India is not alone in its rising water crises, especially in recent years. If anything, it is severely hit due to various factors, including size, population and weather anomalies, among other things. The World Meteorological Organization highlights that global temperatures have been on the rise like never before. The data sets from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, the Japan Meteorological Agency, NASA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the UK’s Met Office in collaboration with the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, and Berkeley Earth confirm that 2024 stands as the hottest year ever recorded. Remarkably, the past decade has consistently ranked among the 10 warmest years, highlighting an unprecedented trend of rising global temperatures. This has led to water scarcity, unpredictable rainfall and intensifying deterioration of water quality, thereby making efficient water management more critical than ever.
Closer to home, Statista has shown that 2024 was India’s hottest year on record, with an average temperature of 25.75 °C, exceeding the 1991-20 average by 0.65 °C. Climate change, along with meteorological factors like El Niño, is disrupting weather patterns, leading to prolonged dry spells in some regions and intense rainfall in others, causing both droughts and floods. In this context, optimising water infrastructure has become essential to enhance efficiency, mitigate the effects of extreme weather and ensure reliable access to water resources amid changing climatic conditions.
The advancement of digital and emerging technologies has initiated what many refer to as the “fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0)”. While this era is shaped by robotics, neurotechnologies, 3D printing and internet of things, the technology generating the most discussion due to its vast potential and diverse applications is artificial intelligence (AI). With AI now ubiquitous, found almost everywhere today from smartphones to social networks, any effort to optimise water infrastructure can no longer afford to ignore AI.
This is why Veolia Water Technologies & Solutions’ (VWTS) innovative approach towards optimising water treatment, reducing waste and enhancing supply resilience incorporates harnessing digitalisation and AI. While AI-driven water systems that utilise real-time monitoring and predictive analytics can tackle climate change and promote sustainable water access, digital transformation in water services can ensure in resource efficiency. Veolia WTS leverages both data and advanced digital tools, including AI, to enhance infrastructure design, asset management and operational efficiency for clients and communities.
Emerging technologies and digital solutions to transform resource management
A pioneering result of Veolia WTS harnessing digitalisation and AI has been enabling real-time interaction with plants. This has been achieved by integrating Mistral AI’s large language model into Veolia’s data and knowledge base, resulting in this groundbreaking solution.
This advancement enhances transparency and modernises critical operations, particularly in areas like personal safety and water consumption management. By harnessing the power of generative AI (GenAI), Veolia and Mistral AI are introducing pioneering solutions that allow employees and stakeholders to co-pilot water, waste and energy plants through interactive discussions. This marks a significant step toward Industry 5.0 and the collaboration between humans and machines, where AI-driven technologies enhance human expertise, fostering the emergence of augmented employees and a more efficient, sustainable future.
Through this partnership and ongoing investments in cutting-edge digital solutions, Veolia WTS continues to lead the way in transforming resource management for a more resilient and sustainable world.
Water meters measuring impact of technology on water management
The aim of integrating new-age technologies such as GenAI is to improve water management by making it easier to track water use. One such area of improvement is water meters, where conventional meters do not provide local authorities or consumers with crucial data and information such as water leak detection, remote meter reading and monitoring water usage.
Any optimisation resulting in remote water meter reading can bring in crucial benefits such as real-time usage tracking, automatic anomaly detection such as breakage or theft, and frost alerts to help protect installations. Users also benefit from easier access to billing and water usage logs, leak detection and the elimination of the need for in-person meter readings. Additionally, water usage limits can be set to receive instant notifications via email or text if thresholds are exceeded, ensuring better resource management and efficiency.
Hubgrade: Veolia WTS’s pathbreaking AI-human integration water solutions
Veolia WTS’s exclusive suite of digital services, Hubgrade, can substantially enhance the performance of water and sanitation services through the seamless integration of AI and human expertise. Hubgrade can facilitate smarter water management through data analytics; real-time water consumption monitoring; process optimisation; predictive systems for water, waste, energy, and other environmental resources; and advanced leak detection capabilities.
At the crux of Hubgrade’s capabilities is its transformative approach to managing essential resources. By leveraging data and digital technology, Hubgrade not only enhances operational performance but also fosters innovative, co-creative solutions. The synergy between their experts’ deep industry knowledge and advanced digital tools ensures that every challenge is transformed into an opportunity for achieving excellence, sustainability and progress.
Hubgrade: Digital solution for industries, municipalities and businesses
Veolia WTS’s Hubgrade is tailored to meet the dynamic needs of emerging urban infrastructure and diverse commercial enterprises across India. Be it industries, municipalities or businesses, the scope and extent of digital solutions can vary. One of Hubgrade’s key strengths is its customised and dedicated control centres, which allow Veolia WTS’s team of experts to remotely and continuously manage water, energy and waste installations.
Industries, businesses or civic bodies can also choose the extent of Hubgrade deployment. For instance, the cloud-based portal and remote support tool, Hubgrade Essential, integrates water treatment equipment data and service interactions into a comprehensive dashboard, which is accessible any time, anywhere and from any device.
Its key features also include a digital library, data monitoring, alarms, manual data entry, key performance indicator dashboards and automated reporting.
Users can also avail of an upgrade in the form of Hubgrade Assist, an advanced extension of Hubgrade Essential, which offers expert remote support from Veolia specialists. Its key features include data analysis and reporting, event logging, interactive alarm management and online process engineering support.
As such, Veolia WTS’s solutions have gone beyond sectors such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and energy and power, delivering customised digital tools that address specific operational and sustainability goals. With globally tested solutions, world-class expertise and scalable digital capabilities, Hubgrade empowers clients with insights and efficiencies that drive long-term success. More than just a digital platform, Hubgrade is a strategic partner that understands both India’s local challenges and global aspirations, supporting industries and municipalities in their journey towards achieving sustainable ecological transformation.
Empowering civic authorities in water management
The mid-2024 water shortage in Bengaluru was a wake-up call for civic authorities not just in the IT-hub but also other metros and major cities across India. Veolia WTS has already proven itself as a trusted partner, working hand in hand with public authorities in water cycle management. This includes collecting water from the source, and treating and producing drinking water. Authorities have also benefited from Veolia WTS’s expertise in wastewater treatment, recycling it for various purposes such as irrigation and groundwater recharge.
Veolia WTS’s ability to tailor its services to the specific needs of Indian public authorities is evident in its successful partnerships with municipalities in New Delhi, Nagpur and Karnataka (Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bijapur and a part of Bengaluru). In these cities, Veolia WTS has designed, built and operated plants, and produced safe drinking water using its expertise in water treatment and distributed it to all beneficiaries on a 24/7 basis.
Now, with Hubgrade, Veolia WTS can empower civic authorities with cutting-edge digital tools based on its expertise as a world leader in water and wastewater services. Even while delegating water management to Veolia WTS’s Hubgrade, civic authorities not only have permanent, transparent access to all operating data and best technologies in the market but also cyber-secure solutions that comply with international security standards and Industry 4.0 guidelines.
Article by Veolia Water Technologies and Solutions, South Asia
