Smart Water Systems

Faced with growing populations and increasingly scarce water resources, many cities throughout the U.S. are turning to smart water systems to help manage demand, prevent water loss and plan more effectively for the future.

Smart water systems use sensors, networking and data analytics to monitor all aspects of water infrastructure. Along with smart water metering, sensors embedded throughout the water distribution network can help utility managers better monitor pumping equipment, storage systems, consumption patterns, water quality and other critical aspects of the water distribution network.

Smart water systems can help address many challenges of water management, including:

• The potential for non-revenue water loss due to leaks in aging water distribution infrastructure.
• Water utility energy costs due to inefficient pumping operations.
• Water safety issues due to increased contaminants.
• Rising consumption rates due to population growth.
• The possibility of imminent flooding due to more frequent and extreme weather events.

How smart water systems work

Smart water systems use sensors deployed in the field to collect information about water pressure, flow, distribution, consumption, temperature, quality and other variables. Data from sensors is transmitted via high-performance networks to data analytics platforms that aggregate and analyze data in real time to produce vital information for water utilities.

Smart water sensors may be deployed in a wide variety of points throughout a city’s water infrastructure, including:

• Water reservoirs, including overhead tanks that require proactive monitoring to prevent stratification.
• Waste water/sewage treatment systems.
• Potable water distribution systems.
• Smart metering devices within homes and businesses to monitor consumption and billing on a real-time basis.
• Industrial facilities such as chemical plants and food processing facilities.
• Multi-tenant housing structures.
• Commercial irrigation systems.
• Recreational facilities like water parks and public pools.
• Large commercial operations such as office plazas, government buildings and healthcare facilities.

By constantly monitoring water and distribution systems, cities can create a smart water grid that can help reduce utility operating costs while improving water quality and environmental outcomes.

Spectrum Enterprise: networking connectivity for smart water systems

All the data produced by thousands of sensors and smart meters must be transmitted quickly and accurately to data analytics platforms via network connections. To implement a smart city water program, municipalities require a fast, reliable network infrastructure with diverse options for connectivity.

As a leading provider of connectivity solutions for the nation’s largest businesses and local governments, Spectrum Enterprise has already built a network infrastructure of fiber connections that extends more than 840,000 miles. With plans to invest an additional $25 billion in added capacity by 2021, Spectrum Enterprise is ideally positioned to provide connectivity for smart water systems in cities everywhere.

Spectrum Enterprise supports smart water systems with technology that includes:

• A two-way, fully interactive digital network.
• Symmetrical connection speeds up to 100 Gbps for local governments and enterprises.
• Gigabit connection speeds for homes and businesses.
• One of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks.
• More than 350,000 WiFi hotspots that will soon provide connection speeds of 1 Gbps wirelessly.

The Spectrum network already enables smart city services in communities throughout the U.S. As more cities embrace smart water systems and other smart technologies, Spectrum is ready to serve as a reliable partner to provide the infrastructure that smart solutions require.

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