Despite its importance, the water industry is behind with its uptake of digitisation and in the monitoring of networks in many countries across the globe.
IDTechEx’s most recent market research report on this market area, “Sensors in the Water and Wastewater Treatment Industries 2020-2030”, predicts that the water and wastewater sensor industry will be over $2-billion by 2030.
This article from IDTechEx highlights the key reasons why digitisation is needed.
Many water and wastewater networks are currently not digitized. They use analog or slow systems to collect samples, analyse data, and provide data for companies to use. These results are used to meet pollution requirements, policy limits and to ensure that the treatment of both water and wastewater plants are running correctly. There are many synergies possible if the technology is integrated into the water and wastewater systems.
With water shortages occurring across some countries – e.g., Cape Town, South Africa, in 2018 – there is a real need to better monitor the usage, supply, and treatment of both supply water and wastewater networks. To achieve these goals, the water industry must digitise and use smart sensors across all areas of its water networks.
Sensors in the water and wastewater treatment industries are an emerging technology market area, forecast to grow to more than $2-billion in 2030. These sensors will make up the wider application of IoT devices in cities, and the hype around them is growing.
The sensors required are already in use in other industries but are now being adopted by water and wastewater companies at a municipal level.
As an emerging technology, digitizing and adding sensors to the water and wastewater networks may have both benefits and hindrances. Hindrance, as companies may not wish to spend large sums on new sensors, pipes, or technology, and the barriers for entry into the water and wastewater networks are already high.
The benefit of adopting sensors into the networks outweigh these barriers. There is a real need for remote monitoring; it removes the need for maintenance staff to check pipes as regularly or to collect samples for lab monitoring. It speeds up the identification of pollution events, reducing fines incurred by the water companies. It improves the efficiency of the treatment plants. It provides a better service for customers.
It’s a steep investment, but the dividends pay off for many years to come. It has been used already to track Covid-19 in a number of cases and provides real opportunities for investment in future water and wastewater networks.