South Africa’s ongoing water challenges are exacerbated by ageing water infrastructure, owing to failing asset performance and tardy maintenance, in relation to plant efficiency and stable water supply, says energy, automation and digitalisation specialist company Schneider Electric’s water and wastewater (WWW) segment leader Peter Marumong.

Consequently, the Schneider Electric WWW segment is offering municipalities automation, telemetry and analytical platform solutions to digitalise their respective water operations, including pumpstations, reservoirs, treatment plants and distribution networks.

“Globally, we’ve seen this deliver measurable results. For example, in Italy, Schneider Electric enabled significant cost savings at municipal wastewater facilities through energy optimisation and advanced automation, improving efficiency while reducing downtime. The same principles can be applied locally,” he notes.

Schneider Electric is creating a springboard for smart water management operations, implementing systems that include an amalgamation of flow meters, which analyse how much water moves through the system; telemetry solutions, that transmit data to a central control room; and remote-controlled valves for water flow management, including controlling pressure, flow and reducing leaks.

Additionally, Marumong says that municipalities are already adopting smart water management systems and other technological trends to enable process optimisation and non- revenue water reductions. These technological trends include replacing ageing pipelines and incorporating digital upgrades, as well as supervisory control and data acquisition innovations for monitoring, controlling and analysing water operation processes in real time.

“Real-time data allows operators to immediately detect abnormal pressure drops, unusual flow patterns, or unexpected reservoir level changes . . . Instead of discovering a burst days later, systems can generate alerts within minutes. This shortens repair times and limits water loss,” he avers.

The company is also seeing the adoption of smart metering deployments and pressure management strategies across multiple municipalities.

“Additionally, remote monitoring facilitates continuous flow measurement between key points, so municipalities can quickly identify where water is being lost . . . smart metering improves billing accuracy and flags irregular consumption patterns. When these technologies work together, utilities can detect anomalies early and prevent failures instead of reacting to bursts and breakdowns after they happen,” he adds.

However, he says that there is also a social responsibility that must be fulfilled by water utilities, government and consumers – as well as public-private partnership (PPP) entities – when it comes to recycling and reusing water to create an additional water source.

Recycling and reuse plants can reduce the need for the establishment of more dams, avoiding added strain to river systems while helping municipalities to diversify water sources and accommodate drought-stricken areas.

Although the development and upgrade of recycling and reuse plants may be financially complex for municipalities – which are also experiencing a skills shortage – Marumong says that PPPs can provide the capital investment, technical expertise and performance-based accountability that could ensure long-term sustainability.

In the future, he notes that several technologies could improve reliability, enhance transparency and reduce operating costs for municipalities. These include advanced data analytics and AI-based anomaly detection, digital twins for network modelling, integrated digital architectures connecting field devices to analytics platforms, smart ultrasonic metering, and robust cybersecurity for operational technology environments.

“Digitalisation is the enabler; you cannot control or manage what you cannot see, and you cannot optimise if you don’t have the necessary data,” he concludes.