We all need water to survive—but access to the liquid lifeline isn’t always a given. With a shifting climate and ever-increasing agricultural and industrial demands on this limited commodity, UNICEF predicts that by 2025, half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity. On top of the obvious resource drains, many countries are losing surprising amounts of potable water to leaks. For example, in the United States alone, an estimated 6 billion gallons of treated drinking water seep out of its supply every day due to aging pipelines and undetected leaks.
“Smart” water innovations may offer conservation solutions, though. As part of an overall smart city scheme, where internet of things (IoT) devices work hand-in-hand with AI to improve daily life, many municipalities are giving their water systems a makeover. From new meters to irrigation and pipeline maintenance, we look at some of the key intelligent technologies that endeavor to improve how we harness our water supply.
- Smart Meters. The most common upgrade to local water utilities is the smart meter, which uses sensors to wirelessly dispatch readings from homes and businesses to municipalities and stakeholders. Also known as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), smart meters provide more precise and timely readings than their predecessors. By constantly monitoring water use, they can quickly send a wireless alert if there is unusual (or continuous) water flow that would indicate a leak. Installing an AMI system can initially be costly, but long-term benefits include streamlined billing, useful data collection and analysis, improved water conservation and lower carbon emissions. Some or all of these up-front costs may be offset through elimination of the need for utility workers to drive around and physically check meters. New Orleans, San Diego and Asheville are among the latest adopters. Smart water meters have also been implemented in parts of the UK, and countries like Spain and South Africa are spearheading national-level initiatives to install them.
One town in Utah hopes that smart meters will shrink its water usage by as much as 6% to 12%. Facing drought and water scarcity issues, Washington City had crews install 15,000 residential meters across the city in 2023, with more to come at every business, school and institutional and industrial building. Like many towns making this transition, the region anticipates that staying on top of leaks (homeowners can sign up to be notified via an app, and city officials will be looped into any significant water loss) will ease its water anxieties.
Although the new meters were generally well received in Washington City, their use as conservation enhancements has not been welcomed everywhere. Fresno, California trialed a three-month program in which, based on smart meter readings, citizens were fined for violating water restrictions. On paper, the plan worked—infractions dropped by 17%. But simultaneously, citizen calls to the utility increased by 654%, ultimately leading Fresno to abandon the approach—and indicating that there is still a balance to find between conservation and the public’s response.
- Pipeline Monitoring. In the summer of 2024, portions of downtown Atlanta ground to a halt after a corroded, nearly 100-year-old water main burst. Events were canceled, residents were put under a water-boil requirement, and it took days to restore safe water to the area. Now, the Georgia capital is piloting a program with AI-driven devices that will gather data and try to predict pipeline breaks. In the United States and Canada, says a University of Utah report, 30% of water mains are more than 50 years old—i.e., past their life expectancy. Cities are trying a host of tactics to keep tabs on leaks, from dogs trained to smell chlorinated water in the ground, to robots and even drones aimed at leak detection.
Technology company AP Sensing offers a handful of “smart” solutions; it installs fiber optic cables inside or outside of existing pipelines (often, new pipelines include these cables) that act as sensors and measure changes in thermal, acoustic, vibrational and strain signals. Known as pipeline imaging, this data is collected and combined to provide a visual overview of pipe conditions remotely on a software platform. The technology can alert—and isolate the location of—leaks within seconds. Companies like Xylem offer similar services, also with real-time monitoring of pipelines that syncs to devices and apps. A region in Italy tried out this technology beginning in 2019, and officials say that they have caught 170 leaks since then, saving an estimated 1.4 million cubic meters (about 370 million cubic gallons) of water each year. These innovations help municipalities pinpoint problem areas so that they dig underground only where needed, and so that they can intervene before major damage occurs.
- Fire Hydrant Sensors. In 2022, Kansas City, Mo., teamed up with California tech company Orbis to install 150 leak-detection multi-sensor devices on fire hydrants around the city. The SmartCap sensors, which can be added to any fire hydrant, wirelessly send real-time leak warnings to a cloud-based portal monitored by water technicians. The sensors grab acoustics data, use an algorithm to analyze that information, and then send out alerts about leakage, tamper, flow and pipe conditions. GPS allows the sensors to identify precise locations. Since installing the gadgets, Kansas City has identified 30 leaks.
- Irrigation. California-based tech company Lumo designed a smart irrigation system that works to optimize water delivery based on a variety of factors (such as soil moisture levels, weather conditions, etc.). It uses sensors, valves and other devices to not only monitor and automate watering needs for growers, but also to analyze data to learn how to make farming more efficient. Perhaps most importantly, the tech provides almost instantaneous leak alerts served up via a cloud-based app. Following Lumo’s partnership with Central Valley, a major vineyard equipment supplier in Northern California, many wine makers could soon be operating more intelligent irrigation systems.
Amid water scarcity concerns, cities can’t afford to lose drinking water to avoidable leaks, and more and more are turning to smart tech for solutions. A recent market analysis indicated that the number of AMI endpoints in Europe and North America will double from 2022 to 2028. Of course, novel technology brings with it new cybersecurity questions and sometimes vocal public opinions that must be balanced with environmental needs. Cities are grappling with all of these components as they strive to become smarter—and better stewards of our natural resources.
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