Big data - smart water

‘Big data’ represents real opportunities for the water industry and this is driving investment in smart water technologies. As the cost of storing data has reduced and collection of data has become easier, the mining of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data is paying dividends.

‘Smart water’ is all about effectively integrating this big data with technology solutions that allow the water industry to optimise all aspects of their water systems. Using smart-water technologies can not only help organisations understand their customers but it can also help them optimise efficiencies, improve longevity of assets and predict future trends.

Experts from the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) estimate that billions of dollars can be saved through the implementation of smart-water technologies. SWAN is an international industry forum promoting the use of data technologies in water networks. According to this forum, the increased instrumentation and telemetry of water networks, especially of distribution systems, has created possibilities for a new layer of smart data applications.

There has been a real shift in language and mentality of the water industry, according to Dr Annalisa Contas of Atom Consulting. “If you look at the mission statements from, say, five to 10 years ago, they were very much about water, sustainability, community and service,” she says. “Now, we are seeing a shift to language which is more about water as a product supplied to customers, what water can do for us, liveability, liveable cities and water to enhance life.”

This sort of language is reflecting the trends of the broader community; their desires for a range of greener environments and enhanced living environments, says Contas. “These trends represent opportunities and challenges for the water industry, including the increasing complexity of big data and ageing infrastructure.”

Simon Zander, water segment leader at Schneider Electric, says his company is “certainly working with a lot of customers in Australia and around the world in regard to big data”. Schneider Electric has an offering called Wonderware Historian software, which is now available through its recent acquisition of Invensys. “The software allows companies to collect massive amounts of data in a central spot and analyse that data to make better decisions for the future,” says Zander.

“In terms of ageing infrastructure, the big decisions are about the large pipes; the civil assets that have 50- to 120-year life cycles. While the control system is really there to help you optimise the network and the asset, it’s also there to help you get more life out of the asset.

“If you can put a control system in the data network, like a telemetry system, you can potentially extend the life of your assets 10-15 years, which represents billions of dollars’ worth of saving in deferred capital,” said Zander.

“SWAN talks about the physical layer - pipes and pumps, the sensing and control layer, collection and communication, data management and display, and data fusions and analysis. Smart water is about using all that information to get the best out of your physical assets and even the water within the assets.”

Contas agrees there’s a lot to be gained in terms of what information we are currently collecting on how we operate those assets. She says the challenge we have going forward is optimising those assets and getting the best out of the ageing infrastructure.

“Once you have the data collection, the sensing and control, and that second layer, the communication, you start looking at opportunities of how to optimise it - opportunities to make better decisions about how that asset is managed, when that asset is replaced.

“The opportunities with smart water are on how cleverly we can operate these assets, and this opportunity is growing with the speed of big data and how quickly it can now be analysed.

“One opportunity is in the real-time space; improving our immediate real-time operation to predict how our systems are going to work, how they are going to respond and how we need to react.”

Contas uses an example of a water main break. She says smart-water solutions can automatically detect the water leak, valves can be automatically shut off and critical customers can be immediately identified and notified of the problem, rather than waiting for the problem to be phoned in by the customer. “When you’ve got the business intelligence that comes from smart water, you can achieve fast real-time reactions,” she says.

“Then, on the other side, you’ve got the deep analytical opportunities that come from having that enormous volume of years and years of data and the opportunity to understand how your system is reacting or trending,” Contas says. “Being able to make decisions around capital and operating regimes and being able test that, understand and tease out your data - that is really in the offering for big data.”

The recent trend in the decreased demand for water in Australia has meant that some assets now have an extended lifetime, says Contas. But she says this can also put pressure on the pumps because they are not operating for the demand for which they were designed. This has created opportunities for installing variable speed drives (VSDs).

While VSDs have been around for a long time, the opportunity lies in how cleverly they can be operated. Zander says VSDs can now be bought as off-the-shelf products and Schneider Electric has a range of VSD products: “from small drives for process pumps so that you can optimise the chemicals used in a treatment plant, right through to medium-voltage drives that can drive medium-voltage pumps in large sewer pump stations”.

“These [solutions] are becoming cost effective and really good options for water companies to use to optimise systems,” says Zander.

“We also have software that is able to analyse the water-supply network. The water modelling software, called Aquis, allows companies to model what is happening in their water-supply network and link it to the real-time data so operational decisions can be made straight away.”

Recent trends are driving investment in smart-water technologies that can help the water industry with the operational optimisation challenges of the future. Using technology that can decipher and analyse the massive amount of big data that is now available can help the water industry make smart decisions and improve operational efficiency and energy efficiency, managing not only the physical water assets but also the water within these assets.