Data&AI for Water Smart Societies
Digitalisation, like in other domains and even more in those more “conservative”, represents a key enabler for the water sector. It is a key enabler to implement better and more efficient strategies, based on evidence, towards policy commitments and directives at National, European, and international levels. Nowadays, it is needed and a social duty to have more resilient and sustainable water services and (Big) data-driven decisions, generating benefits for citizens, the economy, and the environment looking at the optimisation of the resources’ consumption, the enhancement of health and safety, as well as the minimisation of negative socioeconomic impacts due to climate crisis.
Data & AI technologies can help and are helping this process, but several barriers have still to be overcome.Water utilities require effective and efficient quality monitoring of the water resources they use, not only with actual sensor data but also looking at other approaches, like crowd, virtual, and remote sensing (with reference to the use of Copernicus EU data). In any case, the management of large and highly heterogeneous data sources from sensors, satellites, and even from citizens through their smartphones, require compatibility with standards and FAIR principles. The section will give an overview about three different co-funded projects that are facing with the challenges aforementioned described from different perspectives and with different approaches, but in a coordinated way based on the driving principles of relevant ecosystems (i.e. BDVA, Water Europe, FIWARE):
CALLISTO is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to bridge the gap between Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) cloud providers and edge devices with application end users through dedicated Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions that add value to the large volumes of satellite data frequently coming to Earth from the Copernicus Sentinel constellation. CALLISTO is piloted-tested in real environments, providing geolocation-based services in applications relevant to, among others, water management. (presented by Mr Ilias Gialampoukidis (CERTH))
LIFE WARRIOR is a LIFE project that wants to demonstrate an innovative and cost-effective water reclamationtrain to guarantee safe reclaimed water for crops irrigation, in line with the European regulation on minimum requirements for water reuse (EU 2020/741). The overall WARRIOR system is coupled with digital tools for risk management and process optimization. The project will be demonstrated in Murcia, one of the most water stressed regions of Spain and Europe. Thus, LIFE WARRIOR impact is expected to be wide for the society and the environment (water availability) and for economy and technology( presented by Ms Eloisa Vargiu (CETaqua) )
Waterverse is a Horizon Europe project that develops a Water Data Management Ecosystem and aims to make data management practices and resources in the water sector accessible, affordable, secure, fair, and easy to use. Compatibility with FAIR principles will improve usability of data and interoperability of data-intensive processes, thus lowering the entry barrier to data spaces, enhancing the resilience of water utilities and boosting the perceived value of data and therefore the market opportunities behind it. WATERVERSE will be demonstrated in six countries (Cyprus, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and United Kingdom) to ensure replicability, scalability and business applicability (presented by Mr Ilias Gialampoukidis (CERTH), Mr Roberto Di Bernardo (Engineering Ing. Inf.)
Presentations of the session:
Roberto Di Bernardo presentation (Introduction)
Ilias Gialampoukidis presentation
