Intelligent water systems, also known as smart water networks, integrate sensors, meters, and other devices to remotely monitor water distribution networks. This allows utilities to detect problems, optimize infrastructure, and improve decision making. The iWIDGET project is evaluating smart metering technologies in three European case studies. Key challenges of smart water systems include high costs, data security and privacy, developing standards, and assessing the business case. To address water losses and energy use, utilities are considering expanding metering programs, which have reduced consumption by 12% in tested areas. Overall, smart networks aim to improve water management, efficiency and infrastructure investment decisions.

1. INTELLIGENT (SMART) WATER
SYSTEMS
Professor Dragan Savic FREng, FCIWEM, FICE

2. OUTLINE
 What are Intelligent/Smart
Water Systems/Networks?
 Why do we need them?
 iWIDGET
 project
 case studies
 To meter or not to meter?
 Conclusions
© The Smart Water Networks Forum

3. WHAT ARE SMART WATER
NETWORKS?
 Smart Water Network solutions improve the
efficiency, longevity, and reliability of
the underlying physical water network by
better measuring, collecting, analyzing,
and acting upon a wide range of network
events. This can take shape in different phases of
the utility process, such as real-time
monitoring and automation,
operational readiness, or network
planning.
Source: The Smart Water Networks Forum

4. WHAT ARE SMART WATER
NETWORKS?
 A smart water network is an integrated set of
products, solutions and systems that enable utilities
to remotely and continuously monitor
and diagnose problems, prioritize and
manage maintenance issues and use
data to optimize all aspects of the water
distribution network.
Source: Sensus

5. SMART WATER NETWORKS
© Sensus
Smart
Metering
/
Sensors
are at
the heart
of Smart
Water
Networks

6. SMART WATER METERING
Via AMR
Source: www.nhojj.com
To AMI
Source: crenshawcomm.com
From manual reading
Source: www.purewatergazette.net
 Time
consuming
 Costly
 Infrequent
 Prone to
human error
 Wireless
transmission
 Handheld
receives
 Drive-by
 Fixed networks  Two-way
communication
s
 Customers
 Utility
 Infrastructure

7. WHY DO WE NEED THEM?
 Regulatory compliance
 Optimize infrastructure renewal (TOTEX)
 Increase distribution efficiency
 GHG emissions
 Energy optimization
 Operational efficiency
 Improve decision making
 Guide strategy and investment
 Improve customer satisfaction and

8. WHY DO WE NEED THEM?
 Enormous investment needed
 raised almost £100bn since the privatisation
 will need another £100bn by 2030 (KPMG)
 TOTEX focus – improved efficiency required
 “no build” solutions
 from “outputs” to “outcomes”
 Customers at the heart of everything
 every Pound of investment has to be justified in
terms of how it benefits customers
© Talent Development Water

9. S
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh
Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), under grant agreement no. 318272.
This publication reflects only the author’s views and the European Union is not liable for any use
that may he made of the information contained therein.
• Collaborative, three year project (2012-
2015) on water & ICT
• Cluster of ten projects www.ict4water.eu
• The aim of iWIDGET is to advance
knowledge and understanding about
smart metering technologies

10. MAIN ISSUES
 Water demand/consumption monitoring
 Near real time
 Utility networks and
households
 Efficiency
 Water loss management (utility and
customer side)
 Supply- Demand management
 Water and Energy management
 Water demand forecasting
credit: Huffington Post
credit: amtel.com

11. MAIN ISSUES
 Customer behaviour?
 Home Display Units/Apps/Web Portals
 Social Media
 Gamification
 Decision Support Systems
 Big Data / Analytics
 Utility
 Customers
 Integration
 Asset Management
credit: British Ga
credit: synsysync.com

12. SOME CHALLENGES
 Sensors
 Cost, Size, Location, Energy
Consumption, Data Transmission…
 Standards
 Hardware and Software, IoT…
 Interoperability
 Data sharing
 Data Security & Privacy
 Personal information about
individuals Source: www.opensourcez.org
Source: city-countyobserver.com

13. SOME CHALLENGES
 Technology for Processing Large Amount of
Data
 Data validation, reconstruction
and aggregation algorithms
 Unified and standardised
metadata description
 Open Research Data and GEOSS Data
Sharing principles
 Integration of Water and Energy
Consumption Data
Source: ericbrown.com
Source: worldwaterweek.org

14. SOME CHALLENGES
 Business Case
 Benefits vs. Costs
 Cost vs. Value of water
 Business Model
 Who benefits?
 Who pays?
 ‘Human’ dimension
 ‘Say no to smart meters!’
 How to win over customers?
Source: stopsmartmeters.org.uk

15. IWIDGET SYSTEM
Water
sources
Water
treatment
works
Water
storage
Water
distribution
M M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
Consumers
M
Supply
(Utility Domain)
Demand
(Customer Domain)
M Large water meters
M Customer water meters
Effluent
disposal
Wastewater
treatment
Wastewater
collection
Utility
control room
iWIDGET DSS
iWIDGET DSS

16. IWIDGET SYSTEM

17. HIGH LEVEL USE CASES
 Obtain water consumption
data
 Obtain energy data
associated with water
consumption
 Understand water
consumption
 Understand energy
associated with water
consumption
 Get assistance to increase
water use efficiency
 Control water use
 Obtain water consumption and
related energy consumption
data
 Understand water
consumption
 Understand energy associated
with water consumption
 Get support to increasing
operational efficiency
 Get support to increasing the
quality of service
 Get support to improve
consumer efficient water use
 Get support for system
planning and design
Utility Domain Consumer Domain

18. IWDIGET SYSTEM
 Household platform

19. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Home page with overview tabs
Great!
5 Smiley Faces
Indicates Household
Use is
Considered Efficient
Take Action!
1 Smiley Face
Indicates Household
Use is
Excessive

20. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Water Consumption – at different time scales
Daily
(for a month)
Hourly
(for a day)

21. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Monitoring of energy consumption

22. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Per-appliance energy consumption

23. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Comparison of annual consumption
Household
Consumption
in 2009
Household
Consumption
in 2008

24. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Comparison with other users
Your
Consumption
Average
Consumption in
the Area

25. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Comparison with other users (seasonal)
Your
Consumption
Average
Consumption in
the Area

26. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Comparison with most efficient user
Your
Consumption
Efficient User
Consumption

27. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
Breakdown
into
Water Uses
Consumption
Profile

28. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Warnings about leaks, bursts, etc.

29. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 Household water bill forecast

30. HOUSEHOLD PLATFORM
 General indoor tips for water efficiency
displayed in virtual home

31. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
Inflow and
Consumption
Time Series
Graph
Total Inflow and
Consumption
per DMA

32. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
Consumption
Categories
Time Series
Graph
Consumption
Categories
per DMA

33. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
Detailed
Water Balance
per DMA
Water Balance
per DMA

34. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
Background
Leakage
Total
Background
Leakage
per DMA

35. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
 Energy for pumping

36. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
 Warning about faults, e.g., leaks, bursts...

37. WATER UTILITY PLATFORM
 Accurate Billing and Pricing Flexibility

38. CASE STUDY: BARCELOS
(PORTUGAL)

39. CASE STUDY: SOUTHERN WATER
(UK)

40. 31/03/2015
CASE STUDY: ATHENS (GREECE)

41.  Water Meters are shown in blue, energy
and water meters are shown in red
ATHENS CASE STUDY

42. 43
IWIDGET – SMART HOME
Water Meter Environmental
Parameter Sensor
Energy Meter
Data logger/transmitter

43. TO METER OR NOT TO METER?
 Water Companies use 3% of total energy
used in the UK (Water UK)
 In 2011-12 they emitted the equivalent of
about 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
(Ofwat)
 Leakage (Ml/day)
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000 4,505
3,306
3,605 3,608 3,575
3,420 3,288 3,291 3,275
Source: Ofwat

44.  Majority of customers not metred
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
100.00
Not metered
Metered
TO METER OR NOT TO METER?

45. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
 Difference in consumption (metered/unmetered)
TO METER OR NOT TO METER?

46. TO METER OR NOT TO METER?
 About 12% reduction in water
consumed – 1,000 megalitres
 400 Olympic-size swimming pools
 7,300 homes supplied for a year
 About 12% reduction in electricity
consumption for the UK Water
Industry – 250,000 GWh
 Electricity for 54,000 UK homes
for a year

47.  Saving water could ‘provide’ gas and
electricity for 660,000 homes per year
TO METER OR NOT TO METER?

48. SWN - CONCLUSIONS (1)
 Smart Water Networks
 network assets
 devices including water meters, pressure
sensors, water quality sensors, etc.
 sensor/meter data and information
 Integration
 business processes
 systems
 Support Operation
 Guide Strategy and Investment

49. SWN - CONCLUSIONS (2)
 Drivers
 Ageing infrastructure
 50% of London's pipes are over a
century old and 30% date beyond 150
years
 Cost implications
 Over 100 billion will need to be invested
in UK water infrastructure (by 2030)
 Health impacts
 Safe, reliable, affordable, and easily
accessible water supply is essential for
good health
~1Bn people

50. SWN - CONCLUSIONS (3)
 Aims
 Increase water efficiency
 Improve water management
 Manage water demand
 Reduce leakage
 Reduce energy requirements for water utilities
and households
 Increase end-user awareness
 Affect end-user behavioural change with (near)
real time surveillance and feedback

51. Thank you
d.savic@ex.ac.uk
iwidget.eu