Digital Water Solutions Demand Expected to Grow by 23.5% Annually

(Credit: Frost & Sullivan)

According to Frost & Sullivan's new analysis, the increasing focus on enhancing resource efficiency and overall system resilience is driving demand for digital water solutions. In addition, emerging digital solutions such as digital twins (DT) that focus on networks and treatment facilities are expected to witness high double-digit growth in the next five years. Due to their potential to unlock new levels of resource efficiency, digital water solutions are likely to grow from $27.10 billion in 2021 to $63.02 billion in 2025 at an annual growth rate of 23.5%.

The renewed focus on water conservation and resilience against extreme natural events is creating growth opportunities. Digital water solution providers should consider:

• Implementing digital twins to mitigate risks and improve resilience: Solution providers of digital twins, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-based asset management, and decision or predictive intelligence should consider offering enterprise-level solutions that integrate the entire water life cycle.
• Offering end-to-end asset management: AI and ML-based asset management solutions will be a game-changer due to their ability to automate standard and complex tasks such as leveraging multiple variables and taking multiple actions.
• Enabling decarbonization and net-zero using the outcomes-as-a-service model: An outcomes-as-a-service business model could help meet expected sustainability outcomes such as increased overall system resilience and new value addition through circularity.
• Providing 5G and advanced edge computing solutions: 5G can be especially useful for real-time data visualization and applications such as smart water metering and asset health monitoring and management.

More builders in the United Kingdom are focusing on water neutrality, according to a report from Patrick Parsons. Of the 100 executives from UK construction firms surveyed for the engineering consultancy’s Sustainable by Design report, 44% say they expect projects to be between 20% and 50% water neutral by 2025. That comes as currently nearly three quarters of respondents say their developments are less than 20% water neutral.

Additionally, a cloud-based water management system developed by Accenture and Amazon Web Services is intended to help the energy industry with ample data to improve water efficiency and sustainability throughout their operations.