The Digital
Wave of Water Management

The water savings come from the voluntary savings of users by bringing real-time feedback on water consumption to the point of use, the shower. For example, an electric toothbrush uses the same idea. When the two-minute brushing time comes to an end, the toothbrush starts to vibrate or flash lights, providing real-time feedback. In the digital hand shower, the LED light turns from yellow to red after 30 litres when the limit of reasonable consumption is exceeded. The display clearly shows the amount of litres consumed.

The hand shower measures four things: water consumption, temperature, shower duration and time of day. These can be used to calculate everything you need - for example, the energy used to heat the hot water.

Each handheld shower sends data via Bluetooth to a local modem, which collects data from all the showers in an area of about 30 m² around it. The modem has a SIM card and a 4G data connection, which is used to aggregate the data in the cloud. Users of the service are given access to an online dashboard with real-time reports on consumption. The hand showers generate their own energy from the water flow, so no batteries or other power source is needed. Only the modem needs a permanent connection to the mains.

All water consumption data will be collected in an online dashboard to which users of the service will be given access. The web interface allows users to freely change the number of showers (individual room/apartment, floor, building) and the time period from days to weeks and months. The view can be changed from numerical to graphical when searching for, for example, exceptionally long shower events. It is also possible to create automatic weekly or monthly reports to track savings. The user can also set alarms, for example, for exceptionally long periods of use to minimise water damage.

No. All the energy needed to measure and transmit data is generated by the water flow. The LCD display on the hand-held shower and the LED light that indicates consumption are also powered by water.

Based on neutral and statistically valid studies, the average shower in Europe is 51.9 litres and consumes 2.58 kWh of energy. As a benchmark, a normal refrigerator uses about 0.63 kWh of energy per day, meaning that the energy consumption of a single shower with heated water is significant. The digital hand shower uses an LED light to guide the user to consume water in moderation with over 30 litres signalled as excess consumption. This has the potential to save more than 20 litres of water per shower (>40%) compared to the average. With the right communication and user instruction/education, such high savings are indeed possible based on the data collected from the pilot sites . Real-time feedback is a very effective way to change user behaviour.

Digital hand showers are manufactured in Finland at the Oras factory in Rauma.

Digital hand showers do not require any additional maintenance compared to normal hand showers. It is advisable to periodically clean the nozzles from calcification caused by water to ensure a smooth flow of the nozzle. For telecommunications and connectivity, Oras will maintain the system as part of the service contract.

1. Using old 60 W light bulbs (incandescent bulbs were phased out in the EU in 2009) and 0.656 kWh consumption per day for lighting per household
   1. Five bulbs can be used for 2 hours per day each, with a lighting consumption of 0.656 kWh = 656 Wh
   2. Calculation: 60 W x 5 x 2 h = 600 Wh
      
      
2. LED: Using 8 W LED bulbs and 0.656 kWh per household per day for lighting (NOTE: 8 W LED bulbs have approximately the same light output as an old 60 W incandescent bulb).
   1. 5 LED bulbs can be used for 16 hours per day each, so that 0.656 kWh would be consumed for lighting, leaving the lights on for a full day (excluding 8 hours for sleep)
   2. Calculation: 8 W x 5 x 16 h = 640 Wh