31 October 2022

Water Management In Smart Cities

Water is at the epicenter of sustainable development and is vital to socio-economic growth, healthy ecosystems, energy and food production, as well as to the very survival of human beings. However, as the world’s population grows to a projected 8.5 billion by 2030, demand for water will increase significantly, intensifying the challenges of sustainable development.

The world is becoming more and more urban, posing new and difficult challenges for urban water management. Today, around 55% of the world’s 4.2 billion people live in cities. This trend is expected to continue; by 2050, the urban population will double and almost 7 out of 10 people will live in urban centers. In this sense, on World Cities Day, we at Almar Water Solutions want to highlight the role that the cities of the future, Smart Cities, play in water management.

Smart cities are cities that aim to promote and improve all of the aspects of cities, their citizens and the environment, by using innovative technologies that improve the sustainability and effectiveness of all of the services that are provided in a city.

According to the sustainability models, it’s important to consider the following aspects:
– Environmental protection and management.
– Pollution.
– Waste management.
– Sustainable building construction.
– Water management.

Water is necessary for life, so its management can’t be left to chance, but rather must be studied and analyzed in detail to achieve optimal use.

In the proper management of a city’s resources, the water sector has to always see technological tools as a strong ally in support of its interests. Some of the most interesting technological innovations in water management that are being carried out are:

Smart usage management systems that make it possible to adapt the network’s flow to the current demand, which avoids oversizing the infrastructure, among other advantages.
Metering and alarm mechanisms, which make it possible to detect malfunctions as soon as they occur, interrupting the flow through the network and avoiding water wastage that results when there are breaks in pressurized pipes.
The control of the pollutant load through monitoring and analysis stations, which means that before wastewater is sent to the treatment plant, the products and concentrations that will be needed to achieve the required quality will already be known.
Smart meters that avoid inconvenience to users and technicians and automatically collect information and generate malfunction or error reports when they detect consumption anomalies.
Drones to observe the condition of the pipes in real time to schedule maintenance work. They can also be used to observe faults and malfunctions in the network without wasting time moving resources and equipment for a preliminary inspection.
Weather stations and gauges that detect the arrival of cloud masses and determine the likelihood of precipitation in the area and its intensity. This facilitates the preparation of rainwater tanks or inspections of sewer systems, to make good use of the rainwater and prevent flooding or at least mitigate possible damage in the city.
Sensors in gardens that detect the degree of moisture of the soil and based on it, send the command to activate the irrigation system or not. This leads to efficient water use.

At Almar Water Solutions we want to be at the forefront of the latest technologies to provide optimal and reliable service in the management of water infrastructure. For this reason, we are committed to digital solutions and IoT products and services to manage our water treatment plants. Through our stake in Datakorum, a company that provides comprehensive digitization solutions in the water, energy and mobility sectors, using its proprietary technological ecosystem, we are improving and optimizing the management of water infrastructure in cities. By digitizing treatment plants we can manage them quickly and efficiently, reduce losses and costs, improve service, ensure quality and guarantee sustainability.

At Almar Water Solutions, we develop, promote and finance technological innovations in the field of water management to build truly smart cities that are able to respond to the new challenges of sustainable development.

References:

World Bank. Urban Development. https://www.bancomundial.org/es/topic/urbandevelopment/overview#1
BORRELL, E (2014).
El agua en las Smart Cities, una apuesta de futuro. Tecnoaqua, (5), 150-153.
BOUSKELA, M., CASSEB, M., BASSI, S., DE LUCA, C., & FACCHINA, M. (2016). La ruta hacia las Smart Cities. Migrando de una gestión tradicional a la ciudad inteligente. Washington DC: Inter-American Development Bank. https://publications.iadb.org/es/la-ruta-hacia-las-smart-cities-migrando-de-una-gestion-tradicional-la-ciudad-inteligente.
United Nations. World Cities Day. https://www.un.org/es/observances/cities-day
United Nations. Global Issues: population. https://www.un.org/es/global-issues/population