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How Does Digitization Succeed in the Municipal Water Sector? The WaterExe4.0 Meta-Study Identifies Barriers as well as Success Factors, and Reveals Expectations for the Future

Author

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  • Günter Müller-Czygan

    (Institute of Water and Energy Management (IWE), Hof University of Applied Sciences, 95030 Hof, Germany)

  • Viktoriya Tarasyuk

    (Institute of Water and Energy Management (IWE), Hof University of Applied Sciences, 95030 Hof, Germany)

  • Christian Wagner

    (Institute of Water and Energy Management (IWE), Hof University of Applied Sciences, 95030 Hof, Germany)

  • Manuela Wimmer

    (Institute of Water and Energy Management (IWE), Hof University of Applied Sciences, 95030 Hof, Germany)

Abstract

Water is increasingly taking center stage when it comes to coping with climate change. Especially in urban areas, negative consequences from heavy rainfall events and prolonged dry periods are rising worldwide. In the past, the various tasks of urban water management were performed by different departments that often did not cooperate with each other (water supply, wastewater disposal, green space irrigation, etc.), as the required water supply was not a question of available water volumes. This is already changing with climate change, in some cases even dramatically. More and more, it is necessary to consider how to distribute available water resources in urban areas, especially during dry periods, since wastewater treatment is also becoming more complex and costly. In the future, urban water management will examine water use in terms of its various objectives, and will need to provide alternative water resources for these different purposes (groundwater, river water, storm water, treated wastewater, etc.). The necessary technological interconnection requires intelligent digital systems. Furthermore, the water industry must also play its role in global CO 2 reduction and make its procedural treatment processes more efficient; this will also only succeed with adequate digital systems. Although digitization has experienced an enormous surge in development over the last five years and numerous solutions are available to address the challenges described previously, there is still a large gap between the scope of offerings and their implementation. Researchers at Hof University of Applied Sciences have investigated the reasons for this imbalance as part of WaterExe4.0, the first meta-study on digitization in the German-speaking water industry, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Only 11% of roughly 700 identified products, projects and studies relate to real applications. For example, the surveyed experts of the water sector stated that everyday problems are considered too little or hardly at all in new solutions, which greatly overburdens users. Furthermore, they see no adequate possibility for a systematic analysis of new ideas to identify significant obstacles and to find the best way to start and implement a digitization project. The results from four methodologically different sub-surveys (literature and market research, survey, expert interviews and workshops) provide a reliable overview of the current situation in the German-speaking water industry and its expectations for the future. The results are also transferable to other countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Günter Müller-Czygan & Viktoriya Tarasyuk & Christian Wagner & Manuela Wimmer, 2021. "How Does Digitization Succeed in the Municipal Water Sector? The WaterExe4.0 Meta-Study Identifies Barriers as well as Success Factors, and Reveals Expectations for the Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:22:p:7709-:d:681461
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lukas Hormann & Sarah Stuhl, 2018. "The Value of Data for the German Water- and Wastewater industry," Proceedings- 11th International Conference on Mangement, Enterprise and Benchmarking (MEB 2018),, Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management.
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    5. Priya Seetharaman & Saji K. Mathew & Maung K. Sein & Ravindra Babu Tallamraju, 2020. "Being (more) Human in a Digitized World," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 529-532, June.
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