Midnight detectives do their bit to help conserve Eurobodalla’s water

Eurobodalla Council has been helping local schools and businesses identify and locate water leaks with help from a data logger device.

Data loggers are attached to the main water meter to track water at a site and help identify both leaks and patterns of usage.

Council’s business water efficiency officer Ciska White said it had been reassuring during COVID closures to know that Council would be alerted to potential water leaks even when schools and business were closed.

“Data loggers really come into their own during periods where no water is being used at a site, such as overnight or during school holidays,” she said.

“We set up alert systems so that if a school is using, for example, 20 litres of water a minute at 1am when no one is there, we probably have a water leak of some kind.

“We were alerted to a couple of leaks at sites that were closed due to COVID in April where leaks may have gone undetected for quite some time had it not been for the data loggers.

“Together with local schools and businesses we’ve saved many thousands of litres of fresh water from going down the drain for no reason every year.”

Ms White said some of the leaks might have been detected eventually by staff or patrons, good maintenance schedules or unexpected quarterly bills, but the data loggers made early detection so easy.

“They also give schools and businesses the opportunity to become more engaged with their own water-use patterns and look for ways to conserve water through staff and customer education,” she said.

“If you don’t have a data logger, you can also check for leaks at your home or businesses by taking a meter reading at the end of the day and then again first thing in the morning.”

Local accommodation businesses can contact Ms White to access a range of water-saving education stickers that can be used to help visitors to conserve water.

For more information on Eurobodalla’s water, visit our water and sewer pages. To obtain the education stickers or to discuss how Council can help your business improve water efficiency contact Ms White directly at [email protected]