IBM makes a splash in water management technology

Most companies rank water management as a top priority

IBM scientists have been working on a number of technologies to help deal with complex challenges in understanding and managing water resources.

Working with scientists and research organisations from around the world, IBM researchers have developed a range of smart water services and technologies as part of its new Strategic Water Information Management (Swim) platform to help governments, water utilities and companies monitor and manage water more effectively.

One of these is an energy efficient membrane that quickly and reliably filters out salts and toxins such as arsenic to help with water purification and desalination.

Developed in collaboration with Central Glass in Japan, the King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and the University of Texas, the membrane uses a unique chemistry to create a "water super-highway". When contaminated water is forced through the membrane, salts and a number of toxins are filtered out and only pure drinking water flows through to the other side.

"As clean water becomes more scarce, and disease from impure water impacts more of the world's population, the race to find efficient methods to purify this important resource is at a critical juncture," said Bob Allen, manager of the water purification project at the IBM Almaden Research Center.

"The kind of research we're doing, and the promising results we're seeing, stand to create a whole new paradigm for how we manage natural resources such as water."

IBM also released its Global Innovation Outlook on Water report, which concluded that a lack of viable data is a key inhibitor to effective water management. Data on water is not necessarily expensive to collect, and much of it already exists in bits and pieces, but it just needs to be collected, co-ordinated and shared.

"You cannot manage what you cannot measure. We need all kinds of data collection, including real-time, because it is a lack of credible, available and viable data that is holding us back," said Doug Miell, water resource management expert at Miell Consulting.

The IBM study found that a majority of companies rank water management as a top priority, but lack the necessary processes and systems for administration and control.

One of the key problems is that water is poorly understood and widely mismanaged, according to IBM, which believes that its use must be monitored and metered to locate inefficiencies, and that the data and analysis that result should be shared between governments, academics and industry.

"Regardless of industry or geography, smarter water management is an issue faced by every business and government on the planet," said Sharon Nunes, vice president of Big Green Innovations at IBM.

"Without sufficient insight into near-term and long-term factors affecting water supply and usage - complex issues such as access, quality, cost and reuse - you increasingly run the risk of failure."

IBM's Swim platform includes the development and use of technologies such as sensor data integration, analysis and visualisation, as well as IBM's information management, technology services and business consulting capabilities to provide measurement, modelling and management of water resources.

The company is working with various agencies on a number of water management projects around the world including: The Nature Conservancy to build practical web-based tools for river basin management; the Maltese government to establish an end-to-end electricity and smart water utility system; the Industrial Development Agency of Ireland to establish a Centre of Excellence for Water Management; and the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries in New York to build a technology-based monitoring and forecasting network for the Hudson River.

IBM has also established a Global Center of Excellence for Water Management in Amsterdam to help governments develop enhanced prediction and protection systems for low-lying coastal areas and river deltas.