1. March 22, 2021
Water & Technology
Innovative experiences of IBM Research
Pietro Leo
IBM Italy Chief Scientist and Research Strategist for Active Intelligence
IBM Academy of Technology Leadership

3. • Your Dishes
• Your Windows
• Your Car
• To Steam Clean Rugs
• To Clean Your Clothes
• To Iron Your Clothes
• Or you can get rid of wrinkles
in your clothes using a
steamer.
• Poach Salmon
• Boil Pasta
• Rinse Beans
• Soak Beans
• Cook Beans
• Make Bean Sprouts
• Steam Broccoli
• Make Tofu
• Thaw Frozen Food
• You need water to bathe your
horses.
• You need water to bathe your
dog.
• You need water (and prayers)
to bathe your cat.
• To flush the toilet
• To brush your teeth
• To take a bath
• To take a shower
• To wash your hands
• To wash your face
• To wash your hair
• To wash your feet
• To shave your face
• Fire Extinguishers
• To keep by a campfire
to prevent forest fire.
• To cool down burns if
someone gets too close
to the fire.
• To wash cuts so that
they don’t get infected.
• Water is used to
lubricate the saw while
cutting tiles
• Water is used to cut
rock
… and many mores

4. 1. Manage our
main Resource
2. Sensing &
Analyzing Water
3. Water & Life
4. New Forms to
capture the Water
Value

5. 1. Manage our
main Resource
Technology is helping us to
make more efficient and
effective water management
2. Sensing &
Analyzing Water
Technology is expanding and
amplifying our natural abilities to
analyze water in real-time
3. Water & Life
Every day we discover new roles
of water to sustain the Life,
technology is helping us to see
water with fresh eyes
4. New Forms to
capture the Water
Value
Technology is helping us to represent
in new ways the value of water

6. 1. Manage our main Resource

7. IBM collaborated with SweetSense Inc. to build an IoT network of water flow sensors in northern Kenya to support
the Kenya RAPID (Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development) program by The Millennium
Water Alliance.

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je9uiFZt88k
20km

9. Source: https://wmaasp.mybluemix.net

10. Source: https://wmaasp.mybluemix.net

11. Source: https://wmaasp.mybluemix.net

12. 2. Sensing & Analyzing Water

13. Through their groundbreaking partnership, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM, and the FUND for Lake
George have developed preliminary models of key natural processes within the watershed. As part of the
first phase of the project, a network of 12 sensor platforms including vertical profilers and tributary
monitoring stations are now being deployed around Lake George and its tributaries, providing an
unprecedented amount of data for researchers.

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0OU9hfyZqU
&t=5s

15. https://jeffersonproject.live/sensors

17. High concentrations of floating algae can turn lakes green and less attractive for recreation. As a
measure of the abundance of floating algae, we measure the concentration of chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll
a concentrations in the lake have increased by 32% over 37 years, but they remain very low compared
to many other lakes in the region. Moreover, Lake George has never experienced a Harmful Algal Bloom
(HAB).

18. 3. Water & Life

19. https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2020/06/biological-remodelling-of-liquid-water/
A team from IBM Research Europe located in Daresbury, UK, the University of Oxford, and the
University of Barcelona have explored the reverse question: How is water itself restructured in the
vicinity of biological surfaces?
Network Topology in Water Nanoconfined between
Phospholipid Membranes

20. Reporting today, in the peer-review journal ACS Nano, the group use
computational simulation at the molecular scale and innovative
analysis tools to reveal how water structure responds to confinement by lipid
(cellular) membrane surfaces – one of the most fundamental of all biological
interfaces.
Water molecules are arranged in more ordered patterns and
linked together by a peculiar network of bonds that extend at
distances much larger than originally thought.
The authors also identify the existence of an abrupt interface within the water
layers separating so-called “bound” and “unbound” water both with
structures which differ from normal liquid water.
These results provide new insight into the role of water in biological
processes as well as in the concept of “biological water”, and
show that water structure is highly responsive to environment –
particularly when confined by the soft interfaces found near biological
membranes.
The findings may have broader implications for developing nanoscale models
of biological interactions and for understanding how alteration of the
water structure and topology, for example, due to changes in
extracellular ion concentrations, could affect diseases and signaling.
https://youtu.be/FRzM9aN
kw30
New Roles of
water at
nanoscale in
biological
processes

21. 4. New Forms to capture the Water Value

22. The Freshwater Trust (TFT), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems,
is partnering with IBM Research and SweetSense Inc. , a provider of low-cost satellite connected
sensors, to pilot technologies which can accurately monitor and track groundwater use in one of the
largest and most at risk aquifers in North America. Additional research support will be provided by the
University of Colorado Boulder.
https://newsroom.ibm.com/2019-02-08-State-of-California-Tackles-Drought-with-IoT-Blockchain#assets_all
State of California Tackles Drought with IoT & Blockchain

23. A small town in California has sunk more
than 2 feet in the past decade, and it
could be part of a disturbing trend
Nearly 40 areas in the Sacramento Valley
where land has started to sink as farmers
pump groundwater from the region's arid
soil
The over-pumping is an aftereffect of one
of the worst droughts in California history.
https://www.businessinsider.com/california-town-sinking-drought-central-valley-2019-2?IR=T
The sinking could have dangerous
consequences for the area's
infrastructure. Not only does it cause
roads to crack and holes to form in the
ground, but it can also damage
underground pipes that move water
between locations.
Over-pumping groundwater can also
trigger the release of arsenic, a toxic
chemical that increases the risk of
cancer,
heart disease, and diabetes when
present in significant amounts.
Trading Watering Rights on block chain
Among peers
Sensing watering pumps and sharing
on cloud

24. IBM Research: A global research capability
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99 IBM Fellows
Cambridge
Singapore

25. Grazie!
Pietro Leo
IBM Italy Chief Scientist and Research Strategist for Active Intelligence
IBM Academy of Technology Leadership
www.pieroleo.com