Smart Rainwater Storage - Development of a Smart Meter Prototype Enabling Local Rule-Based Predictive Real-Time Control and User Interaction

Environmental and anthropogenic factors pose a significant challenge to stormwater management and infrastructure in urban areas. Rain storage tanks, a low-impact development technique, aim to deal with precipitation before it enters the drainage system as stormwater runoff and thus reduce the impact on the infrastructure and combined sewer overflows. The MRP develops a prototype of a smart meter measuring mainly the water level in a rainwater storage tank with low-cost off-shelve components steered by two variants to control a smart storage tank in automated real-time control or steered by the user. The concept is conducted in an experimental set-up and verified. The development aims to enhance decentralized stormwater infrastructure toward reducing total runoff volume and peak flow. In the market-based system, the motivation for the user is the dynamically priced discharge fee aiming to stimulate retention by the landowner and provide a financial incentive. The research findings guide modellers in developing a smart meter using a local rule-based real-time control to manage a rainwater storage tank, including the communication and steering through the user. In future research, machine learning should be used to optimize the prototype.