One of the largest, European-wide digital collaborations is helping water companies to use a common standard when it comes to their digital transformation journeys.
Starting in 2012, the ICT4Water cluster began life as a hub for EU-funded research and innovation projects on ICT applied to water management. As the European Commission (EC) increased its focus on the digitalization of the water sector, the cluster has grown to include over 60 projects.
It has since been addressing technology understanding and adoption gaps, bringing together multiple projects and stakeholders to exchange experiences.
A unified playing field
ICT4Water intends to help provide consistent, unified standards to promote the transition of information and communications technology (ICT) technologies in the water sector, from pilot scale to wide market uptake. The aim is to create a European, border-less “digital single market” for water services.
“The water sector will benefit from a unified playing field and standardized ways of working,” said Joep van den Broeke, senior scientific research and project manager at KWR. “At the moment, that is lacking, and it hinders the adoption of new technology. Digital tools can help organizations perform better, to be more cost-effective and cost-efficient. They can also help to retain knowledge within organizations when facing the challenge of a soon to be retiring, ageing workforce.”
One of the most significant achievements from the ICT4Water cluster has been the inclusion of the water sector in widely accepted standards organizations. The SAREF-Water standards have recently been added to the ETSI, the European Standards organization domain of standards.
“Our biggest success is that we created a whole domain,” said Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, program director of Watershare. “We now have the standards for data exchange in the water sector. It’s similar to a USB port for standardization — this didn’t exist for the water sector. But at least there is now the SAREF-Water standard.”
Another outcome from the cluster has been the enrichment of the FIWARE platform with data models relevant to the water sector.
“By facilitating this standardization of water-related data models, coupled with the interaction with the European Commission, it will help to support the adoption of common digital services across the European water sector,” added van den Broeke.
“The setting of standards, in general, can help drive digital adoption," van den Broeke said. "Some water utilities are a bit more reluctant, and there are also so many different solutions, with each one providing a different piece of the puzzle."
Furthermore, ICT4Water had written an action plan in 2018 and is currently revising it, with an intent to take it to 2023.
Moving beyond smart meters
ICT4Water’s cluster has focused on multiple areas:
- Low-cost sensors for monitoring water use and quality in real-time
- Big data analytics to support effective and time sensitive decision making
- Applications for consumers to drive sustainable changes in consumption behavior
- Complex control systems to minimize energy use at all steps of the water life cycle
- Novel means to identify water leaks and reduce water losses and improve forecasting of water demand.
"The digitalization of the water sector has moved from smart meters and smart applications to the next step, which is how do we integrate the Internet of Things (IoT) technology and applications and domain,” Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia added. “This leads to interoperability and the real-time management of water systems and utilities using these systems in a very connected way."
Despite the progress, Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia also said there remains reluctance from some European countries to put data into the cloud, with a preference for local storage.
“This is the equivalent of insisting we ride a donkey in an age of cars,” she continued. “That's the misconception of the previous generation. To change this, policies are needed; otherwise it won't change. There is a need to synchronize with current needs and trends.”
