Suez, Schneider Partner on Digital Water

Suez and Schneider Electric are partnering to develop and market a joint digital water solution for water cycle management.

The joint venture, which is still waiting on authorizations from relevant competition authorities, will target industrial players and municipal water operators with a range of software for planning, operation, maintenance, and optimization of water treatment infrastructure.

The JV will lean heavily on Suez's Aquadvanced water cycle software suite and Schneider Electric’s Ecostruxure for water and wastewater, providing customers with a software database to optimize installations and networks, resilience, and sustainability--such as reducing leaks, optimizing network performance, generating energy savings, extending the lifespans of installations and preserving natural environments--as well as the environmental footprint of water systems overall.

Peter Herweck, EVP Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric, says the two companies look forward to becoming the digital partner of water cycle players.

And that market is heating up.

Timing looks right for this digital water JV

The global digital water solutions market is expected to expand at a CAGR of +21% over the forecast period of 2020-2026, according to ReportsnMarkets research.

And, according to a new study from Dodge Data & Analytics, while water utilities clearly understand the value of data, and 87% report that they gather data digitally, 50% of all respondents believe that they are gathering less than half of the data available to them.

In addition, two common issues prevent them from conducting their work efficiently across their organizations:

• 90% say that data is either isolated in disconnected IT systems, spreadsheets or paper records, which prevents effective operations and maintenance at their organization on occasion (45% say frequently),
• 68% report that lack of visibility across stakeholders interferes with effective capital planning on occasion (43% say frequently), and
• Nearly three quarters report that they are in the process of digital transformation at their organization, demonstrating a commitment to improving their digital capabilities. However, when it comes to how engaged they are with eight different types of digital capabilities, the findings indicate that they are still in the early stages of that process.

To achieve their digital priorities and future potential, water utilities need to overcome several challenges.

While issues such as data quality and quantity are a concern for 80% of respondents, nearly as many are concerned about the lack of internal staff with the necessary digital skills (74%) and resistance to change (70%).

In other industrial water-related news, GM plans to reduce the water intensity of its operations by 35% by 2035 compared to a 2010 baseline by focusing on a handful of initiatives.