The digitalization of water systems: how IoT can save the blue gold

Water, the blue gold of the fifth century, is one of the most precious natural resources but at the same time the most threatened if we consider that the water resources of planet Earth are put to the test by the unstoppable “unsustainable” development.

Consequently, water waste in the world is an issue that must be addressed with great urgency since we are talking about a fundamental resource for the survival of our planet.

Suffice it to say that in Italy alone, in recent months we have been witnessing a real water crisis, the Po River has dropped by 65% and local administrations are forced to reduce water consumption in Italy.

By 2050 we will see a further increase in drought and a 20% reduction in rainfall, which is why it is essential to shed light on the issue now and start having a more conscious and sustainable water consumption per household. And that’s not all.

According to the Global Risks Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum , water conflicts are one of the main global risk factors, as water crises could lead to deep social instability and even violent clashes between states.

Studies conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the United Nations estimate that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will suffer from significant water shortages, and that by 2050, half of the population will be affected by extreme water scarcity.

What about the water infrastructure, which is too often inadequate, around the world? Suffice it to say that according to the World Health Organization, about one in three people on this planet currently do not have access to drinking water.

Before telling you how technology, and specifically the Internet of Things, can come to our rescue, we will tell you about some striking cases of lack of water resources combined with malfunctioning infrastructures.

Cape Town, South Africa

It was May 2018 when the South African metropolis seemed destined to remain completely without running water, due to the malignant combination of high consumption, completely in line with those of other citiesof the same size, and droughtà. What averted the danger of the end of water in CapeTown was above all a draconian policy of rationing.

In three years, Cape Town residents have more than halved their use from 1.2 billion litres a day in 2015 to just over 500 million litres earlier this year. To do this, we have reached an average use of 50 litres per day per person, compared to a global average of 185 litres.”

A policy that fortunately has given the hoped-for results, made up of contingent showers, gardens left to dry up, fountains turned off and dirty cars.

Tokyo, Japan

The Asian megalopolis is one of the cities that today suffers the most from a severe urban picture of water stress. This is no small news if you consider that almost all citiesThe poorest in terms ofwater availability are found in rapidly urbanizing developing countries, with the exception of Tokyo, a wealthy metropolis with a well-managed water system.

The problem for Japan’s capital, however, is the lack of facilities to deal with the droughtà. According to experts, the next step for Tokyo should be to build desalination plants before water stress becomes too big a problem to handle.

London, United Kingdom

Climate change is a real plague for the capital of the United Kingdom which, despite stereotypes, is struggling with drought. Suffice it to say that London received only 106 rainy days a year and only about 600 millimeters of rain, about halfAverage rainfall in Sydney, Australia.

This year, the UK recorded its sunniest spring in 90 years, and May, in particular, was its driest in 124 years. All this, combined with breakdowns in the water network, are creating quite a few problems for Londoners.

Flint, Michigan (USA)

Finally, we arrive in America, in the Midwest, where for once it is not climate change or drought that is the cause of the problem but a disaster of incredible proportions caused by the wicked “hand” of the politician.

Flint is a cityof about 100,000 inhabitants where it was discovered that the drinking water distributed for about a year and a half, until October 2015, contained toxic percentages of lead.

The contamination had begun when the cityof Flint had decided to change its source of water supply, in order to save money, by sourcing from the Flint River which passes near the city: the water of the river was technically drinkable but slightly corrosive and had not been treated with orthophosphates as is usually done in such cases.

Passing through the very old pipes of the city, therefore, the water began to bring with itIt is lead and other bacteria. Everything that happened after that is dramatically chronicle.

Everything we have told you so far is to give you an overview of the problems that can arise from adverse weather conditions or, even worse, from incorrect management of water infrastructures.

What, then, are the solutions to be put in place to safeguard the “blue gold” of the twenty-first century? But above all, are there state-of-the-art technological solutions that can reduce the problem?

Of course, yes. The Internet of Things comes to the aid of this, the technology that makes it possible to maximize the ability to collect and use data from a multitude of sources, i.e. industrial products, factory systems or transport vehicles, to the advantage of greater digitization and automation of processes.

These solutions improve those already used as desalination plants , which basically operate with two methodologies: separation of water from salts and separation of salts from water.

1. The first is to evaporate the water and recover it by condensing it;
2. The second is based on the process of so-called reverse osmosis: salt water is filtered at high pressures through membranes permeable to water and a few other elements.

However, this effective solution to the problem of freshwater scarcity has serious disadvantages: first of all, a very high energy cost : in fact, the best existing technologies require about 4 kWh of electricity for every cubic meter of water produced.

But the most serious downside is the cost to the environment, due primarily to the
emissions of CO₂ into the atmosphere
by plants that use fossil fuels in the production process.

Added to this is the significant impact that these systems are already exerting on the fragile balance of marine ecosystems, due to the main residue of the reverse osmosis desalination process , the so-called “brine“.

Moving on to the opportunities offered by new technologies, A real revolution in water technology comes from a small Swedish startup called “Aqua Robur”.

Last year, the small company raised $800,000 to develop and commercialize its self-powered IoT device for monitoring water pipelines. It is a micro hydroelectric turbine that efficiently generates energy in urban water systems without disrupting water operations.

In fact, Aqua Robur technology has received the
European Commission’s Horizon
award worth €2 million for its innovative technology for monitoring water networks. This system therefore aims to be a leading player in raising awareness of the importance of reducing water losses and as we have just seen, water, especially in these times, is life.