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Water Meter Installation in flats / Calculating Charges - Consultant Required: Bangalore

Submitted by rejeeb on March 22, 2010 - 15:44

I am from Bangalore, we are considering to install 'Water Meters' in every Flat in our apartment complex.This will help to us monitor the water usage and charge based on the consumption. (hopefully this will spur water savings!)

I came across few threads in this forum regarding this topic, but was not able to glean full details. We've the following doubts:

  1. What is the price of a water meter?
  2. Is there any yearly maintenance cost involved?
  3. Any Bangalore agencies who provides installation services?
  4. What is the typical charging model? (based on per litre or slab wise)

Thanks,
Rejeeb

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Comments

1. Dear Rajeeb, First of all,

Submitted by Anita Bhatt on March 28, 2010 - 20:36.

Dear Rajeeb,

First of all, your interest in getting this done in the apartment complex you live in is really commendable. In all probability the water consumption has exceeded whatever the bore wells can supply (possibly the bore wells have gone dry), making it necessary to rely on water tankers for supplies. With summer coming, water scarcity is the norm and water tanker suppliers have all raised their rates making tanker water a very expensive proposition. In the last 5 to 7 years that I have been involved in working with domestic water users of water, I have found that approximately 20% to 30% of the users in an apartment complex account for almost 80% of the total water used. In an apartment, as a matter of standard practice, builders install piping that supplies water to an apartment with any where from 2 to 4 points of entry into an apartment. This is quite different from an individual house/bungalow where the water connection is at one single point, i.e the underground water collection sump from which water is pumped to an over head tank for supply to the house. In most cases it is a BWSSB connection with a water meter which measures the water consumed and for which the BWSSB sends monthly bills.

             The above described methods of providing water into a residential unit and being able to measure it are completely different. It is feasible only in a house/bungalow while it is difficult in an apartment since it would involve installing a water meter at each point of entry into the flat. Assuming the pipes are of 0.5 inch size, the approximate cost of each water meter may be up to Rs.1500/-each.Total cost would be Rs.1500/- multiplied by number of entry points. Invariably, the total cost per apartment puts off the residents/owners of apartments who drop the matter. Unfortunately, the water availability is declining each year and apartment complexes have to install some system that will make it possible to have a system that will allow water supply to be monitored, measured and controlled.


You can contact me for clarifications on the phone number I have given.

Regards

S.S.Ranganathan
Advisor,
Ion Exchange
Bangalore
Mob: 9343734229

2. Water meters- Names of some suppliers in Bangalore

Submitted by ss.ranganathan on October 16, 2010 - 09:51.

Many people have asked for names and contact details of suppliers of water meters. I am giving below names of a couple of companies:

  • Itron India, manufactures 1.2 million water meters per annum.They make both domestic water meters as well as industrial water meters ranging is size from 15mm to 40mm for domestic and from 15mm to 150mm for industrial.

Contact: Mr.Venkatesh - 98452 18310 www.itron.com

  • Y.A. Industrial Suppliers, No.162/7,S.P.Road,Bangalore-560002

Contact persons: Mr.Yusuf/Mr.Murtaza Land lines:22236483/41143747

Mobile:98860 80952/94483 51319

S.S.Ranganathan

3. Water meter installation in flat comlex

Submitted by Rajeev Kumar (not verified) on October 29, 2011 - 11:47.

Dear Mr. Ranganthan

I have a query about installing water meter in a flat complex as listed below:

1. Could we install water meter in the flat complex (inlet line)

2. Where could we place the water meter so that it is convenient to take meter reading monthly (as and when required)

3. We have 5 storey flat complex consisting 4 units in each block. Please tell us the exact location of meter fixing.

4.What is the cost of Elester water meter  (15 mm) including the cost of pipe line. (Water to be supplied from over head water tank which has been installed at roof terrace.)

Please reply so that we could plan for installing water meter in flat complex as soon as possible.

 

Regards

Rajeev Kumar

4. Further Details needed

Submitted by prakar on April 23, 2010 - 13:40.

Dear Mr Ranganathan,

 

It goes without saying that the problem described here is very widespread without any institutional solution in place. I found an interesting article describing one solution:

http://www.thehindu.com/pp/2006/07/08/stories/2006070800500100.htm

I am trying to locate those people. In the mean time, if you have specific information about which water meters are known to work well for domestic use, I will be appreciative.

My apartment complex is in Secunderabad, AP

 

5. Metering water supply to apartments.

Submitted by ss.ranganathan on April 26, 2010 - 08:53.

Thanks for the link Prakar.It was good to read about the residents of an apartment who have actually installed a system with water meters to monitor and measure water consumption. I will also try and find the people involved.

Water meters that my company used to buy regularly when I was still employed were from two manufacturers and I know them by only brand names " KAYCEE" and "CAPSTAN". You will probably find them in big Hardware shops. If I find any addresses I will post the info as a further reply to you.

Regards

S.S.Ranganathan

S.S.Ranganathan

6. This is a great pieace of

Submitted by rejeeb on April 26, 2010 - 15:55.

This is a great pieace of information. If we can the details of this implementation that would be a great help for our community.

7. metering water supply to individual apartments

Submitted by ss.ranganathan on May 10, 2011 - 17:49.

Dear Rejeeb,

A couple of weeks ago, indiawaterportal carried the article/blog of an apartment dweller who has been able to successfully install water meters for water consumed by each of the 32 flats in his apartment complex.I have exchanged e mails with this person and also spoken to him at length.His is a great success story and I now understand how this was done.If you need my help you are welcome to contact me.I also urge you to read about it on indiawaterportal.

Regards

S.S.Ranganathan

Water Management Consultant

9343734229

S.S.Ranganathan

8. Metering of water consumption

Submitted by Vinodkumar Paranji Srirama (not verified) on September 2, 2011 - 08:41.

Hello,

I live in an apartment in Bangalore. 

52 apartments in all (4 stories)

2 borewells - gone dry - now showing life after RWH for the last 3 years

approx 11 tankers * 5000 ltrs capacity bought from 2009-2010 per day

Decided to install Water meter for each apartment - initial opposition over come

had to redo plumbing - did a Proof of concept - and then couple of engineers from our apartment  proposed solution with our own supervision

Each apartment had atleast 3 entry points shared with others 

consolidated as a single entry point for each apartment.

implemented the solution by May 2010

Tanker consumption reduced by ~ 30% - the project cost was about 3L and we believe at the rate of

4 tankers * Rs. 300 per day

we have already recovered the cost of project from an overall stand point.

though some residents have spent money on water meter to only pay more now because consumption has been higher!

this has forced people to conserve and reuse water.

we are enjoying a successful implementation in our apartment. we went for flow meteres with 30 ltrs per hour sensitivity so we could measure leaks and force people to correct the same - because it is their money which is leaking if not fixed!

accountability is the key to success!

Rgds

Vinod

9. Hi Vinod, Really excited to

Submitted by rejeeb on September 3, 2011 - 06:51.

Hi Vinod,

Really excited to hear your success story. If possible I would like to get more details about the implementation.

Could you please share your contact details in my mail address "rejeeb[at]gmail.com"

Thx

Rejeeb

10. metering water supply to individual apartments

Submitted by ss.ranganathan on September 3, 2011 - 09:47.

Dear Vinod,

I think your mail was in reply to my mail dated May 2011.Yours is the second case of success in metering water supplied to individual apartments.Congratulations on your success.You are the second case of an apartment complex having succeeded in doing this entirely on your own.I have referred to an earlier case(some time in April 2011) in my earlier mail where it was an effort entirely by the residents with one of them taking the lead in doing it.

Please share the details of how you achieved the individual metering by posting it on "indiawaterportal".It will be a big help to many apartment owners' associations in Bangalore who would like to do the same thing.I would also appreciate your giving me your address and contact number as I would like to speak to you and find out how you did it.

Thanking you in anticipation.

S.S.Ranganathan

9343734229.

S.S.Ranganathan

11. Installation of water meters

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 10:22.

Dear Vinod,

Really great to hear that water meter installtion is a great success. Kindly request you to share the contact details of the plumbers/agency who installed the water meters in your apartments.

We are planning to go for water meter installation for 16 flats 4 storey building. It would be great if you could share the details.

Regards,

Prashanth Pai

prashanth.vpai@gmail.com

12. Water Saving through water meter

Submitted by thecommunityengineer on April 28, 2010 - 10:36.

Before coming to a conclusion of saving water through water meter, I think you will need to think of the economics and psychology behind the results. The success of this initiative will depend on the complete cooperation of all the flat owners. If this initiative has been decided because of wastage of water by few flat owners and there has been no change in utilisation of water by these owners even after advice, then the result you will get from installation of water meter is going to be entirely differrent. This is because of the mind set behind the use of water and the incentive to the people after installation of water meters.

Calculate whether the incentive is big enough to trigger a water saving measure by these owners. If the incentive is not big enough then this could have a negative effect, because then the mind set would be "I am paying for the extra what I use". The practical problem here is that you cannot decide to have too big incentive for people who save water, because water is still cheap around here.

13. I also found out a similar

Submitted by rejeeb on April 28, 2010 - 12:03.

I also found out a similar story in Chennai.
http://chennai.metblogs.com/2006/05/24/water-scarcity-and-water-meters/

14. Water Saving through water meter

Submitted by ATS Submetering on June 4, 2010 - 17:40.

Hi Rajeeb


We do have experience in the Sub-metering and billing. In case you have not found answers to what you are looking for, I can help you.


Please feel free to contact me


Vinod
AnCenergy Technology Service
Bangalore
Mob : 89040 68003
Land : 080 41642282

Regards ATS Sub-metering and Billing Team

15. Water Meter Supplies

Submitted by moaiyad on June 22, 2010 - 15:02.

Dear Sir

We are water meter dealers, We are supplying water meters to Apartments, Industries, STP etc. We can offer you the requirement , meantime the size is reqd & also if you desire we can inspect the site of installation & give general guidelines to go about it. Sometimes conventional approach may not be suitable for pre installed pipe lines, ideally the meters should be fixed at the time of commisioning the water line  

16. Supply of water meters

Submitted by ss.ranganathan on August 28, 2010 - 09:42.

Dear Moaiyad,

I have many people asking for information on where they can buy water meters.Can you mail me your business address and contact numbers?You can mail it to me at : ss.ranganathan@gmail.com

Thanks & regards

S.S.Ranganathan

Water Management Consultant

93437 34229

S.S.Ranganathan

17. Water meter

Submitted by Santanu Ray (not verified) on September 12, 2011 - 14:26.

Dear Mr. Moaiyad,

We at Himagiri Paradise, Kaggadasapura are going for water meter installation for each apartment. We are in the process of deciding on meters and plumbers.

Can you help us? If you can, please call me.

Regards,

Santanu.

9886072330

18. Installation of water meters for 16 flats

Submitted by ppai2114 on December 9, 2011 - 10:53.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

We are planning to install the water meter for 16 flats/ apartments. Kindly request you to provide the contact details so that we could proceed further.

Regards,

Prashanth Pai (prashanth.vpai@gmail.com)

 

19. Water meter installation in flats

Submitted by Jay Bharat (not verified) on December 12, 2011 - 05:49.

We have a total of 50 flats in our Ittiana RRv apartment, Ramamurthy nagar,

Wanted to know how much cost will come for install water meter.

jaybharatjay@gmail.com; 9844542127

20. Water meters

Submitted by Linda Knox (not verified) on January 4, 2012 - 04:08.

I look forward to hearing from you as we can address all your meter needs. 


Linda  828 206-5505

21. This is a great piece of

Submitted by Maud Ockley on July 21, 2010 - 17:48.

This is a great piece of information.

Thank you!

22. few tips to choose water meters.

Submitted by Venkatesh (not verified) on April 26, 2011 - 13:51.

Dear Friends,

I have been associated with water meters for quite few years and would like to provide few tips while selecting good quality water meters. for sub metering purposes.

  1. The residential water meters are available in 15mm and 20mm and are available in two types. Single jet and Multijet technologies.
  2. In single jet, the water will flow without any obstruction in case any dirt and hence will be safe for sub metering. In Multijet meters, the meters are likely to choke in case dirt is allowed with water particularly in mansoon.
  3. Hence a single jet Class B should be preferred.
  4. An ISI meter get the ISI marking on just testing the accuracy of the meter under different flow rates and is not tested for another test called life cycle test which is much vigorous test. In life cycle test, the filed conditions are created in a lab like water flow and stop for one lac cycles and then the accuracy is again tested. If the meter has same accuracy after this test, the meter is really good quality. An ISI marked meter need not necessarily pass this test.
  5. Hence quality of just ISI meter is always a suspect.
  6. For assurance on quality a marking called EEC marking is available with few manufacturers in India. These meters will have passed this life cycle test and hence can be more reliable.
  7. It is found that by sub metering the water will be saved almost up to 25% which is a huge saving on apartments who depend on tankers.

Any further queries, please contact me on 98452 18310.

23. How to measure reading of each meter in apartment

Submitted by Srinivasan (not verified) on June 4, 2011 - 20:06.

Hi,

We are also thinking of placing water meter in our apartment, we are having 300 apartments and usual problem of multiple line going into one particular flat and other stuff... but even if we overcome these chanlleges stilll one more practical problem which I foresee is how can you do meter reading say every month when meter is installed outside an apartment but at entry point to the flat (which is at a height). how do you guys manage this? does anyone come across this problem? because we cannot install all meter just outside at terrace itself...

24. sub metering

Submitted by Venkatesh (not verified) on June 6, 2011 - 10:17.

Dear Mr. Srinivasan,

This is very common problem in most of the apartment complexes. There is no one entry point of water to each flat. There could be even more than 2 entry points. Under the circumstances there are only two options.

1. Change the plumbing to enable single entry point or

2. Install as many meters as entry points.

First option is extremely difficult which involves huge cost. Only second option can be done to measure actual consumption. Eventhough there are remote meter reading technologies readily available in India, the cost will be very high which cannot be borne by an apartment of 300 blocks.

Meter raadings can be taken on a fixed day every month or once in two months. That is the only way. Every month the flat owner has to provide the data to owner's association. This can be cross checked once in 3 months by the association.

Regards

 

Venkatesh

9845218310

25. Reading meter

Submitted by Ansuman Pani (not verified) on June 10, 2011 - 15:58.

Dear Venkatesh,

Could you pleas make the point clear about how the meter reading has to be done in high rise apartments where there are multiple entries to the flat. Does it mean the water meters are located inside the flat or some one has to climb to get the reading.

 

Also is there any agency available who specialises in this who can come to the sit and do the meter installation . Please let us know.

Best regrds

Ansuman

9341218381

26. Meter installation

Submitted by Venkatesh (not verified) on June 11, 2011 - 15:03.

Dear Sir,

The meters have to be installed at each entry point of the water for each flat.

There should be some outlet/opening/window to read the meter from each flat from where thereading has to be taken. Going up by ladder will not be possible. ( The remote reading facility is available with us but would cost lot of money).

There are couple of contractors who are basically plumbing contractors who can be hired for installing the meters.

Regards

Venkatesh

9845218310

27. Installing water meters

Submitted by Linda Knox (not verified) on January 4, 2012 - 04:14.

The meters are read remotely, the install is very easy and there is one in each unit. Metering makes it fair to the customer and  increases your bottom line. We are an american based company specializing in water meter installtion and billing reading. I am interested in speaking with you regarding this service.
Linda

28. Water Meter Installation

Submitted by Jayessh (not verified) on July 10, 2011 - 17:08.

We are working on similar solutions in Mumbai.

China they have single entry at ground level (just like electric meters)

Meters are available, can be installed in vertical lines.

We have wired solution, meter reading device can be installed in the apartment.

Jayessh.

09224364620.

29. Large apt complex - water meters?

Submitted by Sreenivas (not verified) on September 19, 2011 - 10:40.

Are there success stories of water meter installations in large apartment complexes (500+ flats with 10+ floors) where there are multiple entry points into flats? 

I'm seeing the following issues:

a) The cost is huge

b) The meter reading becomes difficult unless there is a way of reading the meters from a central location

Are there any systems that cater to installation of 1500+ water meters and automatic aggregation of these meter readings from a central point? What would be the total cost involved?

30. Remote water meters - Cost

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 28, 2011 - 14:33.

Please let me know how much the remote reading water meter costs in Bangalore

31. Water Meter

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on October 26, 2011 - 10:40.

Kindly send the following water meters to enable us to quote the same to the party along with price list and product catalogue.

1) Elster make Water Meter  DN: 32   QTY. 10 NOS/

2)           - D0 -                  DN: 80   QTY. 2 NO.

3)           - DO -                  DN:150   QTY. 5 NOS.

4)           - DO -                  DN: 100  QTY. 1 NO.

5)           - DO -                  DN: 250  QTY. 1 NO.

Regards,

P.S. Aji Kumar

MOB: 09826554333

32. Need help on installing water meters

Submitted by Uday Bhaskar Pratti (not verified) on December 19, 2011 - 15:22.

Hi,

I live in an apartment complex with 96 residential blocks in Hyderabad. We are facing severe water problem and all our bore wells went dry inspite of us implementing rain water harvesting solution 3 years back. Part of it is attributed to the scanty rains last year.

We are currently living on the supply through tankers and this ended up costing us close to Rs 2000 per month per residential flat irrespective of the usage which I feel is not in good faith.

To help curtail the usage and letting the users pay for what they use, we thought of going for installing the meters at all entry points of flat.

I need some pointers on what kind of meters to be used and who to contact for the same.

Appreciate your responses

Thanks,

Uday Pratti

9030006311

33. Water flows per unit for a water meter

Submitted by Alok Ranjan Nayak (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 11:31.

Dear Sir,
I have to charge my consumers as per the amount of water consumed by them.
And I want install water meter at their residence. But I dont know, the amount of water flows per unit .
So can you please help me find out the amount of water per unit for various type of meters.
Thanks
Alok
9437220206

34. Sub metering

Submitted by Venkatesh (not verified) on January 16, 2012 - 17:12.

Mr. Alok,

For sub metering of any residential applications, a 1/2" single jet meter should be alright since it does not hold small contaminations in the meter and the meter has a nominal flow rate of 1500 lph which is more than enough. Nominal flow rate is the flow rate at which the meter gives good accuracy.

Regards

Venkatesh
9845218310

35. Water usage

Submitted by Linda Knox (not verified) on January 13, 2012 - 08:32.

An average person uses 60 gallons of water per day, an average of 1800 gallons per month per person. You will need a residential size meter 5/8 and 3/4. This will carry the flow for a unit. Metering the individual units will increase your cash flow and cut your usage by 30%. 

I would be happy to help you with more if you need my assistance.  I have 26 years of experience. 

Linda Knox

36. Regarding water meter for small apartment complex

Submitted by Dr Sudhir Pudi (not verified) on January 29, 2012 - 18:14.

Dear Sir,

I am living in a complex with 6 flats. Due to escalating water bills we are planning to redo our plumbing which is 15yrs old now. We are planning to divide the common water tank into 6 tanks and put a water meter in each outlet, so that the residents will reduce water wastage.

However we have no experience in this matter. Also few of the residents are apprehensive about the meters and are claiming high failure rates.

1. I request any of the experts to kindly clarify whether this is true. What are the common causes of failure?

2. Also is it possible to detect leaks such as toilet flush leaks, and leakage from joints which are of low flow rate type with metering?

3. Is there any brand and type of meter which is better than others?

4. I have read elsewhere that air flowing through the water meter causes causes erroneous reading. If this is true, all my reading are likely to be wrong as my pipes are almost always filled with air rather than water.

I thank you in advance.

Regards,
Sudhir P

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6.22-2011.07.01-06