How Can Big Data Help in Solving Water Problems?

Let’s start with the first part of the picture, “Big Data”. For some time now, the term Big Data has been floating through the tech world, carrying an air of excitement, anticipation, and intimidation. But understanding the essence of Big Data and working out the ways to conduct descriptive statistics is still unclear to many. There is so much more to this term than just the amount of information that has been generated. Big Data doesn’t necessarily apply to huge amounts of continuously generating data that come in various formats, but it also refers to a wide range of statistical tools in research, processes, and approaches that are being employed to gain insights from that data. And the most important aspect of Big Data Analytics is that it can help companies solve complex problems which cannot be solved by applying traditional methods.

Moving on to the second part of the picture, which is the “Water Crisis”. Countries like India and Bangladesh have been enduring the water crisis for a long time now. The inadequate torrential rain, climate change, the outbreak of droughts, and the surging demand for clean water supply have been laying down a lot of pressure on many businesses, agricultural industries, municipalities, and eventually on the common people. Also with the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions, everyone is forced to sit at home which has subsequently increased water consumption, adding to the challenge of living without access to quality water 24X7. In India, more than half of the total water supply comes from groundwater, which has been depleting because of the excessive use of water.

Big Picture with Big Data

Now, without the proper infrastructure and efficient management of water to curb the shortage issue, millions of people and small businesses in India will be enduring massive losses. According to the experts, the most efficient way to prevail against the water crisis is by having an accurate, and real-time understanding of water demand and consumption. And this set of information can only be extracted with the help of Data Science and descriptive statistics. According to Gary Wong, one of the world’s leading experts in water and water management, to reduce the wastage of water utility, companies should invest more in data analysis tools and solutions with Big Data as the cornerstone.

There are a few countries that are making the most out of Big Data to bring about a significant change. These countries are synthesizing the data across the entire water supply which will further avoid any wastage of water along with ensuring sustainability. With the application of sensors and monitoring systems, they can generate a large amount of real-time data.

Now that it has been clear that Data Science and Big Data Analytics could potentially help us in moving toward building a sustainable water system and providing clean and safe drinking water to everyone, let us understand how exactly Big Data can help us in achieving the same.

Big Picture with Big Data

       For the last 100 years, with respect to the world’s population, the consumption of water has been increasing rapidly. Drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing, and watering plants are some of the basic uses of water. While on the commercial side, industries use twice the amount of water, if not more, than individual households. To address this issue, most industrial sites have been collecting a large amount of data, which ends up being useless as they don’t know how to analyze the data; this is where Data Science could potentially change the whole system. Data Science can be used to help the utility providers know exactly how much water they are using, and come up with ways to reduce water use to alleviate their negative impact on the environment, and more importantly, the water crisis.

     The quality of water can be tracked in real-time with the help of Big Data. This will help us minimize the effort, time, and resources required to determine if the water resource provided is of good quality. Real-time monitoring can also help us understand if the water indeed is of good quality, which will help communities save time, money, and other tangible resources.

       Water leakages are hard to detect, and it takes a lot of work to find and fix the leakage that is in a remote location. The most effective way to cope with this situation is to reduce the water pressure. However, altering the water flow of water for bigger cities is not as easy as it sounds, as it takes a lot of time and effort to scout the city’s entire water distribution system. That’s when the water data collected from the meter at specific time slots can play a big role. Many companies around the world provide leak-sensing sensor technology to locate leaks. This eliminates the need to search every place to find leaks, as one may use the data generated from these sensors.

       The agricultural sector is by far the largest sector to use water and at the same time waste water. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the agricultural sector uses 70% of the world’s freshwater and wastes almost 60% due to weak irrigation systems and the cultivation of crops that require more water. Even though farmers collect data regarding water usage in their fields, they are not well-equipped to use this data to make informed decisions related to water management. With the help of smart devices such as smart sensors (chemical detection devices, biosensors, weather stations, and many more.) and geospatial data analysis, farmers can now plan well. They may now collect data on how much water is needed to cultivate various crops and how much water they should set aside for other important farming activities.

Big Data Can Be Harnessed to Create a Greater Impact on Clean Water

While much has been done to use big data applications in the water sector, there are many areas where enhanced analytic techniques based on data science might be beneficial. This potential has not gone unnoticed; institutions such as the University of Berkeley and even NASA have worked to fully exploit the power of data analytics to guarantee that more people across the world can benefit from the numerous advantages of clean water and maintain sustainability.