Water is a precious commodity that we cannot afford to waste and the cost of water treatment has become very significant. This makes monitoring water use and calculating our exact consumption all the more important, leading to an increased use of water meters.
This growing need has led ISO technical committee ISO/TC 30, the group of experts working on standards in this field, to revise ISO 4064 so that it better covers the requirements of water meters for both cold drinking water and hot water.
ISO 4064:2014 is made up of five parts dealing with everything from test methods to installation requirements and applies to both mechanical devices and more modern electronic devices.
The benefits of metering water
Using the standard will help make more accurate measurements of cold and hot potable water, which is not only useful for consumers but also for industry.
A water meter is a management tool and flow measurement is important in numerous industrial processes for both engineering, environmental and financial purposes.
In conjunction with volumetric pricing, water meters provide an incentive for water conservation, helping to detect water leaks in the distribution network.
The standard is the result of the collective work of ISO, the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN).
Facts and figures
- The world’s population is growing by about 80 million people a year, increasing the freshwater demand by about 64 billion cubic metres a year.
- The United Nations suggest that each person needs 20 to 50 litres of water a day to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning.
- Less than 3 % of the world's water is fresh.
- In 2002, more than half the world’s population used water from a pipe connection at home.
Sources: WBCSD, UN
