Smart Energy and Water Meter (SEWM): An Innovative Approach Towards Groundwater Monitoring and Management

Water scarcity, threat of water crisis, and drought have been identified as the immediate consequences of various factors, which influence the deterioration of agricultural land, water resources, environment and economy. The main factors include descent precipitation, relying on traditional irrigation methods, inefficient monitoring and controlling systems in agriculture section. Furthermore, over-pumping is the main cause for groundwater shortage and sharp decrease of water tables in arid and semi-arid regions around the World.
While there are different methods to measure, control and manage groundwater resources in the World, however most of these methods are facing common issues of typical meters such as sensitivity and vulnerability against suspended particles, air bubbles, pipes’ slope, existence of tap, bend and connections. As such, in this paper, RSA Electronics Co. presents a novel solution, which is an effective management system for monitoring and management of groundwater resources by eliminating these common issues.The core section of this solution is a smart meter, which is called Smart Energy and Water Meter (SEWM). This innovative solution is the result of continues research and development activities, patented in US in the field of measuring electricity, and water includes the following sections:

• The meter (SEWM) which is an active/reactive multi-tariff device, measures and records consumed-energy and relevant parameters required by the energy authorities.
• The SEWM also is capable of measuring and storing the amount of water withdrawal, water flow and other quantitative parameters. The meter indicates water credit, validity of start and expiry date; also, it is capable of reacting based on the client’s demand if user exceeds allowed credit water or credit time is over.
• The collected details of water wells are transferred to the control center via telecommunication infrastructure ; data processing and reporting is performed by Meter Data Management software.