The digital wave: How is the water sector, and its workforce, evolving in light of new technological advancements?

With the entire world hurtling towards a total digital transformation, it’s no surprise that the water sector is also seeing a shift in how it operates.??

Currently, the overarching consensus coming from the industry is that there is a growing demand to offer sustainable, smarter, more cost-effective and more robust solutions to our water and wastewater systems. Climate change, urbanisation and the ever-growing global water demand are the key drivers towards seeking these innovative new water management systems.?

But why is there a growing demand for digital solutions? What’s currently in play and how will this affect the general water workforce now, and in the future?

Why is the water sector going digital?

With the global population predicted to hit 8.6 billion by 2030 , the need to produce and manage more water with less has never been so crucial.?

Around 1.1 billion people live in water scarcity , and the water sanitation sector continues to face increasing pressures. This along with the world’s growing battle against climate change - with the water sector announcing their commitments to achieving carbon zero by 2030 - the industry has reached a critical juncture where things need to be done, both for the good of the people and the good of the planet.?

And one such way to achieve this is through technological advancements.?

Water production, pumping, treatment and transportation makes up around 8% of the world’s energy consumption, but the digital transformation can optimise supply chains, transport and production, and minimise energy consumption.?

The Covid-19 pandemic also highlighted the need for technology in the industry. While the world went dark and reached a screeching halt, the water industry grasped at the opportunity. With the world at a standstill and society having to adapt to remote working, the sector updated and developed remote technology to improve working efficiency and enhance the sector’s offering, now able to provide ad-hoc services for municipal and industrial customers. And from there, the sector’s digitalisation rate hasn’t slowed down.

All in all, technology has the ability to speed up processes, unlock cost efficiencies by maximising productivity and decrease the entire sector’s impact on the environment.?

What’s involved?

As the world continues developing digitally, the water industry now enters a movement referred to as ‘smart water’. Simply put, this refers to any upcoming, emerging technologies that will aid and assist the industry, which can include anything from softwares to artificial intelligence to water purification technologies.?

Essentially, these technological innovations are meant to offer solutions to common problems through automation, data collection and analysis - speeding up mundane, repetitive processes tenfold. In a world where data and data analysis is one of the most useful, powerful tools we can possess, finding a smarter way to obtain and process it is fundamental. Digital solutions improve the reliability, efficiency and results we gain from data.

One innovative and exciting technology is the application of VR and AR , which helps to reduce risks and saves immense amounts of money on maintenance bills. It allows users to test and simulate real-life situations without any of the potential dangers or hefty costs that may typically incur with huge water engineering projects.

VR also allows any design flaws or potential efficiency issues to be highlighted before going into the situation in real-life, reducing health hazards and limiting emergency callouts. Clearly, this impressive innovation doesn’t just save time and money, but it could help save lives too.

Additionally, water smart meters are a technology that have been around for a while now, a tool that saves households a lot on water consumption. People pay for what they use so they’re more thoughtful about they’re consumption, tending to use less. This technology allows the general household to save money, save water and help lessen their environmental impact.?

Other ways technology can help is by embedding digitalisation into their customer-facing services, allowing for real-time updates for both workers and customers so they know when workers are going to arrive on site.

How is this affecting the workforce?

Now that the digital age is in full swing with no signs of slowing down, it looks like companies and their workforce need to adapt with the shift.?

Simply put, it’s a case of reimagining how we work as a hybrid workforce, made up of both humans and machines.?

AI will not replace the human workforce, it’ll just simply take over those low level, low value tasks that take up a hefty chunk of time, leaving that person to do something more valuable. An example of this is UU, who implemented robotic automation to prepare maintenance scheduling reports. The machine proved itself well, taking a speedy 32 minutes to perform with total accuracy the job, a job that would typically take around eight people a combined 12 hours of work. And when time is money, this is priceless.?

Automating repetitive, manual processes frees up the workforce to do a whole host of other jobs - jobs that require solely human talents, tasks that require problem-solving, social interactions, empathy and emotional intelligence, skills that AI hasn’t yet mastered.?

The development of new technologies doesn’t mean the workforce will be left jobless, it means they’ll just have to adapt, learn and evolve to the shifting demands of digital systems. After all, these technologies can’t operate without someone that has the skills to utilise it. Not only will the existing staff need training, but new digitally-proficient staff will need to be recruited to seamlessly shift and integrate over to this new means of working.?

The ability for staff to be able to use and interact with VR, AR and AI technologies is crucial, as these technologies will be at the cutting edge of advancements for the sector. Implementing technology in the water workforce will help the sector be more productive, more cost-effective and more sustainable, helping meet the needs of more people across the globe.?

Many may fear that the digitalisation of processes will cause job cuts across the board, for all industries. But as a matter of fact, technology is actually creating new jobs for the water industry, changing the fundamental nature of how we work.??

Digital technologies are making waves in the water sector, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact these innovations are set to make in the future.