Smart water meter system for user-centric consumption measurement

Water scarcity and water stress issues pose a serious threat to the global population. The traditional way of manual meter reading is furthermore inconvenient and time consuming, and it wastes resources. This method is also unable to manage the sustainable water resources effectively since it requires efficient, accurate and reliable monitoring techniques that enable the utilities sector and consumers to know the level of water consumption in real-time. Real-time smart water meters that can be monitored by the user are essential and constitute a key component of the water management system. A smart water-monitoring system will make users mindful of their water consumption and help them to reduce their water usage. At the same time, users will be alerted to abnormal water usage to reduce water loss. This paper introduces the water management system based on wireless sensor networks (WSN). The system uses the IEEE 802.15.4 standard embedded in ContikiOS LibCoAP as an open-source application to create a robust and intelligent system. Visualisation and monitoring of the system is achieved following the development of a web-based system and through Pandora FMS.