The Foundational Role of GIS in Digital Water Transformation

This presentation will highlight the key role of GIS (Geographic Information System) technology in enabling water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities' digital transformation. We will begin by exploring the key functions and features of modern GIS technology, then examine a variety of digital transformation initiatives — such as distribution and collection network management, coordinated operations, real-time data integration, and vertical asset management — in which GIS can play a foundational role. In the process, we will present case studies of successful digital water projects implemented by U.S. and global water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities, with a focus on how utilities can leverage GIS to maximize the value of their existing data and digital investments. We will conclude with a series of actionable insights, takeaways, and lessons learned for utility leaders pursuing their own digital transformation initiatives. This presentation is particularly timely, given the unprecedented array of challenges and opportunities facing today's water utility leaders as they seek to digitally transform their organizations. Aging infrastructure is becoming ever more costly to operate, maintain, and rehabilitate, while an aging water workforce threatens to erode utilities' institutional knowledge base. A changing climate produces more acute shocks and stresses for utility infrastructure, while a rapidly evolving technology landscape puts greater pressure on utilities to stay up to speed. Utilities need thoughtful technology strategies to maximize the value of digital investments, enable integration and data-sharing across teams and platforms, and maintain cybersecurity. Savvy utility leaders also recognize the opportunities inherent in these challenges — opportunities to tangibly improve customer and stakeholder communication and satisfaction, make their communities more sustainable and resilient, maintain the safety and security of their workers and operations, and maximize the efficiency and productivity of their people, processes, and technologies. In order to fully harness these opportunities, utilities will need to undergo a digital transformation of their operations and infrastructure, putting data at the heart of their decision-making, and ensuring that that data is accessible, actionable, and meaningful across the organization. As our presentation will demonstrate, GIS is uniquely suited to serve as the foundation for digital water transformation. As a tool for managing geospatial information, GIS facilitates integration, coordination, and analysis of disparate hardware and software systems, workers and processes, and siloed datasets across space and time, laying the groundwork for more advanced digital initiatives such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and digital twins. GIS is built to be used by anyone, from anywhere, and on any device across a utility organization. Finally, GIS is already in use at most water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities around the U.S. and the world, making it an ideal point of departure for new digital water investments and initiatives.