One of the marvels of modern society is readily available water, whether from the kitchen faucet or the drinking fountain in the local park or the fire hydrants on every street. To make this possible, underneath every city exists a labyrinth of pipes that deliver clean and useful water from a central water supply. For many cities, that infrastructure has been aging for decades with minimal repairs, leading to an expensive problem for city management. That expense is often passed onto the consumer.
According to a recent estimations by WaterSmart reported by WaterWorld an average water utility loses about 20% of its water to “non-revenue water,” which is the difference between the amount of water that is produced by a water utility for public use and consumption versus the amount that is actually billed. This loss stems from leaking in the distribution system, overflows, ineffective operations, and water theft.
Nestled at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, Sofia makes for a picturesque and historic vista. The Bulgarian capital’s water systems support one million-plus residents and the thousands of tourists who visit every year. Like many European cities, the history that attracts visitors also comes with its problems with aging. Sofia’s infrastructure has existed for centuries, reaching a point where the city needed a more sustainable and cost-effective way to improve its water supply system. Overhauling a centralised system via traditional methods costs millions of dollars, requires coordination with many partners and causes disruption to citizens’ daily lives.
Europe is leading the charge in IoT
Several of Sofia’s enterprises turned to IoTNet, which has been building dedicated LoRaWAN networks since 2019, to support commercial enterprise services and the water utility sector. IoTNet’s sensors connect to standard water meters, read data and transmit real-time monitoring of daily water utility operations, preventing theft and detecting leaks. Its solutions can provide actionable data for water utility managers for optimising their operations and creating a more sustainable future.
It’s little surprise that IoT is playing a pivotal role, as the Europe Union is central to the advancement of IoT, continuing to invest in the next generation of deployments. IDC predicted that IoT spending among European organisations will exceed $260 billion in 2024 thanks to the programs and initiatives supported by the EU and the economic recovery following the pandemic.
IoT and decentralised networks make the perfect combination
The benefits of IoT are manifold but widespread adoption doesn’t happen quickly, nor does it happen affordably. The costs associated with building out infrastructure at the edge of the network or reaching underserved areas are more than most cities can handle. To solve this, many IoT solutions providers turn to decentralised networks as an alternative to traditional network buildouts. Decentralised networks are community-built infrastructure (i.e. hotspots) that can be deployed, at a fraction of the cost, in homes and businesses, providing immediate and low power wireless connections that provide a myriad of benefits within the community.
IoTNet, which deployed water monitoring sensors throughout Sofia, found that the significant cost for purchasing and managing a wireless network capable of covering an entire city would hinder its expansion efforts. IoTNet began to explore other options while continuing to ensure the quality and service that matched customer expectations.
That’s when it began to migrate its 29,000+ sensors to one of the world’s largest decentralised networks, the Helium Network. This year, IoTNet announced it had already migrated 14,000 sensors to Helium’s decentralised network and is transmitting more than 12 million data points over the network each month. Seamlessly integrating these devices onto a new decentralised network demonstrates its ability to support these types of applications and further exemplifies the growing need for smart technology that is cost-efficient and easy-to-implement.
Smart IoT technology will provide Sofia residents with more efficient utility services. And those who operate the system will have more insightful analytics from the millions of data points gathered by IoTNet’s sensors and real-time management all thanks to an IoT solutions provider’s work with a decentralised network. Working in tandem with these community-built networks, more cities can make the move to create a more sustainable path forward for their residents and its vital services.
Author: Scott Sigel, Chief Operating Officer, Helium Foundation
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