Smart Water: Transforming water management with innovation and technology
Published on: March 7, 2025
The future of water management is smart, data-driven and proactive. By combining engineering expertise with AI and digital tools, Smart Water enables municipalities to make better decisions and improve efficiency. In this interview, Arvid Nelehag, Business Development Manager Smart Water at Sweco Sweden, shares insights on how technology is reshaping the water sector.
Water is one of our most vital resources and ensuring its effective management is more crucial than ever. As urbanisation, climate change and ageing infrastructure put increasing pressure on water and wastewater systems, innovative solutions are required to address these challenges. Enter Smart Water – a concept that integrates data, modern technologies and over a century of engineering expertise to create more intelligent, sustainable and efficient water management systems.
Smart Water is more than just a technological advancement; it represents a fundamental shift in how we manage our water resources. By leveraging AI, IoT and big data analytics, municipalities and utilities can transition from reactive to proactive decision-making, ensuring greater efficiency, resilience and sustainability. As water-related challenges continue to evolve, Smart Water will play a crucial role in shaping the next generation of water infrastructure.
To delve deeper into this transformative approach, we spoke with Arvid Nelehag, Business Development Manager Smart Water at Sweco Sweden, about the role of digital innovation in water management and how Smart Water is shaping the future of sustainable water and wastewater systems.
Q: What are the biggest challenges that Swedish municipalities face in water and wastewater management today?
A: Swedish municipalities face a range of challenges such as ageing infrastructure, climate-related issues, urbanisation and increased regulatory demands primarily related to the environment, sustainability and IT security.
It’s not just the infrastructure that is outdated – we also see challenges regarding the replenishment of water and wastewater expertise.
Recently, security and preparedness issues have been highlighted as a challenge that needs to be addressed.
Q: How do you see AI and machine learning reshaping the way we handle water infrastructure in the coming years?
A: We should remember that we are likely overestimating the short-term impact but underestimating the digital transformation in the long run. The water and wastewater industry is generally lagging behind other industries in terms of innovation and development. While this may seem discouraging, it also means there is significant hidden potential. AI is not the answer to all the industry’s challenges but in combination with both other technologies and water expertise, AI will be a driving factor in managing large, often fragmented, datasets to make data-driven decisions, optimise processes and reduce costs. Ultimately, it will improve and streamline the delivery of water services.
Q: What is “Smart Water” and how is it transforming the way we manage water and wastewater systems?
A: For us at Sweco, Smart Water is an umbrella term for using data to make decisions as well as to monitor and manage various processes in a smarter and more efficient way with the help of data science and data engineering. Utilising a range of different technologies to collect, store, monitor and analyse, Smart Water enables a proactive approach instead of a reactive one.
Q: Can you share a real-world example where Smart Water technology has made a significant difference?
A: I can share three examples where Smart Water has helped municipalities make better decisions in different ways, both urgent decisions and more long-term strategic decisions. These decision support systems create value for our customers today, helping them make better decisions and use the water and wastewater collective’s funds more efficiently.
When there is a risk of high flows in watercourses or when it is already a fact, it is reassuring to rely on our Flooding Portal. The portal not only allows the municipality to act proactively with knowledge of when and where floods will occur but also provides insights into when they do not need to act. The portal is not only accessible to decision-makers but is also open to the public, creating an understanding of the decisions being made.
The climate changes we are facing will put greater pressure on our wastewater network. Already, most municipalities face challenges with overflow and flooding due to capacity shortages. This leads to both significant economic and environmental consequences. One of the main causes of the problem is extraneous water, the water that should not be in the wastewater network. Our Extraneous Water Portal helps make better decisions in the effort to address and eliminate extraneous water in a cost-effective way, using operational data, data science and 100 years of experience in water and sewage.
The maintenance debt within the water sector is enormous and we have recently been confronted with more and more news about municipalities that are sharply increasing water and sewage fees. More money will be needed but money is not everything. Equally important is to tackle the maintenance debt in the best possible way. How this should be done is a moving target and therefore the renewal planning also needs to be dynamic and adaptable to new data and new conditions. Our data-driven planning tool does just that – enabling data-driven decisions as more data becomes available.
