By water technology, we refer to innovative solutions designed to improve the management of all or part of the water cycle. This water technology, which is embodied in water software and is geared to ensuring economic, social and environmental sustainability, seeks to respond to the challenges facing the sector as a result of climate change, population growth and migratory movements.
FIVE ADVANTAGES OF APPLYING TECHNOLOGY
Therefore, it seems obvious that water technology is essential. In addition to its positive benefit-cost ratio, implementing integrated water cycle management software provides utilities with a number of clear advantages.
A) Reduction of non-revenue water
This refers to supplied water that is not authorized or registered, either due to leaks in the network and overflows in infrastructures, or to inaccurate metering, or unauthorized water consumption. In any case, reducing the volume of non-revenue water is a major challenge for utilities, whether for environmental reasons (water scarcity), economic reasons (costs and lost revenue) or legislative reasons (requirements regarding compliance with minimum water efficiency indicators). In this case, improving distribution network water efficiency through monitoring software, Big Data or Machine Learning enables companies to reduce this huge volume of water which, in terms of leaks alone, is estimated at around 32 billion cubic meters per year, according to the World Bank. As the UN points out in the previously cited report, “New digital technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities to leverage data and analytics in order to improve the assessment and management of water use.”
B) Optimization of asset lifespan
One of the main issues facing utilities is the useful life of their infrastructure, which is essential for the successful social and economic development of the area. In this regard, water sector specialists point out that it is necessary both to renew assets and to build new infrastructure to ensure they run smoothly. Moreover, utilities often lack a holistic view of the state of their assets, which makes it difficult to predict their degradation and, therefore, makes management less efficient. In this situation, the implementation of intelligent, interconnected, agnostic and scalable solutions guarantees optimization. In addition, these solutions offer a holistic view of the digital components operating in the infrastructures, bring all the systems together under a single umbrella, standardize language and ensure that parts of the systems do not have to be constantly changed in order to achieve efficiency.
C) Cost reductions
The implementation of water technology reduces costs. Smart solutions optimize operational efficiency, decrease water, energy and carbon footprints, and minimize the number of actors involved in the process. Likewise, the deployment of intelligent solutions focused on improving the entire water cycle, such as digital twins, reduces maintenance costs thanks to their ability to anticipate possible incidents.
D) Improved operations and planning
One of the keys to water technology lies precisely in optimizing operational management and planning and, therefore, efficiency. Pablo Alcoriza, CTO of Idrica, pointed out at the Smart Water Summit organized by iAgua that the application of smart solutions “covers a multitude of use cases that seek to prevent risk situations, anticipate potential issues and improve system maintenance to create a more environmentally friendly water cycle.”
E) Increased resilience to extreme events
As mentioned above, climate change has brought an increase in the number of extreme weather events. Droughts, heat waves, cold spells, torrential rains and tropical cyclones are just some of these episodes, which can lead to migratory phenomena, fires and floods, to name a few, and in which water supply is compromised. These events have a direct impact on the water cycle and, therefore, on utilities, which need to guarantee supply whatever the circumstances. Therefore, the deployment of intelligent solutions is not only a competitive advantage, but a necessity that promotes foresight, increased speed and efficiency, as well as standard utility operations.