Our DWC partners are working hard on demonstrating the potential of DWC’s digital solutions in our five demo cities. In Milan, we want to develop digital solutions for safe water reuse for agricultural irrigation. UNIVPM, CAP Group and ISS are now collaborating with colleagues from the Fiware4Water project to deploy their early warning system for water reuse using the FIWARE platform. At the same time, UNIVPM and UNIMI have found an interesting correlation between spectral indexes and water stress. Finally, the team organised a Community of Practice to discuss stakeholders’ expectations regarding a match making software tool between the water provider and the end-user.

UNIVPM, CAP Group and ISS are developing an early warning system for water reuse. This system uses machine learning to simulate the risk of contamination inherent in the reuse of treated wastewater from the Peschiera Borromeo wastewater treatment plant. The tool uses a semi-quantitative approach based on a risk matrix that maps potential hazardous events. It always considers the severity of the events related consequences, their likelihood and the preventive measures applied. The tool also integrates online and offline signals from the wastewater treatment plant using statistical analysis and soft sensors.

The early warning system is fully deployed using the FIWARE platform, an open-source reference architecture defining data management standards for smart city solutions. We are collaborating with the Fiware4Water project to develop coherent data models for the management of data at wastewater treatment plants.

UNIVPM and UNIMI are also testing a new drone to monitor agricultural fields to optimise the use of water for irrigation. The team found promising correlations between spectral indexes derived from multi-spectral imagery and water stress. This resulted in a transferable algorithm that can calculate water stress from spectral images. The tests will also be conducted this year at a brand new three-hectare test site close to the plant.Finally, the team is developing a matchmaking software tool to establish a new communication channel between the water providers (reclamation facility operators) and the end-users (farmers). Our researchers have put much effort into integrating the different data sources from Peschiera Borromeo WTTP and field sensors. This solution takes advantage of the FIWARE ecosystem to exploit the existing data-models to their fullest extent. The team organised a community of practice event with local stakeholders in March to discuss the needs and expectations for the tool.

Curious to know more about what they have done, and what they have learned? Here’s a snapshot of our ongoing activities in Berlin, Sofia, Paris and Copenhagen.