Smart and Resilient Water Infrastructure

KWR’s ambition is to contribute to smart, reliable and resilient water infrastructure that safeguards the water supply and continues to perform effectively under changing and uncertain conditions.

Our partners

We work with drinking water companies, water authorities, municipalities, ministries and other public authorities. We also collaborate with industry, technology companies, nature conservation organisations, knowledge institutes and European research consortia. Our research is relevant to organisations responsible for water supply and water infrastructure, as well as organisations involved in climate adaptation, infrastructure planning, technology development and policy.

Impact: reliable and resilient water infrastructure

KWR contributes to reliable, sustainable and resilient water infrastructure. We investigate how assets and infrastructure systems perform, which risks may affect their performance, and what capacity or adaptations may be required in the future.
We combine research into asset management and infrastructure performance with digital technologies, artificial intelligence, digital twins and risk-based decision-making. This provides drinking water companies and other infrastructure operators with the knowledge and tools they need to optimise maintenance and investment, manage risks and make well-founded decisions under uncertain conditions.
In this way, we contribute to infrastructure that supports a reliable water supply and can adapt to changing ecological, technological and societal conditions.

What we do

• Digital and autonomous water infrastructure

Digitalisation provides opportunities to improve the monitoring, management and control of water infrastructure. KWR develops and investigates advanced sensors and sensor networks, artificial intelligence, digital twins, models and simulation tools, and integrated data systems.
Our research also focuses on data standardisation and interoperability, responsible and trustworthy AI, digital sovereignty and cyber resilience. These developments support a more data-driven approach to infrastructure management and, where appropriate, increasingly autonomous operations.

• Reliable and future-proof asset management

Water infrastructure needs to remain reliable over long periods, while assets age, water demand changes and performance requirements become more stringent.
KWR investigates asset behaviour, degradation mechanisms, risks and failures, impacts on water quality, maintenance strategies, replacement requirements and future capacity needs. We bring these insights together in integrated approaches to asset management and infrastructure planning. This enables drinking water companies and other infrastructure operators to balance performance, risks, costs and investment throughout the asset life cycle.

• Water transition and adaptation under deep uncertainty

Future developments cannot always be predicted with sufficient certainty. Climate change, potential tipping points, societal disruption, geopolitical developments and changing environmental conditions can all affect water infrastructure and security of supply.
KWR investigates how infrastructure and water supply can remain robust and adaptable under such conditions. Our research focuses on climate resilience, technical and socio-technological resilience, governance and crisis management. We develop approaches that help the water sector identify vulnerabilities, explore different possible futures and develop strategies that remain effective across a range of scenarios.

Knowledge domains and expertise

Within the Smart and Resilient Water Infrastructure impact theme, we bring together expertise in water distribution, water treatment, asset management, data science, artificial intelligence, sustainability and governance.
Researchers from fields including hydroinformatics, environmental technology, microbiology, chemical water quality, water technology and the social sciences work together. By considering physical assets, water quality, digital systems and decision-making as an interconnected whole, we investigate both the technical and organisational aspects of future-proof water infrastructure.

Co-creation

Co-creation is an important part of how we work. Together with drinking water companies, water authorities, public authorities, technology companies and research partners, we formulate research questions and develop and test new knowledge, methods and digital applications. Through applied research, pilot projects and field research, we test solutions in practice. This ensures that new knowledge and applications can be put to effective use.