The WATER-M project focuses on finding solutions to the interoperability, real-time, big data and heterogeneous data challenges to being able to guarantee water supply and quality along with the stability and reliability of a smart water network.
Addressing the challenge
Only 2.5% of the world’s water supply is fresh water. With demand having increased six-fold, and more than 50% of the world’s population living in areas with a water sustainability problem, a major upheaval in the water industry is needed with the introduction of novel concepts, such as GIS integration, quality management programmes or real-time data management. In this context, ICT technologies are needed to drive these challenges.
Proposed Solutions
The WATER-M project is geared to enabling the creation of new products and services to build a unified water business model that will benefit European water stakeholders.
From a technological point of view, the distributed real-time data and service platform is a breakthrough that will be an enabler for the operation and control of smart water grids supported by enhanced data exploitation mechanisms and the interoperability of different decision support subsystems (demand forecasting, simulation, optimisation, etc.) to guarantee self management capabilities. Early warning tools, real-time acquisition and processing platforms, data communication platforms and services for water suppliers and water consumers represent the core of the project.
Projected Results And Impact
These technological results will enable the design of robust and observable smart water networks with self management capabilities and resilience to cyber and physical attacks. By combining real-time monitoring and operational control, service-oriented approaches and event-driven mechanisms in the water management domain, WATER-M will produce a unified Water Information Model for exploiting data from the water grids and supporting decisionmaking to boost operational reliability as well as provide a standardised set of connection methods to be integrated in the backbone communication network.
New added value services for Smart Water Networks will provide distributed control, weather forecast and storm management along with efficient water utilisation for energy use on the supply side and modifiable behavioural patterns and visualisation of water data at different levels (from individual and district to urban) on the demand side. The new and effective business models, accepted by all stakeholders, will help Europe to take a leading position in the global Water Management market, enhancing the productivity of the European ICT industry at the same time.
Project website.