IBM to Supply Big Data for Water Management in India

IBM will supply the Kerala Water Authority in India with its Analytics and Mobility solutions to analyze, monitor and manage water distribution in the city of Thiruvananthapuram.

KWA is looking to the system for help in equitably supplying water and to give it the ability to monitor and flag irregularities in water usage using sensors and intelligent meters.

Thiruvananthapuram has a population of more than 3.3 million and faces a number of challenges, including aging pipes, a leaking infrastructure and unauthorized use of water. Currently almost 45 percent of fresh water is unaccounted for or wasted due to leakages.

KWA also faces challenges in revenue collection as its billing system is unable to accurately track water consumption. Data monitored by the IBM systems will help KWA more accurately track water meters, reduce billing anomalies and improve revenue collection by more than 10 percent.

Current plans include establishing a water management center using IBM’s Intelligent Water Software to bring all distribution and consumption data from meters to a central dashboard where water usage can be monitored and managed on a unified and real-time basis.

Plans also include installing sensors throughout the water treatment process so KWA can measure water turbidity, salinity, conductivity, pH and chlorine levels in real time. Using the IBM big data software, workers will be able to visualize operations and receive alerts and notifications when readings stray from norms or when analysis indicates that water quality has changed.

IBM Big Data and Analytics is helping address environmental concerns in other parts of the world as well. In the US, the Flint River Partnership tapped IBM big data to enable smarter irrigation for Georgia farmers. IBM’s weather forecasting technology is expected to improve agricultural efficiency there by up to 20 percent.

In Canada, the Southern Ontario Water Consortium is generating big data for global research and development purposes in the areas of watershed, wastewater, drinking water management, ecotoxicology and sensor development using a new data integration platform provided by Smarter Planet Solutions for IBM Canada.