To address the water issue, there are many programs designed to increase water sustainability, efficiency and accessibility through ICTs, however, standards and sound ICT governance are still needed.

This is readily available and ensures proper management of contemporary technology, preventing any potential increase in consumption or harm to the environment from electronic waste.

Smart water management (SWM) is a major global policy concern as a result.

ICTs strategically incorporated into SWM can assist to address some of these concerns, even though population growth, climate change and economic growth all have a substantial impact on the availability of water resources globally.

However, without sufficient stakeholder involvement and buy-in, such triumphs are impossible to attain.

This article’s major objective is to go further and demonstrate how, with the correct stakeholder participation, ICTs may be able to address some of the problems the water industry is currently facing.

Water is life!

Freshwater resources that are safe and plentiful are crucial for a nation’s economy and political stability as well as for maintaining the most fundamental means of survival.

Many people still lack access to essential water services like clean drinking water and hygienic restrooms.

According to UN estimates, 6 to 8 million people every year pass away as a result of water-related diseases and disasters, while 783 million people and almost 2.5 billion people, respectively, lack access to adequate sanitation and clean water, respectively.

In addition, 85% of the world’s population is thought to reside in the driest parts of the planet (CIMUN, 2013).

Water stress and scarcity are major issues that are currently facing the world.

Nearly one-fifth of the world’s population, or 500 million people, is on the verge of suffering physical shortage, which will affect 1.2 billion people.

An extra 1.6 billion people, or about one-fourth of the world’s population, experience economic water shortages as a result of inadequate infrastructure in their countries (UN 2013).

Climate change also poses a severe threat to the availability and demand of our water resources due to unfavorable climatic circumstances that will surely influence the reliability and quality of the world’s water supply, hydropower generation and food security.

Smart water management

Smart water management: five innovative solutions to water scarcity offered by the IoT

Water covers 70% of our planet.

If you find this figure reassuring, reconsider it and ask yourself why we should be concerned about such a plentiful supply.

Lack of water is an increasing issue.

It will have a direct impact on 20% of the world’s population by 2025, according to numerous UN evaluations.

By 2040, one in four children worldwide will be living in areas with extremely high water stress.

The same is true for developed countries.

In actuality, freshwater, the kind we use for bathing, cooking, and farming, is incredibly limited.

Freshwater makes up just 3% of the planet’s total water supply, and two-thirds of that is either frozen in glaciers or otherwise unusable.

Additionally, when water is scarce, sewage systems might fail and people are more likely to contract illnesses like cholera, typhoid fever, and other water-borne illnesses.

Ecosystems all throughout the world are struggling.

The price of water is also going up, which indirectly affects the economics of the various countries.

The Internet of Things (IoT) can assist to diminish this ominous picture.

Systems that integrate AI, big data, and sensor technology for smart water monitoring and management.

Let’s take a look at how smart water management systems can help address the growing lack of available fresh water.

What are smart water management systems and how do they work?

Smart water management refers to the production, distribution and management of the usage of water resources using a range of IoT technologies.

These innovations are meant to enhance the wise and sustainable use of these water resources while increasing transparency.

It applies to many sectors of the economy and geographical regions, such as cities, agriculture and services.

Among the several advantageous applications is the detection of chemical leaks in rivers close to plants, tracking pressure changes in pipelines, monitoring water usage in residences, checking water levels, assessing the quality of drinking water and monitoring water quality in aquariums.

Microcontrollers and sensors, such as flow sensors, temperature sensors, salinity sensors, conductivity sensors, humidity sensors, pressure sensors, or luminosity sensors, are mounted on pipes or pumps.

These devices monitor the water’s purity, flow, temperature and level.

Internet-based cloud servers receive sensor data and message warnings and evaluate them—often using artificial intelligence (AI)—before sending the results to a computer for user review.

Thus, the system may be able to regulate both the quantity and quality of water supplies, making it easier to maintain standard equipment.

Five benefits of Smart Water Management Systems

]1] Reducing waste of water-intensive industries

A lot of water is required for electricity production, agriculture and manufacturing.

70% of all water use is accounted for only by agriculture.

60% of the water waste, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, is the fault of the same industry.

Producers are forced to contend with weather patterns that are getting more unpredictable, which results in growing seasons that are hotter and dryer.

Real-time water metering and other applications such as smart irrigation systems or crop water management systems can help farmers reduce waste while maintaining soil health, improving water conservation and increasing crop yield:

– Data on temperature, humidity, and water flow collected by Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be programmed into equipment to track treatment procedures.

– It can be applied to assess the effects of a particular treatment plan.

– To make recommendations on the amount of water and fertilizer needed in a field, analysis of the data obtained using soil and light sensors is possible.

[2] Monitoring water quality to fight pollution and diseases

Rivers and the groundwater table may get contaminated as a result of manufacturing and other human activities.

Real-time monitoring and control using sensors and IoT technologies can aid with pollution prevention, monitoring and even improving water quality.

To do this, AI-based software and IoT systems are deployed to collect the standard metrics for monitoring the water quality, including pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), which includes oxygen, Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) and Temperature of various types of water.

The devices can be trained to forecast water quality, track the efficacy of a sanitizing chemical, or modify the water treatment plan as necessary using machine learning algorithms.

[3] Improving the efficiency of water systems

Water may be collected, treated, distributed and recycled thanks to smart water systems.

These systems, which are frequently installed underground, may leak, freeze, or fail.

These systems are currently frequently used on infrastructure.

The Internet of Things (IoT) can help with maintenance prediction and prevent breakage, leakage and equipment downtime by monitoring the pressure, flow, moisture, temperature, the time difference between points, and other factors directly within the systems.

[4] Creating awareness of household water use thanks to smart meters

Without fully understanding how or how much a change in habit could help them, many households wastewater.

Smart meters have now been installed by the majority of utility companies to make it simple and remote to monitor and bill usage.

The fact that the information is also easily accessible to end users is a tremendous incentive.

Now, individual consumers can save money by reducing their water bills and daily water supply preservation.

[5] Providing running water through innovative solutions all around the world

It takes more than simply effective delivery to manage water.

Getting it to everyone can be important at times.

Many people lack convenient access to flowing water in many developing nations.

Infrastructures for water utilities suffer from a lack of investment, a dearth of public water stations, and inconsistent delivery services.

Pills containing chlorine are costly and unreliable.

People with irregular or poor earnings must therefore deal with daily challenges in getting access to water.

The entire water supply chain, from freshwater reservoirs to the collection and recycling of wastewater, is made more transparent and under better control thanks to smart water technology.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has a significant impact on resource preservation by enabling smart water treatment procedures and better management of water supply, distribution and consumption.

Key stakeholders involved in ICTs and smart water management

Any person, group, or organization that has a vested interest in SWM by having the potential to be directly or indirectly impacted by its initiatives, activities, policies, and/or having the power to influence SWM’s outcomes is referred to in this article as a stakeholder.

Stakeholder engagement typically involves the main areas:

1- Identification of stakeholders, the location of their vested interests, the degree to which they can be affected directly or indirectly, and their capacity to influence SWM results are all covered by the concepts of stakeholder identification and analysis.

2- Identification of stakeholder interests and concerns is referred to as stakeholder consultation.

It also refers to the beginning and long-term maintenance of positive external relationships.

3- In order to ensure transparency and effectively handle delicate issues, information sharing and disclosure refers to the supply of information to stakeholders so they can act or participate in a manner that is informed.

4-Stakeholder participation in the process of fully involving stakeholders in the planning, implementation and/or evaluation of a project in order to accommodate their interests and concerns.

5- Partnering for solutions: Negotiation and partnerships relate to the effective management of stakeholders to guarantee that agreements on certain issues may be reached.

ICTs in Smart Water Management 7 encourage discussions conducted in good faith and in a manner that serves the interests of all parties. Keeping in mind that not all stakeholders in SWM necessarily have the same worries, viewpoints, or priorities.

6-In order to improve the overall success of SWM programs, stakeholder grievance management provides a forum for stakeholders to voice their grievances and have those grievances heard.

Each stakeholder group is unique, due to its goals, makeup, operation and the driving forces of their effort within SWM

Further distinctions of the main types of stakeholders involved are described below:

Stakeholders who have influenced “ICTs and smart water management”

This group is leading the way in the development of SWM solutions, products and tools and comprises ICT corporations and organizations, scientists/academia, and research groups, as well as collaborations with businesses,
the industry, corporate entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Stakeholders who have a direct impact on “ICTs and smart water management”

This group directly affects or is affected by policies related to the water sector and therefore has a major part to
play in the implementation of SWM programs within countries.

This includes international governmental organizations, governments, municipalities, water authorities and water managers, as well as regulators of water issues and the environment at local, regional, national and international levels.

Stakeholders who have an indirect impact on “ICTs and smart water management”

This group affects the overall water supply in countries regarding both quantity and quality.

It consists of citizens, agriculture, industry, as well as all other users of the waterways (fisheries, etc.).

Notably in this report, the focus will be placed on the first two main categories, as the third will be focused on successive reports.

The past has shown that without proper collaboration, many initiatives, plans and proposals fail to address issues related to the water sector.

Global water issues must therefore be addressed concurrently in a collective holistic manner through partnerships.

Hence, collaboration is necessary to ensure that the right information regarding these issues is known in order to solve them effectively; thus ensuring the success and sustainability of any initiative.

Collaboration occurs only when there is proper stakeholder involvement and therefore cannot occur if stakeholders are not identified.

As mentioned earlier, one main objective of this report was to highlight the significant stakeholders related to SWM and this will be further elaborated consecutively.

Opportunities and challenges

Action needs to be taken now to secure future livelihoods due to the approaching worldwide water catastrophe.

SWM might be the answer to this worldwide issue, but only if the right stakeholder involvement is used.

The previous section demonstrated how SWM tools, products, and systems may be developed and implemented, opening up a wide range of options, with adequate coordination, collaboration and information exchange across stakeholders.

Despite the fact that there are many opportunities, there are still difficulties on a worldwide scale.

By overcoming these obstacles, global water crises will be efficiently addressed.

Opportunities

ICT use in SWM has a wide application and a clear set of benefits, which, in general, increases water use efficiency and therefore decreases consumption. Some major areas where improvement is evident are listed below:

Real-time monitoring

Real-time, accurate data can be provided because of technologies like smart meters, SCADA, GIS, communications sensors and decision support systems.

This implies that water providers have the chance to enhance distribution and demand responsiveness.

Water losses in the water distribution system can also be decreased as a result.

Customers and businesses can now more easily manage and monitor their water usage.

As a result, the water management system becomes more transparent, enabling managers to distribute and allocate water resources more fairly.

Improvement in water access

By directing resources to provide essential services where they are most needed, technologies like water point mapping can help increase access to water supply, and by extension, these technologies can monitor progress and performance.

In order to increase standpipe performance monitoring and control, smart technology has also been included in standpipe management models, guaranteeing that the unconnected poor have reliable access to a fresh, clean supply of water.

Reduction in water consumption

ICTs offer the instruments required to produce improved water use efficiency in all sectors since water managers, industries, enterprises and consumers are better able to monitor their water usage.

The use of sensors in the agricultural industry guarantees that crops are irrigated as needed, saving significant amounts of water that would otherwise be lost to waste.

Reduction in operational costs

“Smart water infrastructure can help water utilities save up to 20% of water leakage levels and cut energy use by 30%.” (Cutler 2013).

Optimization of expenses can be achieved by reducing administrative costs as well as costs associated with non-revenue water thanks to improvements in operational efficiencies.

Therefore, in a business case, the short- and long-term effects of smart water metering and smart water grids imply considerable savings.

Integration of smart water management in smart sustainable cities (SSC)

SSCs are fundamentally efficient cities; in this context, efficiency primarily centers on the use of intelligent technology and a greater level of public participation.

SWM is very easily incorporated into SSC, and it protects economic growth, maintains a higher standard of living, and preserves ecological and natural resources for future generations.

Consequently, ICTs will make sure that future cities use less water.

40 collaborating to find solutions: smart water management using ICTs.

Environmental flow integration

There is definitely potential, even though the advantages of ICTs in environmental flow evaluations of water resource management have not been fully covered here.

Better decisions in the sustainable management of this resource may result from the application of ICT products, solutions and systems (such as sensors networks, GIS, etc.) in the proper monitoring and assessment of environmental flow.

Greater public involvement

By giving water utilities real-time data, customers are better equipped to report leaks.

Public awareness of consumption and water usage may increase as a result of better communication between the public and water utilities.

Challenges

Though there are substantial opportunities for ICT use in SWM, global developments in this area are currently insufficient and are mainly due to the areas listed below:

Lack of standardization

Even though the ITU has created ICT standards for ubiquitous sensor networks (USNs) and the Internet of things (IoT), which are both pertinent to this industry, further standardization is still required.

Standardization and the creation of best practices in this field ensure that incentives are implemented in a way that is effective, fair, and environmentally sustainable.

The way that current development is being carried out cannot be sustained in the long run.

Integrity is upheld by standardization, and adherence guarantees compatibility, interoperability, and a particular degree of quality, hence lowering risks.

Lack of policies

Policies have the power to make or destroy the smart water market by promoting or discouraging the creation and implementation of SWM systems.

Therefore, policies must be carefully coordinated and designed based on thorough research and examination of the water sector within a particular country.

The efficacy and sustainability of these tools depend on cross-sector policies that are coherent and a multi-stakeholder water resource management strategy that has been developed.

Since the majority of countries’ present trends in policy development are fragmented and sector-specific, it is important that policy development not be taken lightly.

Generally, in most countries, there is no coherent multi-sector and/or multi-stakeholder coordinated policy on water management and/or conservation.

Therefore policies and other regulatory-based enforcements in addition to carefully developed economic incentives for sharing water consumption information, and reducing water consumption will have a positive effect on the development of the smart water ecosystem, once implemented properly.

Accordingly, an integrated policy formulation approach that integrates different governmental sectors, NGOs, CBOs, academia and the private sector is necessary for the success and adoption of water resource management policies on the national and regional levels.

Proper ICT governance

ICT governance issues have an influence on investment and impede steady, coordinated and all-encompassing planning to handle future requirements and proper integration.

In this industry, good governance establishes certain safeguards that promote effectiveness and efficiency.

Lack of incentives/funding

More incentives for funding and research are required from governments and the financial industry.

The water sector as well as the general public can change their behavior with the help of adequate subsidies and tax incentives.

In addition, banks can be crucial through investments and loans.

Many small ICT businesses have found it difficult to succeed since some banks may view these initiatives as high risk due to their lack of experience with such investments.

Lack of awareness

For this strategy to receive the necessary buy-in, proper dissemination is needed.

Additionally, proper management of any resource depends on awareness, appropriate education and dissemination.

Although many nations are aware that technology may boost economies, they may not fully understand the value of ICTs or the role they can play in water management.

Despite this, a lot of nations have access to technology, but few of them are using it for water management.

The creation of smart cities has received more attention than how ICTs may support SWM on a bigger scale.

The majority of ICT systems purchased by corporations and governments, on the other hand, have been built with minimal, and in some cases no, integration with other systems, making it impossible to fully utilize their potential benefits.

Customers will be better equipped to decide how to use and consume water if they are more knowledgeable about their supply sources.

The path forward

In the context of water shortage, climate change, and other challenges faced by the water industry, SWM offers a practical choice for managing sustainable water resources.

If correctly implemented, these benefits of ICT integration in water management may result in the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation.

However, attention must be given to this issue in order to encourage stakeholder support and effective cooperation among the pertinent sectors, particularly those that directly affect implementation and set the pace for it.

Despite this, it is equally essential for ICT and SWM stakeholders to communicate.

A more intelligent approach to water management is achieved by proper integration and stakeholder interaction, which prevents fragmented and uncoordinated responses to water management concerns.

Only by putting a strong emphasis on aligning the right stakeholders with the right technology will appropriate intelligence adoption in SWM be achieved.

To ensure that data from utilities, municipalities, regulators, investors businesses, technology providers and academia can be appropriately exploited, communication must be established.

This enables the formation of creative alliances that produce the best answers for everyone.

In order to manage our water resources in the twenty-first century, it is essential that standards, regulations and ICT governance be developed.

As a result, best practices, guidelines, and strategies for SWM must be developed through collaboration with essential stakeholders.

To encourage effectiveness, accountability, and non-discrimination, they should be adequately tailored through protocols.

Additionally, the creation of a global portal on ICTs’ contribution to SWM is required to offer a secure gateway for the quick dissemination of technological advancements and best practices on SWM as well as to promote and foster a system-wide, coordinated global response.

Additionally, it is crucial to develop a precise methodology to assess the social and economic effects of ICTs in SWM in order to properly gauge their influence.

Integrity, compatibility, and interoperability within ICTs in SWM will be sought after by ITU in its capacity as an international standards organization and via the course of its primary objectives.

Through the provision of an international platform for the development and procurement of SWM standards, ITU’s commitment to standardization in the ICT sector will pave the way forward for ICTs in SWM mainly in these key areas:

1-ICT research that is focused, integrated, and coordinated to support the distribution of best practices in this field.

2-Development and specification of SWM standards, notably in the transfer, storage, access, and updating of water information that permits linkages between spatial and time-dependent characteristics like smart metering.

3-Take the lead in promoting ICTs’ development and implementation in nation-building SWM infrastructure.

4- Establish the standard for information and training sessions to help nations apply ITC SWM techniques, enhancing capacity development in those countries.

5- Increase the visibility and effect of ICTs in SWM by streamlining their delivery across diverse networks.

To make “Smarter Sustainable Water for everybody,” the ITU’s Focus Group on Smart Water Management (FG-SWM) is aiming to achieve these objectives.

References

[1] https://www.saftbatteries.com/energizing-iot/smart-water-management-5-innovative-solutions-water-scarcity-offered-iot

[2] Amanda Mc Intosh, Partnering for solutions: ICTs in Smart Water Management, united nations, Educational, Scientific and cultured Organizations.