Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which supplies water to nearly 800 square kilometers of the city, is using IBM Big Data and predictive analytics technology to create systems for monitoring and managing increasingly complex water distribution systems.
Bangalore’s massive population growth -- from 5.4 million in 2000 to over 10 million and counting today -- has put tremendous strain on the city’s water supply and distribution systems. The main sources of water(Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers) are not just sufficient to meet the water demand in the city to a permissible per capita norms. This leads to a big challenge in equitable distribution of available water across the divisions/subdivisions. IBM worked closely with BWSSB to create an operational dashboard, based on the IBM Intelligent Operations Center (IOC), which serves as a “command center” for monitoring, administering and managing the city’s water supply networks.
The command center will monitor the waterflow in 284 of 784 bulk flow meters in the city and provide a clear, single view of the functioning of all the bulk flow meter, amount of water transmitted by each of them, the amount of water supplied to individual parts of the distribution system, the level of water in each reservoir or tank etc. Data from every working flow meter will be reported on a single dashboard. The IBM Intelligent Operations Center based solution, developed by the IBM India Software Lab, contains the GIS (Geo Information System) for Bangalore to enable a real-time view of flow meters, along with the ability to zoom in and out, and pan and click on a specific flow meter. When an asset (GLR or flow meter) is selected, a user can have a view of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as latest flow rate, total flow in 24 hrs and average total flow over past seven days, as well as the geographical location and time of last update.
”Around 45 per cent of the water supplied by the BWSSB goes unaccounted and implementing this solution helps minimize unaccounted for water by detecting large changes in water flow, through real-time monitoring,” said Dr P.N Ravindra, Executive Engineer (New Initiatives and Design Cell), BWSSB. “Our engineers will be able to assess real time water supply at the click of a mouse, per asset. This brings a degree of predictability and real time controllability into the water supply for the city.”
“India is facing a serious water crisis in view of its rapid population growth and economic development. The need of the hour is to invest in water distribution systems -- both upgrading the old infrastructure as well as building a new one and conserve this resource. IBM is working with agencies in India, and around the world, to create analytics-based solutions that provide smarter water management and better control over the resources for water boards”, said Sriram Rajan, Executive Director, IBM India/South Asia.
BWSSB engineers can now make modifications in the settings of the control valves and get real time feedback on the changes to the water supply elicited by their actions. By setting and adjusting thresholds at key points, engineers can ensure that supply meets their expected goals. When these goals are not met, real time alarms will allow the engineers to make quick, informed decisions and modifications.
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