Roundup: Singapore International Water Week showcases smart water technologies

The 7th Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) returns in the city state this week with Singapore's Public Utilities Board (PUB) taking the lead in showcasing innovative smart technologies.

At the new Smart Water Solutions Pavilion, Singapore's national water agency features an array of smart water technologies in various aspects of the country's water management to achieve greater efficiency and improvements in planning, operations and service delivery.

"Leading edge innovation is a key part of SIWW, and hence, this year's SIWW will focus on the use of these technologies for enhancing planning and operations in water management," said Bernard Tan, Managing Director of SIWW.

PUB, together with the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Environmental Research Institute and the Tropical Marine Science Institute, have developed the New Smart Water Assessment Network (NUSwan), an autonomous robotic platform that conducts real-time water quality monitoring to help researchers.

Designed to resemble live-sized swan, NUSwan can be deployed in flocks to serve as a team of sensing nodes that provide good spatial coverage, while remaining aesthetically pleasing and blending naturally with the surroundings.

With the help of the NUSwan, cost required for water sampling can be reduced while the ability to provide continuous real-time water quality monitoring with better spatial-temporal resolution is improving.

According to PUB, they have completed the test-bed phase and will deploy the NUSwan at selected reservoirs. The NUSwan can also help to enhance response time to emerging events at the deployed locations, added the national water agency.

Besides, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), known as drones, in water loop are also on display. Since April this year, the water agency has been conducting trial flights to look into the potential of UAVs for general surveillance at Marina Reservoir. The UAVs aid PUB in obtaining good aerial footage for monitoring, and act as a deterrent for illegal activity.

Another possible area of using UAVs is in water management, for example, to inspect the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS). Inspections and maintenance with traditional methods in deep tunnels are energy-consuming and challenging. As the deployment of a UAV, which can work in unilluminated and GPS-denied environment, inspections and maintenance for deep tunnels will be much easier and efficient.

In addition, Smart Water Grid, an island-wide wireless sensor network that minimizes water leaks, and a real-time Silt Imagery Detection System which automatically monitors the smooth running of waterways are also on display.

An inaugural Smart Water Forum, themed "Managing Our Water Loop Intelligently", will be held on Tuesday to complement what have been showed at the pavilion. The forum will feature case studies by global water technology adopters and service providers on their respective implementations of smart water technologies to enhance water resource management.

The World Cities Summit and CleanEnviro Summit Singapore 2016 are also held at the same place in conjunction with SIWW. The three events, which will last until Thursday, present a unique integrated platform for industry leaders, policy-makers and experts from across the spectrum of cities, water, environment and sustainable development to discuss the global issue. Endit