A Look at a Digitally Driven Spanish Water Utility

Just as many parts of Europe have experienced what's been called the worst drought in 500 years, Spain, one of the world's most water-stressed industrialized countries, is betting on digitalization to ensure its long-term water security. We traveled to Valencia to visit Global Omnium, the Valencian water utility that manages the water networks of the city and 12 autonomous regions in Spain. We toured their facilities with a utility. utilities services director Juan Fran Maestre Picón to learn about how they use connectivity such as NBIoT, 5G, LoRaWAN and Sigfox to manage and control their network which serves over 3 million people. He showed us Goaigua, the platform they developed to integrate their services into modules that share data with one another and which is now used by over 400 cities worldwide. We see a lot of modules, a lot of verticals, which is very good in but the problem that we can have, or any gestor can have, is that it has many different environments that have to be able to access different tools. And many times they don't talk about it. What I'm able to see in production, with a scale, I'm not able to see it with a sectorization or with a trance of lecturing. What kind of our Wauwia platform has? We have a single data model, where all the information is ingested in the same structure and from there we feed the different modules. And you can combine. We are able to combine the distribution stage with the lecture of controllers and gather that information. You have integrated management. That's the great pride that the Google Audio portal offers. If not, you have to go to N tools and set up your conclusions with a very high time consumption, a very valuable time that every time we have less. The utilities water network across Spain is divided into some 2 ,500 sectors, which are equipped with flow and pressure sensors that collect hourly data via cellular connectivity. This data is compared with the one collected by their smart water meters and once the platform registers a disparity between supply and intake, an alarm is triggered to alert of a potential leak. All of our platforms are integrated so that we, although they are in different environments, are integrated into the only data model, so I can see all the residents and the consumption of all residents. I can even order it to be more or less consumption, so I can see the most consumption they are and all the data to be able to act on the controller. Out of the 1.200.000 meters the water utility manages, 700.000 have already been changed to include AMI capability and around 90% of them are connected via LoRa. The remaining 10% are PLC water meters with an NBIoT backbone. The Narrowband is more emergent and still needs development because not all the controllers are still available. We wanted to know from Juanfran when to use LoRa and when to use NBIoT. LoRa lo vemos muy factible hoy por hoy, sobre todo en municipios pequeños, en municipios medianos, donde se puedan permitir la instalación de antenas LoRa, que puede ser muy económico, o también hay proveedores de esa tecnología. En Narroban, en situaciones como esta, que era imposible en poneros de instalación, o en grandes ciudades, que tienes cobertura en Narroban, es una situación muy adecuada, sobre todo donde tengas una gran masificación. where you have a controller batteries that you can integrate with a single team or communicate with several, it will be very good. NB-IoT is preferred for cities because the network is strong and cost-efficient due to the density of meters. An NB -IoT gateway costs around 120 euros and can connect up to 10 regular water meters. The gateway connection itself costs around 2 to 3 euros per year. LoRa can be seen as a handicap when it comes to cities, setting up their network. finding a good spot and securing a permit to install antennas can be an uphill battle. The Valencian Utility also controls the wastewater networks across many of the municipalities it covers, thanks to cellular connectivity. We also try to measure the most adequate variables, such as the levels of collectors to make an intelligent clean. As we detect the leaks and repair the leaks, we are going to clean the collectors where There are spots of suciedad, the level has increased in the dry period or even there can be an alivio. And finally, the quality of the vertigo. We complement this with analíticos control of the vertigo. We have to demonstrate different industries with the idea that the norm is passed and, in case there is an infractor, try to detect at the point where a vertigo is produced. We are basing in software and in the algorithm that will guide us on which areas they produce those types of vertigo. water hasn't just made it easier for the utility to control leaks, levels, and sewer relief, it also helps in the early detection of viruses. From the Global Omnium Control Centre, the utility can access the data of all the municipalities and private companies it manages or that have purchased its platform with the cloud service option. On the day we visited workers at the control center were supervising water quality in Castellón, twins for the entire water network in Teruel, asset management across different territories in Spain, a map of Valencia with leak warnings and the sewage alerts. During our tour we noticed a lot of references to digital twins and saw a lot of 3D modeling of various water networks. So we asked Juanfran what the benefits of this technology are when it comes to a water utility. It gives you a knowledge about the installation, it's like if you were physically at the installation and you were seeing, for example, the level of the deposit, or the bomb that is here, that it has varied, that it is situated, so what does it add? It adds comfort in the The utility counts amongst its clients, many private businesses and public entities, such as La Fe Hospital. Through their platform and a standard control panel, they monitor the water production system they installed at the hospital. From water levels and energy used to pressure and flow, thanks to a digital twin, they are able to visualize the osmosis Through a controller and a 5G modem, all the information is collected. The system is bi-directional so it can be altered from the control center. The utility is exploring new verticals and with the same platform they use to manage the water networks, they are now managing smart buildings by controlling lights, AC and electricity. If it's an old system, we do several things. First, if we have a control system, we can communicate with the control system so that all the infrastructure that we have is not necessary. If you put new things, if you have a Wi -Fi, you can put elements that directly communicate with the Wi -Fi. So, for example, you have to have to have a cable, have to have to carry out elements. Then, what are the consumption of energy? We put a network of networks on the consumption point. So, what good of all this is that it is not necessary to have a unique solution, but you have 1 .000 solutions that, in terms of the need and the state of the art that we are currently, we look for that solution. The cost of the perpetual license of their Goaewa platform for a village of approximately 600 residents with some 300 water meters would start at around 50,000 euros but due to its integrated nature the municipality would be able to seamlessly add new modules to meet its growing needs. The water utilities mission is to invest in new technology to both improve their service and save water and funds in the long run. Since they started their integration a digitalization program over 10 years ago they claim to have witnessed a 70 percent reduction of client complaints and prevented 3 .8 million cubic meters of water leakage every year to get more information on water management and other smart city and iot initiatives don't forget to keep up with current insights