The process of installing smart meters on agricultural wells has slowed down due to rising prices, deputy CEO of the Iran Water Resources Management Company said.
Referring to the benefits of the meters, Mohammad Hajrasouliha said: “Installation of the meters prevents overdraft from authorized wells in the farming sector.” However, “With increase in the price of steel and equipment used in manufacturing smart meters, the average price of each meter has increased to 200 million rials ($800), which has slowed down the installations,” Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying.
Converting traditional wells into smart wells has been on the agenda of the Energy Ministry. More smart meters means better and efficient monitoring of power and water consumption.
The current price of a smart meter is now more than double compared to the same time last year and this has discouraged farmers to reequip their wells, Hajrasouliha said.
“Out of 440,000 authorized wells across Iran only 85,000 have so far been equipped with smart meters.”
The figure shows that modern meters have been installed on less than one fifth of the wells used in the key farming sector that consumes about 90% of the water in the country.
A smart meter is a modern electricity meter that digitally sends meter readings to utilities and ensures accurate billing.
Thanks to the new gadgets, consumers are informed about daily use and adjust consumption. Utilities in many developed and developing countries are promoting such meters for economic and environmental reasons, namely to reduce cost and consumption.
As per law, extraction from authorized wells must be according to permits. Data show the overall extraction is 4 million cubic meters over and above the authorized limit.
‘Smart’ or ‘intelligent’ wells are advanced wells with sensors and valves installed downhole to allow easy and systematic monitoring by utilities.
Profligate use of groundwater from legal and illegal wells has emerged as a major problem in Iran's efforts to curb the water crisis that has gotten worse over the past half century as precipitation declines and demand rises.
In related news, the managing director of Hamedan Province Regional Water Company said 4,450 illegal wells were sealed in the province in the past six years.
“This move prevented over-extraction of nearly 280 million cubic meters of water from groundwater resources,” Mansour Sotoudeh said.
So far 5,130 smart meters have been installed in the northwestern region, he said, adding that the projects to convert traditional wells into smart wells and sealing illegal water wells are underway.
In related news, according to South Khorasan Province Regional Water Company, so far 1,850 wells have been equipped with smart meters comprising 89% of the province's agricultural wells.
Equipping wells with smart meters helped save more than 111 million cubic meters of water in the agro sector in this eastern province in the past year.
