Remote Water Meter Reading and Leak Detection

The volume of connected meters brought by remote metering often underpins the economic balance of Connected Object Networks within Connected and Sustainable Territory projects. But for that balance not to come at the expense of network operators, the right network sizing must be found by taking into account the relatively low criticality of remote metering data: one successful transmission per month is enough to guarantee the minimum monthly billing objective.

Network densification comes at a later stage, as usage is pooled and data analysis is consolidated.

Understanding the day-to-day routine of staff dedicated to manual water meter reading, their travel constraints, and points of friction or safety risk, helps prioritize which zones should be switched over to remote reading first.

Counter-intuitively, it can be more cost-effective to prioritize deployment in an isolated hamlet that generates high travel costs, rather than in a dense urban center that is easier to read manually.

Remote metering saves significant time compared with manual reading, by reducing or even eliminating a time-consuming and sometimes hazardous task, and makes it possible to reallocate staff to other missions such as leak resolution or user relations.

But to deliver on its promise, it also requires staff who are comfortable working with data, able to analyze and challenge the information reported. Selecting the right profiles and providing training are key steps.

The resources available to water sector players vary widely depending on their size. While delegated operators and large utilities have comprehensive information systems, smaller syndicates managing “only” a few hundred water meters are generally less well equipped, both technically and in terms of staffing.

For these players, a platform capable of adapting to existing resources and processing data upstream to make it easier to interpret is an additional success factor.

Equipping meters with remote-reading modules, connecting them to a low-bandwidth network, structuring the data, and providing field staff with intuitive dashboards… only makes sense if, downstream, the process for handling data and alerts is embedded in the day-to-day work of the relevant teams.

Scripting how alerts are handled and managing acknowledgements are just as important as configuring dashboards and alert thresholds, and they form part of an ongoing improvement process to effectively combat leaks, both at the subscriber level and on the network.

Keeping a history of subscriber consumption and billing data is part of daily life for water managers. However, the question of data portability at the end of a delegation contract (DSP) or when renewing a software contract can lead to significant extra costs, or even technical impossibilities.

Using an open platform with an Open Source core guarantees the local authority the portability and reversibility of its data, in line with the Data Act in force since September 2025.