Smart Water Management

Smart water management is helping cities and water utilities deal with rising costs, stricter regulations, increased threats and greater demand for water resources. Growing populations in urban areas are placing tremendous pressure on water utilities to prevent water loss and to manage resources more effectively. Smart water systems that use sensors, data and analytics are transforming water management by increasing efficiency, preventing leaks and theft, monitoring bacteria and pathogen levels, reducing overhead costs and providing planners with tools to adequately plan for future demand.

Smart water management technology uses sensor technology, automation, networking and data analytics to get accurate and real-time data on everything from leak detection and consumption patterns to water quality and the possibility of flooding.

By continually monitoring this data and setting alerts when sensor data metrics exceeds certain thresholds, cities can use smart water management technology to:

• Reduce overhead costs by remotely reading smart meters and improving billing accuracy.
• Optimize pumping operations to reduce energy consumption.
• Minimize water loss due to leaks and theft.
• Prevent water shortages through better planning and by building a smart water grid.
• Improve water quality by proactively monitoring changes in bacteria and pathogen levels.
• Managing demand to alleviate stress on distribution networks.
• Proactively maintaining water infrastructure to extend the lifecycle of assets and to minimize unplanned outages.
• Plan for additional growth by improving forecasting of demand.

Technology requirements for smart water management

Smart water management systems use a variety of technologies that are common to most smart city initiatives. These include:

• Sensors that monitor pressure, vibration, temperature, flow, water quality, moisture and other metrics related to water delivery.
• Smart water metering that enables remote reading and constant monitoring of water consumption patterns. While traditional water meters were read monthly or bimonthly, smart metering transmits data constantly for a more accurate picture of water usage and more accurate billing.
• Network connectivity that connect sensors and transmits the vast amounts of data they produce.
• Data analytics to collect, aggregate and analyze data produced by sensors and to glean actionable intelligence.
• User interfaces – dashboards, alerts, reports and analysis – that enable water utilities to manage water resources more effectively.

Spectrum Enterprise: infrastructure for smart water management

As one of the nation’s largest providers of connectivity solutions for local governments and enterprises, Spectrum Enterprise has partnered with many smart cities to provide the foundation of connectivity required for smart water management and other smart city technologies.

Spectrum Enterprise has built a national network infrastructure that exceeds 840,000 miles of fiber cables, providing symmetrical connection speeds of up to 100 Gbps on a two-way, fully interactive digital network. Spectrum also provides the diversity of connectivity protocols that smart water management systems require, with cellular connections provided by Spectrum Mobile (one of the largest LTE cellular networks in the country) and thousands of WiFi hotspots that will soon incorporate 5G and 802.11ax technology for connection speeds up to 1 Gbps. Additionally, Spectrum provides home and business Internet connections with gigabit speeds to enable everyone in the Spectrum service footprint to participate in smart city initiatives.

With Spectrum Enterprise, cities have a trusted partner with the connectivity technology and expertise required to implement smart city water technology and other smart city programs.

Learn more about Spectrum Smart Cities at www.spectrumsmartcities.com.