One of the current significant challenges for the water industry is the need to lengthen the life of monitoring systems created over previous years, while also being efficient and continuing to achieve targets.
The good news is that innovative water utilities can now benefit from the digital technology revolution to improve their performance, save time and money while doing something good for the local community.
By utilising the strength of Artificial Intelligence algorithms and Big Data analytics, water utilities can optimise the information and data available to make better business decisions while increasing service delivery and reducing costs.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) contains “a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behaviour in computers.” In the circumstance of implementing efficient water supply, AI or machine learning is mainly used for decision-making tasks such as:
- How water utilities can maximize information and data available to make better decisions while enhancing service delivery;
- Optimizing capital investment and reducing the amount of operating costs.
Water utilities are following the lead of other innovative and IoT smart sectors, especially the energy sector that was one of the early adapters.
Smart Water Meters and AI
Another aspect of the water industry that has displayed an increased use of technology is the concept of smart metering.
Smart Water Meters (SWMs) have the potential to save water by early leak detection and identifying patterns in water usage. SWMs can deliver the industry data on an hourly basis and be a useful management mechanism, giving a high level of social, environmental and economic benefits to the local and wider community as a whole.
As economies recover from the pandemic, stakeholders are investing in digitalisation, and the global smart water meters market is expected to record a significant growth of 7.7% between 2020 and 2026.
This provides companies with the capability to satisfy smart metering needs an opportunity to invest in a service that will be worth the initial investment.
Some benefits as a result of implementing smart metering in the water industry include cost effectiveness, saving natural resources, saving human resources, and improving customer engagement.
How to adopt IoT and AI
Ultimately, it is evident that there is a high demand for AI, IoT and smart technology in the water utilities industry, but finding the right resources and capability can be a challenge. Contact us to find out how we address these challenges.
