Page 511 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

Smart water management in cities
Executive Summary

From their inception, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have played a pivotal role
in the lives of cities. Historically, cities have been generating economic growth by developing
institutions and assembling human resource to achieve prosperity, but unfortunately, this was often
done at the expense of their water resource base. With rapid urbanization becoming an inevitable
fact, cities are facing increasing challenges to secure financially sustainable water and sanitation
services for its citizenry. If matched with appropriate and effective ICT solutions, in the form of smart
water management (SWM), water issues within cities can be properly addressed and managed.

Smart water management (SWM) in cities seeks to alleviate challenges in the urban water
management and water sector through the integration of ICT products, solutions and systems in
areas of water management and sanitation, as well as stormwater management. Such technologies
are adapted to continuously monitor water resources and diagnose problems in the urban water
sector, allowing to prioritize and to manage maintenance issues more effectively, as well as to
gather data needed to optimize all aspects of a city's water management system and feed
information back to citizens, water operators, and technical services of cities.

Recognizing the impact that SWM can have at the intersection of water issues, growing cities, and
increasing climate change impacts, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established a
Focus Groups on Smart Water Management (FG‐SWM) and Smart Sustainable Cities (FG‐SSC), with
the vision that novel ICT‐enabled tools can help empower regions, countries, and cities to overcome
water‐related challenges. Consequently, ITU has been at the forefront of emerging explorations on
the potential of SWM in the alleviation of global challenges associated with this resource.

By promoting the coordinated development and management of urban water, SWM allows cities to
strengthen institutional capacities, while striving to improve the sustainability of its natural resource
base, particularly with respect to water and the environment. However, careful design and proper
coordination among all relevant sectors – from the initial stages of project design, to
implementation and assessment – is crucial to realize these opportunities.

This Technical Report aims to provide an overview of the key issues involved in SWM within urban
settings, including the key water management problems and opportunities faced by cities. By
highlighting the role and potential of ICTs, this Technical Report seeks to position SWM as a crucial
area of action to achieve the goals set out by smart sustainable cities, and to respond to ongoing
and emerging urban challenges, including those posed by climate change.

This Technical Report is structured around seven sections. The first section provides a general
background of the analysis, highlighting the interconnectedness between water resources and
cities, and situates the potential of ICTs and SWM. The second section provides a more in‐depth
understanding of urban water issues affecting urban settings, identifying the role of rapid
urbanization, water availability and quality, water utilities and infrastructure, climate change
impacts and investment needs. The third section explores smart water management in cities,
providing an overview of key SWM technologies designed to improve performance, increase
efficiency, lower cost and reduce potential environmental impacts, among others. The fourth
section links theory to practice by providing selected examples of SWM solutions for urban water

ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 501