Economic Framework of Smart and Integrated Urban Water Systems

Abstract

Smart and integrated urban water systems have important roles in advancing smart cities, but their contributions go much further by supplying needed public services and connecting other sectors to meet sustainability goals. Achieving integration and gaining access to financing are obstacles to implementing smart water systems and both are implicit in the economic framework of smart cities. Problems in financing the start-up of smart water systems are reported often. The local and diverse nature of water systems is another barrier because an approach that works in one place may not work in another with different conditions. The paper identifies the challenges posed by the economic framework and provides examples from four cities with diverse characteristics. It outlines pathways to advance implementation of smart water systems by improving control strategies, advancing instrumentation and control technologies, and most of all, to help transform cities by raising customer awareness and trust through reliable and useful water information.