田纳西州孟菲斯的环境合规性塔莎·金 - 戴维斯（Tasha King-Davis），公共工程司的首位已成为数据的力量，甚至是福音派信徒。

As the administrator of the nation’s 14th-largest industrial wastewater discharge monitoring system, she and her staff of 13 can only physically sample the discharges from each of Memphis’ 104 industrial sites about twice a year.

但是一年前，布朗和考德威尔（Brown and Caldwell）开始在其中一些植物的排放量上安装传感器，现在，国王戴维斯（King-Davis）可以检查这些植物每周24小时（每周7天）从她的手机中看到废水流中。她甚至可以通过Microsoft Power BI设置警报，因此她是否中的任何一个都超出了允许的限制。

她说：“这是我希望几年前知道的一个了不起的工具。”“您不能雇用足够的人去104个行业，每天不断地提取这些数据。我们可以使用技术，使用数据并真正帮助改善我们的部门并在行业中变得最佳，这对我来说意义重大。这是我的激情。”孟菲斯的试点测试只是“数字水”或“水网”潜力的一个小例子，而“数字水”在历史上一直在接受变化缓慢的行业中获得了接受。

Earlier this year, Arcadis and Bluefield Research released a report that found the use of predictive analytics and artificial intelligence could save water, wastewater and stormwater utilities $17.6 billion through 2027.

“You see smart technology everywhere,” says Jim Cooper, intelligent water lead for Arcadis. “I think we are in this transition phase for the water sector. We’ve collected the data and we have the communication technology, but we are not fully leveraging technology.”

Data is being used to do things such as plan new water plants and systems, detect leaks, notify customers of outages, predict needed maintenance, extend the life of infrastructure, and better manage and minimize the use of energy and chemicals in treatment. It’s also being leveraged to prepare for and predict unusual rainfall and flooding events to help make communities more resilient.

But in most places, the data long collected by supervisory control and data acquisition systems, or SCADA, has yet to be put to extensive use. While 79% of water utilities have fully implemented SCADA, only 30% are using mobile-based applications and even fewer—17%—are using cloud-based applications to run operations, according to the American Water Works Association’s 2018 State of the Water Industry report.

布朗和考德威尔,Arcadis Bentley Systems and Black & Veatch are making a big push to show how powerful data can be. In its report about the money-saving potential in advanced water systems technologies, Arcadis highlights how real-time information on levels, flow and storage capacity during wet weather events has allowed Cincinnati to cut its expected costs to 1¢ per gallon, from $1.40 per gallon, for stormwater storage and treatment. Using hydraulic modeling, Grand Rapids, Mich., reduced a planned capital investment to $30 million from $1 billion.

惯性规则

许多人认为技术升级是对他们的预算和时间的另一种需求，并且不愿采取行动。

本特利系统高级产品经理汤姆·沃尔斯基（Tom Walski）说：“这是惯性。”“We’ve talked to a lot of people, both in engineering and operations, and there’s still a lot of the attitude of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ ” Even after making it clear that they would get a payback in a few years, many systems just don’t have the money. “They’re just too busy fixing pipe leaks or unclogging blocked sewers to worry about the latest technology,” he says.

另一个犹豫是对以前在技术领域的不良经历的结果。Black＆Veatch全球水业务总裁Cindy Wallis-Lage说：“从历史上看，我们对工具和传感器有充满信心的挑战。”“我们无法实时获取关键数据，而且我们并不总是能够获得所需的所有数据。有时我们正在使用五日历史的数据。”

她说，这发生了变化，但带来了阻碍公用事业的其他挑战。她说：“因此，现在您已经有了信息过载，您必须弄清楚如何将所有这些集成在一起。”

虽然Wallis-Lage和行业中的其他人在数字水，智能水和水Internet等行业中的提前术语，但在水系统中使用更多数据并不意味着从模拟的一分钟转变为下一分钟的数字。本特利的沃尔斯基说，变革的程度完全取决于特定系统。“一个实用程序可能会非常先进，以便他们进行资产管理，但在将SCADA数据集成到建模的方式上非常落后。隔壁的邻居可能恰恰相反，”他说。

沃尔斯基说，使用更多数据的转换是进化的。

“我的意思是数字水可能始于1950年代”，然后是遥测，然后是1960年代的Scada。沃尔斯基说，大约15年前，软件开始进口和分析SCADA数据。Black and Veatch的子公司Atonix Digital的水溶液总监Andrew Chastain-Howley说，大约五年前，分析能够对水和废水系统的发展进行真实的了解。

传感器越来越便宜，更准确，并且能够检测到更多的输入。“传感器一直在改变，我们可以收集一套新的信息，”美国地质调查局的水资源调查任务计划和编程总监鲍勃·约瑟夫（Bob Joseph）说。该任务在全国范围内拥有8,600多个流量监测器，以及用于水流的地下水和其他景点的其他传感器。大多数监视器以15分钟的间隔报告，向公用事业和紧急经理提供了溢出或山洪等事件的预警。

Sensors can now even test for E. coli and other bacteria within two to 10 hours. The same test in a lab can take a few days, says John Abrera, smart utility applications lead for Brown and Caldwell, which is working with the Memphis utility.

超过5400个传感器和其他仪器将用于休斯敦的17.6亿美元，每天3.2亿加仑的东北水净化工厂的扩张，这是由雅各布斯和CDM Smith的合资企业建造的新利18备用ENR 5/27p。34）。该工厂的工程经理兰迪·罗杰斯（Randy Rogers）表示，这些仪器将测量原始水的状况和质量改善，随着水的流动，​​工厂经理兰迪·罗杰斯（Randy Rogers）说。没有这些传感器和植物内置的自动化过程，可能是不可能处理休斯顿湖的水，而休斯顿湖的水是在流域结束时，每天要冲洗多达12次。罗杰斯说：“这不是人工智能，但五年后打电话给我。”

预测分析

To help utilities incorporate more data, Brown and Caldwell recommends a three-phased approach. The first phase is to assess what data is already collected and available and improve upon it. The second phase is to use analytics and dashboard technology, such as Microsoft Power BI or Tableau, to integrate and visualize the data. The third phase is to apply machine learning for predictive and prescriptive analytics.

Predictive and prescriptive analytics is where the rubber meets the road for intelligent water, according to Arcadis. It’s those analytics that could save water utilities as much as $17.6 billion in the near term.

“公用事业可以通过使用特定于公用事业的数据依靠行业标准数据转变为算法来优化其方法，而该数据不需要持续学习和改善资产决策是完美的。根据Arcadis报告，接受了大型历史资产故障数据集和有关单个资产数据的数据培训的算法可以计算出可能性和失败成本。”基于历史维护和实时操作数据的算法同样可以帮助操作员做出维护，康复和替换决策。

Black＆Veatch的Wallis-Lage说，通过使用分析来确定维修优先级，堪萨斯城能够在三个月内将其维护成本降低60,000美元。新利18备用官网登录

Advanced analytics and advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI, can use pressure data from a SCADA system to alert operators to potential leaks within about three minutes. Each year, U.S. utilities lose nearly 2 trillion gallons of water—or 15% of the total drinking water nationwide—because of leaks, according to AWWA. In some cities, including Griffin, Ga., Wilmington, Del., and Philadelphia, those losses reach or exceed 40%.

宾夕法尼亚州莫纳卡（Monaca），安装AMI后的50％将水从其分配系统泄漏到15％，这允许公用事业和仪表之间的双向通信以及供水系统的其他部分之间的双向通信。实验室。

“我们无力浪费任何东西，”瓦利斯·莱奇（Wallis-Lage）说。“我们负担不起泄漏的管道。我们应该从那种水中获得的收入，我们无力浪费。”

沃尔斯基说，该数据的最佳用途之一是通过创建数字双胞胎。在水部门，数字双胞胎是基于实时数据的模型。这些模型的行为尽可能地像真实的系统一样。沃尔斯基说：“因此，如果您有管道休息，您想分析我们今天能做的事情，以更好地解决该问题，以解决该管道休息周围的水。”

在过去的十年中，葡萄牙里斯本的洪水增加了，本特利系统帮助创建了一个数字双胞胎用于城市洪水模拟。该模型使城市测试替代方案并创建主排水计划。And in Porto, Portugal, Bentley also helped the local water utility create an online platform that incorporates GIS, real-time network sensors, household meters, SCADA, laboratory billing, work orders and logistics to create a digital twin of the city’s water supply, wastewater, stormwater and bathing water systems. With the twin, the city can forecast flooding and water quality issues, predict system performance, identify failures and be proactive on maintenance.

沃尔斯基说：“他们能够根据暴风雨，洪水所在，何时何地和何时袭击以及将会深入到多深处的风暴来预测。”“我们有一些令人印象深刻的结果，可以帮助人们撤离或采取特殊措施，以最大程度地减少洪水的影响。随着气候变化，洪水可能会变得更糟，因此能够做出这些预测变得越来越重要。”

After that data is collected, cataloged and connected, the final piece of the puzzle is communicating the data, says Wallis-Lage, and not just within a system, but to other agencies and the public.

她说，能够在仪表板上展示该公用事业如何减少用水和节省资金有助于为未来的项目提供资金，并说服公众对系统的福利。新利18备用网址“那么我们可以让客户与我们合作”，以减少用水量并更好地了解水系统。

GeoDecisions, a division of Gannett Fleming, enables two-way communication with customers through a system called Notify, which uses ESRI’s ArcGIS Online and Portal for ArcGIS to alert customers of everything from outages, to a spike in usage, to overdue bills. “It gives utilities the ability to save a good amount of money over time,” says Brian Smith, vice president of GeoDecisions. “Those are the short-term, very achievable, low-hanging fruit” enabled by data and technology, he says.

只有在5G网络完全在线时，“数字水”的可能性才会增加。史密斯说：“ 5G是至关重要的 - 直接传达所需的数据 - 所有这些都可能将这些信息发送到允许长期分析的云中。”

In addition to resistance to change in the sector, there are other barriers to transitioning to digital. “We spend a lot of our time on interoperability—being able to share data from one system to the next. It’s tough because the data itself changes from year to year—every time you build links between different systems and the formats,” Walski says.

谨慎和潜力

Cybersecurity is another concern as the water sector becomes more dependent on computer systems and digital information.

“我们如何使我们的系统更聪明又更安全？更连接的设备为更智能的系统提供了，但也为黑客创造了点数，以监视，访问或禁用关键基础架构。” Atonix Digital的Chastain-Howley说。“公用事业如何管理和保护客户数据和幕后数据传输至关重要。我们与客户不断合作，以解决这些问题。”

根据AWWA的说法，该行业遭受了一系列攻击，包括勒索软件，对工业控制系统进行篡改，操纵阀门和流动操作以及化学处理配方。去年，美国国土安全部和联邦调查局警告说，俄罗斯政府针对水部门和其他关键基础设施。

“The reality of today’s environment is that there is no 100% safe and secure system in the world,” says Luis Casado, the director of Gannett Fleming’s water division. “It’s a reality that drives us to continually work for more stringent security while adhering to industry standards for security provisions and practices.” He says Gannett Fleming’s Notify program, for example, has additional authorization, and access controls are split. They only access, not own, the customer’s personal data.

但是，即使没有完美的数据，宾利的沃尔斯基（Walski）说，在水领域的使用方面也有很大的希望。

“有很多潜在的问题making a commitment to do it and taking advantage of that potential,” he says. “We’ve got the tools in our software that can really help people, if they fully utilize them.”