Cities can harness power of AI to provide clean and safe water

Despite 70 per cent of the earth’s surface being covered with water, only three per cent is fresh. According to the report by UNESCO, 26 per cent of the world’s population does not have safe drinking water and 46 per cent lack access to safely managed sanitation. The global population of 9.4 to 10.2 billion will face clean water scarcity by 2050, from 22 to 34 per cent. This will affect countries like India, making it the most water-stressed country. Chennai’s declaration of “Day Zero” in 2019 is a prime example of a water crisis in the near future

More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and within two decades, nearly 68 per cent of the world’s people will be urban dwellers. Cities can only thrive with reliable access to clean water and adequate sanitation. Most urbanites now have to rely on private tankers or the ever-growing business of water suppliers in each city lane, selling at sky-high prices for a couple of litres of water. This hampers the accessibility to clean and safe water for the poor. So, the question arises, how do we provide the most basic need – access to clean and safe water to the major population of this country?

Cities in India fall well below expectations when it comes to the quality of their water supply. All of the drinking water samples supplied for testing from nine cities, out of 15 cities, failed the water quality test, according to the Bureau of Indian Standards’ rankings of tap water quality published in 2019.

According to the Global Burden of Disease Report 2019, unsafe water sources are responsible for around 1.23 million deaths every year, and particularly for the poor, it is one of the largest health and environmental problems to occur.

As India’s urban population grows exponentially, fulfilling its clean and safe water needs will be a great challenge. NITI Aayog’s 2019 report ‘Composite Water Management Index’ states that out of five of the world’s 20 largest cities under water, stress are in India, with Delhi being second on the list and eight million children below the age of 14 in cities are at risk due to poor water supply.

USAGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm. It is developing at a fast pace, and everyone wants to reap its benefits. The technology of AI, no doubt, has numerous applications. It can play a significant role in ensuring safe and clean water by analysing data from various sources, such as sensors, satellites, and weather stations; AI algorithms can detect and predict water contamination. This can enable prompt response from the local government and preventive measures to protect water supplies. Various institutions and organisations have taken initiatives to provide clean water in places where clean drinking water is still not easily available. One of the initiatives has been taken by India’s leading educational institutions, the Indian Institution of Technology, New Delhi, that developed a low-cost nanofiltration technology with the help of AI, which has ensured access to safe drinking water for 25,000 people at three different locations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

AI can also optimise water treatment processes by analysing water quality, flow rates, and chemical usage data, ensuring the most effective treatment methods are applied. Furthermore, AI can aid in the early detection of leaks, optimise water distribution, and provide decision-support systems for efficient water management. Some major ways AI can contribute to clean and safe water are listed below.

PREDICTING WATER DEMAND AND SUPPLY

The city of London, Canada, focused on obtaining daily forecasts for long-term citywide water demand. The Municipal Artificial Intelligence Applications Lab and the Water Demand team developed a model that daily estimates citywide water consumption to produce interpretable forecasts four years into the future, and it predicts water demand up to 12 months in advance. This information is used to help the city manage its water resources and prevent shortages.

DETECTING LEAKAGE

Water leakages in distribution networks can lead to significant wastage and reduced water quality. AI-based systems can analyse sensor data from the water infrastructure to detect and locate leaks accurately. Municipalities can minimise water loss and improve overall water management efficiency by detecting leaks early. An India Today report states that it is estimated that around 40 per cent of piped water in India is lost to leakage. An average family wastes 180 gallons of water per week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually, from household leaks, equivalent to the water needed to wash more than 300 loads of laundry. The Colruyt Group is a Belgian retail company that uses AI to detect leaks in its water pipes. The AI system, LeakEye, uses sound waves to detect leaks in the company’s water pipes. LeakEye has been able to detect leaks that would have otherwise gone undetected, which has helped the company to reduce water loss and save money.

WATER POLLUTION SOURCE IDENTIFICATION

Through a study conducted by Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Hydrological Cycle and Sponge City Technology, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University; School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and Shandong Academy of Environmental Planning, China; developed an artificial intelligence system called the Integrated Long Short-Term Memory Network (LSTM), using cross-correlation and association rules (Apriori) and used for identifying the characteristics of water pollutants and trace industrial point sources of pollutants. There are many ways that India can learn from the models used by global cities with the help of AI to provide clean water in the cities. One way is to collaborate in research and development in AI. India can also partner with leading universities and research institutions worldwide to develop AI talent. It can invest in major international labs working on water quality. Projects are taken up by the AI Lab projects of Microsoft, which has developed Clean Water AI, which is an (Internet of Things) IoT device that continuously monitors water quality around water sources for dangerous bacteria and harmful particles; India should deploy and replicate this model in its cities.