In an Expert Focus article for WaterBriefing,  Avi Kulshrestha, Global Head of Diversified Industries at Expleo, the global engineering, technology and consulting services provider, takes a look at the barriers which currently limit the large-scale uptake of digital twins in AMP8.

Avi Kulshrestha: As the UK water sector advances into AMP8, the gap between operational ambition and technological readiness is becoming wider. Expectations around environmental stewardship, network resilience and customer service are accelerating faster than the systems designed to deliver them. In this context, digital twins have been repeatedly positioned as the strategic lever capable of modernising water infrastructure. However, the leap from concept to enterprise-scale deployment remains far more complex than early pilot projects suggested.

This article explores the structural, cultural and technological barriers that continue to limit large-scale adoption and outlines the digital foundations and governance models needed to move digital twin technology from isolated prototypes to trusted operational systems capable of supporting AMP8’s rising performance and compliance demands.

The integration challenge

Image courtesy MDPI Basel, Switzerland - see link to review below

The move toward scalable digital twin begins with understanding the complex realities of today’s water infrastructure. Decades of incremental upgrades, assets of varying ages and inconsistent digital maturity have created an environment where data and operational practices often struggle to align. This landscape shapes every attempt to build a reliable, continuously updating digital representation of the network and it explains why many early pilots have struggled to progress beyond limited deployments.

Much of the existing operational data remains fragmented, with different teams owning different segments. Hydraulic modelling sits in one domain, asset performance data in another, compliance reporting in yet another. Without alignment across these structures, even a technically impressive digital twin risks becoming a siloed modelling tool rather than an operational decision engine.

This fragmentation not only slows deployment but also limits the trust operators can place in digital outputs. Decision-makers need assurance that the data feeding a digital twin is consistent, traceable and validated. In environments where data lineage is incomplete or historical datasets contain gaps, establishing that confidence can be a substantial undertaking.

A 2025 sector-wide review of digital twin deployments in water infrastructure highlighted the same pattern, noting that most projects remained limited in scope precisely because data architectures, asset registries and operational systems lacked the consistency needed for full lifecycle modelling.

Building the digital backbone

For digital twin technology to advance from its current pilot-heavy phase into operational maturity, the sector must focus first on creating the right digital backbone. That begins with data governance models capable of sustaining long-term reliability. Clean, structured and continuously refreshed data is the operational lifeblood of digital twins.

A unified approach to data architecture is no longer optional. Common schemas, shared metadata standards and a consistent framework for naming, timestamping and validating data across the organisation are essential for building models that remain accurate over time. Without this foundation, digital twins struggle to scale beyond narrow use cases.

Equally important is designing digital twin technology around open interfaces and modular components. Too many pilots have been built on self-contained systems that cannot be integrated into enterprise IT and OT environments. Investing in platform-based, rather than project-based, architecture is key to enabling future expansion.

Recent work published in the AWWA Journal shows how integrating geospatial modelling and digital twin simulation at the design phase can significantly improve long-term infrastructure resilience and operational efficiency, further underscoring the need for platform-based architectures from the outset.

A cultural shift

One of the more understated barriers to digital twin adoption lies in operational culture. Water networks are safety-critical environments and operational teams rightfully expect digital tools to demonstrate repeatability, resilience and clear audit trails. When pilots are developed in innovation teams but handed over without long-term support structures, confidence erodes.

Embedding digital twins into day-to-day operations means bringing operations, engineering, data science and IT into shared accountability models. Decisions about model validation, change management and data ownership must be made collaboratively. Without this alignment, organisations may possess technically sophisticated digital twins that remain underused because operators are not fully confident in their performance.

This cultural shift also extends to procurement. Traditional CAPEX-based procurement frameworks are ill-suited to technology that evolves continuously. Digital twins demonstrate their value cumulatively, as they ingest more data, refine predictions and support more operational workflows. Procuring them as fixed-scope deliverables undermines their long-term potential. Transitioning toward procurement models centred on outcomes, service reliability and sustained performance improvement will be crucial for progress in AMP8.

Learning from cross-sector maturity

While the water sector continues to explore its path, other industries have demonstrated how digital twin technology can evolve from isolated pilots to company-wide systems. In aviation, for example, digital twins are maintained as formal, continuously updated representations of physical assets, supported by strict governance, lifecycle accuracy and deep integration into engineering workflows. What distinguishes these mature models is not their visual fidelity but their controlled, collaborative evolution over the asset’s entire lifespan.

Comparable lessons emerge in automotive manufacturing, where digital twins serve as the backbone for predictive maintenance, supply chain integration and product performance optimisation. These industries have long recognised that the digital twin is not a static model but a living system that must be actively managed, validated and enriched. Their success stems from established digital engineering standards and cross-disciplinary collaboration, principles the water sector can adopt as it seeks to modernise.

The path ahead for AMP8

AMP8 will test the sector’s ability to translate innovation into measurable operational performance. Digital twins offer a pathway to meeting this challenge, but only if they are supported by resilient, interoperable digital infrastructure and governed with the same discipline applied to physical assets. The technologies themselves are maturing; the task now is to build the organisational structures that allow those technologies to operate at scale.

The coming period demands a shift from short-term experimentation to long-term digital strategy, where operational confidence, data integrity and cross-industry learning form the foundation of deployment. With the right digital backbone and cultural alignment, digital twin can become a central tool in delivering the resilient, environmentally responsible water systems that AMP8 requires.