Peter Williams of IBM’s Big Green Innovations Discussing Smart Water

Peter Williams, of IBM’s Big Green Innovations, says that the single most important improvement to water infrastructure is embedding information technology so that more effective management can happen. We agree: what water needs is the application of all the best practices, insights and network management approaches that have already suceeded in telecoms, IT and a myriad of industrial operations systems. Otherwise, pipe and valves are sentenced to silence, making it difficult to assess and manage the network’s health.

There is a twist, of course, since water infrastructure has certain unique characteristics. A great example is night-time. With IT systems, nights are great – few users tax the system and therefore outages are less likely to occur. Water systems at night actually experience more pressure, since users don’t reduce pressure by consuming water. Pressure builds up in the pipes, and dramatic bursts are more likely to happen in the dead of night.