What is “intelligent water management” and what does it offer?

The water is a unique and irreplaceable resource, it is the basis of life, societies and economies. But it is also a good more and more rare. In a world that needs it to face its major demographic and climatic challenges, and despite the fact that 71% of the planet is covered with it, only 2% of this amount is sweet and less than half is available, because a good part is imprisoned in the glaciers in the form of ice.

In Latin America, per capita water availability has decreased by 22% over the past 20 years and millions of farmers face droughts that threaten their crops and put their survival at risk. Facing a panorama of climate emergency which leaves more and more forest fires, a trail of constant droughts and supply problems, secure future supply through technological tools it is fundamental.

In addition to strengthening global action through commitments such as the Paris Agreement, the new climate scenario obliges improve water management at all levels. The application of new technologies and resources such as digitization, automation, Smart cities, big data and 5G networks, among others, make a decisive contribution to the development of these improvements which are already known as smart water management.

Every year the Danube Water Program (DWP) – an association between World Bank and the International Association of Danube Basin Water Utilities (IAWD) – organizes a regional water sector conference. In 2019, the Danube Water Conference was held in Vienna to discuss the topic of resilience. In 2020, the first project Danube Water Forum (DWF) bring relevant stakeholders together in Banja Luka to discuss data and digitalization.

Thus, from October 27 to 29 of the same year, stakeholders met virtually to discuss “The importance of data in the water sector in the digital age”. The virtual assistants participated in various sessions, covering a wide variety of subtopics, such as the importance of this information for sustainable water management and service deliveryin addition to water data in the cross-sectoral context and the use of strong data for smart policies, among others.

The importance of data and digitization was also highlighted with the participation of the European Commission during the event, which referred to European Green Deal Yet the European data strategy, an innovative approach that puts data at the center of virtually all economic advancements. But, Why exactly are data and digitization essential to improve the performance of the water sector?

“First, data can help governments and regulators not only promote and meet certain benchmarks and targets, but also enable the Bank to respond more effectively to customer needs. THE benchmarking programs Utility companies, such as those offered under the DWP, for example, allow individual companies to collect data and compare it with that of other utility companies to see how they are doing.

Examples from the region better illustrate this point. Maja Medenica, Asset Management Center Manager Belgrade Aqueduct And Sanitation (Serbia), cited an example: “20 years ago, we estimate that the Belgrade water supply system There were about 2,500 kilometers of pipes. After collecting and analyzing the data, we now know that It’s more like 4,000 kilometres. and we can plan repair and maintenance capabilities accordingly.

In addition, high quality data they are necessary for the Bank to help design and for governments to implement sound policies in the sector. According Milica Petrovic, community services coordinator Energy and Water Regulatory Agency of Montenegro, “benchmarking has determined our methodical approach to pricing,” adding, at the event backed by The countrythat the agency is “on track to introduce the first rate regulations in 2021, based on 200 sets of data we collect each month”.

There digitization in water services improves, among other things, water quality, energy efficiency and leak detection. Some of the major factors driving the growth of the smart water management market are increasing population and urbanization, increasing global water consumption and the need to deal with high maintenance costs obsolete infrastructure.

More open and adaptable digitalization in water utilities will provide a adequate visibility and control and based on the standards of this new digital era, which will allow you to automate water management by enriching your data with digital elements and contextual layers. In this new reality, you will have the power to Significantly increase productivity and quickly adopt new technologies because they seem to follow and build more adaptable, collaborative and flexible business processes.

The development of smart water applications, such as leak control, pressure management, water efficiency, water reuse (grey water, storm water and effluent), conservation water and demand management, is made possible by digitization. With the rapid advancement of technology in sensors, communications, water efficiency, information management, analysis, automation, recycling and smart wastewater management, water networks can be used more efficiently while remaining viable.

There United Nations General Assembly endorsed a declaration in 2010 that explicitly recognizes the human right to water and sanitation, reaffirming that clean water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. Despite the UN declaration, the reality is that there are still We are far from water being a resource within everyone’s reach As humans, and with climate change, we risk not only running out of supplies, but also various types of water wars.

To quantify the problems, the UN itself calculates that in 2030, a total of 120 countries will be subject to what is called extreme water stress and this means that more than half of the world’s population will be affected by problems with the availability of drinking water. And it is a crisis that does not exclusively affect developing countries. To face this complex situation, it is necessary to put in place new solutions.

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