based on historical water demand data. The Harmony Search optimization algorithm is based on a musical theory process to search for a perfect harmony. A least-squares objective function is formulated by minimizing the random shock series. Real residential water meter readings are used to validate the proposed method by comparing the observed water demand series with the ARIMA model generated time series. The simulation results show a good correspondence to measured water demands primarily on typical days and demonstrate that the harmony search is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reprint of the article "The Use of Water Meters" published March 1917 issue of the periodical which focuses on the water meter accuracy. It mentions consumers or considerable inequalities in consumption of water with the advisability of metering to all large consumers such as manufacturing plants. It also mentions amount of minimum rate and the rise in revenue.

Meter accuracy is critical to a water or wastewater utility's bottom line. An appropriate meter testing and maintenance program helps ensure customers' responsible and efficient water use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Know how much water your utility is truly putting into your distribution system each day by testing and calibrating flowmeters to improve water audits and control water loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High leakage levels in the water supply network of the city of Patras is one of the most important issues, which must be dealt by the Municipal Enterprise of Water Supply and Sewerage of Patras (DEYAP). DEYAP provides services to the 3rd largest city of Greece, Patras and the environs, covering a service area of 333 km 2 and a population of approximately 240.000. It is responsible for the Operation and Maintenance of the Water Supply system comprising a network of 1000km of water pipes and 134.000 customer water meters. The Non-Revenue Water is approximately 55% of the System Input Volume from which a significant proportion is estimated as being physical losses. Until now the approach to leakage control is a passive one, whereby leaks are repaired only when they become visible. However, DEYAP is developing a permanent Leakage Control System according to the International Water Association (IWA) methodology. For the implementation of this system a project is currently under construction, including the Establishment of DMAs, Pressure Management, Creation of a GIS-based decision support system, Aggregation of various operational Databases through development of an intelligent reporting software with data warehouse techniques, Procurement of Leak detection equipment and training DEYAP's personnel in the operation of Pressure Management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volumetric water metering is a critical need for rationalizing abiana (water tariff) rates in the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS). Measuring water flows in a mogha (small irrigation outlets) is extremely challenging due to various problems of scale. Due to the extremely large number of such outlets in IBIS (numbering tens of thousands), a manual measurement and reporting system is completely infeasible. An ICT powered automation is an obvious approach towards solving this scalability problem. However, the challenges for an electronic solution are enormously high. While such an automation has been successfully demonstrated for distributary irrigation canals (10s-100s of cusecs) in the IBIS by our group using a smart water metering approach, measuring such flows at the outlet level (<3 cusecs) is hampered by challenges in hydraulics, frequent siltation, unavailability of grid energy to power electronics, unreliable telecommunications backbone and institutional support to service the meters. In this paper, we report our development and deployment of a test unit for discharge measurement on an outlet using a Low Power Wireless Smart Water Meter, and a long throated flume to generate a modular flow of water to measure discharge in small rectangular channels and to analyse the accuracy of measurement of unit. The deployed solution can be used to remotely transmit depth of water, discharge, state of channel, therefore, free flow or submerged using GSM/GPRS module. Two ultrasonic sensors take reading of depth of water in channel, one on the approach section h 1 and another on tail water section h 2 for estimation of state of flume. Rating curve of the discharge measurement unit is generated by WinFlume and results of real system discharge measurements are compared for accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to quantify the effects of uncertainty on residential water meter registry testing and to demonstrate how to calculate registry uncertainty. All measurements have random and systematic errors, and understanding those errors is important to properly assess the limitations of the test. For this study, registry uncertainty calculations were computed according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Test Uncertainty Manual (2006) for volumetric and gravimetric scale test setups. Because of possible errors, uncertainties in the registry results may be high enough to justify passing some meters that fail and failing some meters that pass. In such cases, increasing the volume of water collected to higher than AWWA minimum standards reduces uncertainty and provides more relevant results. This study shows that uncertainties are significant and should be computed in order to accurately analyze the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing of gas shale formations involves pumping a large volume of fracking fluid into a hydrocarbon reservoir to fracture the rock and thus increase its permeability. The majority of the fracking fluid introduced is never recovered and the fate of this lost fluid, often called “leak off,” has become the source of much debate. Information on the capillary pressure – saturation relationship for each wetting phase is needed to simulate leak off using numerical reservoir models. The petroleum industry commonly employs air – water capillary pressure – saturation curves to predict these relationships for mixed wet reservoirs. Traditional methods of measuring this curve are unsuitable for gas shales due to high capillary pressures associated with the small pores present. A possible alternative method is the water activity meter which is used widely in the soil sciences for such measurements. However, its application to lithified material has been limited. This study utilized a water activity meter to measure air – water capillary pressures (ranging from 1.3 to 219.6 MPa) at several water saturation levels in both the wetting and drying directions. Water contents were measured gravimetrically. Seven types of gas producing shale with different porosities (2.5–13.6%) and total organic carbon contents (0.4–13.5%) were investigated. Nonlinear regression was used to fit the resulting capillary pressure – water saturation data pairs for each shale type to the Brooks and Corey equation. Data for six of the seven shale types investigated were successfully fitted (median R 2 = 0.93), indicating this may be a viable method for parameterizing capillary pressure – saturation relationships for inclusion in numerical reservoir models. As expected, the different shale types had statistically different Brooks and Corey parameters. However, there were no significant differences between the Brooks and Corey parameters for the wetting and drying measurements, suggesting that hysteresis may not need to be taken into account in leak off simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have identified water meter inaccuracy at low flows in mechanical metering technologies; however, little has been done to measure the inaccuracy of electronic metering technologies at low flows. This study confirms previous studies on mechanical meter accuracy and includes electronic meter accuracy data from results of testing conducted at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. By comparing the new technologies to the commonly used mechanical metering technologies over a wide range of flows, this analysis is intended as a guide to assist meter users in choosing the meter type to accommodate their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last four decades the locus of economic power has shifted from industry to finance. As part of this trend, the 'financialisation' of the water sector has added a new layer of complexity to the hydrosocial cycle, witnessed in the emergence of new financial actors, logics and financing instruments. Such a shift has profoundly reshaped the relationship between water utilities and consumers in the South East of England, where the household has become, in the words of Allen and Pryke (2013), a human revenue stream for financialised utilities. In this paper, we make an argument that the water meter is one of the crucial mediators through which finance will touch the lives of individual subjects. In the South East of England, after initial opposition to universal metering-in part shaped by fears over fluctuating revenues-water companies are now embedding a metering programme within a billing and tariff structure that aims to ensure governable and predictable subjects. Drawing on Urban Political Ecology, we argue that the financialisation of the water sector in England shapes the emergence of new financial subjectivities while enabling new forms of political rule that operate at a range of spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When calculating flow demand, it's important to consider meter type and suitability for use as a revenue‐collecting metering device or a flow‐monitoring device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of water services that began with the privatisation of water companies in 1989 extended to households with the implementation of water metering. Meters 'privatised' water and the cost of provision by allocating to individual households costs that had previously been shared within the community. This (ongoing) conversion of common pool good to private good has mostly improved economic, environmental and social impacts, but the potential burden of metering on poorer households has slowed the transition. Stronger anti-poverty programmes would be better at addressing this poverty barrier than existing coping mechanisms reliant on subsidies from other water consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers water works industry news briefs. Topics discussed include the strategic alliance between water service companies Suez North America and Aclara to implement smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) and advanced metering infrastructure to water supply sector, the merging of Simflo Pumps Inc. and Simmons Pump LLC, and the awarding of contract for water and wastewater projects in he U.S. to water treatment company H2O Innovation Inc.