Background:
A 12-building, 81-unit garden-style property implemented a NOWi Building Monitor on its low-flow water meter. The system monitors flows up to 735 GPH, while higher flows pass through a high-flow meter not currently monitored. Even with this limitation, the monitor identified leaks costing approximately $5,176/month, with the actual figure likely higher. Due to this detected leak, NOWi’s team remotely worked with the onsite team to triage the leaks.
Highlights:
💵 $24,092.64 per month worth of water waste detected and localized
🏃 Only 2 hours to triage and localize leaks. With Toilet Monitors it would have been instant.
📅 The payback period for the devices is only a couple of days.
Triage Steps Taken:
- Turned off the water supply to all buildings.
- Shut off the main water line to the property.
- Checked for ongoing water usage with the mainline off.
- Turned the mainline back on and tested water usage one building at a time.
- Monitored where the usage for each building leveled out before moving to the next building.
Findings:
Leak Between Water Meter and Shutoff Valve:
- Water usage persisted when the mainline valve was closed, indicating a leak in this area.
- The leak's location is unexpected, as there is minimal space between the meter and the valve. No visible water or pooling was observed, suggesting the water may be draining underground.
Building Usage Levels:
- Individual building assessments showed ongoing higher water usage in several buildings. For example, one building demonstrated the highest usage at 381 GPH.
- Total baseline and building-specific leaks combined resulted in 1,521 GPH of water loss, equating to $24,092.64 per month in wasted water costs.
Conclusion:
The investigation identified significant water loss due to leaks between the water meter and shutoff valve, as well as across multiple buildings. These findings provided clarity on the extent of water wastage, allowing the property management team to take informed steps toward resolution. The findings also localized one leak between the water meter and the main shut-off valve and identified which buildings were the main cause of the leaks. The total triage time took 2 hours to complete. If toilet monitors were originally implemented, this would have taken no time.
This was all accomplished using 1 building monitor. Fixing these leaks will pay for the device in just a couple of days.