Water scarcity and water stress issues have become clear threat to the global population. This makes water management a critical aspect to ensure sustainable water. Urban populations are growing rapidly. Residents and businesses are demanding the highest quality, reliable services. Environmental standards are becoming stricter. In this reality, Water Resource Management is one the most critical services that must be supplied affordably, sustainably and with coverage of every aspect of the water cycle.
An efficient water management system requires thousands of constraint devices (sensors and/or actuators) to be deployed across the water distribution network to enable near-real time monitoring and control of the water grid components. Security at both the device and network level is critical to the operation of such a system. Although several IT security controls have been developed over the past few decades, they cannot be used directly with such constraint devices. This is due to their limited resources and unique requirements. The Telematics & IOT Water Resource Management solution addresses all these requirements. It covers fresh water, desalinated water, storm water and wastewater.
IoT and Telematics is progressing with millions of things connecting each day to generate large amount of information resulting in useful future actions. To ensure the safe supply of drinking water, the quality should be monitored in real time for that purpose new approach IOT (Internet of Things) based water quality monitoring has been proposed. The primary concept of real-time IOT based water resources information system is to provide comprehensive and accurate information. The system is developed through defining some explicit water resource parameters then, Water level are defined for water measure & management, followed by a sensor network for water resources information monitoring is constructed based on IOT.
Features of IOT and Telematics
• Two-way network for sensor monitoring and remote control
• Highly secure management system, can be integrated to security systems
• External power supply not-needed, unit powered by internal battery
Let’s dive deep to find out how IoT and Telematics can benefit the water industry:
• Water Conservation- It is important for reservoirs and overhead water tanks to have sensors and equipment which are specially designed to display the level of water present in it. With the help of these sensors, the water level in the reservoir or the overhead tank can be sent to server at regular intervals to calculate the amount of water used on a daily basis. This entire process of determining the water level in the reservoir and then reflecting it on to the main server will surely help in conserving water.
• Smart Water Management- Water conservation is one of the essential aspects in water management, specifically in urban areas, where keeping a record of water consumption is extremely challenging. This issue can be solved using IoT which will keep a record of people using water on a particular day. We can analyse the data and the weather condition of that day to determine the amount of water consumed by the people on a particular city. This will surely help the water authorities manage the flow of water in much more effective manner.
• Waste Water Management- The biggest challenge in water management is to monitor water levels, leakages, water quality and the flow of water through different channels. IoT can come to our rescue in all these areas. Sensors installed at various places in the water system can detect the temperature changes, water leakage, chemical leakage, and pressure level in it. These sensors will then collect the information and send it to the main server. This will ensure that the service engineers solve the issues quickly. Another advantage of IoT in water (waste water management) is that it can detect and calculate the amount of chemical residue present in the water.
• Smart Irrigation- Presently, we see a huge amount of water getting wasted during the irrigation process. This is because the process of irrigation is scheduled automatically at a particular time irrespective of the weather condition and moisture present in the soil. This problem of water wastage can be tackled with the use of IoT. IoT sensors can determine the weather condition and the soil moisture which will help in getting the right amount of water at appropriate time to the desired place.
• Water Quality Testing and Analysis- The internet of things can be used for measuring and monitoring the data captured and drawing real-time analysis of water testing in industries like manufacturing, energy etc. IoT can also be used for public utility companies in the field. The readings are provided to the end users with the help of water testing meters and sensor devices. The end user can get information like Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Bacteria, Chlorine, Electrical conductivity, etc. This will help in accessing the real-time, accurate quantification of results and will also provide the ability to pinpoint the problem areas.
This is just the beginning of Internet of Things and we firmly believe that the advantages of IoT will keep expanding in every domain. Through IoT sensors, not only can we conserve valuable resources but also meet demands of the people adequately and make our lives convenient. Most of the companies have already adopted IoT based services after knowing the issues related to water management.
By Dennis Abraham Thazhamon, Managing Director, Josab India
@EPC World Media
