DURATION: 01.11.2012 to 31.10.2015
BUDGET: 483,288.00€/5,032,000.00€
FUNDING: FP7 Collaborative Project, ICT for efficient water resources management
ABOUT IWIDGET
iWIDGET: Improved Water Efficiency through ICT Technologies for Integrated Supply-Demand side management, was a three year FP7 Collaborative project funded by the topic ICT for efficient water resources management.
iWIDGET aimed at improved water efficiencies through the use of novel ICT technologies for integrated supply-demand side management. iWIDGET’s focus was a more integrated approach to water resources management and the project contributed to delivering a sustainable, low-carbon society, helping progress towards the Europe 2020 targets on Climate and Energy. This approach was applied by researching, developing, demonstrating and evaluating a fully integrated ICT-based system of techniques and technologies that encouraged and enabled householders and water suppliers to understand and manage down their demand and minimise wastage in the supply chain.
The partnership assembled to deliver the iWIDGET project was a combination of all the key players in the field, leading ICT companies, business leaders, technology developers, standardisation organisations, water companies and top scientists in the field of water management, information and systems analysis and the social sciences.
Together the WIDGET consortium brought to the table a clear understanding of the market, the technological state-of–the-art with respect to hardware and software, new research and development in data mining, analytics, decision support, scenario modelling, data management, standards interfaces, visualisation, water conservation modelling and social simulation. The project also obtained input from householders through two case studies and input from the broader water industry through its Advisory Panel.
OUR ROLE IN THE PROJECT
iWIDGET aimed to improve water efficiencies through the use of novel ICT technologies for integrated supply-demand side management. In this context, we focused more on the user-side and we developed digital solutions to support the householders to monitor and manage their water and energy demands, and eventually alter their wasteful and inefficient behaviours.
Specifically, we designed and implemented a web platform that allows householders to monitor their water and energy consumption, using real-time data from smart water and energy meters.
The platform alters the users about possible leakages and/or bursts as well as wasteful behaviours, providing the breakdown of total consumptions into the different uses and appliances. At the same time, we developed a Moodle-based eLearning platform, with various educational activities (FAQ’s, A&Q, multiple choices etc.), which aim to bring a new awareness of household water use practices.
Moving to the supply-side, we also developed an agent-based model to simulate the water demand behaviours of different types of users under various water-aware policies, allowing water utilities to design and implement tailored water demand conservation strategies and awareness campaigns.
