Just a few years back, phrases like ‘Digital Water’ or ‘Digital Transformation’ began making their way into conversations within the water industry. In the last decade, terms like ‘Digital Water’ and ‘Digital Transformation’ have gained traction in the water industry. Prior to that, ‘Smart Water’ was the buzzword, and before that, it was ‘Water 4.0’ and ‘Industry 4.0’. It’s worth noting that currently, new terms are still emerging, with references to Industry 5.0 and 6.0. However, the label is less important than the practical implications. So, what does ‘Digital Water’ actually mean for the water industry today? 

It encompasses a wide array of elements, ranging from cutting-edge IoT sensors to digital renderings of pumping stations and treatment facilities, and the present-day marvel: the Digital Twin. Even the term ‘Digital Twin’ can hold different meanings for different people – for some, it represents a model, while for others, it stands as an all-encompassing source of insight into system performance. In my own experience, the most effective illustration that facilitated an understanding of Digital Water was presented by the Smart Water Networks (SWAN) Forum back in 2011. 

The SWAN Layers, fashioned after the earlier Purdue Model, provide a structured framework for comprehending Digital Water by dividing it into distinct layers: physical assets (Layer 1), instrumentation (Layer 2), communications (Layer 3), visualisation (Layer 4), and ultimately, data analysis and conversion into actionable insights (Layer 5). Two layers were notably absent from this model: i2O Water. 

In the past 12 years, many others have added or contributed to the SWAN layers. However, the system already sufficiently summarises the horizontal layers of a data and information management system. 

The weakness of the SWAN layers lies in its inherent technological orientation. In the realm of Digital Water, it’s imperative to acknowledge that there are other crucial perspectives to take into account, such as those related to business systems and human resources. While the SWAN Layers represented a pivotal paradigm shift in the industry and continue to do so, we must also factor in the business drivers. To achieve this, we must assess their requirements by scrutinising how the industry has evolved since the introduction of digital water solutions. 

To put this into context, the area of the water industry where we have probably seen the most development, is leakage or non-revenue water reduction. Technologies have been developed and integrated into water company systems to discover leaks. We have seen an increase in technologies such as smart sensors in pipes, as well as satellites that use pattern recognition to highlight areas with an increased likelihood of water leaking into the ground. The industry is starting to see the development of digital solutions in the wastewater network as well, using machine learning and monitoring within the sewer environment to find and prevent blockages. This is indeed important as we know the environment is at a greater risk of pollution through sewer overflows because of sewer misuse. 

When delving into the origins of digital water, much like any technological approach in any industry, it’s crucial to grasp its practical application. Personally, when I contemplate what I seek from Digital Water, I always return to the fundamentals. The global water industry generates vast volumes of data daily, yet only a fraction of it finds meaningful utilisation. To extract value from this data, the initial step is understanding the information requirements – from the CEO of the company to the frontline operator – and then aligning them with the data sources, changing the data strategy to suit. However, this marks just the inaugural phase. Once this foundational work is accomplished, the subsequent stride involves translating the information requirements into tangible business drivers. 

This is what Digital Water means to me. Let us know what Digital Water means to you. The Digital Water Summit on 14-16 November 2023 in Bilbao, Spain, is the ideal arena to continue this discussion. I invite you to join me there by registering today: www.digitalwatersummit.org or join the conversation online using #DigitalWaterSummit 

The global water industry today is facing multiple challenges, including leakages, contamination and managing limited resources. These challenges are not limited to developing countries. For instance, Melbourne, Australia, recently suffered contamination of its water supply following a storm.

Two particular challenges are the need to reduce water consumption, while also decreasing wastewater pollution, and its environmental impact, all while relying on limited funding. So how does the industry achieve this?

In my opinion, the first step to address this problem is not technology-based, but people-based. The water industry has long been known for being ‘data rich’ but ‘information poor’ because informational needs have not been fully defined. The way to define these is through stakeholder engagement, to discover what type of information is needed and what data will satisfy stakeholder needs. Once these are defined, a gap analysis can be utilised to consider the role of instrumentation.

Instrumentation, as a data source, is one of the fundamental building blocks of a future ‘digital transformed water industry’. This will use data and convert it into information, situational awareness, business and operational insight to both serve customers and protect the environment.

Many projects have failed due to poor instrumentation, which results in either a lack of data or unusable data due to poor quality. If the industry is to achieve digital transformation, we have to get the basics right.

By installing instrumentation in the appropriate way and using it for the right applications, we can ensure that it is operated and maintained properly to allow for suitable data and information quality. This guarantees that the data and insights that ultimately come from the instrumentation are based on correct fundamentals, and that both tactical and strategic views are not compromised.

The general belief is that the digital transformation of the water industry will lead to an increase in instrumentation and maintenance burden. However, this may not be the case. It is conceivable that proper analysis could identify some instrumentation as being superfluous and suitable for being decommissioned.

I am passionate about this agenda and am an active participant in the IWA Digital Water Steering Committee. I believe that by working with people through the people/process/technology triangle, we can increase the value of the data and instrumentation. Using data visualisation and analytics will transform the water sector by actively facilitating informed decision-making. Ultimately, this will lead to tangible benefits for people, in terms of the quality and security of their water supply, as well as improved environmental outcomes.

Additional information:

Oliver Grievson is the author of the latest IWA white paper: The role of Instrumentation in Digital Transformation.

You can download the document here.

To learn more about the importance of instrumentation in digital transformation, watch the video Importance of Data in the Digital Transformation or read Oliver’s blog! Please join the conversation on Digital Water on IWA Connect.

It seems that everywhere you go in the Water Industry somebody is talking about Digital Transformation. 5 minutes ago, it was Water 4.0, and 10 minutes ago (it seems) it was “Smart Water”. These are all very well used buzz words that the industry is destined to think about for a short-term and then promptly forget. In reality, as an industry, we have been hit by a number of different concepts for different technological aspects for many years. For almost as long we have had a term for all of this: “widgets.”

However, widgets don’t sell and what water companies need are solutions to the challenges being faced, i.e. technologies that will solve a problem; more of a focus on application rather than technology.

So, let us go back and define what the “concept” of Digital Transformation actually is. 10 years ago, the SWAN Forum developed the SWAN Layers diagram. The diagram is loosely based on a combination of the Purdue Model and/or the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) system that was developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In the SWAN Layers model there 5 layers:

Layer 1 –  physical infrastructure

Layer 2 – instrumentation & control systems

Layer 3 –  communication

Layer 4 – visualisation

Layer 5 – analytics

The model itself is a technologically-based model which is layered and there is an argument that it should be a pyramid reflecting the fact that the layer above cannot work without the layer below, i.e. there is no point monitoring a pipe with instruments if the pipe isn’t there.

Layer 1 is an area that the water industry is very good at but it is from Layer 2 onwards, and its application to Layer 1, that the key  to the Digital Transformation of the water industry really exists. It is in these areas that the industry has traditionally had challenges in its application. An example of this would be the infamous phrases that are used in the industry like “Data Rich” and “Information Poor”, mainly due to the vast collection of data and doing very little, at least proactively, with it. Layer 2 is key to the application of Digital Transformation as without data the whole concept fails to exist. The data that is collected must be of good quality and must be of use for it to lead to information (and information that is useful) which in turn leads to situational awareness. Consequently, the industry can understand how the systems, as a whole, are operating enabling informed decisions to be made. If the data at the heart of this is wrong then the industry will suffer from the phenomenon highlighted by the 1950’s American Army mathematician, William Mellin, “Garbage In Garbage Out.”

All of this is the technological solution; and underpinning the Swan Layers are the elements of people and processes. The technological solution is worthless if there aren’t people who understand, operate or maintain it. However, if a process is followed that identifies the need for information, then the data is valued and utilised. With the value of data comes the need for business processes, which leads to data maintenance and validation.

From this we can derive the first step that any company, especially the water companies, should take in order to Digitally Transform. This first step is not technologically based but is in fact people-based since it is rooted in stakeholder engagement. It is the identification of informational needs of organisations based upon various business processes in terms of regulatory and financial drivers. These include, most importantly, aspects of compliance, operational efficiency and customer service.

So, where is the industry right now with its Digital Transformation?

Some areas are actually quite far advanced for both political and financial reasons, with the most developed solutions around smart water networks which help the water companies to manage both non-revenue water and per capita consumption. Programmes of meter verifications and maintenance are commonly delivered by external specialist companies, and are utilised by the leading water companies to make sure that the data is correct. This enables identification of areas of unusual consumption using Direct Memory Access (DMA). More innovative companies are taking the Dynamic DMA approach as well which relies on instrumentation to manage the system along with a high-end platform for data visualisation techniques. Advanced Pressure Management of the system to limit losses is also commonplace; it is a solution that in reality covers Layers 2 – 5. These are the successful technological solutions that have been delivered as part of the “Smart Water Industry.” Moreover, Smart Water Meters, together with techniques such as social engineering, are also delivering savings across the industry with reductions of 15-18% non-revenue water and an 8% reduction in PCC noted in case studies.

It is important to note that the concepts of Big Data, Internet of Things or even Digital Twins have not been mentioned. They have their application and in fact Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is likely to become a part of the industry in its niche in the future as are communications technologies like 5G, Radio and Satellite. However, they are part of Layer 3 which facilitates the concept as a whole. They are vital pieces of the puzzle but they are just one part of a much wider picture.

The barriers to the adoption of Digital Transformation

The first barrier is understanding the application of Digital Transformation. The application has been understood for non-revenue water and potable water distribution systems and the technology is well matured with the value case well understood. Regulatory drivers within the UK are pushing the water companies past the previous concepts of the Economic Level of Leakage and driving the industry towards considerably lower levels of leakage. It’s an intelligent step forward, due to the water resource challenges within the industry; a megaliter of water saved is more valuable than a megaliter of water supplied. It causes delays in the investment in critical infrastructure such as reservoirs that will eventually be needed. Where to next? Where can we apply the technological solutions to address the challenging applications that the industry has? It is a big question that the industry will have to work together in order to identify the applications and advances that are needed in terms of the technology, people and processes.

Meet the Digital Transformation in the current international discussion

The subject of Digital Transformation has been widely discussed at a variety of events with a particular emphasis in the past year. It will be discussed extensively in 2020 at the Water & Energy Exchange and the International Water Association Digital Water Summit (Bilbao, Spain | 27-30 April 2020) both being hosted in Spain in Spring 2020.

The Importance of Data in the Digital Transformation of the Water Industry

When you talk about data and Digital Transformation of the Water Industry the first things that comes to most people’s minds is concepts such as “Big Data” and “Data Mining” in reality the importance of data to the water industry is so much more. To understand this importance you have to understand what data there is the water industry and how it is used.

Quite literally the water industry is awash with data of different sources that are collected for different reasons in different timescales. Operationally the water industry collects approximately 300 million pieces of data every day through telemetry systems, add to this data from assets which are consistently being replaced and on top of this customer consumption data and you can see there is lots of data, this is before the advent of smart meters which would add just under 230 billion pieces of data for the UK alone collecting hourly data

When it comes to the Digital Transformation of the Water Industry though we, as an industry, have to make sense of what this data actually means. We need to get value from the data that we collect and in order to do that we have to understand what data we have and what it means.

Looking at some of the different data types that are out there we can understand what we can do with it. For instance:

Probably one of the most valuable types of data in the water industry is the customer consumption data. From this we can understand how much water needs to be provided and at what time and control the water network in the most efficient way to make sure just enough water is available. On an individual basis it can show customer side leakage and be used for the gamification of water consumption. On a collective base it can be used to indicate district management areas which have unusually high consumption patterns or using as inputs into complex algorithms to indicate where non-revenue water is particularly high. Customer consumption data has no end of uses especially when smart water meters are used. Customer consumption data historically has been collected biannually and had little use over and above the simple use of the data for producing water bills but with more frequent data from smart water meters the value of this data increases by an order of magnitude.

The temporal nature of data is of particular importance as short-term data is vitally important for day to day operations where asset and long-term data is much more important for asset management. The uses of data are temporal in nature.

Looking at operational data is where there is a huge potential within the water industry and the fundamental value is in situational awareness. For those in water company operational control centres this situational awareness is vital in reacting to the situations that occur during normal day to day operations. Data can lie it can show a situation that isn’t necessary the true picture. Bringing the data together into information gives situational awareness that can warn of a risk to a customer or potential areas of inefficiency where optimisation of the processes can bring around savings for both the water company and of course the customer. The use of operational data is usually measured in terms of days or weeks or even less

Moving into the longer term we can look at asset data which informs asset performance in the medium term showing the maintenance periodicity for individual assets to the performance of the system and when investment into the physical layer is needed. The asset data of each individual assets is also needed to enable to formulate maintenance and replacement strategies. The list is literally endless.

One can argue that data is part of the normal day to day operation of the water industry however it is within the Digital Transformation of the industry that we can exploit the data is a much efficient manner to reap a huge value from the data that we collect.

Oliver Grievson is a steering committee member of the IWA Digital Water Programme, please join the conversation on IWA Connect.