By Smart Energy Water

It is rhetoric to say water is the source of life – an essential for all earthly activities. We, as Indians, have been raised to worship water and have placed it next to ‘Amrut’, for it is the elixir of life. But our relationship with water is now changing.

IEA stated that with just 4% of the world’s water supply, India counts 18% of its population, one of the world’s most water‐stressed countries. Also, as per CSE, between 40 to 60% of India’s energy costs arise only from supplying water, and an estimated 48 crore units in electricity is wasted every year due to inefficient water pumps – the true story of India’s interconnected water-energy nexus. A continuation of current trends in water usage would put projected demand for water far ahead of the available supply and threaten the country’s energy output as well.

The complexities are also brought on by aging water infrastructure, rising customer expectations, rapid digitalization, climate realities, balancing corporate goals with environmental, social, and governance objectives, and post-pandemic recovery – all contributing to the quagmire for the Indian water utilities who are battling to drive reliable services and a sustainable-operations with modernized operations.

Science to Futureproof Water Utilities

The science in water management is getting complex and dynamic by the day. While the gestation period for any quantifiable change is multi-years, it is the agility and innovation that is the short answer to future-proof water utilities.

The longer version is the adoption of appropriate technology, solutions, and analytics to assess the situation and simulate various possibilities for sustainable development in the water sector. In our work with hundreds of water providers, the need is to build:

Improved Customer Experiences, by Driving Digitally Enabled Self-Service, Delivering Always-On Service Availability, and Ensuring Affordability
Educating citizens and communities on the appropriate water management and providing them with the right tools to initiate action.

Predictive and Preventive Asset Management Strategies to Address Aging Infrastructure and Curb Non-Revenue Losses
For example, by deploying predictive maintenance based on machine learning, supplying situational intelligence on operations, and enabling smart network management, providers can start fixing the infrastructure puzzle, curb leakages and theft to get smart about water management.

Resilient Field Workforce Strategies to Empower Utility Workforce with Better Work Management
Streamlining work orders, damage assessment, handling complaints and violations, knowledge management, digital assistants, etc. for connected customer and workforce experiences.

Rethinking Urban Water Through the Circular Economy and Resilience Lenses
This offers an opportunity to transform the water sector and deliver water supply and sanitation services in a more sustainable, inclusive, efficient, and resilient way. Circular Economy principles have emerged as a response to the current unsustainable linear model of “take, make, consume, and waste.” In a circular economy, the full value of water – as a service, an input to processes, a source of energy, and a carrier of nutrients and other materials – is recognized and captured.

Why Spark a Change? Because Why Not!

We know India as a nation rooted in culture and history, one that is continually innovating and set to dictate the future. Innovation that made Pushpak Vimaan back in the age of Ramayan to Mangalyan in the 21st century, India’s scientific prowess is well known to the world.

The time is to innovate and that too at a superfast pace – required to meet the challenges our Indian water utility faces, the equation has to be changed. To build a sustainable and secure water future is acting as a mandate now and moving to the next generation of water service includes embracing digital solutions. These will not be the surface-level solutions, instead of the very backbone of the Indian modern water utility.

A preference for clean technologies can go hand-in-hand with strategies to alleviate water stress, by:

• Putting Customers and Citizens in Control
• Maximizing Value from Customer Interaction
• Rising Water Efficiency with Lower Costs
• Reaching out through Careful Segmentation
• Actively Educate Customers and Communities
• Conservation Analytics
• Workforce Empowerment

Let’s Solve Water, Together

We realize, we have an important role to play in building water sustainability. And we are doing that every day, by empowering people to manage and conserve water with the help of digital platforms. With over 10 years of expertise, we’re helping water utilities around the globe to modernize their operations, adopt new innovations, and become future-ready through accelerated digital transformations.

Are you finding it challenging to reduce water loss? Or unable to provide your customers with water?

We at Smart Energy Water with our Platforms- Smart Customer Mobile (SCM®), the #1 Digital Customer Experience Platform, Smart iQ (SiQ®), AI/ML/IoT Analytics Platform, Smart Mobile Workforce (SMW)- #1 Digital Workforce Experience Platform- empower water providers to effectively manage and conserve water. Through these platforms and incredibly agile delivery, water providers can be assured of the level of reliability and flexibility needed to co-create digital business, streamline operations, and deliver the best customer and workforce experiences.

© Smart Water & Waste World. Send us your editorial contributions at mayur@smartwww.in