Digital Twin: A Path To Efficient and Intuitive Water System Operations

Introduction
Water utilities and the water industry see the promise of Digital Twin to increase operational efficiency, increase cost savings, and improve their overall business objectives but have challenges in understanding what digital twins are, what they can do, and how to implement them. The smart water network forum (SWAN) Digital Twin Holistic Architecture workgroup is leveraging the industry's first Digital Twin Architecture and establishing a common language and approach to Digital Twins. This group has assembled a panel of experts from global water leaders from utilities, solution providers, engineering firms, and academia to develop a Digital Twin white paper to bring clarity and further guide the industry. This white paper will cover core concepts and case studies to aid utilities in defining their path to implementing a Digital Twin. The objectives of the white paper include: a) Educate the water industry on the fundamentals of Digital Twin b) Update current knowledge c) Showcase practical applications- success sorties and lessons learned d) Provide outlooks and recommendations for utilities The main goal of this paper is to provide a summary of the white paper to the audience that is keenly looking forward to the guidance and clarification around digital twins for water systems operation.
Methodology
The white paper will be divided into core concepts and case studies. The case studies will support the proposed ideas in core concepts with real-life success stories. Following core concepts will be discussed:
1. Future of Digital Twins for water
2. Consolidated Digital Twin architecture for water
3. How do I get started with (operational) Digital Twins?
4. How do I progress with Digital Twins? Table 1 shows a global list of utilities/firms providing real-life case studies of implementing Digital Twin for the operations of their water systems.
Discussion
The use of models to understand and predict water systems' performance has been practiced with great success for many decades. However, it is crucial to distinguish Digital Twin from conventional models to highlight the new paradigm enabled by the recent digital revolution (see Figure 1). Consequently, the SWAN Digital Twin Architecture Subgroup developed a new architecture (see Figure 2) that conveys the different components that comprise a Digital Twin in a water/wastewater system from the physical system to the user experience. The main objective of a holistic architecture for utilities and the entire ecosystem is to build secure and connected technology platforms that enable incremental build-out of technology in support of immediate and long-term outcomes. However, there should be a focus on early use cases that provide a clear return on investment (ROI) while building a technical architecture. Furthermore, Digital twin architecture should support operators of the water systems to make more informed decisions that optimize performance and create actionable results. The roadmap of Digital Twin will benefit from a measure of success at each stage followed by a re-assessment for steps to be taken in the next stage. This pragmatic and agile approach is necessary to incorporate knowledge and experience gained from internal and external sources.
Relevance to the industry
To meet the sustainability objectives, the operation of water systems is expected to become more resilient and efficient. To this end, rapid digitalization in the water sector is seen as an imminent enabler. The innovation around digital technologies is expected to accelerate as costs continue to decline as suggested by Wright's law – 'For every cumulative doubling of units produced, costs will fall by a constant percentage.' Consequently, the convergence of affordable digital technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and software analytics gives rise to robust digital water solutions that are easy to use and intuitive, enabling self-diagnosis and unsupervised corrective actions. Therefore, Digital Twin is a logical next step for the industry to adopt. SWAN Digital Twin white paper will be a crucial accelerator for the wider adoption of Digital Twin across disciplines for efficient water system operations.