DIGITAL-WATER.city - Leading urban water management to its digital future

Project Information

DWC

Grant agreement ID: 820954

DOI

10.3030/820954

Project closed

EC signature date 3 May 2019

Start date 1 June 2019

End date 30 November 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 5 897 782,70

EU contribution

€ 4 997 161,66

Coordinated by

KWB KOMPETENZZENTRUM WASSER BERLIN GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - DWC (DIGITAL-WATER.city - Leading urban water management to its digital future)

Reporting period: 2021-12-01 to 2022-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Europe’s waters are under mounting pressure. Agricultural and industrial activities as well as increased urbanisation trigger pollution, over-abstraction and modification of water bodies. Today, almost three quarters of Europeans (EU and non-EU countries) live in urban areas, with an increasing trend that is projected to reach more than 80% by 2050. To face current and future challenges, digital technologies are acknowledged as key enabler to improve water management. Within this context, DWC’s main goal is to boost the integrated management of waters systems in five major European urban and peri-urban areas – Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Milan and Sofia – by leveraging the potential of data and smart digital technologies.
In a nutshell, DWC has developed, tested and brought to the market a series of 15 digital solutions. These solutions are improving 1) the decision-making process in urban water management, 2) reducing monitoring costs and 3) optimizing OPEX and CAPEX allocation as well as infrastructure investments to meet target in term of sewer emissions and environmental impacts. The assessment and communication of the benefits obtained locally has contributed to raise the awareness of European cities for a necessary digital transformation and fostered the large-scale market uptake of digital solutions in Europe.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

At its core, DWC have focused on the development, demonstration and assessment of the benefits of 15 digital solutions in five European cities. An overview of the solutions is here https://www.digital-water.city/digital-solutions/.
The establishment of Communities of Practice (CoPs) has been the binding element to achieve a truly interdisciplinary approach. CoPs have been established locally in the five cities which have hosted regular workshops to build trust and consider the expectations of local stakeholders within the development of the digital solutions. Another key task of DWC was to assess the local governance settings and facilitate the uptake of the solutions. Main activity was the development of a governance assessment framework to identify non-technical factors relevant for the successful implementation of digital solutions. A common policy brief published in November 2022 by the European commission provides an overview of current gaps in the EU legislative framework that hinders the potential of digitalisation in the water sector.
Market activities have been conducted in two tracks: a first track focuses on SME using the MAF+ portal to evaluate and compare the attractiveness of different market segments; a second track addresses solutions developed by non-commercial partners (e.g. universities) with the aim to set the scene for the creation of startups and new services. Activities have led to the creation of two new services with a clear roadmap beyond the end of the project. The first service is called SWIM:AI and relates to the early warning system for bathing water deployed by KWB in Berlin. The second service is called SUSAWARE and relates to the early warning system for water reuse deployed by UNIVPM in Italy.
Communication and dissemination activities have also been conducted, including the creation of our website (>22,000 visits), the management of social media (>900 followers on LinkedIn), the participation to professional events and conferences (> 60), etc. Finally, DWC launched and leaded the synergy group DigitalWater2020 (DW2020) with our five sister projects. The group has updated or developed from scratch a series of 19 data models published in the community as Smart Data Models github, organized more than 16 workshops, webinars and conferences and achieved a joint policy brief that summarizes key findings of the cluster projects.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

1 Real-time water quality monitoring and early warning
DWC has developed new technologies for fully automated water quality monitoring. The innovation of the new ALERT system consists in the possibility to perform online measurements on E.coli and Enterococci concentration halfing the response times and minimizing handling and transportation while providing a similar accuracy as the laboratory (DS1 ALERT system). DWC have brought to the market a new generation of data-driven early warning system. The EWS for bathing water management allows to reach an accuracy of 95% to predict days with insufficient water quality (DS2 SWIM:AI).
2 New capacities for sewer monitoring and WWTP management
DWC has developed a new low-cost monitoring solution for combined sewer overflow (DS14). The precision is similar to traditional flow sensors and equipment costs are reduced by 70%. It allows utilities to monitor precisely a vast amount of CSO outlets with affordable expenses. DWC has also highlighted the relevance of sensors to tackle illicit connections. A new DWC methodology (DS9) has proven to be 10 times more efficient than conventional visual inspection (e.g. manhole inspection) to narrow down hotspots of illicit connections in the network. Respectively, monitoring costs have proven to be 2/3 less expensive than visual inspection. The DTS technology (DS8) is able to pinpoint illicit connections to their exact location in the sewer but costs are around 3.5 times more expensive than conventional visual inspection.
DWC did not explore only the role of sensors for sewer management but also highlighted the relevance of machine learning for sewer flow modelling (DS10). The accuracy for short-term inflow forecast could be increased by 30% compared to hydrodynamic models. The accuracy of long-term forecast compared to measured rain data was in the range of 70-80%.
The potential of sensors and machine-learning has been embedded in a new real-time control solution for the integrated management of sewer networks and WWTP (DS11). It allows to save 25% of sewer bypass volume and 20% of nitrogen emissions. Obtaining an equivalent effect through new storage volume at the WWTP would cost the utility around 75 M€ investments.
3 Advanced decision support on water reuse risks
DWC developed a new service for wastewater treatment plant aimed at preventing bacterial and toxic contamination linked to the reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation (DS3). The tool is able to identify the occurrence of a contamination event in real-time within the framework of risk assessment and management provided by the European Regulation 741/2020, and is able to identify the suitable uses of the reclaimed water, according to the quality classes defined by this legislation.
4 Interoperability and cybersecurity
It is worth mentioning that DWC innovation does not rely only on the availability of new technological tools: major progresses have been achieved in the necessary integration of digital solutions within existing IT systems through the harmonization of data models, the use of FIWARE as reference architecture for smart city solutions and new approaches for exploring cyber risk. In particular, DWC has developed a stress-testing methodology for the wastewater sector and produced a risk management guide to protect water infrastructure against cyber-physical threats. DWC also achieved a web-based database including 68 type of risk events specific to sewer management. Finally, DWC has developed a set of security checklists supporting both technology providers and water utilities.

DWC key impacts beyond the project

DWC_Nicolas Caradot presents at the kickoff meeting of the local CoP in Berlin

Overview of DWC cities and challenges

DWC communication and dissemination in few numbers

DWC main activities

Overview of DWC digital solutions

DWC Team at Kickoff meeting, September 2019 in Berlin

Presentation of DWC outcomes at the digital water summit of Bilbao