Waterverse: a European stimulus for data-driven working

They need to be more accessible, more affordable, more secure, more honest and more user-friendly: data collected in the water sector that have been difficult to link until now. Demand for data spaces is currently high, says KWR researcher Siddharth Seshan. That aligns with the current era of digitalisation and data-driven working. Data spaces are a secure and controlled way of sharing data and creating value with them. In Europe as well, a common strategy has been formulated for this area.

Siddharth: “In other sectors such as energy and transportation, we are seeing developments for making data findable, accessible, exchangeable and reusable. In Waterverse, we are including the water sector in that movement. The Water Data Management Ecosystem (WDME) that we built with the project is a technical solution for a water data space. A digital environment where you can combine data relating to water from different sources.”

Increasing the resilience of the water sector as a whole

The Waterverse project (2022-2025) is a European alliance with pilot projects in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Finland, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. The partners include knowledge institutes, water utilities, representatives from the water technology sector, innovative companies and specialists in data spaces in order to enhance the resilience of the water sector as a whole. One of the pilot projects has been housed with PWN, which is working closely with KWR here. “In 2021, PWN looked at how digitalisation can help us with future challenges,” says Suze van der Meulen, an innovation manager at the drinking water utility.

“At that time, we stated our ambition to have a picture of everything between our source – in our case, the Swiss Alps where the Rhine begins – and our client by 2035. The focus is on water quality and quantity but also, for example, biodiversity, carbon footprint and costs. We want to have a real-time insight and also be able to make predictions and simulations. When the call for the Waterverse project came along, KWR advised us to get on board. This was a great opportunity to work at the European level towards the data standards needed for our ambitions.”

Inclusion in Waterwijs

If the planned WDME is delivered after Waterverse has been completed, the platform will have to be rolled out in the field. Suze describes three possible use cases for PWN. “We want to have a picture of water quality in the IJsselmeer lake, the IJssel and the Rhine that also extends beyond our national borders. In addition, we want to use the ecosystem for research. And we want to understand where the PFAS in our sources are coming from. But I see our participation in Waterverse in broader terms than our own drinking water utility. The questions we are addressing here affect the entire water sector, at home and abroad. We are all in a digital transition and we can learn a lot from each other.”

Siddharth also sees opportunities to include the results of the European project in Waterwijs. “Here at the drinking water utilities, we generate an incredible amount of data, for example in our laboratories and with all the pilot studies. With Waterverse, we acquired experience about how to answer questions with the ecosystem. In line with this, we are now engaged in positive discussions with stakeholders to make a platform of this kind standard practice in the Dutch context as well. We have speeded up a lot in order to scale up in this area.”

How do you make a success of the digital transformation?

In addition to the technology needed to build a data ecosystem, another important factor comes into play in order to make the digital transformation successful. “The technology is there but you have to get people involved as well,” emphasises Suze. “Data-driven working requires a different mindset and you need different roles. Data scientists, data architects and data stewards, to name just a few. And so Waterverse has put a strong emphasis on multi-stakeholder forums: places where stakeholders are heard and included in the process. You have to consider all the levels in an organisation, from management to operational. If we want to use the platform for research, we will have to get a range of people involved. On the basis of my role as a member of the Hydroinformatics theme group in Waterwijs, I am looking forward to working on that side. And to initiating projects to make that a reality in our own context.”

We lead the way

Siddharth gives an example to illustrate how EU projects can boost data-driven working. “KWR has created a tool for data quality control in the European Fiware4Water (2019-2022). The tool has now been developed further in Waterverse. Project partners can use the updates and, obviously, the drinking water utilities involved with Waterwijs can do the same. Furthermore, with projects of this kind, we play a role in the development of European policies relating to the digitalisation of water issues. With Waterverse, we are leading the way and demonstrating what a water data space can be.”

This article was published in Dutch in the Waterwijs magazine – Van kennis naar doen. You can read the magazine online here.