Times of Israel Smart metering – the ability to constantly
monitor usage 24/7 – has come to the ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak in
central Israel. But those meters take a rest on Shabbat, thanks to an
Israeli water tech company, Arad Technologies.
“Our ‘glatt [super-kosher] water meter’
overcomes the problem of a smart water meter operating on Shabbat,” said
Tal Tzur, VP Software & IT at Arad. “It allows us to install modern
equipment in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods to help save water, prevent
leaks, and save money for residents.”
It also alleviated a situation, said Tzur, in
which residents of places like Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood,
Safed, and Bnei Brak were planning to do without tap water on Shabbat in
order to avoid violating the sanctity of the holy day.
While water metering sounds like an old-tech
industry, it is actually on the leading edge of technology. With wifi
connections and GPS chips built into meters, servers can now gobble up
endless reams of data about water usage. While in the old days, the
water company would send out a meter-reader to see how much water a
household or business used, smart monitoring technology allows the water
utility to keep a constant eye out on water usage.
“Water is more expensive than ever, and
ensuring a steady supply of clean water is more of a challenge, as
populations grow and industry expands,” Arad vice president Rami Ziv
told The Times of Israel on the sidelines of a huge WaTec (Water Technology and Environment Control) exhibition in Tel Aviv this week. “Smart metering is an important way to get water usage under control.”
With a smart meter installed at a water
facility, a utility can keep an eye on field installations and get an
alert if water usage goes above a certain level. The same holds true for
a home user; if water usage seems too high, the utility can contact the
customer and ask them if a faucet was left on accidentally, or help to
uncover an unknown leak. Smart meters can also detect if someone is
tampering with the water infrastructure – illegally tapping into it in
order to steal water, for example.[...]
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