Metropolitan Water Authorities Should Transition to "Water 4.0"

30 General Directorates of Water and Sewerage Administration of Metropolitan Municipalities provide water supply and wastewater disposal, river bed rehabilitation, stormwater collection and removal services to 78% of Turkey's population. 

In this context, the water services management of these provinces, where nearly three quarters of our total population lives, should be prepared for the increasing pressures and uncertainties of the future. In this context, in order to provide water services as a sustainable public service, we need radical changes in the institutional infrastructure and innovative, socialist but realistic water policies.

The sustainability of water and wastewater services in large cities should be examined within the scope of efforts to create cities resilient to climate change, which will become more important in the near future.

In this context, Water and Sewerage Administrations should be restructured legally and institutionally with an innovative approach.  As is known, pressures such as climate change, migration to cities, pollution, confusion of authority and lack of institutional capacity make it difficult to provide water as a public service in cities. The performance deficiencies of the water and sewerage administrations of our major cities are clearly stated in the reports of 3 comparative evaluation studies conducted by SU-EN since 2017. 

These studies have revealed the need for significant adjustments in water and sewerage administrations, both administratively and technically. 

Current Situation Analysis of SUKIs  

Within the scope of the study conducted by SUEN, the results of the Performance Areas Index, which was developed to show the performance status of the SUKIs in 7 performance categories, were also published. According to these results, the three lowest performing areas are energy efficiency, economic-financial and wastewater services.

In parallel with population growth and urbanization across the world, people's water consumption, quality of life and expectations are increasing. Meeting people's expectations is only possible by incorporating advanced technologies into business processes. 

Water and sewerage administrations (WUDAs), which have a wide range of services from lost water to subscriber services, from drinking water treatment to wastewater recycling, from rainwater collection and removal to canal rehabilitation, are under increasing pressure due to structural and economic problems. 

To this end, following technological innovations and encouraging participation and transparency are essential for both citizen satisfaction and more efficient public service delivery. 

Use of treated wastewater should increase 

Within the scope of green economy, circular economy and water efficiency studies, the importance of disinfecting treated domestic wastewater and making it available online for green area irrigation and industrial facilities has increased. This treated wastewater is also important in terms of reducing the consumption pressure on drinking water, especially in case of drought, and reducing the consumption of network and groundwater in areas with dense industrial facilities, thus protecting the environment and water resources. 

In addition, making a normally consumed resource reusable also has the effect of increasing resource efficiency. 

Water 4.0 in general 

Most people in the Water Industry have heard the term Water 4.0 or a derivative of it such as the "Digital Water Industry" or concepts that form part of it such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and even the Industrial Internet of Things. But they may not have given much thought to their place in water management.

SU 4.0 puts digitization and automation at the heart of a resource-efficient, flexible and competitive water management strategy. In doing so, WATER 4.0 incorporates key features and terms of INDUSTRY 4.0, such as "networking of machines, processes, storage systems and resources", "smart grids", "Internet of Things and Services", and brings them together in a systemic water management context.

In the implementation of SU 4.0, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are the essential element of optimal network connectivity of virtual and real water systems. In the implementation of WATER 4.0, planning, project and operation are largely carried out by software.

Innovative solutions, What can be done 

Water and sewerage administrations of metropolitan cities should be restructured into structures that are as far away from socio-political influences as possible, have high technical and administrative capacity, have the autonomy to determine their budget rationally and use it as planned, follow and adapt technological developments, consider efficiency and service quality important, produce fast solutions, aim to transition to SU 4.0 and create a corporate identity.

Investments involving advanced technology in water and sewerage administrations produce more economical results in infrastructure management, provide more benefits, increase service quality and increase customer satisfaction.

In this context, the following recommendations can be put into practice by utilizing the opportunities provided by Water 4.0 - Digital Water technologies 

- With centralized software, remote index reading, accrual and invoicing, and monitoring of meter performances can be ensured. Thus, in addition to increasing accruals, service quality and subscriber satisfaction can be increased 

- Notifications of malfunctions received from subscribers will be transmitted by the call center to the teams working in the field via computers and the information that the repair of the malfunction has been completed will be entered into the system, subscriber satisfaction will be increased by responding to the applicants, and efficiency will increase in the work of field teams by keeping records.

- Drinking water and sewerage infrastructure can be transferred to the digital environment and made manageable. This system can operate on mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.) at any point where internet access is available. This makes a very positive contribution to the efficiency of network operation

- After the Drinking Water and Wastewater SCADA system, the Network SCADA System can be followed by the establishment of the Asset Management System to increase the quality of service provided by the administration, its value in the eyes of citizens and in the sector.

There is great benefit in reorganizing the institutional structures of metropolitan water and sewerage administrations, taking into account the draft Water Law that is being prepared for submission to the Turkish Grand National Assembly. 

Reference:

Comparative Performance Evaluation of Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Administrations (Phase 3) Year of Publication: June 2022 ISBN: 978-625-8451-43-6.  SU-EN Istanbul