ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 513 4 Smart water management in cities Water management is closely associated with water resource development and environmental protection, and it also entails proper management of the demand for public services and cost effectiveness. Consequently, urban water management must ensure access to water and sanitation infrastructure and services, manage rain, waste and storm water as well as runoff pollution, mitigate against floods, droughts and water borne diseases, while at the same time safeguarding the resource from degradation. As identified in the previous section, accelerated urbanization, especially in the developing world, coupled with increasing concerns for water security in the face of climate change and aging infrastructure, have challenged the effective implementation of these provisions. In today's integrated global economy, innovations in telecommunications have created a valuable opportunity to address these water challenges within cities, whilst improving urban water management. Recognizing the challenges faced by the water sector, stakeholders from academia, corporations and the ICT sector have developed water intelligence tools that use ICTs to alleviate global water issues. The role played by smart water systems in optimizing the efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility of water and wastewater infrastructure assets and their management constitutes a topic of increasing attention, as evidenced in a recent OECD inventory of policies to promote and facilitate the diffusion of these technologies23. ICTs offer valuable opportunities to improve the productivity and efficiency within the water sector, with the aim of contributing to the sustainability of the resource. These technologies allow the continuous monitoring of water resources, providing real‐time monitoring and measuring, making improvements in modelling and problem diagnosis, thus enabling proper maintenance and optimization of all aspects of the water network. The increasing availability of more intelligent, ICT‐enabled means to manage and protect the planet's water resources has led to the development of smart water management (SWM). The SWM approach promotes the sustainable consumption of water resources through co‐ordinated water management, by integrating ICT products, solutions and systems, aimed at maximizing the socio‐economic welfare of a society without compromising the environment. SWM can be applied to multiple sectors (e.g. industries, agriculture) and urban environments. In cities, SWM strives to achieve three main goals through the utilization of ICTs, namely: (a) co‐ordinated water resource management and distribution, (b) enhanced environmental protection, and (c) sustainable provision of public services and economic efforts. Within urban environments, the implementation of SWM can make significant improvements in water distribution, helping to decrease losses due to non‐revenue water, and helping to enhance waste‐ water and storm water management. Figure 6 illustrates the role of SWM water quality and reliability, ensuring proper management of green systems, decreasing water loss due to leakage, reducing operational costs, and improving customer control and choice. These improvements increase the efficiency of the water sector, while contributing to its economic sustainability since municipalities and water utilities are better able to recover costs from non‐revenue water, including the detection of illegal connections.