What is Smart Water Infrastructure & What Does It Have to Do With AI?

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Water is a valuable resource necessary for life and economic growth. In fact, it is so essential that the UN recognized the human right to water and sanitation in 2010. As the world population continues to grow and more people choose to live in cities, establishing a smart water infrastructure is essential to providing everyone with clean water.

Smart water infrastructure optimizes water management through a variety of technologies. Hardware like Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors are critical pieces throughout the infrastructure ecosystem, while data analysis, AI and ML models play a critical role in helping city and utility leaders react promptly to the insights the hardware reveals.

Water management encompasses multiple areas, from protecting and monitoring water supply infrastructure to ensuring water quality and effectively handling wastewater management. By implementing smart water infrastructure, municipal leaders can improve all aspects of water management and help smart cities work toward a more sustainable future.

Introduction to Smart Water Infrastructure

Smart water infrastructure provides fast information access from anywhere in the system, even from hard-to-reach locations like inside pipes. The technology monitors the water and equipment, improving operations and compliance and automating continuous controlled mediation measures.

The technologies in smart water infrastructure include IoT devices (sensors), connectivity (5G), smart meters, real-time monitoring systems, advanced analytics, AI and ML algorithms and data analytics.

These devices and technologies work together to monitor water demand, predict infrastructure problems, and detect contaminants previously undetected in traditional monitoring systems. A salient aspect of smart water infrastructure is AI. AI constantly creates a better, more resilient future by reducing water loss, improving water quality and supply, and optimizing water distribution and treatment.

How is Smart Water Infrastructure Different from Traditional Water Management?

Smart water infrastructure differs from traditional water management in two key ways: It collects vastly more details throughout the infrastructure, and the information is collected in real- or near-real-time, allowing water management teams to react quickly.

Traditional water management systems collect data through various systems: supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) and laboratory information management systems (LIMS). One challenge, though, is data fragmentation, which makes it difficult to understand the whole picture promptly.

With extensive 5G rollout across many developed countries, smart water infrastructure can now collect more data, because sensors work in previously difficult-to-collect areas. The data collected can be more granular, and IoT devices transmit in near real-time over 5G-enabled WiFi networks.

This faster access to data allows utilities to react and prevent problems earlier than before. For example, early leak detection prevents water loss, reduces service interruptions and makes the infrastructure more resilient.

Benefits of Smart Water Infrastructure

The benefits of smart water infrastructure can be substantial. Some of the more immediate gains come from reduced water waste, enhanced monitoring and data analysis, and improved water quality and supply—all of which combine to ensure safe and clean water for all.

Other benefits include resource optimization, economic savings, service reliability, informed decision-making and streamlined wastewater management.

A few benefits are worth calling out in more detail.

While building smart water infrastructure requires upfront costs, efficient water supply systems are more cost-effective and extend the life of capital assets in the long run.

How Smart Water Infrastructure Conserves Resources

Water is a valuable and, in some areas, scarce resource. As highlighted in the prior section, 30% of treated water is lost in transmission. This fact is staggering, considering the cost of treatment and distribution and the global importance of conserving water.

Fortunately, digital technology is helping water utilities conserve resources in predictable and surprising ways.

Reduce water loss and leaks

Smart devices throughout the water infrastructure constantly monitor the network’s condition. Real-time data collection and automatic alerts help teams identify leaks and take quick action to avoid water loss. Machine-learning algorithms can also predict potential problems before they occur.

Infrastructure security

Securing a water network can be daunting. The system includes thousands of miles of pipes and asset-intensive treatment facilities. Digital sensors, IoT devices and high-resolution video cameras are invaluable for protecting the network. Data protection is also required to prevent hackers from interfering with vital processes like water treatment.

More efficient operations

Water distribution and treatment use a lot of energy. A derivative benefit of smart water infrastructure is reducing energy use. Digital technologies analyze the entire network, find inefficiencies and make recommendations to improve operations, saving money and contributing to sustainability gains.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics helps water management teams identify areas for improvement. AI and machine-learning models can analyze infinite data points, anticipate future events, recommend corrective measures to prevent waste and suggest new ways to conserve water.

Improved conservation

Data collection gives water management teams real-time information about system performance and water usage for every customer, commercial or residential. These insights identify wasteful habits so the utility can partner with end users to improve their consumption habits and reduce excessive water use.

Smart Water Infrastructure Components

Smart water infrastructure uses many technologies to improve water management, from supply management to sewage treatment. Technological advances have enabled the extraction of valuable information about the entire water ecosystem.

To facilitate this outcome, smart water infrastructure tends to be comprised of a number of critical components, each with a specific and important function.

  • Physical assets: pipes, pumps, valves, tanks, reservoir, treatment facilities
  • Communication network – transmit the sensors and IoT device data through cellular and 5G-enabled WiFi networks
  • Sensors: collect information on water distribution across the network and infrastructure health
  • IoT devices: real-time monitoring of water quality and infrastructure health
  • Data storage and management: database management, cyber security systems
  • Control systems: manage various aspects of the network
  • Data analysis and insights: real-time insights with AI, ML models, digital twins, dashboards, alerts
  • New tech skills: data analysis, AI, communications, IoT

Together, these components put the “smart” in smart water infrastructure by utilizing AI in water and utilities to provide insights about the entire water system. Of all components, the skills gap may be one of the most challenging aspects of building a smart water infrastructure. Upskilling the existing workforce is one recommended strategy.

Implementing Smart Water Infrastructure

Before embarking on a smart city infrastructure project, remember that connectivity is key. Therefore, 5G must be in place to support the legions of connected devices required in smart water infrastructure, plus the bandwidth required to transmit the collected data instantaneously. To build a smart water infrastructure, start by following these best practices:

  1. Identify the business cases such as leak prevention and water quality monitoring.
  2. Determine data requirements for each business case, the technology in place and additional data needed. Identify data silos and design an integration plan for data consolidation.
  3. Outline an infrastructure plan that supports the use cases and ensures it is scalable for future uses.
  4. Identify the required skills and any gaps. Develop a plan to acquire needed skills.
  5. Plan for data and network security throughout the collection, transmission and analysis stages and include a monitoring program for ongoing governance.
  6. Design data storage needs for a comprehensive data analysis strategy.
  7. Build out monitoring capability, install new IoT devices and sensors and begin collecting data.
  8. Consider working with experienced systems integrators and building technology partnerships to help incorporate smart city solutions.

Challenges of Smart Water Implementation

While the benefits of smart water infrastructure are clear, no technology project is without challenges. Data interoperability, protection and privacy, high upfront costs and lack of required skills are among the most formidable factors in this case.

Smart water infrastructure requires technical skills across many disciplines. Unfortunately, the global skills gap will make finding the needed skills challenging.

Data interoperability

The data collected in sensors and IoT devices do not follow a standard format, leading to interoperability, trapping insights in data silos and rendering smart water projects ineffective. Get data architects involved in device selection to minimize data integration issues.

Data protection

Unfortunately, data breaches are becoming more common, and water management needs to address every point of the data journey. Hacking a water system can have devastating effects on the population.

High upfront costs

With hundreds of miles of pipes and intricate treatment facilities, it can be expensive to add more digital sensors and devices, install more hardware, build or deploy new software and give teams the skills necessary to make a smart infrastructure possible. These expenses can impact the adoption of smart water infrastructure, especially in developing countries, although strategic and phased deployments can generate the “quick wins” necessary to justify longer-term investments.

Lack of technical skills

Smart water infrastructure requires technical skills across many disciplines. Unfortunately, the global skills gap will make finding the needed skills challenging. Many organizations are engaging in upskilling and reskilling programs for their existing workforce to overcome this hurdle. This strategy keeps valuable industry knowledge in-house and allows organizations to determine the skills they need.

Real Examples of Smart Water Implementation Success

Sand Technologies has leveraged its data analytics and AI expertise to help water utilities maximize their insights from data-driven IoT devices and achieve their goals. Here are two such examples.

Leveraging AI and IoT for Water System Risk

One of the UK’s largest private water utilities wanted to consolidate multiple independent data sources used to determine the level of risk in their +31,000 km water system network.

The utility needed insights from the thousands of sensors across the network. Sand Technologies implemented the Hydraulic Network Risk Tool (HNRT) platform, using AI and IoT devices to monitor sensors across the network and present the data as a consolidated visualization. The system has built-in, automated alerts to reduce risk, enabling proactive maintenance and reduced interruptions.

The net effect is a consolidated, near-real-time view of the vast and complex water system, enabling operators to be better informed and have greater lead times for resolution. The utility is saving a minimum of 3.4 ML/day in leakage, resulting in annual savings of more than £1.3M.

Smart Solutions for Wastewater Management

A major UK water utility needed more precision and adaptability for modern wastewater treatment.

Traditional methodologies and ad-hoc solutions lacked the precision and adaptability needed for modern wastewater treatment. Major water companies found themselves constantly battling pollution issues, with their operations needing to leverage the potential of contemporary technology.

To address these challenges, the utility introduced cloud-based digital twins for sewage treatment plants. These digital replicas, underpinned by pneumatic, hydraulic and process engineering models, empowered operators to digitally mirror their day-to-day operations, adjusting various plant factors in real time. The solutions also included comprehensive data models driven by live plant data.

The solutions included creating a bespoke data model and a digital replica to emulate real-world processes, deploying end-to-end cloud infrastructure and creating user-friendly applications for real-time parameter adjustments.

Enhanced by AI-driven analytics, these models provided actionable insights, guiding users to optimize operational efficiency and capital expenditures, prevent pollution and unlock massive savings.

The Future of Smart Water

This imbalance could lead to severe consequences, such as increased water-related diseases, food shortages and social unrest.

Smart water infrastructure can help address this imbalance by transforming the future of water systems to reduce water loss, improve water quality and predict and manage water scarcity. Many municipalities agree. The smart water management market was valued at $16.08 billion in 2023, and may be worth $30.80 billion by 2028.

AI, a component of smart water infrastructure, will be a potential game-changer in the fight against water scarcity. It can have a profound global impact, offering innovative solutions to this pressing issue. Proper water management helps secure public health, supports economic growth and protects the environment for everyone and future generations.

This article originally appeared on Sandtech.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org

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Over a Third of Americans Considering Buy Now, Pay Later as the Holidays Start This Year

Over a Third of Americans Considering Buy Now, Pay Later as the Holidays Start This Year

More than 1 in 3 consumers (35%) say they’re at least considering using a buy now, pay later (BNPL) loan this month, the highest percentage since September 2023, according to the November 2024 LendingTree BNPL Tracker.

Each month, the LendingTree BNPL Tracker asks Americans if they plan to apply for a BNPL loan this month and how confident they feel about paying it off without missing a payment. We also ask how often consumers expect to apply for a BNPL loan in the next six months.

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The November 2024 LendingTree BNPL Tracker finds that 35% of Americans are considering applying for a BNPL installment loan this month. That’s up two percentage points from October and is the highest percentage since September 2023’s 35%.

This month’s percentage includes 21% who say they expect to apply — the highest percentage since 21% in July 2023 — and 14% who say they might.

The onset of the holiday shopping season is likely at least partly responsible for this month’s increase. Since we started tracking in December 2021, November has tied with June for the highest average percentage of those expecting to apply for a BNPL loan, at 17.7%. Perhaps surprisingly, however, November has the second-lowest average percentage of those who say they might apply, at just 15.3%. (January leads the way at 20.0%.) Add those two numbers up and we see that, on average, 1 in 3 Americans consider a BNPL loan each November, which is lower than several other months.

    • January: 34.3%
    • February: 29.0%
    • March: 32.0%
    • April: 34.4%
    • May: 32.6%
    • June: 34.4%
    • July: 33.6%
    • August: 33.7%
    • September: 35.7%
    • October: 32.0%
    • November: 33.0%
    • December: 32.0%

Additionally, 45% of Americans say they expect to apply for a BNPL loan at least once in the next six months, up two percentage points from October and marking the highest percentage since June 2023’s record 51%. That 45% includes 16% who say they expect to do so at least three times in that period, which is the highest since July 2023’s 17%.

LENDINGTREE

Generally speaking, BNPL usage doesn’t help you build credit the way using a credit card, a personal loan or another type of loan can. BNPL loans aren’t typically included in credit-scoring formulas. That’s highly likely to change in the next few years as lenders, credit bureaus and credit-scoring companies figure out how best to incorporate these loans into formulas. For now, however, that spotless payment history on your BNPL loan isn’t helping your credit score.

Once that changes, we could see a spike in BNPL loan usage. A LendingTree survey conducted in March 2024 and published in April 2024 found that 56% of BNPL users said they’d be more likely to use BNPL loans if they helped build credit. Just 16% said they’d be less likely to use them, and 28% said it wouldn’t affect their decision.

More than 6 in 10 parents with young children (64%) who’ve utilized BNPL said they’d be more likely to do so if it helped them build their credit, while 61% of men, Gen Z (ages 18 to 27) and millennial (age 28 to 43) BNPL users said so.

LENDINGTREE

A 2024 LendingTree survey found that 47% of BNPL users had made a late payment on one of the loans, including 34% who had paid late on one in the past year.

That’s a big percentage. However, it makes sense based on consumer confidence levels in our monthly BNPL Tracker.

According to November’s BNPL Tracker, 50% of respondents at least considering getting a BNPL loan this month say they’re very confident they could pay off that loan without missing a payment. That’s down two percentage points from October. Meanwhile, 36% say they’re only somewhat confident, up six points from October and matching the highest total of 2024.

While that adds up to 86% of people feeling at least some confidence about paying off BNPL loans on time, it still means a significant number of people take out these loans with doubts about whether they’ll be able to pay them back without incident. That’s far from ideal.

Just 4% say they aren’t confident (either somewhat or very), while 11% say they’re neither confident nor unconfident.

LENDINGTREE

The average purchase amount of a BNPL loan is $132, according to an April 2023 report from Experian.

However, there’s no question that BNPL is used for a huge variety of items at a wide range of prices. For example, the 2024 LendingTree survey showed that consumers used the loans for everything from groceries and dining out to travel, technology items and home decor.

Half of BNPL users (50%) said BNPL is their preferred method of payment for stretch purchases — meaning those that they can’t quite afford to pay cash for — while 34% said they preferred credit cards for these buys.

LENDINGTREE

PayPal, Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna are the most popular BNPL apps.

BNPL is a crowded field with many players — including Apple, whose Apple Pay Later service ranked as the fifth most commonly used service in our survey despite launching only in March 2023 — but these four were clearly among the most used, according to the 2024 LendingTree survey.

More than half of all BNPL users said they’ve used PayPal (53%), while 37% have used Affirm, 33% have used Afterpay and 30% have used Klarna. Among the other firms we asked about, only Apple Pay Later (13%) was used by more than 10% of respondents.

All four companies offer BNPL apps, but their services can also be used through web browsers — often through retailers’ online checkout pages.

LENDINGTREE

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who’ve tried BNPL loans — or if you’re among the millions more likely to consider them in the near future — here are some key things to keep in mind:

  • You may be asked to pay every two weeks. With most loans, consumers are required to pay monthly. However, with many BNPL loans — especially those of the “pay-in-four” variety — you’ll be expected to pay every two weeks. BNPL lenders typically require you to connect a debit or credit card to your account when you first use it so that payments can be pulled automatically when due. You’ll need to make sure you have sufficient funds or available credit on the due date to ensure the automatic payment is successful.
  • Many (but not all) BNPL loans are interest-free. Pay-in-four BNPL loans are often interest-free if you pay them on time. However, longer-term buy now, pay later loans can have interest rates as high as 30%, rivaling the highest credit card rates. Make sure you understand the rates before applying, because what you don’t know can cost you.
  • Your credit may or may not be affected. Your mileage may vary greatly by lender when it comes to handling credit. That’s true both in terms of approving folks for loans and reporting payment histories. Some require soft credit checks, while others do nothing. Some will charge late fees and report missed payments to credit bureaus, while others won’t — and it can sometimes be a challenge to find this information. BNPL loans aren’t subject to specific disclosure requirements like credit cards, but it’s worth your time to seek this information.
  • You have other options. Buy now, pay later loans can be great tools. They’re often interest-free, with predictable payment schedules and no extras available that can draw people into debt — but they’re not always the best option. Credit cards provide long-term available credit, typically more lucrative rewards and important consumer protections that BNPL doesn’t. Zero-percent balance transfer cards and low-interest personal loans allow you to consolidate and refinance debts. Even store credit cards, when used wisely, can provide targeted rewards and discounts that can be a good deal for the right customer.
  • Don’t rush into it. People make bad decisions when rushed and don’t understand what they’re getting into — and money is no exception. Before you apply for that BNPL loan, click the “learn more” or “more info” button on the retailer’s checkout page. Make sure you understand the basics — interest rates, payment schedules, credit checks, fees — before applying. You’ll be glad you did.

This article originally appeared on Lendingtree.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org

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