Smart Water Sensors

Smart water systems use data from smart water sensors to transform the way cities manage their valuable water resources. Combining smart meters and IoT devices, smart water sensors provide a real-time view of every piece of the water distribution network – from water supplies and distribution infrastructure to water quality and consumption in homes and businesses. With analytics based on this data, municipal water utilities can employ smart water management practices to more effectively understand consumption patterns, predict future demand, increase water safety, reduce operational costs and enhance water conservation efforts.

Smart water sensors are one of the key technologies used in a smart water grid. Sensors can be employed throughout the water distribution infrastructure to measure pressure, flow, consumption, temperature, vibration, moisture, water quality and even the potential for flooding. Data from smart water sensors is transmitted via network connections back to city data management platforms, where analytics software aggregates and analyzes information to produce actionable intelligence. This may include real-time alerts and notifications that enable water utility officials to respond to issues and changing conditions, as well as historical analysis and predictive modeling that help to plan for future demand.

Benefits of deploying smart water sensors

Cities investing in smart metering and smart water sensors can realize significant benefits for water management. With data from smart water sensors, cities can:

• Reduce costs. Smart water sensors can help water utilities reduce energy costs by optimizing pumping operations and increasing efficiencies throughout the water distribution network.
• Prevent shortages. Smart water sensors help utilities better predict and satisfy demand for water resources.
• Improve quality. Constant monitoring of elements such as bacteria and pathogen levels in water supplies provides early detection of issues that must be remediated.
• Minimize loss. Smart water sensors can help quickly identify leaks and/or possible theft that result in non-revenue water loss.
• Maintain infrastructure. Sensors can provide data on performance of water distribution infrastructure, enabling utilities to perform predictive maintenance that can extend the lifecycle of assets and reduce or eliminate unplanned outages.
• Ensure supply. Ultimately, smart water sensors provide cities with the data and analytics required to ensure a continuous supply of clean water to residents and businesses.

Connectivity infrastructure for smart water sensors

Smart meters and smart water sensors, like all smart city technology, require a high-performance and highly reliable network infrastructure to manage and transmit the vast volumes of data produced by thousands or millions of sensors within smart city technology.

Spectrum Enterprise provides a foundation of connectivity that is currently enabling smart city projects in communities throughout the U.S. With a planned $25 billion investment in additional capacity by 2021, Spectrum is prepared to serve as a trusted infrastructure provider for cities large and small as they adopted new smart city water technologies.

To connect smart water sensors with data management platforms, Spectrum Enterprise provides diverse connectivity options, including:

• Fiber connections on a two-way, fully interactive digital network with symmetrical connection speeds up to 100 Gbps for local governments, enterprises and large institutions, and gigabit connections for homes and businesses.
• Cellular connections through Spectrum Mobile, one of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks.
• WiFi connections through more than 350,000 hotspots nationwide. Spectrum WiFi hotspots will soon incorporate 5G and 802.11ax technology that allows wireless connection speeds up to 1 Gbps.

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