What is the Problem?

Water is the most essential necessity for the continuity of life on the planet. A wide range of ecological and human crises result from inadequate access to freshwater or inappropriate management of available resources. These include the destruction of aquatic ecosystems, migration and extinction of species, poverty, hunger and water-related diseases. Currently, one fifth of world population live in areas of physical scarcity and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world’s population, face economic water shortage where their countries lack the necessary infrastructure to exploit water from rivers and aquifers.

Over the years as human populations grow, pollution increases and the climate change affects our ecosystem, water-related problems such as physical or economic water scarcity are likely to shape the most serious international or regional conflicts over scarce and shared water resources. By 2025, one-third of the expected world population at the time are anticipated to face either water scarcity or water induced disasters such as floods and severe storms.

Ground water is amongst the most critical and valuable water resources in the world. Where surface water such as lakes and rivers are scarce or inaccessible, groundwater reservoirs supply many of human needs; it provides drinking water, irrigates crops, supports industry and is a source of water for rivers, streams, lakes and springs. On average, one fifth of the consumed water worldwide comes from aquifers; this percentage, however, goes up in arid regions; for example in Oman, 93% of the water usage is supplied from groundwater resources.

Some aquifers are replenished as rainwater seeps through soil and rock; but others, in areas of low rainfall, are unrenewable and many of these “fossil-waters” are being irreversibly exploited. In addition, many cities rely heavily on groundwater which is preferred to surface water for drinking because it is less likely contaminated. These exhaustive withdrawals, however, can lead to serious land subsidence and in coastal areas saltwater may intrude and turn the water unusable brackish. Although the water still exists, it cannot be used for many applications such as drinking and agriculture.

Groundwater can no longer be regarded as an unlimited supplement to surface water and its sustainable management is currently an important focus of intensive research all over the world. The climate change and other factors such as pollution have affected precipitation, so that the natural recharge rates for many aquifers have been dramatically decreased. This leaves the management of exploitation out of aquifers as the only option for the conservation of groundwater reservoirs.

In many parts of the world especially arid regions, restrictive regulations and policies are defined and even water pricing is being applied; however, all the reported studies confirm that the successful implementation of any management strategy for groundwater or accurate analysis of aquifers discharge profiles heavily relies on the availability of reliable metering devices to measure and report the water exploited out of each well.

A group of talented engineers are gathered in Smart Water Metering Inc. to work out a practical and effective solution for sustainable management of groundwater resources. Their efforts are focused on the development of innovative solutions for affordable, efficient and accurate water metering.This company is dedicated to tailor its patented solution to account for real-life constraints such as human error, technology limitations, cultural barriers and other factors which have been reported as the limiting obstacles for other methods. The overall belief in SWM Inc. is “we cannot create water but we can manage it”.