WWEMA Window: Wading Into Smart Water

By Krista Ramirez

A couple of winters ago, my husband and I spent a month in his hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico. In preparation for a month away from home in the middle of a Minnesota winter, I decided I wanted to be able to monitor and control our home from afar. I needed programmable lights to make a passerby think we were home, leak sensors to alert us if a pipe burst or the water heater leaked, a smart thermostat, and to tie it all together, I needed a smart home automation hub.

As I turned to my nerdier friends and Google for advice, the options seemed endless. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it was an overwhelming and frustrating experience. Finally, I began placing orders and boxes of high-tech ‘toys’ began to arrive, providing me endless hours of weekend work. I started with the thermostat. The install and set-up were easy; I was feeling confident. I moved on to install the rest and my confidence quickly turned to frustration. I soon realized that our 1955-built home was not designed to be a smart home — the junction boxes were small and the wires short and frayed. Still, I persevered; on to the leak sensor next. It was wireless and constantly lost connection. I learned if we lost internet connection, we would need to be home to reset it. What a brilliant design! Less than two years later, our smart hub supplier held all its customers hostage as they abruptly went from a free service to a paid service. While we’ve had our challenges, it hasn’t been all bad. The smart tech I installed made it easy for us to monitor our home from afar, without having to put that burden on a friend or neighbor to physically check on our home.

If you’ve gone down the smart home rabbit hole, it will be easy for you to relate to B2B customers on their journey to smart water. The options can be overwhelming, the limitations confusing, the pros and cons hard to quantify, and the solutions infinite, with costs that quickly escalate. Whether you’re an OEM, design engineer, or end user, you’ll likely face similar challenges if you are establishing a smart water network or solution. When evaluating and designing smart solutions, here are five things to keep in mind to help your project be a success:

1. What functionality is truly needed? Real-time monitoring? Analytics? Alarms? Control logic? Troubleshooting? PC or mobile app access? It’s easy to get lured into the latest technology and functionality, but before you seek out options, identify a list of the functionality that you or your customer would need. Just because we have the technology or capability to do something, doesn’t mean we should.


2. Can the current design, infrastructure, technology, staff, etc. handle the proposed upgrade? What other systems is the plant or city infrastructure using that this system will need to tie into? We frequently get RFQs to upgrade panels or a system, and while it seems quick and easy, it usually triggers a domino effect of required upgrades. It’s important to keep the big picture in view while working with a CSIA-certified system integrator.¹


3. What does your budget allow for? The phrase “Champagne taste with a beer budget” comes to mind. In many cases, until we pay the true cost of water, many will not see the ROI on these smart water investments in short order.


4. Do you have the internal resources to support smart solutions? If you don’t, don’t count yourself out. There’s an abundance of qualified partners out there that can support you. A CSIA-certified system integrator can be a great partner for OEMs, design engineers, and end users alike.


5. How will you protect your system against cyberattacks? You likely heard about the recent Oldsmar, FL, water system attack. Threats of this nature are an unfortunate reality. If you aren’t protected and don’t have the internal resources to protect yourself, a CSIA-certified system integrator can help you implement the appropriate processes and technology to protect your system. Make sure to ask about the resources they have on staff and the measures they’ll take to protect you and/or your customers against attacks.

Smart water technology provides OEMs insight into how their customers are using their equipment, whether it’s preventing warranty claims, creating aftermarket opportunities, or offering operational strategy support. There is limitless value in having access to the data these systems generate. For end users, it can help detect leaks, prevent and manage major catastrophes, prioritize work, reduce non-revenue water, and maximize their resources by allowing staff to monitor and adjust their systems without needing to physically be on-site. The value proposition for smart water systems and equipment is strong. Smart water is here to stay. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that having real-time remote access to your work isn’t just a convenience, it’s a necessity.

Krista Ramirez is Business Development Team Lead – OEM at Revere Control Systems, which is headquartered in Birmingham, AL. Ramirez serves on WWEMA’s Board of Directors and Marketing & Member Services Committee. WWEMA is a non-profit trade association that has been working for water and wastewater technology and service providers since 1908. WWEMA’s members supply the most sophisticated leading-edge technologies and services, offering solutions to every water-related environmental problem and need facing today’s society. For more information about WWEMA, visit www.wwema.org.