Situated where the Turia River spills into the Mediterranean Sea, the city of Valencia, Spain, has always had an intricate connection to water.
Like all cities, Valencia’s residents require a reliable and clean supply of fresh water. To safeguard this supply and meet the demands of a growing population, the City’s water managers knew they had to improve efficiency by tackling excessive leakage and fraud in the network.
To address this challenge, the water utility, Global Omnium, embarked on a digital transformation process to reshape the networks of the past, to meet the demands of the present.
Sensors were added to the network, and flow meters and pressure gauges were installed in the district metering areas.
These technologies collect huge amounts of data which is integrated into a big data & IoT platform, centralizing management. Advanced algorithms detect leaks, fraud and meter tampering in real time and for each sector.
The implementation of the project has resulted in water savings of more than 4 million m3 (4 billion litres!) each year, building resilience in Valencia’s water supply.
GoAigua, the innovative solution now marketed by Idrica, is the software that made this possible.
New beginnings, deep roots
Idrica is a leading international water technology company specialising in smart solutions for drinking water, wastewater and irrigation. Founded in February 2020 but backed by over a decade of experience – it is a new business, with deep roots.
Idrica has doubled in size in a single year, employing over 200 experts and serving more than 7 million users globally.
Idrica was born from the work of its sister company, Global Omnium, who, more than a decade ago, began pioneering a digital transformation process based on the installation of sensors, data mining and analysis.
This process led to the development of GoAigua, a state-of-the-art digital solution for managing the entire water cycle. Idrica was founded to market GoAigua internationally and deliver global water industry services.
“We have a top-notch team who know technology, know water, and know how to combine and deploy technological solutions within this world,” said Idrica CEO, Jaime Barba.
Idrica CEO, Jaime Barba
Barba is a global authority in the water digitalisation industry. A telecommunications engineer by training, he rose to the position of Global Omnium Chief Information Officer (CIO) and, from there, to CEO of Idrica.
Headquartered in Valencia, Spain – and with operations in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America – Idrica is now a leader in digitally transforming water cycle management. The firm has doubled in size in a single year, employing over 200 experts and serving more than 7 million users globally.
The digital transformation journey
Digital solutions are proven approach to improve efficiency, safety and sustainability in water networks, but many utilities don’t know where to start.
Successful digital transformations must consider all aspects of water management, from the maintenance and financial administration of assets to the monitoring and control of all related processes – not exactly an easy feat.
Digital solutions are proven approach to improve efficiency, safety and sustainability in water networks
To date, many utilities have adopted a range of digital tools to improve situational awareness, but these technologies often transmit overwhelming amounts of decentralised data that don’t empower managers with actionable insights.
The GoAigua technological solution solves this problem by unifying all digital components of the water utility infrastructure – SCADA, GIS, ERP, AMI/AMR, CMMS, IoT Sensors – into a single platform. GoAigua utilises AI and machine learning algorithms to help water managers unlock value from data and provide a holistic, real-time view of the status of processes and infrastructure.
A tailored approach
Alongside GoAguia, Idrica offer a diverse set of services to help guide clients through the digital transformation process.
“We realised while offering our technological solution [GoAigua], it was also necessary to offer a full water cycle service as well,” said Barba. “We decided to provide management, engineering, operation, maintenance, and consultancy services too.”
Each utility has a different set of needs and challenges, and so Idrica tailors their approach to suit each context.
In some cases, cities don’t even have basic water infrastructure, and in this instance Idrica can assist with operations to improve basic water supply and security. For cities that have more advanced systems already in place, Idrica can help apply smart modelling systems like digital twins that provide a simulation of the water network to predict future scenarios and optimise performance.
During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, they developed GoAigua SARS Analytics, an early warning system for governments to detect real-time virus levels in wastewater.
Our preparedness enabled us rapidly assist governments during the crisis – Jaime Barba
Thanks to this solution, governments in several Spanish and American cities can now detect cases in wastewater before patients even show symptoms.
“The team, in just two or three weeks, had all the technology in place to detect the coronavirus in wastewater,” said Barba. “Our preparedness enabled us rapidly assist governments during the crisis.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of water to human well-being and prosperity. Utilities must do everything in their power to build resilience in their networks, and adapting to change is critical.
It’s no wonder then that Idrica, through their combination of smart tech, tailored services and expert advice, are a go-to solution for water utilities across the globe looking to digitally transform their operations and ‘future proof’ water for all.
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