“Smart City” initiatives and technologies have already captured the imagination of the water industry. Slowly, they are starting to capture their investment dollars, too.
Data sensors, smart metering and cloud-based analytics software offer water utilities unprecedented access to real-time information about consumption, system demand and pressure points, according to Jeff Neemann, Solution Lead for Smart Integrated Infrastructure for Black & Veatch. This allows service providers to apply predictive analytics that can sense anomalies before they occur.
Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems not only optimize systems but carry the potential for building partnerships with customers by offering data about their consumption, Neemann noted. This information can influence behaviors as customers consider environmental factors, such as drought, or seek efficiency gains in light of tiered-rate structures.
“The current environment is ripe for delivering on the promise of smart systems,” Neemann said. Water scarcity in the Southwest, aging equipment in major cities – particularly along the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest – and an increasingly conservation-minded customer base have stoked high levels of interest in water-related smart city initiatives.
However, the Black & Veatch 2015 Strategic Directions: U.S. Water Industry report finds an industry in which aspiration is outpacing tangible progress, Neemann said. Siloed communication, cost-recovery concerns and cloudy perceptions of water providers’ roles in an integrated smart city plan are slowing wide adoption.
Progress Constrained by Familiar Factors
Research indicates new levels of executive focus toward integrating water into larger smart city solutions, according to Pamela Kenel, Solution Lead for Smart Integrated Infrastructure for Black & Veatch. Mayors, city managers and civic groups are approaching local utilities to begin the hard work of preparing strategies and building customer support for them. For instance, Kansas City, Missouri, has started a “Smart + Connected City” initiative with Cisco, Sprint, Black & Veatch and other leading technology vendors that will focus on improving the efficiency of the water system.
Survey data suggest organizations believe strongly that new technologies can be implemented if performance is successfully demonstrated through pilot testing.
“But that buzz is struggling to produce broad and tangible integration efforts among water providers,” Kenel said. Just over 11 percent of respondents indicated their organization was planning or participating in a smart city initiative. About half said no plan was in place or being considered, and nearly 40 percent didn’t know.
“The fact that a high percentage do not know suggests, in some cases, that the water system is being left out of the conversations,” Kenel noted.
Measure, Move and Manage
Earlier this year, responses across the water, electric and natural gas utilities contained in Black & Veatch’s 2015 Strategic Directions: Smart Utility report suggested the term “smart” in a utility context was less than definitive. Many see it as a buzz phrase that carries different meanings to different utility sectors.
The specificities of a smart city system – and a water utility’s role within it – depend on a community’s needs and the missions of its various stakeholders. But Neemann said any plan can benefit from the concepts common to smart city plans: measure, move and manage.
Hardware measures data and habits, with automatic meter readers (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) playing prominent roles by informing utility operators about consumption and system strain. High speed data networks move supply and information related to consumption and infrastructure details. Systems manage the flow of it all.
Common features of any smart system include an automation technology that uses a centralized location to remotely control and adjust devices, along with two-way communication that sends information between a customer’s meter and the utility, Neemann said.
For instance, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission recently began deploying acoustic leak detection technology and sensors to measure pipeline condition and proactively repair leaks and other anomalies. Customer-use patterns are established and give operators actionable data that can lead to behavioral change. Automation and data analytics carry an extra advantage by producing systems that rely less on human intervention, thus helping to offset the effects of aging or reduced workforces.
“Intelligent devices, deployed along utility systems, gather consumption information in real-time and detect leaks or other abnormalities to enable quick response times,” Neemann said.
Among utilities actively using data analytics, nearly half of those responding said they use dashboards that display consumption, equipment data and other metrics. Performance monitoring, service reliability, asset management and treatment were seen in the survey as areas that would gain the most from an analytics strategy. Cloud-based systems with greater cost-efficiencies are making analytics available to smaller utilities.
“These services, often subscription-based, host the analytics, IT information and customer data that combine to deliver actionable intelligence about consumption and infrastructure,” Neemann said.
Making the Case for Smart City Plans
Kenel said smart city initiatives will continue to press on across the U.S.
“We expect providers to set high bars that analytics and automation plans must meet before adoption,” Kenel said. “Any smart city plan and its efficiency and reliability gains must be easily explained to citizens to engage buy-in through rate cases.”
She said that water providers will be challenged to show stakeholders the dangers of sitting out the advances, which may only exacerbate the effects of drought and outdated equipment.
“The core concepts and technologies of smart city solutions bring similar benefits to smaller communities and big-city utilities alike.”
By Jeff Neemann & Pamela Kenel
Published originally on Black & Veatch Solutions.
