c) Agricultural:

These users need to determine the best of practice option for each site in an endeavour to be as water efficient as possible and as a consequence result in more effective use and conservation of precious water resources.

Irrigation:

Irrigation water saving practice falls into three basic categories:

• Field practices:

These involve keeping the irrigated water in the field by distributing it more efficiently and to encourage retention of the soil moisture against evaporation. Methods to achieve this is to reduce extreme soil compaction which promotes water penetration to root zones, runoff prevention by forming intermediate and peripheral dikes, leveling the land to promote even water distribution and mulching to reduce evaporation.

• Management strategies:

Strategies revolve around soil moisture monitoring, measuring rainfall, pumping efficiency and then collating this information to determine efficient irrigation scheduling of water distribution.

• System modifications:

System design should not be regarded as being fixed but rather be approached dynamically. This concept will allow for the improvement of the design on an ongoing basis as more efficient pumps, distribution equipment, installation of more water measurement meters, soil monitoring instruments and the recovery of excess tail water systems evolve.

Water Reuse and Recycling:

Approximately 40% of total water demand nationwide is attributable to agricultural irrigation. This represents a significant portion of total water available and therefore irrigation practices such as reuse and recycling would result in substantial water conservation.

Therefore an agricultural water reuse program should include:

• Identify opportunities for water re-use.
• Determine the applicable water quality requirements for any give use of re-used water.
• Sources of waster water, that are able to meet the water quality requirements, need to be then identified.
• Determine how to transport the re-used water to the proposed usage area.
• Measure the amount of water that is being re-used.
• Integration with Urban reuse opportunities

Behavioural Practices:

In addition to incorporating best practice water behaviour habits is the need to develop methods that optimise the amount of water needed to irrigate a given crop efficiently. This includes water scheduling decisions based on data collected from soil monitoring stations, weather conditions and careful choice of irrigation application rates for the given crop. Additional factors that irrigators need to be taken into consideration:

• Uncertain rainfall and crop water demand
• The water retention characteristics of the irrigated soil.
• Pumping capacity being equal to the task.
• Impact of increased energy costs resulting in increased pumping cost.

Agricultural extension services need to be included in the irrigation design so that their extensive knowledge base is incorporated. This expertise would include information on solar radiation levels, weather variables obtained from weather stations, resistance blocks, tensiometers, and neutron probes to monitor soil moisture conditions to assist in determining when and how much water should be applied.

c) Reuse & Recycle:

These recommendations involve changing water usage habits and can be applied both indoors in the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room and outdoors so that water is used more efficiently, thus reducing the overall water consumption.

Water Reuse:

This is the re-use of waste / reclaimed water from an operation such as a municipal waster water treatment facility for another use such as landscape watering. The reused water has to benefit a specific purpose and will need to comply to applicable regulations / rules such as local ordinances that govern the quality of reused water for that purpose.

The use of re-used water is furthermore beneficial as it reduces the demands on potable water supply and treatment and delays the need to expand these facilities.

The following factors determine need to be considered wherever possible to maximise the use of re-used water.

• Identify opportunities for water re-use.
• Determine the applicable water quality requirements for any give use of re-used water.
• Sources of waster water, that are able to meet the water quality requirements, need to be then identified.
• Determine how to transport the re-used water to the proposed usage area.
• Measure the amount of water that is being re-used.

Some potential applications that reused water would be considered for:

1) Landscape Irrigation:

These would typically be areas such as golf courses, playing fields, road reserves and roundabouts, refuse dump rehabilitation etc.

2) Agricultural Irrigation:

We are fast approaching the stage where agriculture resulting in vegetable crops being closer to market is needed to feed growing populations and so in city opportunities need to be identified for this purpose.

3) Fountains / decorative:

Re-use water in fountains, reflective pools or just simply as a bubbling stream within an urban context leads to a calming and soothing atmosphere against the hustle and bustle of city life.

4) Fire Protection:

Although re-used water would require a separate water reticulation system, this should be considered when new industrial developments are planned. as a future scenario to save water.

Water Recycling:

Complimentary to using re-used water is the practice of water recycling that is the use of water for the same application for which it was originally used. Under certain circumstances water used for recycling might require treatment before recycling.

Similar factors to the above should be considered in a water recycling program include (Brown and Caldwell, 1990):

• Identify opportunities for water re-use.
• Determine the applicable water quality requirements for any give use of re-used water.
• Evaluation of any water quality degradation that may result from the recycling.
• Determine treatment steps, if any, required to ensure that the water is suitable for recycling.

Cooling Water Re-circulation:

One of the largest water usage applications is the use of water for cooling heat generating equipment or to condense gases in a thermodynamic cycle and the most intensive of these is when the water is used as a once-off when the water contacts and lowers the temperature of the heat source and is then discharged. By recycling water under these circumstances, to perform several cooling operations, water usage is greatly reduced and represents a substantial savings to industry.

There are three distinct water conserving approaches that may be deployed to reduce water:

• Evaporative cooling:

These systems ‘loose’ water when a portion of the cooling water evaporates as it reaches boiling point from being in contact with the hot surface that has to be cooled. Some evaporation will will drift away and also because of blowdown which is the practice of reducing some of the poor quality water, that has high levels of dissolved solids, by discharging this from the whole. Water loss savings can be achieved by reducing blowdown or water discharge from cooling towers.

• Ozonation:

The use of ozone treatment in the cooling tower water system is able to result in a 5 fold reduction in water loss as compared to other chemical treatments and so should be top of the list for implementation.

• Heat exchange:

Cooling that is achieved as a result of using a heat exchange method results in almost zero water loss as the water is in a closed system and is thus not subjected to external influences. Heat exchangers are however more expensive to implement as compared to cooling towers.

Of importance in considering the above is to be able to know just how much water is being introduced into the cooling system.

To achieve this, accurate metering is required that will provide feedback to management and enable decisions to be made as to how to optimise the system to achieve the degree of cooling as well as to minimised the loss of water which will result in an overall saving and improve the environmental footprint of the installation.

b) Behavioural:

These recommendations involve changing water usage habits and can be applied both indoors in the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room and outdoors so that water is used more efficiently, thus reducing the overall water consumption.

Integral and fundamental to behavioural practices is the incorporation of all or most of the above so as to minimise overall water usage.

Around the House:

It’s quite amazing just how much water is ‘lost’ by dripping taps so replace the washers when a drip is found.

Don’t water the garden during the heat of the day as this is when evaporation is at it highest.

Water pressure tends to increase after hours so be careful that sprinkler systems are not spraying water onto hard surfaces which then discharge into the drainage system thus robbing the user of water instead.

Do you know the pattern of your water usage? No! Then go and read you water meter at regular intervals and record the amounts – you might be shocked to discover that the amounts seem unexplained and so could indicate a leak that is undetected.

Better still, why not purchase your own water meter, have it installed if unable to in a position that is in your premises, perhaps mounted on a wall where it is easy to access, so that you are then able to easily check your water usage pattern/s as well as the amount that you are being billed for.

Tip! Listen for any clicking sound or watch carefully for any movement of the water meter’s dial or numbers when you know that there are no taps running – if clicking is heard or movement seen, then you are likely to have a leak somewhere.

Check all around the house and grounds for any damp patches or call a plumber to investigate further and fix the problem, if you are unable to do so yourself.

DON’T DO NOTHING – IT IS COSTING YOU MONEY AND WASTING A PRECIOUS RESOURCE.

In the Kitchen:

36 to 75 litres of water a day can be saved by running the dishwasher only when it is full. If dishes are washed by hand, water can be saved by filling the sink or a dishpan with water rather than running the water continuously.

Always use the correct amount of water as specified by the recipe as this will also save on the amount of energy used too.

Rather heat water in an electric kettle to wash small amounts of crockery and cutlery than use water from the hotwater cylinder as this will not only save on water but, more importantly, save on electricity that would be used to re-heat the now cooler hotwater cylinder’s water.

In the Bathroom:

• Turn off the tap while brushing teeth or shaving.
• Take short showers rather than long showers or baths.
• Turn the water off while soaping.

In the Laundry:

Adjust water levels in the washing machine to match the size of the load. If the washing machine does not have a variable load control run the machine only when it is full.

When hand washing laundry, the water should not be left running. Laundry tubs should be filled and the wash and rinse water should be reused in the garden as much as possible.

The Car:

As much as 400 litres of water can be saved when washing a car by turning the hose off between rinses and it should be washed on the lawn if possible for more effective use of the water, rather than allowing this, along with the residues from washing, to run into the gutter.

Sidewalks & Driveways:

Sweep these and then add the sweepings to the compost heap instead of hosing these down. Washing a sidewalk or driveway with a hose uses about 180 litres of water every 5 minutes.

Swimming Pool:

Water can be saved by using a cover over the pool it when it is not in use. This also saves on pool chemicals and keeps leaves etc out of the pool. Take particular note of seemingly abnormal water loss by noting the water level at a particular mark on the pool wall as this could signal a leak in the pipework or a the filter / pump. REMEMBER TO KEEP THE POOL SECURE AGAINST UN-SUPERVISED ACCESS BY CHILDREN.

Additional:

Most of the above has a direct link to the use of energy i.e. by saving water consumption, less energy will be required to supply the water in the first instance and secondly because less water will be heated when using low flow plumbing fittings.

Less energy usage interprets directly into a lower carbon footprint both for the user as well as for the supplier. This is an extremely important aspect considering the changing global weather patterns, now occurring, which are putting increasing pressure on the worlds resources.

Unless there is a very concerted effort, in the very near term by all nations of the world, into curbing wasteful consumption of primarily hydrocarbons and water resources, there is little likely hood of a turnaround in the immediate future.

This lack of progress is, however, no reason to defer or to ignore the recommendations above as it is well within each individual’s ability to change for the better as these changes, no matter how small, will aggregate and produce results.

An added bonus, to using water more effectively, is spending less money too which is always welcome to counter the ravages of inflation.

All these groups share two areas namely Plumbing / Fixtures and Behavioural that need to be examined together so as to determine the best of practice option for each site in an endeavour to be as water efficient as possible and as a consequence result in more effective use and conservation of precious water resources.

a) Plumbing / Fixtures:

New installations:

the minimum is to have Plumbing / Fixtures initially installed that are designed to save water from day one.

Existing installations:

the minimum is to have older, less efficient water fittings replaced wherever possible.

By following the above, is is estimated that an average three member household could reduce its water consumption by about 20,000 litres per annum.

Water Saving Plumbing / Fixtures:

Low Flush Toilet:

Conventional flush toilets use between 13 and 18 litres of water per flush. By comparison low flush toilets use only 6 litres of water or less and since they use that much less water, they also, as a consequence, reduce the volume of waste water produced too.

It is even practical to change conventional toilets to low flush units as the savings, expressed in value terms would be recovered in approximately 5 years.

An alternate to replacing conventional, high usage toilets is to limit to some extent the amount of water that they use with each flush by placing one or more objects such as a conventional brick or plastic bottle filled with water or pebbles, making sure that these do not impede the flushing mechanism or water flow, in the toilet tank. Water used for each flush will then be reduced by the volume of the object/s placed in the toilet tank.

A second alternate is to install, where possible, a composting toilet that uses NO water at all. As these units use no water, they require NO plumbing, are simple to maintain and are available as non electric or with solar powered 12v vent fan if this is a requirement.

Low Flow Showerhead/s:

Showers account for about 20 percent of total indoor water use. By replacing standard 17 litres per minute shower heads with 9 litres per minute heads, a family of four can save approximately 75,000 litres of water per year.

This saving extends too, to the amount of energy that would have been used to heat the 75,000 litres of water now NOT being used so represents a substantial reduction all round.

Tap Aerators:

A requirement when using the kitchen sink is to remove excess food particles on plates and utensils before washing these or to cleanse fruit, vegetables or food prior to processing or cooking.

Effective wetting to achieve the above is therefore necessary and so tap aerators that break flowing water into fine droplets entraining air while maintaining wetting effectiveness, are inexpensive devices that can be installed on sink taps to achieve efficient wetting. These aerators are easily installed and reduce water usage by as much as 60 percent while still maintaining a strong flow.

Couple these aerators with more efficient kitchen and bathroom taps that use only 7.5 litres of water per minute, unlike standard taps, which use 11 to 18 litres per minute for less water usage.

Pressure Reduction:

As flow rate is directly related to pressure, the maximum water flow from any fixture operating on a fixed setting can be reduced if the water pressure is reduced. For example, a reduction in pressure from 7.0bar to 3.5bar can result in a water flow reduction of about one third at an outlet.

Water pressure reduction is able to save water in other ways too as it could reduce the likelihood of:

• Leaking water pipes.
• Dripping taps.
• Breakdowns in the plumbing system.

Water Meter:

Water meters are generally ignored by the industry, residential and agriculture System Users, believing that they are solely for the use of the authority that ‘reads’ them and then charges for the water used at the applicable tariff.

It is, however, recommended that the System User also ‘reads’ their own meter on a given cycle that could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly and preferably when knowing that there is no water being used during the reading and records these readings.

The reasons for this recommendation are:

• The user will rapidly become sensitised to the water used.
• A potential leak will be revealed if the water meter dial or numerical display is moving when it is known that no water is being used at that moment.
• The amount of water used can be compared with the amount that is being charged to determine whether there are any discrepancies.
• Recorded consumption could indicate period/s of increased water consumption.
• These periods would then be apportioned to some or other activity which activity.
• These could then be examined to determine whether a behavioural change would result in less water being used for that activity and so reduce water usage.

Landscape Irrigation:

Water conservation in landscaping uses plants that need little water and grouping these saving not only water but labor and fertilizer as well.

Scheduling irrigation for early morning or evening reduces water wasted due to evaporation during warm daylight hours.

Another practice that could be applied to residential landscape irrigation is the use of cycle irrigation methods that provides the right amount of water at the right time and place, for optimal growth and to improve penetration and reduce runoff.

Couple the above with the use of low precipitation rate sprinklers that have better distribution uniformity, bubbler / soaker systems, or drip irrigation systems.

Xeriscape Landscapes:

Xeriscape landscaping is an innovative, comprehensive approach to landscaping for water conservation and pollution prevention.

Traditional landscapes might incorporate one or two principles of water conservation, but xeriscape landscaping uses all of the following:

• Planning and design.
• Soil analysis.
• Selection of suitable plants.
• Practical turf areas.
• Efficient irrigation.
• Use of mulches.
• Regular and appropriate maintenance.

Benefits of xeriscape landscaping include:

• Reduced water use.
• Decreased energy use due to less pumping and treatment needed.
• Reduced heating and cooling costs because of carefully placed trees.
• Decreased storm water and irrigation runoff.
• Fewer wastes.
• Increased habitat for plants, birds and animals.
• Lower labor and maintenance costs.

An important factor in quality water treatment is the use of the correct water meter.

Before the introduction of water meters, water users had little or no understanding of the implications of water usage effect to both upstream resources and downstream wastage.

• Approximately two thirds of the world is covered with water.

• There is no more water on earth now than there was millions of years ago.

• Of the two thirds of water, only about 3% is fresh water fit for consumption.

• Population expansion is placing an ever increasing burden on the 3% of fresh water.

• Water quality improvement measures have to be expanded to reduce fresh water loss.

• Conservation requirements of fresh water sources is at critical levels.

Water management is now being addressed in a more meaningful manner with the advent of a range of meters that, if correctly selected and installed, increase user understanding of their water consumption in meaningful terms.

Although there are many different ways to measure water volumes used, three meter types have become the dominant metering method for many years.

• Volumetric – using positive displacement.

• Inferential – using turbine/propeller rotation.

• Electronic – using magnetic differentiation.

The bulk of water metering is generally done by smaller volumetric – positive displacement – meters ranging in pipe bore sizes from 13mm to 25mm with some being as large as 50mm.

For larger sized pipe bores the Inferential – turbine/propeller – meters are used with sizes up 30cm.

Electronic cold water meters range in pipe bore sizes from 13mm to 60cm and cover a wide range of applications such as bulk potable water mains, water vending/treatment by filtration, chemical, Ultraviolet (UV) or ozone (O3).

Volumetric – Positive Displacement (PD) – meter:

The components and meter body of Volumetric (PD) meters may be manufactured from Plastic, Bronze or Brass and are suited to applications that require direct reading of the total amount of water that passes through them.

The main operating principal is an oscillating piston with each piston revolution being equivalent to a known volume of water. Volume is measured by counting the number of rotations of the piston as it discharges and fills the fixed volume chamber. The volume flow rate is found by counting the number of revolutions of the piston over a given time span. e.g. 1 minute.

An advantage is that Volumetric meters are able to be installed at any inclination except upside down.

The piston rotations are transferred via a magnetic coupling to a geared direct read register or counter with each rotation resulting in a count being displayed numerically.

Thus by taking a note of the numerical sequence on a given day and then comparing this against a second reading in a given time period such as 7 days, the difference between the two readings will be equal to the amount of water units that has passed through the meter during that time.

Positive displacement meters can be installed in any inclination except upside down.

The meters are also available with an electronic pulser that is either low speed for remote counters or batch controllers or high speed for more accuracy.

The pulser transmits each piston rotation either via cable or wireless to remote data loggers or computers thus enabling remote metering of either individual or clusters of meters and thereby centralize the metering process.

The electronic pulsers are also used in applications such as water vending where a push button or coin actuates the vending sequence which then dispenses a measured amount of water to the purchaser/activator.

Inferential – Horizontal Woltman type turbine – meter:

These meters tend to be used where larger volumes of water needs to be measured and are thus made in larger diameter bore sizes, typically 40mm to 300mm and are usually manufactured with a cast bronze or cast iron body with coupling flanges.

Water flowing through the meter drives a rotor. The blades of the rotor rotate according to the amount of water passing over them, with each rotation representing a given amount of water. The rotor shaft is coupled to a register that records the number of revolutions with each being equal to a given volume of water.

As with other water meters, by comparing the difference in the registered values over a given time period, the amount of water that has moved during that period is determined.

Unlike the Volumetric (PD) meters these meters need to be installed horizontally and to have a minimum of 10 x their bore diameter of straight pipe before the meter and a minimum of 5 x their bore diameter after the meter so as to minimize turbulence that would affect the laminar flow over the rotor blades and thus induce inaccuracy.

These meters are also available with an electronic pulser that is either low speed for remote counters or batch controllers or high speed for remote data loggers or computers.

Electronic – magnetic – meter:

These meters operate according to magnetic induction – Faraday’s principal – and typically range in sizes from 50mm to 600mm.

They have low head loss, no noise, no moving parts and maintain stable calibration over extended service periods.

Faraday’s principle:

A conductor – in this instance water – moving through a magnetic field – induced by the electronics of the meter – will induce an electric current proportional to the velocity of the conductor – water.

By measuring the value of the induced electric current, the water velocity is derived. A given velocity in a known pipe bore size will result in the volume of water that is flowing through the pipe being calculated.

These meters are also available with an electronic pulser that is either low speed for remote counters or batch controllers or high speed for remote data loggers or computers.

Electronic meters need to have a minimum of 3 x their bore diameter of straight pipe before the meter and a minimum of 2 x their bore diameter after for optimum accuracy and are NOT to be used in Reverse Osmosis or De-ionization installations.

Modern pumps make lifting water from one level to another an efficient simple process that can be measured with a high degree of precision using water meters.

An example of the ease with which this was accomplished was when employed by a mining company that decided to de-water an old mine that had been allowed to flood for more than 50 years.

Two 45cm x 25 stage centrifugal pumps were coupled to the end of 45cm steel pipes. These were slowly lowered down the main shaft each day with additional pipe lengths added, as the water level fell.

The streams of water from the two pumps were directed into a large earth drainage channel that led to a low lying area some miles away where it formed a large enough ‘lake’ to allow boating.

Contrast this with the ancient, somewhat inefficient methods, used to lift water from one level to another, such as the Shadoof, animal powered Sakia or Noria water wheel and the Archimedes Screw.

Shadoof:

The shadoof was first developed in ancient Mesopotamia circa 2000 BC. It consists of an upright frame upon which is suspended a long pole or branch at approximately 1/5th of its length from one end. At the end of the longest section hangs a bucket or similar while at the shortest end the weight is attached.

When correctly balanced, the counterweight should support a half filled bucket of water so that some effort was needed to pull an empty bucket down to the water with the same amount of effort then needed to lift a full bucket.

Using an almost effortless swinging and lifting motion, the bucket is used to scoop up and transfer water from one body of water into runnels higher up that convey the water along irrigation channels in the desired direction.

Under ideal conditions, a shadoof is capable of lifting over 2500 litres per day from a maximum depth of 3 metres.

Sakia:

A Sakia, also known as a ‘Persian wheel’ is a water wheel used primarily in Egypt with the earliest being dated to the 2nd century BC. It consists of a large hollow wheel ranging in diameter from two to five meters with scoops or buckets at the periphery and is traditionally driven by draught animals.

Its unique characteristic is that water is dispensed near the hub rather than from the top thus reducing the amount of energy needed to lift the water.

A animal driven Sakia can lift water up from around 10 meters depth, and is thus considerably more efficient than a shadoof which can only lift water from around 3 meters.

Modern day Sakia’s are now driven by an engine and are able to make from 8 to 15 revolutions per minute as opposed to the 2 to 4 revolutions obtained from draught animals.

Noria:

Greek engineers were responsible for inventing the undershot and overshot water wheel between the 3rd and 2nd century BC. These were further modified by the Romans around 300 AD who replaced the wooden compartments with ceramic pots attached to the outside of an open framed wheel thereby creating the Noria.

There are three types of Noria – the most common consists of a vertical wheel which is slung with a chain of buckets, the whole of which is driven by donkeys, mules or oxen.

Then there is the second type of Noria that uses the same system of a necklace of clay or wooden buckets but is instead driven by wind power.

The third form of Noria uses the energy of a flowing river to undershoot a very narrow waterwheel whose rim is made up of a series of containers which lift water from the same river up into a very small aqueduct at the top of the wheel.

Some Norias used in the medieval Islamic world were as large as 20 metres in diameter and could lift many thousands of litres per hour.

Archimedes’ Screw:

The Archimedes’ Screw is commonly attributed to Archimedes on the occasion of his visit to Egypt during the 3rd century BC.

It consists of a spiral screw inside a hollow pipe, with either the screw itself being rotated within the hollow pipe or the whole being rotated.

The Screw is positioned at an angle with the lower end in the water body from which the water is to be drawn. As the bottom end of the tube rotates, it scoops up some water which continues to slide up the spiral as it turns. Each rotation introduces another scoop of water which then follows up the spiral behind the water that is one rotation ahead, finally exiting at the end of the spiral, now some meters higher.

Besides being used to move water, this mechanism is also found in situations where a mixture of suspended solids and water needs to be moved from one level to another. Examples are lifting fish safely from ponds and then transporting them elsewhere.

This mechanism is also used to move granular material such as plastic pellets, grain in combine harvesters and even as compactors of waste material.

The above are, broadly speaking, water displacement devices in that they move / displace water from one position to another and thus by counting the number of ‘displacements’ in a given time cycle, multiplying this number by the volume of each displacement, a relatively accurate total volume of water moved would be determined.

Three of the devices, the Shadoof, Sakia and Archimedes Screw displace water with the aid of an external energy source, either human or animal, whereas the Noria does the work by utilizing the pressure of the flowing water into which it is immersed and so could be regarded as the forefather of the positive displacement water meter.

There are many examples, from ancient times to the present, of water being delivered from its source to where it is needed by means of channels.

Indeed, gardeners of ancient times, designed their garden layouts to encompass the very purpose of channeling water as it created additional elements such as movement, sound and changes in temperature.

Water channels were an element in the design of the geometric shapes that complimented each other overall to reflect harmony and balance as well as being significant as religious symbols.

Their design had to take careful advantage of differences of height to move water from one area to another in such a manner that they blended into the landscape design that surrounded them, feed water to the plants and water features of the design and as such draw attention to the relationship between man and nature.

One form of ancient channel, known as a Qanat, is a system of water management used to provide a reliable supply of water for irrigation and human settlement in hot and semi arid areas.

The technology is known to have been developed on the Iranian plateau and also possibly on the Arabian peninsula somewhere during the 1^st millennium BC and to have spread Eastwards right into present day China and West to as far as Madrid which still receives water from a quanat to this day.

It is estimated that Afghanistan alone has more than 250 thousand kilometers of quanats that are constantly maintained by labour with all the necessary skills, typically handed down from father to son, delivering water to its inhabitants.

This method of water harvesting is also most important as it only delivers as much water that nature itself will provide with only gradual variations from wet to dry years. i.e. There is no forced removal of water such as is done when resorting to mechanical pumping methods.

On much greater scale are the extremely sophisticated aqueducts constructed by the Romans to deliver water to any large city, as well as small towns and industrial sites, in their empire. Rome has the largest concentration of aqueducts, built over a period of 500 years, that collectively supplied around one million cubic meters of water per day.

Already, at that time, Frontinus, a general, appointed in the late 1st century AD to administer the many aqueducts of Rome, discovered a discrepancy between the intake and supply of water caused by illegal pipes inserted into the channels to divert water. He would have had to resort to a time consuming process to determine this discrepancy unlike the present where the deployment of precision water meters would reveal losses in real time.

The Roman aqueducts were built vertically to extremely fine tolerances such as the Pont du Gard which only had a fall of 34cm per kilometre, descending 17m vertically over its entire length of 50 km and capable of delivering some 20 thousand cubic meters of water per day.

The volume of channeled of water delivered to the end destination depended entirely upon many factors such as catchment hydrology, rainfall, absorption, evaporation, runoff and maintenance of the channel or aqueduct.

In an effort to reduce the influence of some of the above factors, Roman aqueducts mostly ran below the ground surface which served to keep the water clean, reduce evaporation, free from disease and to protect them from enemy attack.

The training included both bench and actual on a site installation, culminating in the presentation of signed certificates to the trainees that participated.

The exercise was well received and proved most successful in forging links between the participating parties.

Shadi Saleh wrote the following in appreciation:

“I would like to extend my heartfelt thank you to Michael Hardman of Precision Meters.  Michael exhibited a patience that was greatly appreciated by me and the trainees at the LSWC. Due to decades of civil unrest, many talented meter installers have not experienced in-depth training.  Michael provided tools, manuals, and invaluable up-to-date field stories of South Africa’s best practices on water meter installation and technologies.  I would like to echo the sentiment of one distinct trainee – ‘THE WATER LAB OLD MAN’ – when he told Michael ‘don’t let this visit be your last visit to Liberia’.  I hope that Precision Meters and Caspian Holdings continue this relationship for years to come.
 
With the little time we had, Michael had the opportunity to visit, and hear about various business opportunities Liberia has to offer.  It has been a long time since I have seen anyone so enthusiastic about the potential of Liberia.  I truly believe that this wonderful land will be his topic of discussion for months to come and that will hopefully bring in potential investment opportunities for both parties.  In the words of our President, Her Excellency, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, ‘Liberia is open for business’!


Finally, I can’t stress how important establishing lasting relationship is with Caspian, and I hope that this relationship is just a beginning of more consultations and sales of water meters to come not forgetting the beginning of other businesses joint ventures.
 
I look forward to seeing you soon Michael, and thank you for an exceptional training at the LWSC.
 
Ps.  I have attached photos of the memories shared for your review.  Also, my father will miss Michael’s company. I look forward to visiting South Africa soon!”

Much has been written about why or how or of what Samuel Taylor Coleridge was thinking about when he penned ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ in 1797 and published it in 1798.

It is fairly certain though that he was not concerned with the shortage of ‘drinking’ water facing the world’s population a scant 214 years later.

Scant? Well in terms of the age of humankind, 214 years is but a mere blink! What of the next 214 years or half or quarter of that? There is no doubt that will we look back and much will be written about just how wasteful, how polluting, how careless we all were in our daily use of this gift of life?

Give a thought about how much you enjoy drinking that tall, cool glass of iced water on a hot summers day, that cup of steaming coffee or tea, a refreshing shower or splash in the face, watering the garden, washing the dishes, clothing, the dog, the windows, cooking, swimming in the pool – the list is endless.

Have you ever really stopped to think about just what is involved in getting water to flow, at the twist of the wrist, from the tap?

Unfortunately, the busy lifestyle that we all lead hardly lends itself to such thoughts which only come into focus when the monthly usage bill arrives from the water supply service provider.

The question then is about the accuracy of the amount metered and charged for – surely it can’t be right! – is a fairly typical reaction just after the height of summer.

Gone are the thoughts of topping up the pool to replace evaporation, sprinklers popping up at all hours to ensure that lovely green lawn and the wonderful display of non indigenous blooming flowers and, because of the heat, washing batches and batches of dirty, sweaty clothing…

And so it is down to the water meter – certified precision meters for the water supply service provider that has to recover all the costs incurred to ‘deliver’ water at the twist of the wrist and just as important, the same certainty of precision that the user has not been unfairly over charged.

Any discrepancy in this seemingly innocuous process and there will be serious consequences over the short term – complaints by the user that will result in expensive service calls to inspect and calibrate the water meter so as to ensure its accuracy for the billing function not to be contested.

Of even greater import for the water supply service provider, for the long term, are inaccurate water meters that have collectively recorded water consumption volumes that cannot be reconciled against the amount of water measured by a bulk water meter that has measured the overall amount supplied there.

Precision Meters Ltd., are in the water flow meter business. They offer a comprehensive range of quality calibrated water meter models and mobile data capture units that meet stringent industry standard specifications and are capable of accurately measuring and recording across all possible water metering requirements – www.precisionmeters.co.za

• Nominal Flow Rate: Qn
This designates the flow rate of the meter.

• Maximum Flow Rate: Qmax.
This value designates the MAXIMUM flow rate at which the meter accuracy will be within the maximum permitted error.

• Minimum Flow Rate: Qmin.
This designates the LOWEST flow rate at which the meter accuracy will be within the MAXIMUM permitted error.

• Transitional Flow Rate: Qt.
This designates the flow rate at which is the MAXIMUM permitted error of the meter changes.

• Maximum Permitted Error: ± 5%
This is the MAXIMUM error allowance between Qmin to Qt.

• Maximum Permitted Error: ±2%
This is the MAXIMUM error allowance between Qt to Qmax

Water Meter Selection:

• All meters should be factory tested to ensure that they comply.

The size of the water meter:

NOTE: Water meters are sized based upon the expected nominal flow rate.
• This is the value Qn (see above) and is rated in cubic meters per hour (one cubic meter is 1,000 litres of water). The water meters maximum flow rate is twice the Qn.
• If the required flow rate is known then a water meter can be selected so that the required flow rate falls between the nominal and maximum flow rates.
• If the flow rate is not known then it is generally safe to select a meter of the same nominal size (DN) as the diameter of the pipe it is to be connected to.

What meter type?

When ordering please ensure that the following site requirements are known:
• Cold or hot water
• Vertical (specify rising or falling supply) or horizontal installation.
• Dry or wet dial, or pulse output.

What class of meter is required?

• The Class does not indicate the accuracy of the water meter but at what flow rate the water meter meets the common accuracy figures. These are ± 5% at the minimum flow rate and ± 2% in the meters normal range (between Qt and Qmax) for cold water meters.
• The figures for hot water meters are greater at ± 6% and ± 3% respectively.
• The higher the class designation (A to D) of water meters the higher the accuracy at very low flow rates with Class D having the highest accuracy, and class A the lowest.
• When deciding if a low flow reading is required even a class A will start to read, within its tolerance band, at a flow rate of 1.66 l/m (e.g 12.5mm basin tap will have a flow rate of between 6 and 10 l/m).
• If the only requirement is an overall indication of the amount of water used then a class A or B meter is sufficient.
• If the total of a number of secondary meters has to relate very closely to a master meter then a Class C meter should be used.

NOTE: The type of meter must be selected based on site conditions, but in all cases dry dial meters should be used in applications where the water quality is suspect, ie. contaminated or cloudy.

Laminar Flow:

• Water meter accuracy is affected by excessive water turbulence (Fig 1).
• To reduce turbulence ensure that there is a length of pipe, that is at least 10 times its diameter, free of any bends or fittings BEFORE the meter being installed and at least 5 times its diameter AFTER the meter being installed (see Fig 2).

Fig 1

Fig 2

Installation Instructions for flange type meters:

• Thoroughly flush the service line upstream of the meter to remove dirt and debris.
• If necessary thoroughly clean the flange faces by brushing with a wire brush.
• Set the meter in the line. Arrows on the side of the meter and above the outlet spud indicate the direction of flow.
• Install the meter in a horizontal plane, with the register upright, in a location accessible for reading, service and inspection.
• Insert the bolts with their heads on the meter side. i.e. With their threads pointing outwards.
• Place the flange gasket between the bolts and offer up the opposite flange carefully so that the gasket is central.
• Holding the bolt heads, fit each nut, beginning with the top most, only tightening by hand, ensuring that the flange gasket id captured in its correct position.
• When all nuts have been hand tightened and a final check is done to ensure that the flange gasket is correctly placed, proceed to tighten further – see bolt tightening guidelines below – using correctly sized spanners, preferable ring, one on the bolt head and the other for the nut.
• Once the tightening of the UP stream flanges have been completed, repeat the above for the DOWN stream flange.
• Test as below.

NOTE: To protect the meter flanges store the meter with flange protectors in place.

Bolt Tightening:

• Install all the bolts and nuts finger-tight, ensuring at all times that the flanges are aligned parallel to one another.
• Tighten the bolts in a crisscross sequence as shown in Fig. 4, using a torque wrench with 20% of the final torque appropriate to the bolts used.
• In the four remaining steps, repeat step two four times, each time increasing the torque by 20% of the final value, always using the crisscross pattern.
• After reaching the final torque, use rotational tightening until all bolts are stable at the final torque value (in general two complete times around is required).

Gasket Installation:

NOTE: The importance of proper gasket installation cannot be stressed enough.

Basic explanation of how to properly bring the flanges together in parallel and in stages once the gasket is in place and then to properly compress the gasket.
• DO NOT REUSE old gasket, or use MULTIPLE gaskets.
• Ensure that the flanges are in good condition.
• Visually examine and clean flanges, bolts, nuts and washers.
• Ensure that NO anti-seize has been used on any gasket contact surface.
• Never use any sheet gasket material.
• Replace components if necessary.
• LUBRICATE the bolts, nuts and nut bearing surfaces.
• Install the new gasket, bolts and nuts.
• Be sure gasket is properly centred.
• Check gap for uniformity.
• IMPORTANT! HAND TIGHTEN; then SNUG BOLTS UP, but DO NOT EXCEED 20% of Target Torque.
• Number bolts in cross-pattern sequence according to the appropriate sketch (Fig 3 & 4).
• Starting at the bolt No 1, use the appropriate cross-pattern tightening sequence in the sketch (Fig 3 & 4) below for Rounds 1, 2, and 3 and/or Round 4 (each sequence constitutes a “Round”).
• It is imperative to apply the correct torque value, of the bolts being used, to get the proper gasket compression.
• As a minimum, four passes are required.

NOTE: As a general rule, soft gaskets are intended for service in Class 300 and below. For applications above Class 300 consult your supplier representative.

4-bolt and 8-bolt flanges:

• LUBRICATE, HAND TIGHTEN, then SNUG up bolts.
• Round 1 – Tighten to 25% of- final torque.
• Round 2 – Tighten to 50% of final torque.
• Round 3 – Tighten to 100% of final torque.

Fig 3

Fig 4

12-bolt flanges and above:

• LUBRICATE, HAND TIGHTEN, then SNUG up bolts.
• ROUND 1 – Tighten to 20% of final torque.
• ROUND 2 – Tighten to 40% of final torque.
• ROUND 3 – Tighten to 80% of final torque.
• ROUND 4 – Tighten to 100% of final torque
• Check gap around the circumference between each of these ROUNDS, measured at every other bolt. If the gap is not reasonably uniform around the circumference, make the appropriate adjustments by selective bolt tightening before proceeding.
• FINAL ROTATIONAL ROUND – 100% of Final Torque (same as Round 4 above).
• Use circular, clockwise tightening sequence, starting with Bolt No. 1, for one complete ROUND and continue until no further nut rotation occurs at 100% of the Final Torque value for any nut.
• FINAL – RE-TORQUE. After twenty-four hours repeat ROUND 3 or 4 (above) followed by a ROTATIONAL ROUND.
• Tests show that a large percentage of the short-term bolt pre-load loss occurs within twenty-four hours after initial tightening. The FINAL, RE-TORQUE ROUND, recovers this loss. This is especially IMPORTANT for PTFE gaskets.

Torque Values:

• Bolt specifications determine the maximum torque to which they should be tightened to.
• Use reference Bolt Torque tables available from Engineering Hand Books or the Bolt supplier to determine the correct ratings for the bolts being used.
• Do not exceed these values EVER as the bolt, when over tightened, is then useless.
• Over tightening will also lead to distorting the flange/s and allow leaks to develop.
• Any lubrication used on the nuts or faces behind the nut will need to be taken into consideration when calculating the correct torque to be applied.

To test the installation for leaks:

A. Installation test with ONLY an upstream shutoff valve:
• Open shutoff valve slowly, to remove air from the meter and service line.
• Open a downstream tap slowly to allow entrapped air to escape.
• Close the downstream tap.

B. Installation test with BOTH an upstream and downstream shutoff valves:
• Close the downstream shutoff valve.
• Open the inlet shutoff slowly until meter is full of water.
• Open the outlet valve slowly until all air flushes out of meter and service line.
• Open a downstream tap slowly to allow entrapped air in the downstream pipe to escape.
• Close the downstream tap.