We don’t count how many dry-cell batteries we use regularly in our lives: cell phones, gate remotes, TV remotes alarm systems, car security – to name a few. In Europe it is an offence to throw batteries into household dustbins, or waste tips as it constitutes a contravention of environmental protection legislation. This is not the case in South Africa yet!

It is anticipated that South Africa will initiate dry-cell battery disposal legislation in the near future to eliminate the danger of toxic leakage that thousands of batteries left in normal dumping areas will eventually emit. While  most dry cell batteries have metallic casings, over time gas builds up inside the battery and eventually ruptures the casing resulting in leakage of the toxic contents such as acids, zinc chloride, mercury, lithium and other harmful chemicals into the soil and ultimately into the ground water.

All of the new advanced water metering devices such as prepaid meters, water management devices and smart meters incorporate batteries. However when a comparison is done between the batteries employed in prepaid water meters with those employed in smart meters there are significant differences:  Because prepaid systems are required to operate a shut-off valve which is “energy hungry” the battery size is five  to 10 times larger than those employed in the latest generation smart meters. Secondly, the claimed life of the battery in a prepaid meter seldom exceeds five to eight years whereas smart meters offer a battery life of up to 15 years or more.  Assuming a municipality has 100,000 prepaid meters installed, this means that within five to eight years it will be faced with the disposal of the batteries.  With the introduction of environmental controls this is an additional cost – not evident, or mentioned, in initial cost justification exercises.  Equally as disturbing is the possibility that battery disposal remains unmonitored and uncontrolled resulting in thousands of “toxic time bombs” being planted in our waste dumps resulting in pollution of our ground water resources.

Basil Bold, Managing Director, Sensus SA commented “While the move to more advanced electronic water measurement and control devices for the better management of our water resources, the hidden costs of new electronic technologies should not be ignored. In the development of  the iPerl, our latest smart water meter, Sensus paid particular attention to achieving an extended battery life (guaranteed 15 years, maintenance-free), but it was also necessary to build into the design the ability to remove the battery from the device for safe disposal.  This is not the case with many battery-driven electronic devices where the battery is not accessible and the entire device is disposed of – battery and all!”