Improve environmental performance through digital solutions

Digital Solutions lie at the heart of our ambitious strategic plan. This relies on a new way of organising digital expertise via a unique Digital Solutions Differenciation Unit featuring almost 550 data and artificial intelligence experts. The unit is enabling us to speed up the creation of high-value-added solutions for all our customers around the world.

With these digital solutions, we are the European leader in smart water metering, and world leader in smart digital water operations and smart asset management solutions. Our digital solutions also help more than 1 million people to increase recycling and recovery of their waste.

Our ON’connect™ range of solutions allows customers to save up to 16% through reductions in users’ consumption (restraint in terms of water use, water-efficient equipment), the detection of leaks on the premises of consumers and businesses, and improvements in network performance. For communities, our digital solutions allow targeted action to save water, by rapidly identifying the largest leaks at industrial and small-business customers and in commercial buildings, identifying peaks in consumption related to hosepipe use, and dealing with drought-related restrictions and seasonal consumption patterns.

They also help improve energy performance by reducing consumption of domestic hot water—since 50% of the water used by customers is heated before use—which can save a household up to €200 per year.

We integrate all the technologies that are best suited to each of our customers’ uses and requirements: WIZE provides a competitive advantage, but we also use LoRa concentrators and we are developing NB-IoT solutions for some countries. We work with world-leading meters manufacturers and partner with leading telecoms operators around the world.

We benefit from our’s long-standing metering expertise via our global metering and metrology technical centre near Lyon in France, and its expertise in leak detection, which we combine with our data science capabilities to develop innovative water use analysis services.

Our connected solutions allow customers to streamline and optimise their waste containers by measuring their fill levels and positioning and access to them, and to improve service quality by giving waste management staff real-time information and allowing digital supervision of the service.

The various enterprise software modules that can be used in SaaS mode make it easier to manage containers and plan waste collections. Our embedded mobile applications guide our teams on the ground so that collections are optimised, and collect real-time information that is useful for their work.

Customers need to optimise their use of water resources and carry out ongoing monitoring of ground water resources and the associated withdrawal infrastructure (boreholes, wells, springs, piezometers, recharge zones and geothermal installations), while storing water in reservoirs during periods of drought and emptying them to anticipate rainfall and avoid flooding. Our solution optimises resource management using data and AI.

• Over 500 wells  in France are monitored by our teams 
• Over 300 outside France (in Senegal, Italy, Switzerland and Australia)

Our solution secures water withdrawals over the long term based on expected demand, optimises water purchases and sales, and reduces energy consumption related to the production and transportation of water via storage optimisation strategies that use energy at off-peak times and curtailment:

• Water purchasing and selling costs reduced by up to 10%
• Energy costs related to water production reduced by up to 20%
• Curtailment capacity in the system allowing gains representing a 5–10% reduction in electricity bills
• Return on investment in less than 1 year.

Our solution reduces leak detection time by 75% and reduces water losses by at least 30%.

Predictive management approaches and optimisation engines offer new ways of managing risks relating to flooding and the quality of water discharges into the natural environment:

• Total volume of water discharged annually into the natural environment reduced by up to 50%
• Additional storage capacity required reduced by up to 50% 
• Compliance with regulatory requirements and time savings as regards mandatory reporting (self-monitoring, ongoing analysis), which can be reduced by half for the largest system

AQUADVANCED^® reduces the energy costs of water production and distribution systems by up to 15%; techniques including energy optimisation and curtailment in drinking water production/distribution systems, using predictive models to anticipate water consumption and adjust the drinking water production system in real time depending on electricity prices, the availability of equipment and available reserves.

Our AssetAdvanced™ solution allows urban services to make the right investment choices to ensure optimal service quality, while minimising the risk of asset failures and their environmental impact.

Our data- and AI-based asset management and decision-making platform allows customers to optimise infrastructure investment decisions by including multiple sources of data to measure and oversee the condition of assets, define optimal investment plans and work schedules taking into account their financial resources, priorities and risk of failure (e.g., leaks in the drinking water network and blockages in wastewater pipework).

• Already over 50 customers worldwide (US, UK, Australia, etc.) serving around 75m people.
• Reduction in capex of up to 30% for an overall asset renewal strategy, a 20% reduction in operating expenses related to inspections and maintenance planning, and a 30% reduction in risk.

Our WasteAdvanced™ solution for waste-to-energy plants enables users to adjust their plant management actions, guaranteeing greater stability for the entire process. Thanks to its comprehensive overview and predictive analyses, the intelligent platform can anticipate anomalies and reduce contingencies. As a result, interventions for dispensable curative maintenance actions are reduced, and preventive and predictive operations are better prepared and optimized. With greater anticipation, it is now possible to manage performance, reduce maintenance costs and reagent consumption.

Our Villagile™ solution enables local authorities to centralize information and access a shared view of data for more collaborative and agile management.

Since 2018, we have installed 120,000 smart water meters in this region. The aim is to provide residents with a better quality of service by giving them accurate information about their water consumption, as well as high consumption and leak alerts.

MM – Milan’s public-sector water company–has invested in our solution as a complete monitoring, management and optimisation ecosystem to help it achieve its energy saving and efficiency targets.

Denver Water, the largest water management service in the US state of Colorado, distributes drinking water to more than 1.5 million customers. The distribution network consists of thousands of kilometres of pipework of varying ages, materials and sizes. To ensure the best possible level of service for its customers, Denver Water replaces several kilometres of damaged pipework each year. Every year, therefore, it must select the precise sections of pipework to be replaced, taking into account their specific features.

The system has many benefits for Denver Water, including:

• The creation of a comprehensive, dynamic and transparent programme for the replacement of the main sections of pipework, using all of the service’s data.
• Risk and feasibility assessments and return-on-investment calculations.

Since 2015 we have been working closely with PUB—Singapore’s national water agency—as part of large-scale projects and R&D pilots relating to water management and conservation and the digitalisation of the country’s water system. The common goal of this partnership, which covers the whole water industry, is to make a major commitment to collaborative innovation in order to meet Singapore’s water-related challenges and make its water system more sustainable and resilient.