IBM Chief Executive Lays Out Smart System Vision

DC WASA uses IBM’s asset management software to manage: all the wastewater treatment equipment, the water and sewer infrastructure at the Departments of Water and Sewer Services, the water quality issues maintained by the Water Quality Division, and for permit plan reviews and developer permitting, IBM said. In addition, IBM officials said DC WASA’s overall Enterprise Asset Management System is a combination of IBM Tivoli Maximo Enterprise Asset Management software and ESRI ArcGIS enterprise GIS (Geographic Information System) software.

DC WASA provides drinking water, wastewater collection and treatment to more than 500,000 residential, commercial and governmental customers in the District of Columbia, and also collects and treats wastewater for Montgomery and Prince Georges counties in Maryland and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia.

Meanwhile, also last November, IBM announced that the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is using IBM software to reduce the complexity and costs of managing the utility’s resources and services, which span across more than 36,800 square miles and 58 counties in Central and South Texas, serving more than 2.2 million residents.

Using IBM Maximo Asset Management software along with IBM business partner Syclo’s SMART Mobile Suite for Maximo, LCRA was able to consolidate asset information into one repository and integrate it with inventory, accounting and labor information to help staff identify issues before outages occur, accurately predict future resource needs and generate up-to-the-minute reports, IBM said.

LCRA used the IBM Maximo Mobile suite of software — including IBM Maximo Mobile Work Manager SE, IBM Maximo Mobile Inventory Manager SE, and IBM Maximo Auditor SE — to mobilise its employees in the field and automate manual processes.

In another example of IBM technology at work in water management systems in the U.S., Big Blue announced last summer that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is using IBM software to help reduce pollution in the water that surrounds the city on three sides – the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

The SFPUC, which treats an average of 80-90 million gallons of wastewater per day during dry weather and up to 370 million gallons of combined wastewater and storm runoff per day during the rainy season, is using the IBM software to develop smarter management of the city’s 1,000 miles of sewer system and three treatment facilities, IBM said.

“Using the IBM Maximo Asset Management software, problems are often solved within 24 hours,” said Tommy Moala, assistant general manager of the SFPUC Wastewater Enterprise, in a statement. “But the real value of the IBM software is the information it gathers so that we can help further reduce water pollution. For example, with some work order histories generated from the IBM software, we can see that we’ve rebuilt a pump, say, 10 times — maybe it’s time to replace it. The software also helps us to reduce the cost of managing the system down to the component level.”

Examples of IBM Smart Water initiatives overseas include a recent $14.5 million agreement with Power and Water Corporation of Sydney, Australia, to help design and implement an asset management system aimed at delivering electricity, water and sewerage services to its customers more efficiently. IBM also announced that Japan’s Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency is using IBM software for a new system designed to increase the availability of usable water supply and improve water quality across eight cities, eight towns and Kasuga-Nakagawa Waterworks Agency in Japan. The software will help the agency in its efforts to treat and purify water at some locations and to desalinate water at others.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone in what could become a big market for IT vendors supplying technology for smart systems, Oracle has released a report on smart water management and the need for smart metering technologies. On January 11, Oracle announced the results of its report entitled: “Testing the Water: Smart Metering for Water Utilities,” which surveyed more than 1,200 water consumers and 300 water utility managers in the United States and Canada to examine: water utility managers’ perception of, and future plans for, smart meter technology, including benefits and potential obstacles, and water consumers’ perception of their water use, motivations for conservation, and what they feel they need from their water utilities.

“Smart grid and smart metering has received a lot of buzz in recent months – with electric utilities receiving most of the spotlight,” said Stephan Scholl, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Utilities. “However, water utilities also face aging infrastructures, sustainability challenges and customer demand for better service. Oracle’s ‘Testing the Water’ report indicates that while water utilities realise that smart meter technologies can have a big impact on their business, there is a greater need to focus on consumer education and communication. Smart meter technologies can produce the actionable data required to provide consumers with information they can use to make smarter decisions about water consumption.

According to the Oracle report: 76 percent of consumers said they are concerned about the need to conserve water in their community; 69 percent of consumers said they believe they could reduce their personal water use; and 71 percent of consumers said they believe having access to detailed usage data would encourage them to take steps to lower water use.

As for water utility managers, 73 percent said their utility actively promotes water conservation. And 68 percent said they believe it is critical that water utilities adopt smart meter technologies, but only one-third said they are currently considering or implementing smart meter technologies. Moreover, when asked to select the top two most significant benefits of smart meter technology deployment, water utility manager cited enabling early leak detection as the biggest benefit, followed by supplying customers with tools to monitor or reduce water use. The managers said the top two roadblocks to greater implementation of smart metering systems are lack of cost recovery or measurable return on investment, and upfront utility expenses.

“At Las Vegas Valley Water District, we have learned that providing consumers with useful information about conservation really does drive behavior change,” said Alisa Mann, customer services manager, Las Vegas Valley Water District, in a statement. “The ‘Testing the Water’ report provides important data on the challenges and benefits associated with implementing smart meter technologies. Cost is an enormous factor, but many water utilities fail to see the huge impact smart meter technologies can have on their bottom line. It’s not just about reducing truck rolls – it’s about helping customers make better choices and improving efficiency throughout the business.”