Water scarcity poses a significant challenge in many parts of Southern Europe, demanding innovative solutions for responsible water management.
Siemens water applications (SIWA) address this critical need with a suite of AI-powered applications, such as Meter Data Analytics and Leak Finder. Real-life examples demonstrate the impact: a more sustainable and resilient water infrastructure.
Non-revenue water represents a sizeable financial burden on water utilities. For consumers too, non-revenue water carries risks: aside from being an environmental concern and incurring unnecessary costs, undetected leaks can also damage property.
Leaks and commercial losses (water served but not registered) are a major source of non-revenue water. SIWA Meter Data Analytics provides proven methods and tools to identify and reduce commercial losses and internal leakages. The solution records and evaluates data from conventional and smart meters.
The utility in charge then uses that data to quickly identify internal leaks or consumption anomalies. The software solution combines advanced proprietary data analysis methods and AI-based algorithms with powerful and secure systems for collecting and storing data.
SIWA Meter Data Analytics is offered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the cloud or on-premises. More than anything, SIWA Meter Data Analytics is extremely flexible.
The municipal public utility company EMAYA manages the water cycle for Palma de Mallorca, a popular holiday destination attracting millions of visitors annually.
Climate change, the burgeoning tourism industry, and continued island development are among the factors aggravating water scarcity.
Starting in 2021, EMAYA’s water division rolled out a smart metering implementation project with the aim of equipping 100% of Palma with smart meters. SIWA Meter Data Analytics has accompanied this transition.
The solution was initially populated with data from almost 100,000 water meters with bimonthly readings. Historical readings were also included, as were key features of each water meter, such as meter size, type, installation date, and activity.
In the process, the tool identified a meter brand that was registering lower values than the average. The performance of 11,280 replaced meters was studied over a 10-month period to verify that the advanced AI algorithms used by the tool could help in the future transition toward smart metering.
Altogether, in under three years, SIWA Meter Data Analytics has cut metering error by 23% (from 3.9% to 3%). What's more, the solution optimizes meter replacement schedules: meters replaced in line with the criteria showed eight times more revenues than with age-based replacements, which was the previous replacement criteria.
SIWA Meter Data Analytics also supported EMAYA in the creation of their successful migration plan to smart metering.
Empresa Municipal Aguas de Malaga (EMASA), the municipal water service provider for Malaga serving approximately 600,000 residents, has also leveraged SIWA Meter Data Analytics for its smart metering implementation.
Key objectives of this initiative include alerting customers immediately about internal leaks, encouraging responsible water consumption and supporting on social emergencies.
In Malaga, SIWA Meter Data Analytics was stocked with data from over 238,000 water meters. Currently, a good 50,000 meters are sending daily data readings, including extended information, like battery level, consumption rate, average flow, number of starts and sleep time.
These parameters serve as input data for generating alerts in the event of suspected anomalies or "suspicious" events. Such an event could be among others an indication of an aging meter, leaks, fraud and social emergencies.
In the case of the latter, a complete absence of water consumption might signal a potential emergency, prompting the system to alert family or relevant authorities to check on a resident's well-being.
With SIWA Meter Data Analytics, EMASA benefits from improved data quality and automated analysis. That allows the team to accomplish more in less time — like following up on suspicious events. A key outcome is increased revenues thanks to early detection of fraud and stopped meters.
One key component of non-revenue water is physical water loss, specifically leaks within the water distribution system. This refers to water that is simply lost en route to consumers. According to the Spanish daily El País, in some localities losses exceed 60% supply.
Servicios de Txingudi, the public utility responsible for the water supply in the northern Spanish municipalities of Irun and Hondarribia, is leveraging the SIWA Leak Finder app to address water loss.
SIWA Leak Finder is a software solution for detecting and pre-locating leaks in water transport and distribution networks by using artificial intelligence to analyze real-time flow data. The tool lets operators detect and repair leaks quickly while minimizing false alarms.
Furthermore, thanks to AI, the system is capable of recognizing seasonal patterns influenced by tourism and weather conditions.
In less than a month, SIWA Leak Finder was implemented across the entire network covering 285 km of pipes and trained on a three-week dataset.
The fast track was possible because sensors were already in place — Servicios de Txingudi was one of the first utilities in Spain to install smart water meters. The tool processes data from flow meters, pressure sensors, chlorine sensors, and more — including daily customer water meter readings. Thus, it possible to identify leaks quickly based on KPIs from each distribution management area.
Since SIWA Leak Finder entered operations in January 2017, over 10,000 events have been detected and solved, including leaks, pressure issues, chlorine anomalies, sensor failures, data transmission problems and theft.
The system also manages seasonal changes in consumption patterns, allowing for dynamic changes as a result of increased population in the summer.
SIWA Meter Data Analysis and SIWA Leak Finder are just two examples of how Siemens empowers water utility operators to increase revenues, reduce expenses, and preserve a vital resource.
Moreover, SIWA solutions directly benefit end customers by helping them avoid costly water bills and potential property damage from leaks.
By leveraging these innovative technologies, water management organizations are better equipped to address the challenges of a water-scarce future and ensure the sustainable management of this precious resource.
March 2025
