Knowledge

Water meter and water quality glossary

A glossary of the words used about water meters, meter reading, water loss and drinking water quality, each explained in plain English with its source.

A

• Accuracy class
• AMI (advanced metering infrastructure)
• AMR (automatic meter reading)
• Apparent and real losses

B

• Bulk meter and Woltmann meter

C

• Calibration and verification
• Consumption profile

D

• DMA (district metered area)

E

• Electromagnetic flow meter

G

• Gateway

H

• Hardness

I

• IP68
• IS 10500 (Indian drinking water standard)

L

• Leak detection
• LoRaWAN and the IN865 band

M

• Maximum permissible error (MPE)
• MDM (meter data management)
• Minimum night flow

N

• NB-IoT
• Non-revenue water (NRW)

P

• Prepaid water meter
• Pressure loss
• Pressure management
• Pulse output

Q

• Q1 (minimum flow rate)
• Q2 (transitional flow rate)
• Q3 (permanent flow rate)
• Q4 (overload flow rate)

R

• R ratio (Q3/Q1)
• Rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge
• Register (counter) and dry-dial meter
• Residual chlorine

S

• Single-jet and multi-jet meters
• Starting flow
• Strainer and non-return valve

T

• TDS (total dissolved solids)
• Turbidity

U

• Ultrasonic water meter

W

• Water balance (IWA)
• Water meter