Investigating the Effect of Replacing Domestic Water Meters in Reducing the Apparent Losses, Case Study (Region 3 of Water and Wastewater Company of Isfahan Province)

Performance accuracy of water meters have a special effect on apparent losses and non-revenue water. The purpose of this paper is investigating the effect of replacing faulty water meters on income generation of water and wastewater companies & encouraging them to replace water meters. 198 water meters from 2 old subscription zones from region 3 of Isfahan were chosen as a sample & replaced in summer 2020. The average monthly consumption one period after replacement was compared with the similar monthly period in last year/years. The results were validated with the results of laboratory test of a number of old water meters of different brands. 35% of water meters had increase in consumption, 13% had decrease in consumption and the average of mean monthly consumption has increased to 26.55%. water meters with the brands 4 had the most negative error. Replacement of water meters reduce the low consumption class and increase the high consumption and misuse class which causes the increase of %67.83 in water rate. The results were generalized to 5928 subscribes of region 3 with over 20 years old water meters. Payback period for replacing all old water meters with the size of 0.5 and 0.75 inch was 4.3 years.