Application of Internet of Things and big data for sustainability in water

Abstract

The increasing world population and rapid industrial development is driving the need for sustainable management solutions and preservation of the natural resources and the ecosystem. The Internet of Things (IoT) and big data (BD) analytics are expected to play key role toward sustainability in areas such as water, agriculture, energy, transportation and smart city. In this chapter, the focus is sustainability in water. To address the issues of sustainability of clean accessible water for human use and other living things, a water ecosystem is presented. The water ecosystem consists of five major elements which are water source, treatment, reservoir, consumption and wastage. There are several issues faced in sustainable water supply such as decreasing fresh water resources, loss of revenue due to water loss, complexity in managing the increasing demands. Existing water-management models are not efficient in addressing these issues. In addition, due to seasonal variations, changes in environmental laws, varying plant-operating conditions and other factors, there is a need for effective and efficient monitoring. The application of IoT and BD analytics technology is promising and can provide sustainable management solution in water. The practical deployment of IoT and BD analytics consists of four major components which are IoT devices, communication technology, internet and BD. The emerging low power wide area (LPWA) communication technology is expected to enhance massive connectivity required for water monitoring, data acquisition and promote sustainability in water. Hence, in this chapter, the features of the water ecosystem, the system architecture of IoT and BD and the application in water sustainability, challenges such as cyber security, policy and regulations, accuracy of the data and technology interoperability are discussed.