With only 0.3% of usable for humans and other life forms, fresh water is one of scarce resources in the world. However, in some developed countries up to 40% of treated water is still lost. Developing countries lose as much as 50% of treated water to distribution system leaks, theft, and poor measurement techniques (Sensus, 2012) . Moreover, urban water systems face sustainability and resiliency challenges such as water leaks, over-use, quality issues, and response to drought and natural disasters (Mutchek and Williams, 2014).
Hence, it is important for water utilities to look for smart water network solutions to help them conserve water supplies, remove complexity in their business and reduce operational costs — whilst at the same time helping to unlock their growth potential through new services. Automated water grids with Information and communications technology (ICT) based monitoring and control devices could address these challenges. A Smart Water Network (smart grid), water utilities can detect and locate leakages, monitor and control flow rates, water quality and pressure, so reducing instances of bursts on the network. It also increases the safe handling of wastewater, offering more advanced levels of control and reducing the number of unplanned sewage discharges. Figure 1 illustrates the concept of a smart water grid.
Figure 1: Illustration of a smart water grid
Table 1 explains components of a smart water system and problems it can address. Multiple issues could be addressed through components such as smart valves especially as part of a smart system such as smart step testing. Other components, such as flood and weather sensors, are more limited in their contribution to a smart water grid.
Table 1: Overview of the smart water gird ( Adopted from Mutchek and Williams, (2014))
| Component | Problem(s) Directly Addressed | Problem(s)Indirectly Addressed | Embedding System for Component |
| Smart Meters | Water losses, water quality, disasters, and drought | Energy consumption | Smart step testing and smart pressure management |
| Contaminant Sensors | Water quality | Energy consumption | Contaminant isolation |
| End-Use Sensing Devices | Water losses and drought | Energy consumption | N/A |
| Flood, weather Sensor | Disasters, irrigation water requirement | N/A | Smart flood management |
| Smart Valves | Water losses, water quality, and disasters | Energy consumption | Smart step testing, contaminant isolation, smart pressure management, and smart flood management |
| Smart Pumps | Energy consumption and Disasters | N/A | Smart pressure management and smart flood management |
| Smart Irrigation Controllers | Water waste/overuse | Energy consumption | N/A |
The smart water grid has received scant attention during the recent past. Potential benefits of smart water grids include improved leak management, water quality monitoring, intelligent drought management, and energy savings. Mutchek and Williams,(2014) identified several challenges for implementing smart water grids. These challenges include, obtaining the funding to implement changes, political and institutional barriers to funding and investment, as the lack of new water markets, burdens on smaller utilities, and the cost of actually fixing problems found by a smart water grid.
Smart water grids are still in research phase several smart water grids are installed in Singapore and East Bay Municipal Utility District in San Francisco Bay Area ,who were able to achieve significant water savings.
Mutchek, M., Williams, E., 2014. Moving Towards Sustainable and Resilient Smart Water Grids. Challenges 5, 123–137.