IBM announced that Kerala Water Authority, Government of Kerala, India is using IBM Analytics and Mobility solutions to analyze, monitor and manage water distribution in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. With the solutions, KWA aims to achieve 100 percent success in equitable water supply with the ability to monitor and flag irregularities in water usage, using sensors and intelligent meters.
With a population of more than 33 lakhs in the city, providing 2.1 lakh households connections with equitable water supply across divisions / subdivisions was a challenging task, due to aging pipes, leaking infrastructure and unauthorized use of water. There were huge losses in water distribution with close to 45 percent of fresh water unaccounted for or wasted due to leakages. Also, without systems in place to monitor and provide real-time visibility into water consumption, it was difficult to track the performance of water treatment facilities and the effectiveness of the water supply network.
KWA is also facing challenges in revenue collection as the billing system was unable to accurately track water consumption by consumers. The data monitored by the IBM systems will help KWA in tracking water meters across the city on consumption, thereby reducing billing anomalies and improving revenue collection by more than 10 percent.
KWA is working with IBM to put in place the necessary infrastructure, monitoring and analytics to help identify potential issues proactively, in an effort to dramatically reduce water waste, improve customer satisfaction and increase the efficiency of maintenance and business operations. IBM will help KWA establish a Water Management Center using the IBM Intelligent Water Software to bring all the distribution and consumption data from meters to a central dashboard where water usage can be effectively and predictively monitored and managed. This provides the city’s water supply networks and KWA management with a unified and real time view of the transmission and consumption of water across the city of Thiruvananthapuram.
For example, when water officials see spikes or other any changes in usage, the system alerts the engineers so that it maybe rectified immediately. Smart sensors working in conjunction with the IBM Intelligent Operations Water software will enable workers to receive alerts through their mobile or smart devices or laptops so they can respond in near real time to get the problem fixed. As a result, KWA is able to respond immediately on to irregularities in water supply and reacting to repairs that are needed in a much shorter timeframe.
While water samples used to be manually collected and analyzed, by installing sensors throughout the water treatment process, KWA can measure water turbidity, salinity, conductivity, pH and chlorine levels in real time. Using the IBM Intelligent Water Software, workers can instantly visualize operations and receive alerts and notifications when readings stray from norms or when analysis indicates that water quality has changed.
“With a loss of close to 45 percent of the current water supply and lack of proper water management in the city, we decided to deploy IBM’s advanced Analytics and Mobility solutions to overcome these challenges. We will now have real time information and will be able to assess and manage our supply effectively. We are happy to have partnered with IBM in our endeavor to make water distribution in the city equitable and fair,” said Ashok Kumar Singh, MD, Kerala Water Authority.