無線水表即將向紐約報到

2010-02-03中央社 記者 楊一峰 特拉維夫

無線水表即向紐約報到

為了節省水資源，紐約市長彭博宣布，將在2011年之前在全市裝設826,000台無線水表，依照現行的做法，水費的徵收是由環境保護署 (Department of Environmental Protection, DEP) 估計用戶的用水量，每三個月收取一次，而這套無線水表系統，每六個小時就會將數據傳送到屋頂上的接收器，DEP則依此每月向用戶收取水費，(而且還是用網路寄送帳單，夠環保吧！)預計整套水表無線化系統將耗資美金2.5億元，目前已經在布魯克林、曼哈頓以及皇后區開始裝設(免安裝費)，一旦拓展到全市，紐約將會是全世界使用無線水表的最大都市，而依照紐約時報(New York Times)的估計，這套系統將能降低5%~10%的用水量，每年最多能省下美金9,000萬元。
無線水表，除了替水公司省下大筆抄表勞務與風險成本外，該系統有提早警示的功能，能讓你家在漏水時及早發現，間接替國家節省珍貴水資源。

資料來源：紐約時報，請參見原文

City Turns to Wireless for Water Bills，March 24, 2009, 4:37 pm，By DAVID W. CHEN

For years, New York City failed to collect tens of millions of dollars in overdue water bills because of a shoddy record-keeping system that even city officials acknowledge was antiquated and obsolete. Sometimes, meters that were installed were never read. And in some cases, buildings that had been demolished were still receiving bills. But that is about to change.
On Tuesday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the city had started installing an automated water meter system that is intended to make the quarterly water bill a thing of the past, and not something to fear.
Gone will be the practice of relying on Con Edison workers to estimate water bills every three months. Instead, homeowners and small businesses will find that the new system, powered by wireless technology, will offer data on exact use on a monthly basis, and the data will be available on the Internet.
“No more, no less, and no surprises,” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference at the Brooklyn Brewery, one of the first companies to install the system.
The endeavor represents the latest example of Mr. Bloomberg’s effort to try to apply technological advances to city bureaucracy, in the hope of improving efficiency and performance.
The city saves money, shedding a meter-reading contract that costs $3.6 million a year. The city’s water-bill collection rate is expected to improve, too, to an estimated 98 percent from the current 88 percent.
And residents could save a lot of money, too, thanks to an early-warning ability to identify leaks that need repair, and take steps earlier to conserve water. Indeed, the city estimates that residents and businesses could save up to $90 million annually, if they cut back on their water use by 5 percent to 10 percent.
The system will cost $250 million, and the process of installation (free for property owners, by the way) has already begun in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, said Steven W. Lawitts, the acting commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. Once the system is fully installed by 2011, New York will be the largest city in the world to use such wireless water metering, according to the mayor’s office.

資料來源：
1. http://www.iii.org.tw/Service/3_1_4_c.aspx?id=21
2. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/city-turns-to-wireless-for-water-bills/?scp=1&sq=City%20Turns%20to%20Wireless%20for%20Water%20Bills&st=cse