Extreme changes to the climate in the 21st century is seeing an increased frequency of water shortages around the world, prompting world governments to look to “smart” managing and husbanding of water resources.

Enter Energy Management System Co. Ltd. (EMS), whose introduction of
“smart” water systems help address water shortages, promote hydro-based industries in the nation, and provide better systems aiding the government – and the public in water conservation and preventing water pollution by detecting leakage and reverse flow.

Building a Taiwanese Brand
Taiwan had to rely on imports in its early days, lacking the ability to manu-facture smart water meters and devices locally. However, foreign equipment was found unsatisfying, as it could not ade-quately meet the demands of Taiwanese water usage habits while remaining pricey.

Foreseeing that “smart” water networks would become the trend and to reduce Taiwanese dependence on foreign equipment, EMS began the design and production of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) devices.

The EMS design equips the meter with daily logs, tamper proof functions, and water leakage detection, allowing the establishment of a basic “smart” water network by just installing EMS smart water meters in a complex.

The design offers a rough estimate of the range of days that the pipes have been leaking with zero data loss during transmission.

Recognizing the fact that its meters are not connected to power outlets and would be required to run for extended periods, EMS outfitted its meters with a self-developed low power consumption mode, making the meters able to run multiple “smart” functions while running on the power provided by built-in lithium battery.

Taipei Water Department and Success in Water Conservation
EMS began collaborating with the Taipei Water Department in 2015, with its “smart” meters trialed at100 complexes and communities which were consumers of large amounts of water.

Aside from being large consumers, these complexes were targeted as they typically have complex piping systems with multiple entries and exits, making them prone to leaks which would only be detected when they receive their monthly water bill.

Similarly, EMS develops the self-de-signed Sub-metering solution, establishing a bank of meters at communities and connecting multiple meters to one com-munication interface, thus facilitating real-time meter readings record from afar. This design has been nominated for – and received – the 2018 Taiwan Excellence Awards.

Taking into consideration that such entities require a daily log record of its water use, which could facilitate the entities’ further management of water resources, EMS linked multiple meters to one communication interface, the data logger, to facilitate AMR functions.

Compared with the same period in 2015, 66 trial participants reported that after installing EMS devices, water use had visibly decreased and in total, conserved more than 80,000 cubic meters of water per month.

Residential communities trialing the EMS systems also reported a decrease
of 4985 cubic meters of water, slashing US$350 in water bill expenditure.

Collaboration with EMS saw Taipei daily water use drop by one liter per citizen compared with 2014, becoming the only city in Taiwan to experience a decrease in daily water usage. The collaboration between the Taipei Water Department and the EMS has resulted in 3 million cubic meters of water conserved.

Dormitories, Department Stores and Buildings
EMS products installed at school dormitories, department stores, and restaurants, allowed individual users, and the school or department store, to accurately calculate water usage on a per month basis.

The meters’ logs, which track the usage of water during separate periods across the day, also allow schools and other establishments to pinpoint a specific time in which water usage is aberrant, allowing the facilities to provide a quick and timely response.

Success in the Outlying Islands
EMS has also collaborated with the Lienchiang County government for Matzu Island and the surrounding areas, establishing an integrated “smart” water network overseeing all matters regarding water.

Using EMS meters, Lienchiang County was able to notify a restaurant on Nangan Island of abnormal water usage – increasing to 80 cubic meters per month from its normal 50-60 cubic meters – and deduced this situation a sign of potential leakage and reacted accordingly, reducing daily use of water by 75 cubic meters.

EMS products allowed the county government to become more effective in freshwater management.

Collaborations with Foreign Governments
Overseas, EMS has worked with Thailand, establishing 1,270 systems capable of performing AMR for water meters in factories and hospital dor-mitories – both conducted in a 2018 project – while in 2019 EMS was again tapped to install meters for high-end apartments.

The installed meter is wireless and comes with a digital signal converter, allowing the users to more effectively manage water use.

In Vietnam, EMS services were sought after by both Ho Chi Minh City in 2015 and later, Hanoi City in 2019. EMS had installed

Woltmann Water Meters at both cities and connected the meters to a wireless network, allowing the cities to observe water flow and the water pipe pressure equilibrium, allowing the city governments to quickly react should there be incidents of water pipes leakage.

Future Aspirations and Vision
EMS believes that smart meters should not simply be regarded as a means to replace manual recording of meter readings, but should instead provide a service for users.

Systems currently under development

by the EMS include the Living-water Secu-rity and Elderly water supply guarantees.
The first system could detect pipe leakage, abnormal use of water, and providing users with information on water used every day at any given period. The system can also monitor water quality –

clarity of the water, the residual amount of chlorine in the water, and its pH levels.
The information provided by the system would allow users to fix leaking pipes, provide a referenced point on water usage habits and other information, which could prompt users to become more con-scious about water use.
The second system is more focused on either nursing homes or for individuals with elderlies living with them.
The system – with similar functions as described above – has an additional function allowing the system to inform the aged individual’s children, or the man-agement committee of the apartment in which they live, when an abnormalcy of

water use in the elderly’s unit has been detected., as extended periods of water use – or unuse – are usually indicators of inconvenience or life threatening caused by emergency besetting the elderly individual.

SELLING POINTS

• Conserving over 80,000 cubic me-ters of water during the trial period by detecting water leaks
• Applying the built-in function of reverse flow detection, EMS assists utilities to avoid water pollution caused by complicated piping system
• Allowing users to browse instant water consumption data with their mobile devices conveniently, so as to aware users of the water use amount and give an incentive for water saving