10/11/2017 A smart approach to urban wastewater - The Source

International Water Association IWA-network.org IWA Connect IWA Publishing

A smart approach to urban wastewater

By Nick Michell - October 3, 2017

TheinformationfromtheiWIDGETsystemhelpsdevelopwaterpricing,forecastinganddemandmanagement

ByDraganSavic*

Smartcitiescanbesurprisinglydumbaboutapplyingnewtechnologytooldwaterproblems.

Maybecitizensassumetheircentralisedinvisibleutilitywillmaketopdowndecisions.Orperhapswaterprofessionalscantharness
decentralisedtoolstomanagefromthebottomup.

Butattitudesareshiftinginahappyconvergence.Therisingpotentialfrominformationandcommunicationtechnology(ICT)hasgrown
bothaccessibleandpowerful.Forwater,ICTmayinclude:theinternetofthings,smartsensors,machinelearning,bigdataanalytics,
visualisation,gamification,andcloudcomputing.

Collectively,thesetoolsempoweranewcadreofwaterprofessionals,trainedinhydroinformatics,tohelpcitiesdealwithwastewater
andurbandrainageinsmarterways.

Onewaytocuturbanwasteistomanagewaterbeforeitisused.Advancedmeteringinfrastructurecanhelpbothutilitiesandcustomers
identifyandaddressleaksonbothsidesofthecustomermeter,optimisepressure,andreducedemandatthepointofuse.Spatialand
temporalaggregationofthedemandpulsesthroughthebottomupapproach.Itenablesproperassessmentofnodaldemandsforwater
distributionnetworkmodelling,whichcanbettercharacterisehydraulicmodelsforoperationaloutcomes.

TheinformationfromapioneeringiWIDGETsystemhelpsdevelopwaterpricing,forecastinganddemandmanagement.Itcanalsoassist
withthedesignofinterventionoptionsandawarenesscampaigns,customisedtotherequirementsofhouseholdersandutilities.Smart
systemslikethisapplystateoftheartthinkingonbehaviouralchangeprocessesinthesocialsciencestoachievebetterwaterefficiency.

Next,considerICTappliedtosewers.Citiesneedreliablemodelstopredictlocation,severityand/orriskofsewerflooding.Traditional
hydraulicmodelshelpshowresponseincombinedsewersystemstorainfallevents,butcanprovetooslowandcomputationally
expensivefornearrealtimeresponse.Buttwoprovenapproacheshaveemerged.

Thefirst,CADDIES,usestwodimensionalcellularautomataforfastoverlandfloodmodelling.Thesimplifiedfeaturescanbe
implementedinparallelenvironments,atspeedsfiveand20timesfasterthantheindustrystandard(softwareusingirregulartriangular
meshes),whilestillmaintaining9899percentfloodingextentaccuracy.

Analternativepredictiveapproachharnessesdatadrivenmachinelearningforitssewersurchargemodelling,aRAdarPluvialflooding
IdentificationforDrainageSystem,orRAPIDS.Itenablessurrogatemodellingofverylargenetworksinrealtime,withlittledegradation
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ofaccuracy,asappliedinthreeUKcatchments.
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10/11/2017 A smart approach to urban wastewater - The Source
AthirdapplicationofICTliesinthedetectionandmanagementofsewerinfiltration,athorny,complex,timeconsumingandexpensive
problemforwatercompanies.Yetresearchersinvestigatedhowmachinelearning(datadriven)toolscouldmodelinfiltrationbasedon
measuredwatertemperatureincombinedsewers.Distributedtemperaturesensingoffersagoodpastindicationofspatiallocationofthe
problem,butfibreopticcablesareoftentooexpensivetousethroughoutalargesewersystem.Analternativeissmallselfcontained
temperaturesensorsthatrecordtime,dateandtemperatureatuserdefinedintervals,forexampleeveryfiveminutesbutdownloaded
onceamonth.

Theanalysisdevelopedabenchmarkfordryweathersituations,withminimalinfiltrationexpected.Thismodelisthencomparedtothe
modelledwetweathersituationtoassessincreasedsewerflows.Tosavemoney,measurementsonlytrackedpumpruntimes(asa
surrogateforflows)inthesewer,andfocusedon:currentdaysrainfallaggregationofseveraldayspastrainfallandaggregated
temperatureovercurrent24hourperiod.Theupshotwasthatcombiningcheaptemperaturesensors/loggerswithmachinelearning
methodscanprovideagoodindicationofthelocationandamountofinfiltrationinsewers.

Citieswillonlycontinuetogrowrapidlyinsize,diversity,andcomplexity.Tobuildresilienceagainstescalatingnaturalormanmade
shocks,waterisandshouldbeakeyelementoftheSmartCityconcept.

Todoso,hydroinformaticscanharnesstheproliferationofbigdataandsmarttechnology.Thisexcitingnewdisciplinecombineswater
systems(hydraulicsandhydrology)withICTtohelpcityplanners,managersandcitizensdelivermoresustainablewatersolutionsat
scale,enablingaffordableinnovationthroughevidencebasedinsight.

*DraganSavicisafounderandcodirectoroftheCentreforWaterSystems,whichconductswaterandenvironmentalscienceresearchat
theUniversityofExeterintheUnitedKingdom.HeisaFellowoftheInternationalWaterAssociation.

Nick Michell

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