Our Cities’ Water Supply – Water Scarcity White Paper

Water Scarcity: The Future of Our Cities’ Water Supplies

Water scarcity is a growing challenge for municipalities across the country. A new paper, underwritten by Aquify and authored by noted technologist and smart cities expert Peter Williams, provides an overview of the challenge and specific ways technology, data, and analytics can help.

Titled “Water Scarcity: The Future of Our Cities’ Water Supplies,” the 12-page paper starts with a review of the scarcity dilemma, which virtually no region of the country will escape over the long term. The report cites that 145 out of the 204 freshwater basins in the contiguous 48 states will have decreasing water yields between now and 2045.

The paper then details how technology and data is one solution that can reduce the estimated two trillion gallons of treated and pumped water that is lost in the U.S. each year before it ever gets to the customer. The combined strategy and deployment of technology, data, and analytics are called Remote Insight and Management.

The paper details how this approach can:

• Enable the creation of district metered areas (DMAs) to “zone” water systems to detect water loss in each zone.
• Once a leak is discovered, improve event management with effective triage and event characterization to minimizing further losses. 
• Help utilities understand where to make investments in aging water systems.
• Enables improved pressure management, where it has been estimated that a 10% reduction in peak pressure equates, on average, to a 14% reduction in the incidence of leaks and bursts.

The author of the paper, Peter Williams, Ph.D., has over 30 years’ experience helping businesses and governments adapt to and make the most of new technology. Williams was formerly the CTO of IBM’s “Big Green Innovations” unit. He played a significant role in developing IBM’s “smarter planet” businesses in environmental management, water management, smart cities, and disaster resilience. Williams was also the lead author of the U.N. City Disaster Resilience Scorecard, now used by over 200 cities globally, and recently led the creation of a further U.N. Scorecard for the resilience of industrial and commercial real estate.

Aquify (www.exelonaquify.com) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, one of the leading electric and gas utility companies in the U.S., serving more than 10 million customers. Aquify provides cities and municipalities across the U.S. with a new way to manage their aging water infrastructure while also achieving new levels of reliability, resilience and responsiveness. Aquify gives water utilities peace-of-mind and unprecedented system visibility through 24/7 system monitoring and advanced analytics without the need for additional staff or capital investment.

For a free and immediate download of the paper, go to Aquify White Paper