Smart meter

Western Cape schools saving millions of litres thanks to Smart Meter device

Western Cape schools have been doing their bit to help save water. It seems one device has made a massive difference. We have the details.

Smart meter

The Cape Water Crisis is showing no signs of letting up as we begin to enter the Christmas period. With residents across the province doing all they can to save water, the Western Cape Department of Education has revealed details about how local schools have cut back.

Minister of Education in the Western Cape, Debbie Schafer, released a statement on Monday detailing her visit to Hector Peterson Secondary School in Kraaifontein.

Schafer says her department’s schools have saved 7,629,956 litres and an estimated R375 929. How? well, thanks to “smart water metering”

“I am most impressed and very excited about the progress that the school has made since Bridgiot installed the revolutionary Smart Water Meter System. The Smart Meter System allows consumers to track and manage their water consumption in real time.

This has helped the school to cut water consumption from a whopping 47 000 litres a day to 9 000 litres – a daily saving of 38 000 litres. This is a monthly saving of around R50 000 a month.

In total, the school has recorded saving of R166 904 and 3,650 090 litres over the last three months.”

The Smart Meter System was developed by the University of Stellenbosch, who started Bridgiot to support the installations. The Western Cape Department of Educated (WCED) has partnered with, Shoprite, Bridgiot and Cape Talk in the campaign aimed at saving water at schools.

Schafer says she has been impressed by how students and schools have taken to the system.

“The learners have really embraced the new system, with one learner proudly admitting to being the project’s ‘accounting officer’. I am also impressed at how the school has used the system to educate learners on water saving.

Following the success in reducing water consumption at this school, the WCED joined the Smart Water Meter Challenge campaign to expand the number of schools receiving the digital water metering system from 100 to 270.”

Schafer says that over 10 million litres of water could be saved per day if each of the (soon to be) 353 schools reach the saving levels of Hector Peterson Secondary.

The Department says their longer-term goal is to install these metre systems at every school in the province.

You can learn more about the system in the video below.