Intelligent water leakage management system implementation to reduce the number of non-revenue water in Sukabumi City, West Java, Indonesia
WI.Plat, Perumda Air Minum Tirta Bumi Wibawa (TBW), and PT Supra have signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the building of an intelligent water leakage management system in Sukabumi City, Indonesia.
The MoU is for the contribution of addressing water leakage issue of Sukabumi region using innovative technology of WI.Plat in cooperation with Supra by applying technology to Perumda TBW. WI.Plat is an in-house venture of K-water, the governmental agency for comprehensive water resource development and providing public and industrial water in South Korea.
WI.Plat collaborates with PT Supra, an integrated water resources management company originating from Indonesia, as the main partner for the development of WI.Plat technology in introducing non-revenue water (NRW) management technology to drinking water companies (PDAM) in Indonesia. Supra is committed to being able to introduce and implement NRW management assisted by WI.Plat technology to reduce the level of NRW in Indonesia with a faster and more efficient system.
The first pilot project will be implemented in Sukabumi City, West Java, Indonesia in collaboration with Perumda Water Drinking Tirta Bumi Wibawa in two district metered areas (DMAs) with a total of 4,000 connections.
SangHoon Cha, CEO of WI.Plat, said: “The importance of securing water resources is being emphasised more than ever due to the frequent occurrence of abnormal climates due to climate change. WI.Plat is a start-up with innovative technology to manage water leak in water supply system.
“As additional water resources can be secured from water leak reduction, water leakage management technology is essential for addressing the challenge of climate change. Through this technical cooperation between WI.Plat, Supra and Perumda TBW, three parties will try to solve the water leak problem of Sukabumi in West Java, Indonesia, and help it become a smart city resistant to climate change. It is hoped that the case of Sukabumi will serve as an example of technical cooperation and help build smart cities in Indonesia.”
The pilot project is mainly focused on adopting technology that enables data-based digital water leakage management by applying intelligent water leakage management system to the water management field of Sukabumi region as part of Creative Technology Solution (CTS) programme supported by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
WI.Plat technology makes it easier for drinking water companies to be able to find water leak points, which, in turn, can help PDAMs to be able to carry out repair work efficiently to improve service to customers and save water and protect valuable water resources.
Perumda TBW Sukabumi City, which has around 20,000 water connections, continues to strive to improve service quality by carrying out various efforts and developments, including to reduce the number of NRW or unbilled water. Sukabumi City with a fairly high level of water loss will be the site of a pilot project to implement an NRW management system with the target of reducing water loss in two DMAs.
This programme will be held for 12 months, with the target of reducing the minimum night flow rate by 30% in the DMAs that are the pilot project areas. The water loss reduction team formed by the three companies will jointly detect water leaks using the NELOW application and the M1 sensor with WI.Plat technology connected via a smartphone. The team will work to find leaks and then carry out computational analysis through artificial intelligence to determine water points and make efforts to repair leaks. Furthermore, the parties will conduct a performance assessment to evaluate the level of NRW after the pilot project is carried out.
