Eric Suesz
Mahtab Barazandeh
Digital twin technology is revolutionizing water distribution systems by providing dynamic, real-time digital representations of physical water networks. These water digital twins integrate static and dynamic data from sensors and operational systems to enable insights and drive actionable outcomes that improve asset management, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
E-book: Digital Twins: Transforming water distribution
Do you need one? We have a new ebook that can help you decide: Digital Twins: Transforming water distribution.
What is a digital twin and why do you need one?
A digital twin is a virtual representation of real-world water system assets and their behaviors, created by combining models with sensor data – and perhaps even powered by machine learning. It acts as a virtual representation throughout the entire water supply lifecycle – from planning and design to operations and maintenance – helping utilities optimize performance, reduce non-revenue water, and enhance water quality.
By unifying multiple data sources and breaking down operational silos, digital twins provide utilities with a holistic, real-time view of their distribution network, enabling faster and better-informed decision making aligned with strategic goals.
Building blocks of Digital Twins in water distribution
A successful digital twin in water management should be built upon several key elements:
- Physical assets and data sources: Sensors measuring pressure, flow rates, temperature, and water quality can be fed into your digital twin. Business and operational systems like GIS, SCADA, and CMMS provide additional spatial and transactional data.
- Data integration and management: A proper digital twin should offer ingestion, cleansing, and optimization processes to ensure high data quality and reliable analytics.
- Modeling and analytics: Combining physics-based hydraulic models (increasingly using AI and machine learning) allows for accurate simulations and predictive analytics. A true digital twin is valuable because it allows you to test practically endless numbers of optimizations that are based on your real-world models.
- Visualization and user experience: Interactive dashboards are essential to understanding the complexity and tailoring it to different users’ business and operational needs.
- Automation: When set up successfully, you can create control systems that focus on creating automated responses to anomalies, such as adjusting pump operations or activating valves to maintain network stability.
How Digital Twins are already transforming water distribution
Water utilities worldwide are already beginning to leverage water digital twins to:
- Plan and design: Simulate infrastructure aging, forecast demand under various scenarios, and optimize network layouts to reduce energy consumption
- Operate and maintain: Monitor assets in real time to detect leaks, pressure drops, or water quality issues early, enabling predictive maintenance and minimizing service disruptions
- Enhance resilience: Model emergency scenarios to optimize response strategies, ensuring continuity of supply during unexpected events
- Drive cost savings: Reduce non-revenue water, optimize energy use, and extend asset life through data-driven decision making.
Who is using these kinds of tools?
Our new ebook “Digital Twins: Transforming water distribution” includes some examples of Autodesk customers that are already demonstrating the power of digital twins:
- Davidson Water goes deep on modeling surge events, which helped them reduce leaks by 36% over ten years.
- Hunter Water Corporation employs hydraulic modeling combined with risk analysis to prioritize capital investments and ensure regulatory compliance across its extensive network.
- Western Virginia Water Authority integrates asset management software with hydraulic modeling to create defensible maintenance plans and enhance data quality control.
Is a water Digital Twin right for you?
The pressure to optimize our water infrastructure is on – and that pressure won’t be going away anytime soon. Embracing digital twins can give you a flexible and scalable way to meet your water distribution challenges head-on and ensure reliable and sustainable water services for years to come.
Is it right for you? Download our free PDF report Digital Twins: Transforming water distribution and learn how digital twins can transform water distribution systems to meet the needs of the future.