Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits
Business cases promoting the introduction of digital water metering (DWM) have, to date, focused on a limited number of benefits, especially water savings, metering costs, occupational health and safety (OHS), and deferral of capital works. An earlier study by the authors catalogued 75 possible bene...
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doaj-44364a66948d4287803b0db48215617e2020-11-25T03:25:53ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412020-05-01121436143610.3390/w12051436Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering BenefitsIan Monks0Rodney A. Stewart1Oz Sahin2Robert Keller3Samantha Low-Choy4School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, AustraliaCivil Engineeering Department, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, AustraliaArts, Education and Law Group, Researcher Education & Development, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD 4122, AustraliaBusiness cases promoting the introduction of digital water metering (DWM) have, to date, focused on a limited number of benefits, especially water savings, metering costs, occupational health and safety (OHS), and deferral of capital works. An earlier study by the authors catalogued 75 possible benefits and developed a taxonomy based on a literature review, interviews and water industry reports. The objective of the present study was to elicit the opinions of Australian water industry experts on the benefits, then use the opinions to form probability distributions which, in future work, could be used to model the value of DWM benefits. The study findings have implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to accurately and stochastically model the benefits of DWM transformation programmes. Thematic analyses on the open ended responses scaled likelihood and estimated value of benefits into comparable units. We found 82% support for the benefits of DWM with only 6% disagreement and 12% non-commital; the savings value of cost of water benefits were predominately expected to range between 5% and 10% and much higher in some individual situations, while charges/operational costs benefits were predominately expected to range between 45% and 100%; and, moreover, we indicated how a risk-based range of project benefit could potentially be calculated. Opportunities for further investigations were identified.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/5/1436digital water meteringsmart water networksexpert opinionbenefit valuationmodelling |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ian Monks Rodney A. Stewart Oz Sahin Robert Keller Samantha Low-Choy |
spellingShingle |
Ian Monks Rodney A. Stewart Oz Sahin Robert Keller Samantha Low-Choy Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits Water digital water metering smart water networks expert opinion benefit valuation modelling |
author_facet |
Ian Monks Rodney A. Stewart Oz Sahin Robert Keller Samantha Low-Choy |
author_sort |
Ian Monks |
title |
Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits |
title_short |
Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits |
title_full |
Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits |
title_fullStr |
Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits |
title_full_unstemmed |
Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits |
title_sort |
expert opinion valuation method to quantify digital water metering benefits |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Water |
issn |
2073-4441 |
publishDate |
2020-05-01 |
description |
Business cases promoting the introduction of digital water metering (DWM) have, to date, focused on a limited number of benefits, especially water savings, metering costs, occupational health and safety (OHS), and deferral of capital works. An earlier study by the authors catalogued 75 possible benefits and developed a taxonomy based on a literature review, interviews and water industry reports. The objective of the present study was to elicit the opinions of Australian water industry experts on the benefits, then use the opinions to form probability distributions which, in future work, could be used to model the value of DWM benefits. The study findings have implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to accurately and stochastically model the benefits of DWM transformation programmes. Thematic analyses on the open ended responses scaled likelihood and estimated value of benefits into comparable units. We found 82% support for the benefits of DWM with only 6% disagreement and 12% non-commital; the savings value of cost of water benefits were predominately expected to range between 5% and 10% and much higher in some individual situations, while charges/operational costs benefits were predominately expected to range between 45% and 100%; and, moreover, we indicated how a risk-based range of project benefit could potentially be calculated. Opportunities for further investigations were identified. |
topic |
digital water metering smart water networks expert opinion benefit valuation modelling |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/5/1436 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT ianmonks expertopinionvaluationmethodtoquantifydigitalwatermeteringbenefits AT rodneyastewart expertopinionvaluationmethodtoquantifydigitalwatermeteringbenefits AT ozsahin expertopinionvaluationmethodtoquantifydigitalwatermeteringbenefits AT robertkeller expertopinionvaluationmethodtoquantifydigitalwatermeteringbenefits AT samanthalowchoy expertopinionvaluationmethodtoquantifydigitalwatermeteringbenefits |
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