From smart meters to smart decisions: web-based support for the water efficient household

Smart water metering technologies for residential buildings offer, in principle, great opportunities for sustainable urban water management. However, much of this potential is as yet unrealized. Despite several ICT solutions having already been deployed aiming at optimum operations on the water utilities side (e.g. real time control for water networks, dynamic pump scheduling etc.), little work has been done to date on the consumer side. This paper presents two closely related web platforms targeting primarily the household end user. The first one, termed the household analytics platform, enables consumers to monitor and control, on a real-time basis, the water demand of their household providing feedback not only on the total water consumption and relevant costs but also on the efficiency (or otherwise) of specific indoor and outdoor uses. At the same time, the second platform, the eLearning platform aims to support and motivate users to understand and change their water consumption through a simple and gradually engaging educational process. This paper discusses the rationale, structure and technologies upon which these platforms have been based and presents an early prototype of the various tools, applications and facilities. It is suggested that the combined strength of such developments is in closing the gap between technology availability and usefulness to end users and could help both the uptake of smart metering and awareness raising, leading, potentially, to significant reductions of urban water consumption.