IWA and Xylem launch Chinese translation of the White Paper as a stepping stone to embedding digital in the core of water profession at the 2019 Nanjing Water Summit

 Download press release in Chinese / Download publication in Chinese

16 October 2019, Nanjing, China – Today the International Water Association (IWA) and the global water technology company Xylem (NYSE: XYL) launched the Chinese translation of the publication “Digital Water: Industry Leaders Chart the Transformation Journey” at the 2019 Nanjing Water Summit. The white paper is acting as a catalyst for innovation, knowledge and best practice.

The white paper lays the foundation for IWA’s Digital Water Programme. It provides an overview of the current state of digital in the water sector, the value potential for digital solutions, and the lessons learned from those on the digital journey.

By harnessing insights from 40 utilities in their digital water journey, the paper serves as a critical tool for water decision makers and for all those interested in advancing global water security and sustainability. Among the findings of the report is that while the transformation towards digital is not always easy for utilities, with aging infrastructure, inadequate investment, changing climate and demographics, digital water is now seen not as an ‘option’ but as an ‘imperative.’

The Digital Water report is a powerful step towards advancing global, regional and local water security and sustainability. “Translating this report into important languages such as Chinese strengthen its importance and call for action,” says Tao Li, Director of IWA Greater China Office. “Nearly all utilities interviewed for the report have already started to dive into the digital journey; from big data solutions to advanced management of the distribution network to digital customer engagement programmes. Outlining the Digital Water Adoption Curve, which is a synthesised view of how utilities are adopting digital technologies, will support Chinese utilities to chart their progress on the digital transformation journey.”

Tao Li, Director of IWA Greater China Office, announcing the launch of the Chinese version of the report ‘Digital Water – Industry Leaders Chart the Transformation Journey’.

“To effectively manage those infrastructures, providing high quality water services to customers, while maintaining affordability, the water sector in China must leverage digital solutions. The IWA and Xylem report will support utilities towards accelerating deployment of these needed solutions”, says LU Shuping, President of Xylem China and North Asia.

“Digitalisation is certainly a way to more efficient water and wastewater management. Yet, there is urgent need for Chinese water utilities to address digital assets”, says Junwei Jin, Deputy Director, Network Department Shenzhen Water. “Big cities with increasingly growing population are calling for improved management of drinking water networks, by the inclusion of quality monitoring sensors, IT, IOT, and the integration of data to increase proactive monitoring of the network. The experience from more than 40 utilities around the world are very interesting and helpful as we are looking for reference.” Mr. Junwei Jin continues that “moreover, the report identifies barriers for digitalisation and proposes the digital water adoption curve, which is very useful to water utilities to make walk their digital journey.”

Dragan Savic, Chief Executive Officer, KWR Water Research Institute, Netherland; Biju George, Executive Vice President, DC Water, USA; Shuming Liu, Vice Dean, Professor, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, China; Cecilia Wennberg, Vice President, Urban Water, DHI, Sweden; Randolf Webb, Director, Strategy & Marketing-Europe, Xylem, Switzerland; Katharine Cross, IWA Strategic Programmes Manager; and Junwei Jin, Deputy Director, Network Department Shenzhen Water, China.

The translation of the white paper will facilitate Chinese stakeholders to engage more actively in the digital water dialogue, and to provide a starting point to transform digital innovations into practice. “IWA works with its members to prepare and disseminate translations that avoid language becoming a barrier. This helps engaging water professionals across cultures, regions and continents,” says Tao Li, Director IWA China.

Key take-aways from the report include:

1. Build a holistic digital roadmap and a clear business strategy: Utilities must create internal consensus on how the digital journey will unfold, maintain the customer and business outcomes as focal points throughout the digitalisation process, and educate key stakeholders (consumers, politicians, shareholders, management and employees).
2. Create an innovation culture: Utility operators, IT staff, finance, technicians, executives, and others have to be the scouts for identifying new technologies. However, to drive adoption, utilities must focus on fostering an organisation-wide curiosity and competency for embracing digital innovation.
3. Leverage pilots for an agile mindset: Pilot projects offer a means to explore new technologies, build momentum, and create a more holistic understanding of their physical and financial effects on operations before committing to large-scale implementation.
4. Develop architecture for optimising data use: Developing a data warehouse, where operational data sets become available to functions such as finance, engineering and IT specialists who can use the data to optimise business processes, is critical to creating value from data and effectively digitalising utility infrastructure and connectivity.

The Report is available for download

• English here 
• Chinese here

For more information, media and/or interviews please contact:

• Ulrike Kelm, IWA Communications Manager, ulrike.kelm@iwahq.org, +31615903155
• Tao Li, Director IWA Greater China Office, Tao.li@iwahq.org
• Jenny Rider, rider@xyleminc.com + 1 914 246 7184
• Olivia Dempsey, dempsey@edelman.com +353 1 678 9333

The launch

Nanjing Water Summit – The International Top-level Forum on Engineering Science and Technology 2019 & The 4th Singapore-Nanjing Eco Hi-Tech Island International Water Environment Management Summit

Venue: Conference Room, Jiangdao Technology Innovation Center

Date: 16 October 2019 / Time: 14:30 – 17:30

Parallel Session 1: Digitalisation of the Water Sector – What does the future look like?

Chair:

• Dragan Savic, Chief Executive Officer, KWR Water Research Institute, Netherlands

Speakers

• Dragan Savic, Chief Executive Officer, KWR Water Research Institute, Netherlands
• Biju George, Executive Vice President, DC Water, USA
• Randolf Webb, Director, Strategy & Marketing-Europe, Xylem, Switzerland
• Cecilia Wennberg, Vice President, Urban Water, DHI, Sweden
• Shuming Liu, Vice Dean, Professor, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, China
• Junwei Jin, Deputy Director, Network Department Shenzhen Water, China

About the Digital Water Report / White Paper

The white paper “Digital Water: Industry Leaders Chart the Transformation Journey” is the first of a series of publications to be developed under the IWA Digital Water Programme. Access the publication here: https://iwa-network.org/projects/digital-water-programme/.

About the IWA Digital Water Programme

The IWA Digital Water Programme aims to act as a catalyst for innovation, knowledge and best practices around digitalisation for the water sector, provide a platform to share experiences and promote leadership in transitioning to digital water solutions, and consolidate lessons to guide the natural evolution from the ‘business as usual’ to achieving a digital water utility. For more information, please visit http://iwa-network.org/projects/digital-water-programme/

About the International Water Association

The International Water Association (IWA) is a network and an international global knowledge hub open to all water professionals and anyone committed to the future of water. With its legacy of over seventy years, it connects water professionals around the world to find solutions to global water challenges as part of a broader sustainability agenda. As a non-profit organization and with a membership in more than 140 countries, the IWA connects scientists with professionals and communities so that pioneering research offers sustainable solutions. In addition, the association promotes and supports technological innovation and best practices through international frameworks and standards. For more information, please visit www.iwa-network.org

About Xylem

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative technology solutions to the world’s water challenges. The Company’s products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residential and commercial building services settings. Xylem also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water, electric and gas utilities. The Company’s approximately 17,000 employees bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, with 2018 revenue of $5.2 billion, Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands. For more information, please visit www.xylem.com.

– ENDS