Intelligent water monitoring systems could soon be in place across Europe thanks to iWIDGET, a €5 million European Commission project that will use cutting edge smart-metering technology to improve water use efficiency.

iWIDGET stands for “Improved Water efficiency through ICT technologies for integrated supply-Demand side manaGEmenT”.

The project aims to improve understanding of the potential that smart-meters have to reduce waste and bring down the cost of water in households and businesses.

The project which will run for three years is led by Professor Dragan Savić, Founder and Co-director of the Centre for Water Systems at the University of Exeter.

Professor Savić said:

“As weather patterns become more extreme, we need to do all we can to make the best use of our water resources. Last year an environmental drought was declared across much of the UK and other European countries. Yet, at the same time, large amounts of water were lost both through leakage and, in some cases, excessive use.

“The iWIDGET technology could help reduce the amount that water companies have to spend on identifying the source of leaks. We would hope that would have implications for customers’ bills. The water industry is moving towards installing meters in all homes. Smart meters could be very effective in encouraging people to use water more efficiently. The ability to see which appliances use the most water and how overall use compares to the neighbours is a great incentive to use water more carefully. It could help people save money and do their bit for water conservation.”

The iWIDGET project brings an integrated approach to water resources management and will contribute to delivering a sustainable, low-carbon society, helping progress towards the Europe 2020 targets on Climate and Energy.

A fully integrated ICT-based system of techniques and technologies will hope to encourage and enable householders and water suppliers to understand and manage down their demand as well as minimise wastage in the supply chain.

The partnership assembled to deliver the iWIDGET project is a combination of key players in the field:

- Leading ICT companies (IBM)

- Business leaders (SAP)

- Technology developers (UPL)

- Standardisation organisations (HR Wallingford - OpenMI Association)

- Water companies (AGS/Águas de Barcelos, Portugal; and Waterwise and Southern Water, UK)

- Top scientists in water management and social sciences (University of Exeter, Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, I.P., Portugal and National Technical      University of Athens)

Water engineering firm HR Wallingford will be involved in all work areas of the project.  HR Wallingford’s expertise will be deployed in defining the interfaces between the architectural components of the iWIDGET system and the application of the Open MI interface standard and other relevant standards.

The Oxfordshire-based company will also be responsible for overseeing the iWIDGET dissemination programme, so drawing upon expertise in traditional and non-traditional dissemination techniques.

As well as the experts involved in the field, the project will obtain input from householders through two case studies and input from the broader water industry through its Advisory Panel.