Water is essential. It provides sustenance, supports industry and irrigates fields. But cities today struggle to meet demand for clean water amid swelling populations, aging infrastructure and mounting concerns about drought, flooding and water quality. This collection of resources highlight how cities are deploying smart technologies to overcome these challenges. Scroll to the end for financing ideas.
Articles
How GIS helps cities stretch limited water supplies
Cities are using geographic information systems to keep better tabs on their water and people who waste it. MORE>
Water authority puts wastewater back to work
Drought forced Australia to get creative about water resources. A new wastewater treatment facility takes treated effluent and makes it suitable for industrial use. MORE>
Cincinnati taps game-changing technologies to solve water challenges
Cincinnati, Ohio's water challenges aren't unique. Its solution may be. It's leveraging M2M cellular technologies for better water quality and resource management. MORE>
Smart command center helps engineers better manage water flow
A swelling population puts a huge strain on Bangalore, India's water system. With a real-time monitoring system, it can significantly reduce the 45% of water that goes unaccounted for. MORE>
Drought drives Texas town to a toilet-to-tap water reuse program
Unprecedented drought conditions have residents of Wichita Falls drinking tap water blended with treated wastewater in one of the biggest direct reuse programs in the U.S. MORE>
Case studies
Yorkshire Water Manages Resources in Real Time to Improve System Reliability
Implementing the OSIsoft PI System helps Yorkshire Water support its planned growth by allowing it to view assets in an integrated way, enabling continuous improvement of operations as a whole. MORE>
Town of Olds Recovers Lost Water Revenue and Achieves Conservation Goals
Just months after deploying Itron technology that automatically detects new and pre-existing leaks, 21 were repaired, 287,691 cubic meters of water recovered and $177,336 in revenue saved by the Canadian town. MORE>
Jerusalem and Netanya Water Utilities Monitor Water Networks in Near Real Time
By proactively monitoring their networks with Aquarius Spectrum technology, two Israeli water utilities take the guesswork out of maintenance budgets and avoid unexpected and costly pipe bursts. MORE>
Bethpage Water District Upgrades for Better System Visibility
Bethpage Water District wanted to gain better system visibility, improve customer service and boost efficiency. Badger Meter's Advanced Metering Analytics met and exceeded expectations. MORE>
Lead and Drinking Water: Protecting Vulnerable Citizens
After a study found that running a home's water tap did not always flush out unacceptable levels of lead, the Community Geomatics Centre analyzed data from local agencies to resolve the issue. MORE>
Videos
IBM Smarter Cities Water Management
IBM's Intelligent Water Platform enables insight and control over water management so water utilities can predict pipe failures, manage water loss and reduce costs. MORE>
The Customer Benefits of Smart Water Networks
Smart water technologies provide innovative solutions in customer metering, leakage detection, energy management, pressure management and water quality monitoring. MORE>
Using Cellular Technology to Improve Water Management
Applying cellular technology -- similar to that used in smartphones -- in water management systems can improve water quantity, quality and cost. MORE>
White papers
M2M Communication Platforms for Building Intelligent Water Systems
Improved sensor technologies, firmware applications, data analytics tools and embedded machine-to-machine communication and processing platforms open up new opportunities for utilities. MORE >
Smart Cities Council guides
Smart Cities Readiness Guide
The Readiness Guide's Water and Wastewater chapter gives cities tools to apply smart technology for an economical and sustainable water supply. It explains benefits cities can achieve by increasing the intelligence of their water systems and the technologies that will help them realize those benefits. MORE>
Financing resources
Finding the smart technologies that will make cities more livable, workable and sustainable is the easy part. Paying for them is typically more challenging. The resources linked below can help.
- Smart Cities Financing Guide
- Planning, Connecting & Financing Cities – Now
- Initiative helps cities shift thinking to find new sources of funding
- Why cities don't have to finance a more resilient future alone
- New standard aims to help cities develop climate action plans, attract financing
- Are bank loans better than bonds for financing smart city projects?
