The landscape of the water sector in ASEAN countries has shown a significant change over the past decade. This progressive transformation is expected to continue in the next decade to cater to the region’s water demand. Word Economic Forum 2019 has highlighted that access to clean water supply and water shortages are among the significant issues that need to be addressed by local policymakers. Besides, a study conducted also showed that most water supply systems in the region started to experience constant disruption due to the contamination of water resources and rivers by emerging pollutants.
Furthermore, ageing water infrastructure also contributes to water supply shortages and disruptions. On the other hand, the existing manual operation in both production and distribution leads to underutilizing / overutilizing the existing water assets. Some common examples of manual operation in water sectors are water sampling, chemical dosing, pump operation and etc. The manual operation will somehow lead to data violation, and a longer decision-making process may be needed. As one of the developing countries, Malaysia is also facing similar challenges. Thus, vital action needs to take by the Malaysian government, especially on benchmarking the existing policies against highly developed countries in the water sector for a dynamic water ecosystem.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) Policy introduced by the Malaysian government in late 2021 promotes the local industry players to explore emerging technology, big data, and advanced data analytic system to improve overall operation and efficiency. The smart water system will provide seamless integration for future performance monitoring (cover operation and water quality) and strategic decision-making by eliminating human error. Real-time monitoring for both production and distribution will further improve the overall operation.
A water quality sensor installed upstream of the water source will collect important parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, conductivity, temperature, etc. Any drastic changes in raw water quality (due to pollution/climate changes) will trigger the water operator at the water treatment plant. The real-time data received will further then assist the operator in deciding and adjusting the correct chemical dosing to treat the water. Besides, under certain circumstances (if the pollutant is too high), real-time data monitoring also will help the operator and management to make a faster decision if the plant needs to shut down.
“It is an interesting journey for all policymakers and water operators in the upcoming years as the technology keeps evolving from time to time and the forward momentum looks promising for future technological developments.”
In any state or community, the water demand varies on a seasonal, daily, and hourly basis. For instance, the peak demand in the residential area usually occurs in the morning and early evening hours (just before and after the normal workday). Thus, real-time monitoring in the distribution network for critical parameters such as flow, pressure and reservoir levels will help the operator to have the ‘big picture’ of what is happening on site. It also will help reduce the reservoir overflowing cases, leading to Non-Revenue Water (NRW). In a previous study, some water operators in the region recorded up to 65 percent losses with a total of 30 percent average losses. The main contribution of the high NRW in the region is mainly due to pipe bursts and reservoir overflowing.
On the other hand, water operator in the region is also looking into the Digital Twin implementation to improve the overall operation. Digital Twin is a virtual model replicating the system’s real behaviour (production and distribution) and will simulate its response under any conditions. The model is automatically updated hourly (sometimes every second) with real-time data and key simulation results extracted and stored. The Digital Twin will enable the water operators to fully understand the processes/operations taking place, plan future scenarios and actions through simulations, and optimize system performance. The Digital Twin is expected to be an ideal tool for rapid and cost-effective development, optimization of control and automation strategies. The water operator can conduct routine optimizations to align with production forecast updates. Thus, this will help the water operator avoid unplanned shutdown/water interruption. Besides, it helps the water operator to anticipate potential problems and be more agile in its responses, reducing risks, time, and costs.
The overall water grid infrastructure in the region requires a progressive upgrade, which allows the water operators to continuously monitor, pre-empt risks and the action to be taken associated with emerging pollutants, enhance the quality of service, which subsequently will aid in reducing the percentage of NRW and increasing the overall region water reserve margins.
By strengthening these two main systems of the water ecosystem, it is expected that the region itself can achieve a much higher value-added amount to the surrounding economy and thus transform into a dynamic economic sector. It is an interesting journey for all policymakers and water operators in the upcoming years as the technology keeps evolving from time to time and the forward momentum looks promising for future technological developments.
