World Water Day 2025
Published: 22. Mar 2025
World Water Day on 22 March 2025 reminds us how essential the sustainable use of water is for our future. This year, under the motto ‘Glacier Preservation’, attention is being drawn to the preservation of glaciers – one of the world’s most important freshwater reserves. Glaciers are melting at an alarming rate due to climate change, which will affect water availability in the long term and also have noticeable consequences in Central Europe.
Resilient digital infrastructures for the water industry
Due to climate change, increasing water scarcity and extreme weather events, the water industry is also facing the challenge of creating sustainable and resilient infrastructures. Digital solutions and resilient systems play a crucial role in utilising water resources efficiently and securing supplies. Strategies such as the national water strategy and the European Blue Deal provide important impetus for sustainable water management.
Resilience in the water industry means that water systems have to be resistant to climate change, extreme weather events, environmental pollution and other disruptions. Increasing periods of drought, heavy rainfall and flooding as well as the rising water demand make it essential to secure water supply and quality in the long term. Digitalisation can provide us with important tools and solutions, and the Internet of Things has become a key piece of technology in this regard.
Digital solutions for the water industry
ZENNER has been producing water meters for over 100 years and is now one of the international market leaders for water meters, as well as heat and gas meters and other measuring instruments and sensors.
ZENNER has been combining its measuring technology with powerful wireless technology, such as LoRaWAN® and Wireless M-Bus, for more than ten years now, and its portfolio today enables water suppliers to make numerous processes in the water industry digital, from digital data logging and water quality monitoring through to flood protection. The Element Suite provides users with a powerful, centralised platform for data collection and processing. ZENNER has already implemented more than 350 digitalisation projects with municipal utilities, water suppliers and municipalities themselves.
Sustainable water management
In order to establish and ensure sustainable water management, smart, efficient water infrastructures must be developed and expanded with a view to the long term. In addition to digital measuring technology, this also includes the construction of robust pipe networks, the protection of bodies of water and solutions to protect against floods. These requirements can be implemented using digital monitoring systems that transmit status data, detect malfunctions and provide corresponding feedback (known as feedback loops). The water supply process begins with ensuring availability, meaning that it is necessary to monitor ground water levels and water quality.
René Claussen, Head of IoT and Digital Solutions at ZENNER, explains:
“With the appropriate sensors, the measured values can be directly transmitted to our Element Suite platform via LoRaWAN® and retrieved by the water supplier. In the same way, our customers can transmit measured values from water meters and monitor their pipe networks. As a smart water solution provider, we strive to offer fitting applications for all process steps.”
Resilient water networks
A good example of digital and sustainable monitoring systems is leak detection in water networks. Worldwide, around 126 billion cubic metres of fresh water are lost every day as a result of network losses. In Europe, the average water loss is about 50 litres per capita per day. This corresponds to approximately 10 percent of the amount of fresh water fed into the distribution networks. In many developing countries, the proportion can be as high as 50 per cent. In order to reduce water losses in the grid, the municipal utility of Stade, together with ZENNER and HST Systemtechnik GmbH, have implemented a pilot project in which those losses can be detected and qualified with the help of LoRaWAN®.
Multifunctional sensors record the flowrate, pressure, noise and temperature. They detect the relevant measurement information for the factors caused by water leaks in pipework. With LoRaWAN®, the sensors are connected wirelessly and the collected data is transmitted to a central platform at defined intervals and – if necessary – in real time. This enables leakages to be quickly detected and precisely located, minimising water losses.
Efficient digital data logging
Sustainable water management requires data with high frequency, that is of high quality and high availability. The new Metering as a Service solution package from ZENNER fulfils these requirements and combines modern measuring technology with two kinds of wireless technology and the fitting app for configuration. The IUWS ultrasonic domestic water meter from ZENNER is equipped with a “parallel wireless” function and enables measurement data to be simultaneously transmitted via LoRaWAN® and wireless M-Bus. The parallel wireless function is helpful, for example, in peripheral areas where network coverage is not yet sufficient. All collected data is available centrally in the ISO 27.001-certified “ZENNER Datahub” platform and can be transferred to billing or ERP systems via interfaces.
The solution is particularly economical for municipal utilities and municipalities that have LoRaWAN® networks already set up, as remote readout can be realised without further investment in infrastructure. The wireless meters are simply integrated into an existing network.
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René Claussen concludes:
“The combination of our ultrasonic water meter, two kinds of reading technology and Europe’s largest LoRaWAN® network offers water suppliers the easiest entry into digitalisation. With the incorporation of additional sensors and equipment, sustainable and resilient water systems can be created and even solutions for flood protection can be integrated.”
Experience digital solutions for resilient water industry live!
ZENNER will be presenting solutions for resilient water management at the Tausendwasser trade fair on 26 and 27 March 2025 in Berlin at stand 7BT.29. Come by and discover our products and solutions up close. #SmartWater
