HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) will be installing as many as 120 gateway towers in and around Hyderabad, covering about 600 sq km that will enable it to use IoT-enabled devices for accurate meter reading and prompt billing.
Once in place, the technology called ‘Long Range Wide Area Network’ (LoRaWAN) will help the Water Board transfer data from end users to its server seamlessly. This will ensure accurate and instant water meter reading, instant billing with timely delivery of bills, a manhole monitoring system as well as monitoring of water reservoirs on an hourly basis.
Of the proposed 120 towers, 55 to 60 have already been established and the remaining will be installed in a month or two. These towers will transmit data on an hourly basis from smart meters, reservoir water level, asset tracking, septic tanker cleaners, STP monitoring, tracking of water tankers and manhole monitoring system to the head office.
“Hyderabad will be the first city in the country to implement LoRaWAN,” HMWS&SB managing director M Dana Kishore told Express. He said that after the successful implementation of the pilot project in the Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar division, the Water Board has decided to extend it to other divisions in the GHMC limits.
“The project will not only ensure accurate and prompt billing and better monitoring of reservoirs, it will also be cost-effective. It is also more reliable compared to traditional cellular networks; costing barely one-tenth, and will ensure better battery life,” Dana Kishore said.
The total cost of the project is around Rs 3 crore. Since the technology runs on HMWS&SB’s own network, it need not depend on other telecoms services, Dana Kishor said. The towers are being installed in the HMWS&SB offices by vendors who have been given access to install gateways to cover the entire city service area.
Board to draw additional 10 MGD of water
As mercury levels keep rising, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has decided to pump additional 10 million gallons (MGD) of water per day from Akkampally reservoir to meet the extra demand during this month. HMWS&SB Managing Director M Dana Kishore told Express said that an additional 10 MGD will be supplied to the consumers as consumption is more this month.