A New Era For Water Management: Harnessing GIS Innovations And Collaboration For A Resilient Future
By Hopeworks, American Water, and Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are advancing the water sector in expected ways — resource planning and asset management — while also offering exciting, new opportunities.
As the water industry adapts to the current technological revolution, 2025 promises to be a pivotal year for integrating GIS advancements. With rapid developments in high-accuracy global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), indoor mapping, cloud computing, and remote sensing, GIS is poised to transform how water users manage infrastructure and resources. This evolution is about technology and properly equipping the industry with the tools to effectively navigate challenges like climate variability, regulatory compliance, and the impending workforce shift.
Technological Advancements
In 2025, several GIS technological advancements will significantly impact the water industry. High-accuracy GNSS and indoor/ vertical mapping will strengthen GIS as the definitive tool for managing infrastructure assets. As infrastructure data’s positional accuracy improves, augmented and extended reality technologies are emerging within the sector. Transitioning to cloud computing solutions like Google Earth Engine will revolutionize server-side processing by enabling large-scale watershed analysis, real-time water resource monitoring, and historical pattern analysis on an unprecedented scale. Meanwhile, advancements in remote sensing, utilizing satellite and drone data, will offer water scientists enhanced resolution imagery, more frequent data collection, and superior spectral analysis for water quality assessment.
Leveraging AI And Machine Learning
The integration of AI and machine learning with GIS in water management is progressing, but current results are hindered by limitations in GIS data quality. Addressing these issues will enhance AI’s ability to predict pipe failures and optimize maintenance routes, improving fuel efficiency and asset reliability. Key areas for AI/ machine learning and GIS integration include predictive analytics — enhancing leak detection, infrastructure failure prediction, and demand forecasting — and automated feature detection, such as mapping pipeline networks and identifying stormwater infrastructure. However, true transformation in water management requires more than technology. Achieving “AI-readiness” involves creating a robust data infrastructure, institutional capacity, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive governance to effectively guide AI use.
Navigating The Lead And Copper Rule With Precision And Insight
GIS is crucial for meeting the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) requirements, enabling efficient inventory surveys and stakeholder communication. Many utilities use GIS forms and web applications for this purpose. Hopeworks exemplifies how GIS can aid compliance by digitizing lead and copper pipe data for the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) and American Water. By training young talent in GIS techniques, Hopeworks empowers utilities to manage infrastructure assets and comply with changing regulations.
Additionally, GIS, combined with machine learning, offers powerful solutions for climate variability adaptation in water resource management. These tools predict consumption patterns, identify vulnerabilities, and optimize distribution networks, marking a shift from traditional models reliant on historical data. Hopeworks equips interns with the skills to develop models, analyze data, and create visualizations, supporting the creation of climate-resilient water systems.
Sustainable Water Management Amidst Climate Change
GIS technology is pivotal in asset-hardening analysis, particularly in assessing the vulnerability of point and linear assets to flooding. By integrating FEMA flood maps with modern tools such as lidarderived local elevation models, hydrology models, and GIS analyses like slope assessments, utilities can produce detailed risk registers to better understand and mitigate flood risks.
Moreover, the integration of machine learning algorithms with GIS marks a transformative shift in water resource management. These advanced tools can predict consumption patterns, identify infrastructure vulnerabilities, and optimize distribution networks in response to evolving climate conditions. Traditionally, models relied heavily on historical data from specific basins or aquifers. However, with climate variability altering hydrological responses, there is a need for models that transcend historical limitations. AI enables the use of diverse climatic data and analogous basins to forecast novel future scenarios, allowing utilities to model various climate impacts on watersheds and develop resilient infrastructure and management strategies.
Forging Collaborative Partnerships
Building strong relationships with municipalities, communities, and nonprofit organizations is essential for understanding local challenges, building trust, and fostering innovation. GIS technology offers significant potential to enhance planning and decision-making regarding infrastructure improvements and replacements for utilities of all sizes and locations. For example, GIS technology enables precise spatial analysis, real-time data visualization, and comprehensive infrastructure mapping, which allow utility managers to identify critical needs, optimize resource allocation, and predict maintenance requirements with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. However, smaller systems often face resource and capacity constraints, limiting their access to GIS. Nonprofit technical assistance providers play a crucial role in connecting under-resourced, overburdened systems with suitable GIS solutions. These partnerships facilitate valuable opportunities for data sharing, joint projects, and knowledge exchange, enabling a comprehensive approach to managing water resources.
In addition, the water industry faces a demographic challenge with a significant portion of the workforce nearing retirement. This creates an urgent need to recruit, train, and retain a younger workforce, particularly in technical roles. Partnerships between nonprofits like Hopeworks, municipalities, and utility companies will help to attract young talent to the water industry and train the next generation with GIS skills. By investing in the next generation of geospatial professionals, the water sector can ensure a more sustainable and resilient future.
Conclusion
Further integrating GIS into the water sector carries significant upsides, but it is not a panacea. Water defies standard resource management paradigms, resisting conventional technological and economic frameworks. GIS technologies’ potential lies in its ability to help diverse stakeholders improve water governance by synthesizing the spatially explicit data that underpin decisionmaking for common pool resource management — something that to date has been constrained on both technological and social fronts.
By fostering collaborative partnerships and investing in the next generation of geospatial professionals, we help ensure that our water management systems are prepared for the challenges ahead and capable of seizing new opportunities for innovation. Together, we can harness the power of GIS to build a more sustainable and resilient water infrastructure, safeguarding our most precious resource for generations to come.
About Hopeworks
With a focus on skill development, real-world job experience, and trauma-informed care, Hopeworks propels young adults into long-term living wage careers that put them on the path for healing and financial stability. To provide this experience, Hopeworks runs real businesses, providing technology solutions for businesses in GIS, revenue cycle management (RCM), and web design. These businesses help generate over 250 jobs a year, and lead to high-wage, permanent opportunities for young adults in multiple industries.
About American Water
American Water is the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States. With a history dating back to 1886, We Keep Life Flowing® by providing safe, clean, reliable, and affordable drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people with regulated operations in 14 states and on 18 military installations.
About The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC)
The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to build policies that deliver spectacular improvements in the speed and scale of environmental progress. We deliver data-driven policy analysis, innovation, and technical assistance to eliminate disparities across water systems and ensure that residents across the country have access to safe and accessible drinking water.