Early-Warning System for Supervision of Urban Water Services: Case Study of Coquimbo, Chile
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149, Issue 10
Abstract
The combination of rapid urbanization, population growth, and the hydric stress due to climate change effects demand innovative, optimized approaches to the operation and supervision of urban water services. In Chile, the Superintendency of Sanitary Services has underscored the need for automatized data integration and analysis tools that foster an evidence-based, preventive approach to the supervision of urban water systems. This motivates the development of a pilot supervision and early-warning system, conceived as a cybernetic entity whose objective is to enable efficient access, analysis, and predictive modeling of the data provided by water service companies, so as to identify risks and inefficiencies in water services, monitor their evolution, and anticipate possible failures. This article discusses the development and implementation of a prototype system that provides tools for visualization, statistical and temporal analysis of georeferenced data on water pressures, network disruptions, and client complaints and deploys machine learning capabilities for predicting the quality of service indicators at different locations. The initial implementation in one region of Chile has been shown to expedite the exploitation of data on urban water services, reduce time lags in the detection of service disruptions, and generate evidence for the planning and execution of supervision activities. Based on this successful pilot, a roadmap for geographical and technological expansion is formulated, including other technological, organizational, and regulatory gaps that must be addressed to establish a data-driven framework for the supervision of urban water services.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, including code or containers for SEWS modules, data sources used in the AHP for prioritization of SEWS implementation, detailed calculations, and results used in AHP.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge funding from CORFO under Grant 19-BP117371, and from the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) through Fondecyt Grant No. 1191543, the Chilean National Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management ANID/FONDAP/15110017 (CIGIDEN), and the National Center for Artificial Intelligence ANID/BASAL/FB210017 (CENIA). We also thank the support and collaboration from all SISS professionals, especially Mr. Sergio Barbera, chief of the Disaster Risk Management Unit, who collaborated in the development and implementation of the SEWS.
References
Akhmouch, A. 2012. “Water governance in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/paper/5k9crzqk3ttj-en.
Arias, L., J. P. Rud, and C. A. Ruzzier. 2019. The regulation of public utilities of the future in Latin America and the Caribbean (lac): Water and sanitation sector. New York: Inter-American Development Bank.
Ariño, R., J. Meseguer, R. Pérez, and J. Quevedo. 2017. Case studies, 21–33. Berlin: Springer.
Azur, M. J., E. A. Stuart, C. Frangakis, and P. J. Leaf. 2011. “Multiple imputation by chained equations: What is it and how does it work?” Int. J. Methods Psychiatr. Res. 20 (1): 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.329.
Bauer, M., N. Bui, J. De Loof, C. Magerkurth, A. Nettsträter, J. Stefa, and J. W. Walewski. 2013. IoT reference model, 113–162. Berlin: Springer.
BCN (Biblioteca Del Congreso Nacional). 1990. “Ley-18902 27-ene-1990 Ministerio de Economía–Ley Chile.” Accessed December 30, 2021. https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?i=30274&f=2010-01-26&p=.
Breiman, L. 2001. “Random forests.” Mach. Learn. 45 (1): 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010933404324.
Centro de Sistemas Públicos, Universidad de Chile. 2020. “Diseño del plan de modernización institucional de la superintendencia de servicios sanitarios.” Accessed December 30, 2021. https://www.sistemaspublicos.cl/proyecto/diseno-del-plan-de-modernizacion-institucional-de-la-superintendencia-de-servicios-sanitarios/.
Chen, T., and C. Guestrin. 2016. “XGBoost: A Scalable Tree Boosting System.” In Proc., 22nd ACM SIGKDD Int. Conf. on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, 785–794. New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
Chourabi, H., T. Nam, S. Walker, J. R. Gil-Garcia, S. Mellouli, K. Nahon, T. A. Pardo, and H. J. Scholl. 2012. “Understanding smart cities: An integrative framework.” In Proc., 2012 45th Hawaii Int. Conf. on System Sciences, 2289–2297. New York: IEEE.
Closas, A., M. Schuring, and D. Rodriguez. 2012. Integrated urban water management: Lessons and recommendations from regional experiences in Latin America, Central Asia, and Africa. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
CORFO. 2021. “Pago proyectos presupuesto innovachile oct-dic2021.” Accessed March 6, 2022. https://wapp4.corfo.cl/archivos/WCSCONTI/IP/IF/PagoProyectosPresupuestoInnovaChileOCT-DIC2021.pdf.
Di Nardo, A., D. L. Boccelli, M. Herrera, E. Creaco, A. Cominola, R. Sitzenfrei, and R. Taormina. 2021. “Smart urban water networks: Solutions, trends and challenges.” Water 13 (4): 501. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040501.
Eggimann, S., L. Mutzner, O. Wani, M. Y. Schneider, D. Spuhler, M. Moy de Vitry, P. Beutler, and M. Maurer. 2017. “The potential of knowing more: A review of data-driven urban water management.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 51 (5): 2538–2553. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04267.
Etzkowitz, H., and C. Zhou. 2017. The Triple Helix University-industry—Government innovation and entrepreneurship. England, UK: Routledge.
Froelich, W., and E. Magiera. 2018. “ISS-EWATUS decision support system—Overview of achievements.” In Intelligent decision technologies, edited by I. Czarnowski, R. J. Howlett, and L. C. Jain, 197–206. Berlin: Springer.
Galacho-Jiménez, F. B., and J. A. Arrebola Castaño. 2013. “Modelo de evaluación de la capacidad de acogida del territorio con sig y técnicas de decisión multicriterio respecto a la implantación de edificaciones en espacios rurales.” Investigaciones Geográficas 60 (Jun): 69–85. https://doi.org/10.14198/INGEO2013.60.04.
He, C., Z. Liu, J. Wu, X. Pan, Z. Fang, J. Li, and B. A. Bryan. 2021. “Future global urban water scarcity and potential solutions.” Nat. Commun. 12 (1): 4667. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25026-3.
IAP (Instituto de Asuntos Públicos, Universidad de Chile). 2018. Informe País: Estado del medio ambiente en Chile 2018. Santiago, Chile: Centro de Análisis para Políticas Públicas.
INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas). 2017. “Web diseminaciÓn censo 2017.” Accessed July 1, 2022. http://resultados.censo2017.cl/Region?R=R04.
IWA (International Water Association). 2018. “Beyond urban water security: The vulnerability of intermittent water supplies.” Accessed July 26, 2022. https://iwa-network.org/beyond-urban-water-security-the-vulnerability-of-intermittent-water-supplies/.
IWRA (International Water Resources Association). 2018. Smart water management case study report. Paris: IWRA.
Jiménez, B., et al. 2015. “Urban water challenges in the Americas.” In A perspective from the Academies of Sciences, 414–444. Distrito Federal, Mexico: Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences.
Li, J., X. Yang, and R. Sitzenfrei. 2020. “Rethinking the framework of smart water system: A review.” Water 12 (2): 412. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020412.
Magiera, E., and W. Froelich. 2014. “Integrated support system for efficient water usage and resources management (ISS_EWATUS).” Procedia Eng. 89 (Jun): 1066–1072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.11.226.
Mesalie, R. A., D. Aklog, and M. S. Kifelew. 2021. “Failure assessment for drinking water distribution system in the case of Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Ethiopia.” Appl. Water Sci. 11 (8): 138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-021-01465-7.
Molinos-Senante, M. 2018. Urban water management, 131–150. Berlin: Springer.
Msamadya, S., J. C. Joo, J. M. Lee, J. S. Choi, S. Lee, D. J. Lee, H. W. Go, S. Y. Jang, and D. H. Lee. 2022. “Role of water policies in the adoption of smart water metering and the future market.” Water 14 (5): 140–153. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14050826.
Neo4j. 2022. “Data science sandbox—Neo4j graph data platform.” Accessed April 12, 2022. https://neo4j.com/data-science-sandbox/?utm_program=latam-prospecting&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=latam-search-sandbox&utm_adgroup=sandbox-keywords&utm_content=data-science-sandbox&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxtSSBhDYARIsAEn0thT4WcdKdBptTWOaNRelAHhFkac2-ckYixdI6dnoax_rxiUyZF7MjEYaAj04EALw_wcB.
Oberascher, M., W. Rauch, and R. Sitzenfrei. 2022. “Towards a smart water city: A comprehensive review of applications, data requirements, and communication technologies for integrated management.” Sustainable Cities Soc. 76 (10): 103442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103442.
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2016. “Water-growth-and-finance-policy-perspectives.pdf.” Accessed July 25, 2022. https://www.oecd.org/environment/resources/Water-Growth-and-Finance-policy-perspectives.pdf.
ONEMI (Oficina Nacional de Emergencias del Ministerio del Interior). 2020. “Política nacional para la reducción de riesgos. plan estratégico 2020-2030.” Accessed December 30, 2021. https://repositoriodigital.onemi.gov.cl/bitstream/handle/123456789/4110/PoliticaNacional_2020%28principal%29.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y.
Onyango, L. A., C. Quinn, K. H. Tng, J. G. Wood, and G. Leslie. 2016. “A study of failure events in drinking water systems as a basis for comparison and evaluation of the efficacy of potable reuse schemes.” Environ. Health Insights 9 (S3): 11–18. https://doi.org/10.4137/EHI.S31749.
Oudin, L., B. Salavati, C. Furusho-Percot, P. Ribstein, and M. Saadi. 2018. “Hydrological impacts of urbanization at the catchment scale.” J. Hydrol. 559 (Jun): 774–786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.02.064.
Saaty, T. L. 1988. “What is the analytic hierarchy process?” In Mathematical models for decision support, 109–121. Berlin: Springer.
Seneviratne, S., et al. 2012. “Changes in climate extremes and their impacts on the natural physical environment.” In Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2014. “Requerimientos de información y normas–SISS.” Accessed April 1, 2022. https://www.siss.gob.cl/586/w3-propertyvalue-6422.html.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2020a. “Agenda sector sanitario 2030.” Accessed December 30, 2021. http://www.sectorsanitario2030.cl/587/w3-channel.html.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2020b. “Centro de documentación—SISS.” Accessed December 30, 2021. https://www.siss.gob.cl/586/w3-propertyname-729.html.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2020c. “Plan estratégico nacional para la reducción del riesgo de desastres en el sector sanitario 2020-2030.” Accessed December 30, 2021. https://www.siss.gob.cl/586/articles-9353_Plan_Estrategico.pdf.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2021. “Informe de gestión del sector sanitario 2021.” Accessed January 3, 2022. https://www.siss.gob.cl/586/articles-19743_recurso_1.pdf.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2022a. “Concesiones sanitarias–siss.” Accessed July 8, 2022. https://www.siss.gob.cl/586/w3-propertyvalue-6392.html.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2022b. “Series de datos.” Accessed July 26, 2022. https://www.siss.gob.cl/586/w3-propertyvalue-6427.html.
SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios). 2022c. “Sinar.” Accessed April 6, 2022. http://sinar.siss.cl/portal/.
SWAN (Smart Water Networks Forum). 2022. “Knowledge hub.” Accessed April 26, 2022. https://swan-forum.com/publications/region/south-america/.
UN (United Nations). 2015. Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015-2030. Geneva: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Vaidya, O. S., and S. Kumar. 2006. “Analytic hierarchy process: An overview of applications.” Eur. J. Oper. Res. 169 (1): 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2004.04.028.
van Buuren, S., and K. Groothuis-Oudshoorn. 2011. “mice: Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations in R.” J. Stat. Software 45 (3): 1–67. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v045.i03.
Wade, J. S. 2012. “The future of urban water services in Latin America.” Bull. Lat. Am. Res. 31 (2): 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-9856.2011.00603.x.
Wilson, S. 2021. “Github–Miceforest: Multiple imputation with random forests in Python.” Accessed April 8, 2022. https://github.com/AnotherSamWilson/miceforest.
Yi, S., M. Ryu, J. Suh, S. Kim, S. Seo, and S. S. Kim. 2018. Smart water management: Case study report. Deajeon, Korea: Korean Water Resources Corporation.
Zhang, X. Q. 2016. “The trends, promises and challenges of urbanisation in the world.” Habitat Int. 54 (Jun): 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.11.018.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 10 • October 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 7, 2022
Accepted: May 8, 2023
Published online: Jul 25, 2023
Published in print: Oct 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 25, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Case studies
- Continuum mechanics
- Data analysis
- Developing countries
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Hydrologic data
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Infrastructure
- Methodology (by type)
- Municipal water
- Personnel management
- Practice and Profession
- Pressure (type)
- Research methods (by type)
- Solid mechanics
- Urban and regional development
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water pressure
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.