Introduction:
India faces a pressing urban water crisis that requires immediate attention. According to a study, the top 24 cities in India, with a combined population of nearly 200 million, generate a daily demand of 30,000 million liters of water, based on an average consumption of 150 liters per person. This figure excludes additional demand from commercial and other sectors. Unlike electricity, most people are unaware of how much water they use. Can we continue to take this natural resource for granted indefinitely? Can we reduce urban migration driven by opportunities? The answer is clearly no.
What is digital in water?
Digital transformation is touching every aspect of our lives. Water consumption and management is not to be left behind, especially now that it is turning into a crisis stage in urban life. So, the obvious question is “How can we bring in effective digital transformation in water consumption and management, in order to optimize water availability and usage among urban population?”. With this as the end objective, let’s investigate the goals to be achieved to bring this about.
• Effective measurement of water consumption, ideally in real-time
• A mechanism to charge the consumer, based on actual consumption, as against a flat bill or billing based on the size of residence etc. In a residence community, this may be called Sub Metering.
• Leakage detection: Prompt detection and alerting the consumer/management of leaks, both small but continuous or sudden flow of large volume of water, like a pipe burst. A mechanism to stop water flow (like a digitally manageable valve) will be a major value add to such a system.
• Advanced analytics to empower consumers to conserve water.
• A tool for community management / municipal bodies to reduce leakage as well as understand demand patterns so that it can be better served.
Digital water thus refers to the use of digital technologies in water infrastructure systems to improve efficiency, sustainability, and resilience. Traditional water management often relies on manual processes and outdated systems, which result in inefficiencies, isolated data, and limited understanding of water usage. Digital water solutions tackle these issues by modernizing water infrastructure, allowing for real-time monitoring, data-driven decision-making, and predictive maintenance.
We are not going into other potential benefits such as energy conservation due to water savings and positive impact on environment due to lesser abstraction of ground water etc. These can be discussed at another time.
Components of digital water
• A sensing mechanism to measure the flow of water in a pipe, with the necessary accuracy.
• Resilient to air inside pipe, reverse flow, vibration in the pipe and other environment factors.
• Transmitting this data with a time stamp through wireless technologies to a remote location where data can be aggregated and analyzed
• Web or Mobile Apps, to enable consumers to understand their water usage pattern.
• Applications for aggregate service providers such as municipality and housing societies to enable them to understand demand patterns, actual consumption per residential dwelling, facilitation for billing based on consumption etc.
• Diagnostic tools for monitoring the health of the system and take such proactive actions to ensure seamless working
How digital water helps in achieving efficiency:
Now, let us look at how adoption of the technologies helps with respect to water conservation.
The objective of measurement in case of water is to improve the reliability of measurement and build confidence in the user that what is measured and used for billing is the actual volume of water consumed. Mechanical water meters used in past years were prone to errors due to clogging of its moving parts and drifting of its accuracy over a period. Newer technologies such as ultrasonic flow sensors coupled with ability to transmit data automatically has eliminated the above disadvantages.
Transmission technologies have seen a great advancement ever since the advent of mobile phone technologies. NBIOT, LORA, GSM, WMBUS are different types of communication technologies with some advantages for each of them.
For example, LORA is a low power long range communication. This enables wireless communication from sensing devices to a data gateway to eliminate the need for wiring as well as manual reading of sensed data. GSM technologies use the network enabled by the mobile phone companies to transmit data using their network. Often it may be necessary to use multiple technologies in combination also. The key is to adopt the right technology for transmitting data which is fit for the location and is cost effective.
Data aggregation and analytics is now possible at scale due to the tremendous advancements in storage and analytics. Companies who are in the forefront such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft have mastered this art and are providing tools and storage for large data analytics on their cloud platform. The good thing is these are secure, reliable and scalable. Of course, we need to program and customize them to meet our requirements.
User interface technologies have also similarly leap frogged. The biggest advantage that we see with well-designed user interfaces is their power to create the emotional connect with water. Establishing this emotional connect is the key to water conservation and often is the pinnacle of all the digital technologies working together.
We can throw in a lot of analytics and other features to enable behavioral change in customers towards the use of water. For example, have you improved your water consumption pattern over the months? Digging deeper, which part of the house consumed the most water? Is it the kitchen or the master bedroom bath? Look at differently, what time was the water consumption highest in my house and in that part of the house? Is there any correlation that can be derived from high usage and routine events in the household, like the time the servant maid spends in the house? How does my usage pattern compare with others in the neighborhood? In the city? Globally? Is there a leakage in my house? Can I shut off water remotely if there is a leakage? Can I find out if there is any water consumption in my house when I am on a vacation?
Billing based on water consumption is a critical component of water conservation strategy. Digital water enables this seamless integration with billing software either in societies or in utilities through necessary APIs
Since digital water management systems are not as simple as the legacy mechanical meters, providers of such systems shall have mature diagnosis and maintenance systems, and infrastructure and personnel deployment to ensure continuity of service and continued system enhancements.
Other areas for digital water implementation:
Using the principles outlined above, we can measure and monitor the quality of water and wastewater generated (both raw and treated) and implement data analytics based systems for managing energy consumption based on patterns of flow and quality of water. Similarly, the quality and quantity of treated wastewater can be sent to regulatory authorities for remote monitoring. These same principles can be extended to operation and maintenance of core assets such as water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, pumping station etc. An integrated operation thus would enable conservation of not only water, but also energy and environment.
Overcoming challenges in adoption: If there are so many benefits why is adoption so low? One of the main reasons is that consumers are used to getting water at very low cost or even free, and in denial of the fact that that is no more the case now. In residences where tankers are the principal source of water, water supplies are pricing water based on demand and supply situation. Once the awareness of this reality sets in, the cost benefit of adoption of digital water becomes apparent purely on return on investment principles. While this may be a long road in this country, water champions across urban India are proactively adopting measures to conserve water and recycle and reuse water using technologies. Our belief is that these early adopters would set the trend for a sea change in technology adoption in the water sector for saving Urban India from a water crisis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, digital water and monitoring technologies have the potential to revolutionize water management by providing real-time insights, precise measurement, and proactive management capabilities. By leveraging advanced sensors, connectivity solutions, and data analytics, digital water solutions empower utilities and consumers to track, measure, and manage water usage effectively, leading to improved efficiency, sustainability, and resilience in water infrastructure systems.
As we navigate the complex challenges posed by water scarcity and climate change, the importance of monitoring and measuring in achieving water savings cannot be overstated. Digital water and monitoring technologies offer a powerful toolkit for stakeholders to track, measure, and manage water usage effectively, driving efficiency, sustainability, and resilience in water management practices. By harnessing the insights provided by real-time data and analytics, we can pave the way towards a more water-efficient and sustainable future for generations to come.
