Making sense of Water management challenges - and using the approach that fits the system

When tackling a problem around Water Management it is vital to know what kind of problem it is to be able to design an effective solution:

e.g Leakage Management
Some part of this problem are
Simple - the issue is known, the solution is good practice Plan, Do, Close, Report
Complicated - before action is taken there needs to be some analytics, some expertise is needed and there are many ways that it could be tackled. Part of the challenge is finding effective ways. e.g. pipe failure prediction across a city with incomplete data.
Complex - This is where the problem lies in a complex adaptive system e.g. coordinating the digging up of underground assets. The help in these situation there is the need for advanced situational awareness and tools to test next best actions before they happen and monitor how things are going in near real-time to create better solutions for today's unique set of circumstances.
When things are Chaotic just do something  to get the system into another domain and then take it from there. e.g. For a major burst turn off all the water to make the system simple and then work out a systematic way of turning things back on.

A great example of Exaptation:

An incubator for new born babies made out of Toyota Parts - the innovation is that these can be repaired anywhere in the world.

Self healing concrete

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/articles/concrete-which-can-heal-its-own-cracks-11763.html

Concrete which can heal its own cracks

13 September 2013

Cardiff University researcher Dr Diane Gardner has won the ‘You Heard It Here First’ event at the British Science Festival for her work on self-healing concrete. The award considers the UK's brightest early career researchers to find out the next big thing in science and technology.

Dr Gardner from the School of Engineering is part of a research group which has been working towards giving concrete the ability to sense and respond to damage within its own infrastructure. This discovery has the potential to make huge impacts on concrete installations in the UK and beyond, dramatically cutting repair costs and reducing their carbon footprint.

The self-healing concrete works in three main ways:

• The opening of cracks is controlled using fibres which can potentially be made from recycled plastic materials like bottles.
• A bacteria is incorporated into the concrete which starts to rejuvenate when cracks occur. Once damage starts, the bacteria deposits a biological cement which fills in these areas.
• Nano and micro capsules containing a resin or glue healing agent which again is released when damage or cracks start to occur within the concrete structure.

Dr Gardner hopes that self-healing concrete could start to be introduced into non-critical structures within 2-3 years. From then on, the aim will be introduce this technology across the Civil Engineering industry and increase and widen its use.

To hear Dr Gardner talking about her work for The Naked Scientists podcast, click here

Water companies are a key part of a  Smarter City

There are five key aspects to smarter approaches, which are strongly information driven:

1. a modern digital infrastructure, combined with a secure but open access approach to public re-useable data, which enables citizens to access the information they need,  when they need it;
2. a recognition that service delivery is improved by being citizen centric: this involves  placing the citizen’s needs at the forefront, sharing management information to provide a coherent service, rather than operating in a multiplicity of service silos (for example, sharing changes of address more effectively), and offering internet service delivery where possible (at a fraction of the face to face cost);
3. an intelligent physical infrastructure (“smart” systems or the Internet of Things), to enable service providers to use the full range of data both to manage service delivery on a daily basis and to inform strategic investment in the city/community (for example, gathering and analysing data on whether public transport is adequate to cope with rush hour peaks);
4.  an openness to learn from others and experiment with new approaches and new business models; and
5.  transparency of outcomes/performance, for example, city service dashboards to enable citizens to compare and challenge performance, establishment by establishment, and borough by borough. 

The full report is here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246019/bis-13-1209-smart-cities-background-paper-digital.pdf

Situational Awareness around water

Situational Awareness for Water in a city:

Have I too much water: rain, snow,storm surch river flooding, pluvial

Have I too little water:  In season, in reservoir, in storage , in network, in future

What is water quality

What incident patterns: sewer overflow, capacity incidents, blockages,

What are point sources

Diffuse sources

Who has abstraction rights

Who has disposal rights

Gray water availability

Quality risks/levels pharma, nitrogen,etc

Fishing health

Combined sewer events

Storage capacity

Adaptability to cimate change

Impact of flooding

Recovery

Critical assets

Transport risks

Major projects planned

Tactical maintenance

Age of infrastructure

How will drought damage network

Engaging the community

How to get upstream of the problem...

 How to get upstream of the problem...

An incubator made out of Toyota Parts - these can be repaired anywhere in the world.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/player.aspx?id=2032