From data management to digital water: the water system innovation

Technology focus

The SDGs as a new opportunity to turn the tide on water resources degradation

Turning the tide on water resources degradation and restoring water quality is no small task. Yet, improvements in water availability and quality will have a profound impact on the health and biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems, on the quality of life for billions of people and for the sustainable growth of economies around the world.

The recent digital revolution is making a huge potential available to manage our water more efficient and ‘smart’. Newly emerging digital paradigms for data retrieval, analysis and storage create the ability to share and exchange data at various scales: local/urban, regional and river basin. Data-driven and process-based models can offer precise monitoring, forecasting and visualization capabilities, all of which are key to support far-reaching water system innovations.

During the first session, the keynote will provide an in-depth overview of the latest developments in “Instrumentation, Control and Automation” (ICA) and how this is transforming the utility of tomorrow. A number of cases will then explore how new data management is further stretching a utilities’ horizon. Examples include utility data management as service hosted ‘in the cloud’, water savings on-line trading, water service inventories and data management through new on-line data platforms and innovative customer relations using data and social media. Cases will be presented from the Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, United States, and India.

The second session will explore how data and information is revolutionizing the management of large water resources systems. The keynote will provide an overview of the latest development of remote sensing, data management and modelling of large scale freshwater systems. Subsequent case studies will show how latest modelling techniques help to manage urban flooding or support stakeholder engagement in addressing water scarcity. Cases will be presented from the Singapore, Australia and the United States.

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Potential impact on SDGs

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SDG 6 calls to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Water is at the very core of sustainable development, and of utmost importance to a healthy living (SDG 3) and for agriculture, as well as to industrial and energy production. SDG 6 not only addresses the issues relating to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, but also the quality and sustainability of water resources worldwide. Governments have committed to half the amount of untreated wastewater and to stop and reverse the decline of water quality and the destruction of freshwater ecosystems (SDG 14). Progress is indicated by e.g. the proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services, the proportion of wastewater safely treated, the change in water-use efficiency over time and the degree of integrated water resources management implementation.

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Keynote speakers