Indian city to use IBM analytics solution to improve water management

Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in India will use advanced analytics and mobility solutions from IBM for analysing, monitoring and managing water distribution in Thiruvananthapuram city.

Kerala Water aims to ensure equitable water distribution in the city by monitoring and fixing irregularities in water use through sensors and intelligent meters.

Equitable supply of water in Thiruvananthapuram is a challenge for KWA, and water distribution centres in the city face losses with almost 45% fresh water unaccounted for or wasted due to leakage.

The absence of real-time monitoring makes it difficult for KWA to track performance of water treatment facilities, effectiveness of supply network, level of water consumption and revenue collection in the city.

The city has a population of more than 3.3 million people and 210,000 households, along with such issues as aging pipes, weak infrastructure and unauthorised use of water.

Through the collaboration, both parties will try to establish necessary infrastructure, monitoring and analytics to identify potential issues in the state water supply and distribution.

IBM will assist KWA to establish a water management centre with its intelligent water software, which will help in collection of the necessary data and monitoring through a centralised dashboard.

IBM India / South Asia smarter planet solutions director Prashant Pradhan said: "With the rapidly growing population, it is becoming more essential than ever for us to conserve water.

"We are happy to have partnered with KWA to provide the power of analytics and mobility, and help them transform the water distribution and management systems in Thiruvananthapuram in an effort to help make it a smarter city."

KWA managing director Ashok Kumar Singh said: "We will now have real-time information and will be able to assess and manage our supply effectively.

"We are happy to have partnered with IBM in our endeavor to make water distribution in the city equitable and fair."

The analytics solution from IBM will also help improve the revenue collection by accurately tracking water consumption by consumers, while the company claimed that the new system will improve its revenue by 10% by fixing billing anomalies.

Smart sensors working in conjunction with the IBM intelligent operations water software can send alerts to KWA workers through their mobile or smart devices or laptops, which will help them fix the problems in shorter time.

KWA can also measure water turbidity, salinity, conductivity, pH and chlorine levels in real time with the help of IBM software.

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Image: The city has a population of more than 3.3 million people and 210,000 households, along with such issues as aging pipes, weak infrastructure and unauthorised use of water. Photo: courtesy of Govind R Nair / Wikipedia.