Sustainability in Water Supply and Smart Water Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Water systems represent a critical, complex, dynamic human–environment coupled system whose management transcends individual scientific disciplines. The ever-increasing water demand due to a growing global population should also face increased resource constraints and the request for an ever more efficient service. This scenario, combined with the ongoing consequences of climate change, makes us stand in front of a paradigm shift based on a mandatory holistic infrastructure management to make a more responsible water use and maximise resilience.

The adaptation today of water management to new technologies has become a key policy. This is by setting out the management framework for sustainable solutions on water resource utilisation. Sustainable water systems comprise combinations of traditional and new components and novel asset management strategies to provide adequate water quantity with appropriate quality for a given need (domestic, agricultural, industrial) without compromising the future ability to assure the desired performance standards. Sustainable water supply represents a crucial aspect of integrated water resource management, according to which multiple stakeholders’ viewpoints are brought and considered together to define how water should be better managed. Consequently, key performance indicators related to technological, economic, social and environmental issues should be taken into account in addition to the more purely technical and hydraulic aspects. This leads to a view of water management defined by a sequence of combined actions and not isolated strategies (from the individual’s willingness to governmental regulations). In this regard, if and only if efficiency in both the supply side (e.g., enhancing operation and maintenance capabilities, reducing non-revenue water, leakages, energy use, fair tariff system and investment planning) and the demand side (e.g., investments in technologies to reduce water consumption, less water intensive industrial processes and more efficient buildings) is guaranteed can a water supply system be considered sustainable.

Urban water systems also need quick integration and sharing of assets and infrastructure across multiple utilities. Therefore, beyond the water–energy nexus, this endeavour definitely also includes the interaction of waste, transport and telecommunications for a global analysis of system efficiency and sustainability. To reach this goal, it is necessary to integrate the analysis, modelling, monitoring, operation and management of water systems using an innovative, sustainable and smart perspective. Indeed, the emergence of digital information and communication technologies (ICT), such as the Internet of Things (IoT), combined with easy access to powerful computing resources and availability of low-cost monitoring technologies, as a consequence, has triggered a paradigm shift towards the concept of smart water systems—that is, intelligent, self-aware systems, enhanced with model- and data-driven management approaches for optimal operation and management of urban water infrastructure. In this context, cyber-physical systems (CPS) represent the driving force for automating and smartening such water systems; combining computing, communication and control, aiming towards:

• An informative, global consciousness for water consumption and its impact in natural systems;
• Innovative pathways in treatment, contamination detection and reusability;
• A response to the climate change pressure in water natural sources and infrastructures.

This Special Issue calls for papers to disseminate and share findings on the sustainable and smart solutions for water systems above described. Critical reviews are also invited. The objective of this Special Issue is to gather contributions on advancing scientific and technical methodologies, technologies, best practices and regulations, exploring alternative solutions for making water systems sustainable and smart. Only if system dynamics are better understood will it be possible to provide more insights for a more sustainable and smart water system design and management.

Dr. Carlo Giudicianni
Prof. Dr. Armando Di Nardo
Dr. Manuel Herrera
Prof. Dr. Chrysi S. Laspidou
Prof. Dr. Helena M. Ramos
Guest Editors

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