How does the Water Sector become SMART?

Recently we had the European Utility Week conference in Barcelona, which followed the IWA specialist conference on developments in data and IT. At that session, I was privileged to sit on a discussion panel with other water sector leaders reflecting on smart water and how we can make it business as usual. One question that was posed was “How do you define a smart water utility?" Whilst the panel provided their individual responses, myself included, in the few weeks since that question was posed I’ve had a chance to reflect and consider my response a little further.

In an attempt to encapsulate my thoughts into a single sound bite, I’ve come to the following: -

A smart water utility is one that understands the consequences of it’s behaviour (either action or inaction) upon it’s ability to deliver it’s obligation in any considered time frame.  

I’m not sure if that is an improvement to my immediate response, or indeed a definition that many will identify with, however given that a typical water utility has to master a multitude of differing business requirements (operations, asset management, asset care, asset planning, customer service, source management and so on), no single definition is going to cut it. This therefore is perhaps the best I can do.  

What does smart look like?

The key to becoming a smart water utility is the ability to effectively interrogate data (in real time or otherwise) such to better understand and shape component, system and people behaviour.  The more dynamic and complex the system as well as the impact of external factors, the more the potential benefit.  This and a strong handle on the consequence of every decision means that new, more effective or efficient ways of achieving customer and legislative obligations is possible. The achievable vision, certainly within operations, is to move away from our reactive mode of manual operation to a fully autonomous system, which makes proactive, operational adjustments to avoid a failure of these obligations. There are many different challenges in achieving this, not least the state of the existing asset base to cope with a more dynamic form of operation and the cultural and structural transformation of the business and it’s people. However, perfection is not progress, and unless you start your journey – you’ll never get there.  To quote one of the presenters from the IWA conference, if we draw analogies with Lord of the Rings and Frodo’s journey to Mount Doom, we’ve just about left the Shire!

Water utility digital transformation a must.

In my eyes however, the digital transformation of the water industry is inevitable. We cannot continue in the current mechanical world and hope to meet all, or indeed some of the challenges being thrown at us politically, socially or commercially. If the incumbents don’t transform, then it’s likely that new entrants will come and disrupt the market space (think Uber or AirBnB who understand digital exploitation) driven by customer expectations who are seeing benefits brought by digital in every other part of their lives and therefore expect the same from utilities.

Looking for inspiration to leave the Shire.

As I try to understand how this digital transformation will happen, I reflect upon another industry that has been engaged on a steady and rather radical transformation. In many ways, the automotive industry is similar to water, rather than water flow we have vehicle flow which like water is highly dynamic and impacted by externalities outside immediate control such as diurnal profiles, weather impacts, blockages, asset deterioration, breakdowns, and capacity issues.

Many will remember the electronically unsophisticated cars of our (my!) youth, where the stereo usually represented the most advanced electronic circuitry.  Cars that could be repaired using simple mechanical tools, with no need for specialist electronic wizardry and the thought of driverless cars confined to my VHS copy of the Demolition Man. However fast forward the two decades since my water industry career began, and we find society edging closer to accepting driverless vehicles into everyday use.   

The Emirate of Dubai has just signalled it's intent to have 25% of all cars driverless by 2030

What is important for us to consider is that we see the application of technology and more importantly it’s acceptance in a series of stepping-stones, supporting both the technical and the behavioral change needed to make science fiction into reality. This has certainly not been an overnight change from analogue to digital, but has moved much further than the water sector in that same time frame.

From my humble Austin Metro with it’s bulletproof mechanical engine to today’s supercomputer powered vehicles providing a radically different driver experience. You can chart the soft, but meteoric progression towards driverless cars by looking at the series of technical advancements (cleverly labeled as driver safety aids) introduced in those two decades. Cruise control, a first foray in driving automation has progressed from simple set-point control to adaptive speed control, reducing speed automatically depending upon the immediate conditions ahead of it. Lane departure warning systems through to automatic lane correction, advanced four wheel drive engagement, automatic collision avoidance braking and automatic parking (a godsend). I could go on but you get the picture.

More is to follow before we make the final leap to fully driverless, with aids such as driver over-ride (where the car will ignore driver inputs when it considers it appropriate) in development. This measured progression is more about human acceptance and asset replacement than the pace of technical development, although there are still some challenges associated with commercial and ethical dilemma training of computers!

Creating versatile, dynamic capacity.

Whilst vehicle technology has forged onwards, so the required infrastructure is also changing. Smart motorways with condition based speed limits and the number of open lanes have been trialed, deemed effective and now forms a core part of the English Highways Agency motorway strategy. A TOTEX solution to increase the capacity of existing assets, using dynamic operational control rather than building more lanes (a strategy still to be effectively applied in the water sector and our world of averages). 

When SMART infrastructure and autonomous vehicles fully converge, then we will move to the next era of transport efficiency as real time traffic information is relayed to vehicles, coupled with journey details which can proactively alter navigation systems to take alternative routes to ease congestion. Vehicle to vehicle communication will bring improved safety and hence increased speeds reducing journey times. Indeed, if we include commercial disruption into the equation – one can imagine a world where vehicle ownership becomes the exception not the norm.

Driving towards an integrated, smart water society

Can we imagine the water world where smart households are integrated with smart networks, smart treatment plants and smart catchments? I can.

Other industries seeing major improvements through digital transformation include mining and agriculture (who also has many similarities to the water sector) and perhaps are subject for further blogs later.

The underlying technologies are the same for water and cars. Operational technologies and information technology requires convergence and the Internet of Things super-charged with high speed, wireless 5G connectivity.  So too are the underlying needs of lower costs, improved customer experiences and dwindling resources. 

Stepping stones across the river of change.

So, coming back to Smart Water, what can learn from other sectors to help us realize the transformation? The water industry has always been slow to adopt new technology, and slower still (if at all) in unforced cultural transformation. Change will be incremental, and driven only by those at the top with the imagination to see the possibilities of a digitally-enabled water industry. Water utilities must form coherent digital strategies shared with and adopted by the supply chain to begin implementing the stepping-stones of technical and business change, and be culturally resilient not to become fatigued at the length of the task. This business transformation should be supported through a series of marginal improvements, each aligned to the end vision and where possible taking advantage of legislation or funded requirements to take larger transformational steps. The supply chain can support the transformation by continuing to innovate with the same end vision in mind. As an industry we must agree, formally or informally to a singular vision of what we are aiming to achieve.

How long will it take, I don't know. What I do know is once we have achieved digital enablement, we’ll be at start of what is possible, not at the journey's end.