SDG Series: Water
By: Annie Xu
Tags: IoT, Sustainability, Sdgs, Impact, Water

Houston, Texas is the 4th largest city in the United States in the wealthiest country in the world. Yet the city is still home to thousands of people without safe drinking water. For years, Houston’s underserved communities have struggled to advocate for their water rights. The challenge: a bureaucracy devoid of transparency on water quality. Houstonians are not alone; 2.2 billion people — about 1 in every 3 people on this planet — lack access to safe drinking water. The majority live in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but a significant number reside in Europe and the Americas too.

Figure 1: Water scarcity in 2010 (upper image) and projected water scarcity in 2050 (lower image). Source: Burek, P., Y. Satoh, G. Fischer, M. T. Kahil, A. Scherzer, S. Tramberend, L. F. Nava et al. “Water Futures and Solution: Fast Track Initiative (Final Report).” IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria (2016). http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/13008/1/WP-16-006.pdf

Governments control most decisions surrounding water. While the global water situation is serious, some governments are pursuing innovative ways to employ emerging technology to their advantage.

For example, several US states, including Colorado and California, are exploring the intersection of two technologies — blockchain and Internet of Things — to improve water management across their jurisdictions. Blockchain is a form of information storage. By virtue of its storage strategy, blockchain introduces trustworthiness to information that would otherwise be vulnerable to error. Internet of Things (IoT) refers to physical devices that are embedded with sensors and software and designed to transmit information via the internet and exchange key data in real-time with similar devices. IoT devices provide information that blockchain can then store. Putting the two technologies together, water providers can produce real-time quality information that the public can verify.

Figure 2: Water use and quality, monitored by IoT. Source: https://www.mobiloitte.com/blog/driving-digital-transformation-smart-cities-iot-prospects-challenges/

Colorado’s research has delved into some implementations around water pollution. IoT devices and technology can watch for important pollutants when installed at underground pipes or at a river’s edge with updates that are available nearly instantly. The frequency of fresh information offers both regulators and residents a new window into the water flowing through their faucets. Improving reaction time to new pollutants and extending transparency into every corner of the water system, IoT can help bolster residents’ trust towards public water.

As powerful as IoT monitoring can be, the information produced can also be incredibly vulnerable. Simple errors, malicious actors, and the complexity inherent in large networks of IoT devices can throw the validity of a community’s water safety into question. Polluted water can then flow into pots and pans unfiltered and reach ecologically important river basins undetected.

Blockchain enables public officials to explore more secure ways to store that water quality data. As a unique approach to information storage, blockchain offers security and trust in a way that conventional data storage does not. One of the security-oriented features of blockchain is its immutable design. Rather than housing a single sheet of data that changes upon each revision, blockchain records data in a running log — each version of the information exists on the log as a distinct entity, and all versions are stored forever. Blockchain’s approach provides insight into the changes at each revision, making it easy to point to and correct any errors that have arisen. Ever-changing water information benefits from this error-proofing.

Furthermore, blockchains boast decentralization, a property that entails that the information on a blockchain is stored not on a few well-guarded computers, but rather a whole network of devices. Finally, blockchains are agile and accessible, allowing multiple entities — such as 5 different agencies that all interact with water — to load information onto the same, shared platform.

All in all, when IoT meets blockchain, important data becomes more complete, tamper-proof, and, frequently, viewable by the public.

The benefits of such a system are startling: the state of Colorado notes that implementations of blockchain can save operating costs by 25%. Data handling costs drop significantly, while transparency rises, which bolsters public trust. The US is not the only region interested in these outcomes. As climate change exacerbates water shortages in nearly all parts of the world, aging urban centers like Mexico City and drought-stressed regions of the Middle East alike need robust solutions to strategically allocate clean water and manage water quality. The city of Bengaluru, India, for example, has incredible potential to secure sustainable water through blockchain and IoT. A city of more than 10 million that has struggled to provide water to all of its residents in recent years, Bengaluru is also facing a falling water table. Sourcing most of its water from groundwater and one major river, Bengaluru does have access to a wider spectrum of sources, including rainwater and recycled wastewater. To successfully include these sources into its long-term water use, the city needs a more cohesive way to integrate complex, source-specific information.

Innovation is rising to the challenge. IoT and blockchain are clearing a path forward for safe, trusted water.