Glasgow Caledonian University

The challenge

The University has an automatic meter reader (AMR) installed on its supply to help track consumption levels. As a result of Business Stream’s proactive monitoring of the consumption data, an unusual amount of water usage was detected during the period of the national lockdown, at a time when students and staff weren’t using the campus.

Business Stream’s data analyst noticed a sudden increase in water consumption from zero litres to 1,200 litres an hour, every hour. The University’s building management team were notified immediately, enabling them to investigate the unexplained water activity at the site. It quickly became clear that a continually flushing toilet cistern on the fourth floor of the University was the cause of the issue.

The solution

The maintenance team were able to fix the malfunctioning toilet the next day and 24 hours later Business Stream engineers checked the University’s water consumption profile to ensure the remedial work was successful and that undetected leaks weren’t attributing to the change in consumption levels. The meter data showed consumption had dropped back to normal levels, meaning the issue had been resolved successfully.

Under normal circumstances, staff or students may have spotted the faulty toilet. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the University, like many public buildings and private premises, was operating at reduced occupancy, with many parts of the building vacant. This meant that the issue may have gone unreported for some time, leading to increased bills.

By installing an AMR and through Business Stream’s pro-active monitoring, the issue was detected quickly and helped to avoid around £16,000 a year in unnecessary water charges.